I'm already stocking up on incandescent lamps. I figure a six-pack of incandescent lamps will cover me for a year, and it isn't too expensive to buy a lifetimes supply. About $30-40 worth of lamps ought see me out.
Frankly I've given CFL's a good try and the performance is pathetic. Most of the performance claims just verge on fraud in my book.
Damn things are dim, and get dimmer as they age. Checking them with a light-meter I just don't believe the claims made for 60W light output from 8W, or whatever they claim. I can't even read newsprint under an alleged 60W equivalent CFL.
And as for the claimed 8000 hours life, you must be joking. I've tried quite a few in high use applications and none have lasted as long as a normal incandescent bulb.
It is actually quite easy to buy a cheap incandescent light globe that works well and gives quite reasonable service.
I think the manufacturers need to do some heavy work on improving the quality and reliability of CFL's. They are just total rubbish in my book. Only a fanatic greenie could love these stupid things.
Just telling you what I think. :) Not holding anything back here. :)
Ross
(To get email address ROT 13) ebff snipped-for-privacy@lnubb.pbz
** Ditto here.
** Two things have to happen before folk can trust CFLs to perform as claimed and not become a pollution issue.
The regulators create a mark of proven quality and conformity to acceptable standards that all CFLs makers have to earn and then can apply to their products.
All sellers are required to accept used examples back for proper re-cycling.
Anyway, where does this quoted 1000 hour mean life for incandescents come from? In our house there's no doubt that it's way longer for most of the globes we use. Nearly all of our failures are with particular fittings, for some reason, maybe heat dissipation. For the rest, we go for years without changing a globe, even the ones that get used a lot.
I've had CFL's last for more than 8000 hours, so it's not just marketing bullshit, they CAN achieve that. Yes, some brands are crap, but others are excellent. Some brands and models take ages to warm up, others are instant to full brightness. Some fade with time, others don't, even after 8000 hours.
I'm using some of these new Megaman 11W Halogen replacement ones and they claim 15,000 hours.
formatting link
formatting link
They do take a long time to warm up though, worst than any other CFL I have tried.
** It don't hardly matter if an incandescent lamp lasts 1000 or maybe 2000 hours since the energy bill is already up to around 10 times its purchase at
1000 hours.
Plus so called " long life " bulbs simply put out less light and so are more expensive to use.
A CFL however must last well OVER 1000 hours just to break even in cost with an ordinary incandescent - depends how much the particular CFL cost.
The savings being claimed only happen if the life is 5000 hours or more.
By which time, most of them are either too faint to use for most lighting job or dead.
Bummer. I was hoping to fit out our new house almost exclusively with that item (or similar Megaman CFL product), but the "cold light = dim light" effect really bugs me.
BTW, is the CFL the same length as a standard halogen globe fitting, or does it protrude below the ceiling level?
Yes, I'd love to know too. I've tried many brands and they were all crap IMO. NONE lasted even close to 4000 hours, let alone 8000 hours. One DOA and a few lasted less than 100 hours. At a guess my current average would be around 500 hours, possibly less. Have finally given up buying them, my hope that they might improve was in vain I'm afraid.
Which is the problem of course, since MANY fail to do so. My *average* is certainly less than that. And some cost over $10. IME I could buy and run a normal 60W globe for the life of the CFL, for less than the purchase price of the CFL in nearly all cases.
In the UK I have been using Osram ones and I am very happy with them. There are two Osram ranges in the shops here, a cheaper range that I have never tried and a better range (Osram Dulux EL Longlife) that I find to be very good indeed. They are made in Germany, rated for 15000 hours and I have been using them exclusively in my house for several years now and I have never had one fail, though I did smash one by accident. They are rated for
500000 on-off cycles so I have been switching them on and off just as much as I would with incandescent bulbs and have had no problems. They start so fast that there is no noticeable delay. At the moment in the UK they can be bought at Sainsbury's for 60 pence each though the usual price is more like 2.20 pounds = $5.50 The only problem I have had is that they don't fit into some light fittings because they are longer than incandescent bulbs.
formatting link
I could also find them in the catalog on the Australian website but the URL wouldn't work when I copied it because the use all kinds of scripty crap on their website.
I see you have also spotted the same dodgy maths that I just noticed in my post on abse. The ones I am using are bayonet cap. Thanks for pointing out that there are different screw fittings between Europe and Australia. I only knew that the USA ones were different from Europe.
