Light bulbs used to cost $0.15-$1.50 then we were told it is better for the environment and our pocket to replace (even working) light bulbs with new ones that cost $5-$10 although these ones are being replaced orverseas with even newer ones that are more environmental and economical at a cost of $20'ish each.
-- :-P
Can't wait for the $250 ones, we will save a fortune :-)
Cheers Don...
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-- Don McKenzie
Dontronics Blog:
New MMBasic Computer
These products will reduce in price by 5% every month:
Bare Proto PCB for PIC or AVR projects? "I'd buy that for a Dollar!".
Already using low voltage led's with a common dc rail around the house
-- X-No-Archive: Yes
**Idiot. Let's examine some real world facts, as opposed to your abject nonsense:
In my home, I have around 20 CFLs. MAXIMUM cost was $6.00 (for a high quality, Philips 23 Watt). Most were much less expensive. In 6 years, I've experienced TWO failures. One was caused by a wayward possum and the other was in a 'trouble' lamp, which I dropped onto a rock and punctured the tube. The CFLs are used from between a few minutes per day and several hours per day.
I also have a dozen or so 50 Watt halogen downlights. These are used VERY infrequently, due to the nonsensically high power consumption. I've had 7 failures in 6 years. Cost of each downlight is around $3.00.
I have one, 100 Watt tungesten incandescent. It is used less than 1 hour per month and has failed three times in 6 years. Replacement cost was (last I purchased one) about $4.00. Unfortunately, the light fitting is unsuitable for any other type of lamp.
-- Trevor Wilson www.rageaudio.com.au
You have been lucky with your CFLs. Over the 4 years that I have lived in this house, I have replaced twice as many of them, than Halogens.
My 1st mistake was buying Nelson brand lamps, most crapped out within 12 months, a couple even smoked up.
My 2nd mistake was buying enough "warm white" Philips brand bulbs to find that warm white was more like "dull yellow".
**Zero CFL failures (excepting those that failed from mechanical means) is not "luck". 7 failures of halogens (using SMPS transformers) is not 'bad luck'. 3 failures of 100 Watt incandescent is not 'bad luck'.
My mains Voltage hovers at around 245 - 247 VAC most of the time.
-- Trevor Wilson www.rageaudio.com.au
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Warm White is a putrid colour for a lamp, but its getting hard to find cool white ones (which look a lot better)
Those voltages are typical of what you'll find at our place too.
However, I've noted a high infant mortality rate with CFLs, *IF* they live past 6 months or so, they're likely to live for the long stretch (two years and counting on the ones I'm keeping track of).
I've had a typical incandescent last about 6-9 months or so.
Dollar for dollar, those CFL's (the one's that DO last) will need to last a bloody long time to make up for their increased cost compared to incandescents.
-- Predicting the future of technology is fraud with peril!
is
dProblem is that you can't buy typical domestic incandescents now. Well you can from RS components as "rough service lamps" but they are as expensive as CFL's
**Six years and counting, for me. I'm happy with that.
-- Trevor Wilson www.rageaudio.com.au
Obviously you will change the fitting.........
Many years ago I started writing the date on the base of lamps when I installed them so that I would have something more than a gut feeling of how long the things were lasting.
Now, as I replace lamps, I record the information in a simple spreadsheet with info like brand, type of lamp, where used, date installed, date replaced, cost, and claimed lifetime. The claimed life for a CFL can be anywhere between 6,000 and 15,000 hours - it is usually but not always on the packaging. In the same spreadsheet I have results for small fluorescents called PL or PL-S lamps that are not your traditional CFL with electronics crammed into the base of the lamp (the ballast is in the light fitting, not in the lamp).
To determine if a lamp has lasted for anything like the claimed lifetime I need to know what percentage of the time they were on, which often means taking an educated guess, but for some lamps that were automatically switched on, I have a much better idea. Flawed and unscientific as this process no doubt is I continue to do it as I find the results interesting.
Excluding the PL lamps with no electronics to fail, the worst of the CFLs was a $1.25 cheapie that died at 20% of claimed life, while the best was as Osram "Duluxstar minitwist" that made it to 133%. I have another of the same Osram lamps, still in use, that is at 122% today, but two more died at 26% and 57% respectively, beaten by another of the $1.25 specials that made it to 68%.
On average, they are lasting to around 60% of claimed life, but I don't have all that many results to go on.
Andy Wood snipped-for-privacy@trap.ozemail.com.au
**Just waiting for a suitable LED replacement.
-- Trevor Wilson www.rageaudio.com.au
Another factor affecting CFL lifetime is the type of light fitting and their orientation. If there is little air circulation or heat conduction the base will get very hot and eventually a component will fair.
LEDs ain't the ants pants either... I recently bought a 5W 12VAC LED light in MR16 26deg. spotlight form that was on special - I got for about AUD10. I thought it would run much cooler than the halogen it replaces - well it does, but it still gets hot enough to boil water. It is somewhere between a 10W and 20W halogen in brightness, but while an enclosed halogen bulb is happy to run hot without any heatsinking, the LED needs a complex cast aluminium heatsink that gets very hot. Turns out that these high power lighting LEDs dissipate around 85% of the power in heat - so only low-power LEDs run cool. The hotter the LED gets the shorter its life and the light output also goes down - so your 10,000 hour 450 cd LED may not get anywhere near that if it is running hot.
The bottom line is that light fittings designed for halogens may not be suitable for LEDs due to inadequate ventilation. Beware ! The solution is to use fittings actually designed for LEDs and not to retrofit LEDs into old halogen fittings.
Yaputya
**idiot. They are the ones being sold overseas for $20'ish dollars.
-- :-P
**I am well aware of the issues and limitations associated with LEDs. I am also aware that around 15 Watts of LED power is required to equal a 50 Watt halogen. This has never been much of a mystery. Cheap LED lamps are jsut as bad as cheap CFLs. Also no mystery.
-- Trevor Wilson www.rageaudio.com.au
I assume by 'lamp' you mean light fixture or luminaire. The point is that although the LED array itself might be much more efficient than a similar halogen, the luminaire has to be taken into consideration when evaluating the overall efficiency - and substituting LED arrays for halogen bulbs in ANY luminaire can lead to overheating, regardless of "cheap" or "expensive".
**Correct.
**Of course. Many ignorant folk seem to think that LEDs run cool.
-- Trevor Wilson www.rageaudio.com.au
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