Hi Marc I have GE and Mirrabella branded ones that are full brightness from switch on, with no flicker. Have had them for 3.5 years now, and no sign of fading. In fact have never had a CFL of mine fade.
Sorry, don't remember the brand of the one that's done over 8000hours, it's in a previous house.
Funny, Mirrabella have been the worst IME, but as has already been pointed out, the brand name bears little correlation to the tube construction or even what factory it came out of. I certainly wish I had as much luck with them as you though!
Yes, I know people who have got some Mirabella's and they take a bit of time to warm up. It does seem to vary immensely.
I've got about half a dozen different brands around my house, and have been exclusively CFL for about 10 years now, and I've had pretty good luck. Only one dead one out of the box from memory, no fading that I have noticed, and only a few that have died prematurely (within a year or two).
I buy whatever brand is available at the shop that a)physically fits, has the right colour temp, the right rating, and the right fitting. Often there is only one choice available that fits all the requirements.
The warm up thing doesn't really bother me in most cases, but I hate ones that flicker at switch on. The Megaman halogen ones do this, but because they are outside it's not a big deal. Shame really because the MegaMan ones have the nicest light of any other brand I've tried, very smooth and cool looking pure white.
Yes, that might explain it, but on the box it says something different again: 165 minutes on and 15 minutes off, translated into no less than 25 languages!
I would just put it down to the behaviour of a typical marketing department. The bulbs are still good anyhow...
in recent years, We have used a large number of CFL's in our work. In all cases they were australian 240v CFL's being run from 120v, inside sockets mounted in imported US made equipment (too expensive to get
120v bulbs, which had a short life anyway - and too much hassle to rewire dozens of sockets for 240v). Most CFLs will happily start and run on a 120v supply without any noticeable drop in performance.
(note: one advantage no-one here has mentioned is that CFL's seem to be really good at handling voltage drops, and I would recommend using them in areas where you have brown-outs etc.)
We used GE brand 18W CFL's that were sold by big W at the time (2001), and were "guaranteed 3 year life".
In all cases they would be run for about 10 hours a day, 7 days a week, and were quite reliable. The first round of failures occured at about 3 years, where about 30% of the CFL's had died and since then about 40% of the original units are still running, though brightness has reduced.
Have replaced them recently with Philips units that are stocked at Haymans, however the "Fairway" brand units that are sold dirt cheap at our local Bunnings also work fine, but dont seem to give out as much light in my opinion. Too early yet to give an opinion on their usable life though.
------------------------------------------------ out of interest: The first I can remember of "CFL's" was in the mid 1980's when a collegue obtained a couple of them. In those days they cost about $25 to buy, (which is probably close to $50 in today's $) and the entire tube was encased in what looked like a big glass "jar" and probably sealed ? They took several minutes from power-on to come up to full brightness, but after that they worked well, and produced plenty of usable light.
At the time, I can remember thinking they were a bit of a waste of time - mainly because of the cost, because a 40w batten could be bought for less than that, the tube could be replaced for about $2, and probably did the job as well or better, as well as starting within seconds at normal room temperature.
Imagine my surprise when visiting there about a year ago, and seeing that he had one of them still in use as an outside light ! He claimed that the light had not failed in that time, but it was only being used for about 2 hours 2 nights a week (usually only used on weekends when they were using the outdoor area).
The time it takes to get to any usable brightness is annoying though.
The light output of a CFL varies closely in proportion to the AC supply voltage - so at 120 volts AC the output is half what it is at 240 volts AC.
Tested several I have here and found the rms current draw remains constant over the range from 120 to 240 but the reading on a lux meter doubles. The colour does not alter.
** Yep, the light output of an incandesce bulb is a much more dramatic function of applied voltage than with a CFL - and the colour changes a lot too.
BTW:
One more ISSUE with CFLs is they are sensitive to ambient temperature.
Even the "No Frills" one that starts instantly with close to full light output is a real SLUG to start and deliver light when cooled to around freezing temp first.
This can be a serious problem in certain situations ( very cold weather / inside a cool room , forcing folk to leave CFLs on 24/7 to avoid the warm up delay.
No such issue with incandescent bulbs at all of course.
ElectronDepot website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here.
All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.