Power cycling non-incandescent lamps

I see a *lot* of burned out LEDs in traffic signals.

You see lots of LEDs in traffic signals that don't light up when they should.

LEDs themselves fail by emitting less light at the same current. Traffic lights are big and have fairly long and moderately complicated conducting paths from controller to LED. The ones that don't light up may not have burnt out.

O.012kWhr over one hour, 0.288kWhr over a day, 8.64kWhr over a month.

He's not been consistent in his use of units, but he's right about what it costs him.

What brand(s) of CFL are you using?

The ones I've had that lasted the very longest were some circa-2000 Lights of America brand magnetic ballast CFLs. They had replacable lamps with 4-pin bases. Three of the four that I bought lasted at least 8 years, in service in my office (an unused bedroom). Of course, by the time that one lamp *did* fail, the replacements were unobtainum at sane prices. The next best were some Philips "Marathon" CFLs from the same time period; they had electronic ballasts and 3 U-shaped tubes in parallel.

I bought a few GEs before store brands were available and they lasted OK, but maybe not quite as long as the Philips. Since Wal-Mart started selling their own brand for very reasonable prices, that's usually what I get. (Insert the standard "But Wal-Mart eats babies!" stuff here, if you like.)

I put the LED lamp I just got in the range hood over the stove, because I often leave that on in the evenings as a night light. It lights up most of that end of the house well enough to navigate, while not being objectionable to people sleeping in the bedroom. When everyone has gone to bed, that light is off.

Do this. I had a somewhat similar problem in my old house; the only outlet in the garage was placed off to the side in an alcove for a freezer, and it was hard to get to. I added one in the ceiling over the garage door opener and another by the garage door for outside stuff. I hung a 25' reel next to the garage door opener, in the center of the garage, and plugged it into the other side of the opener outlet. *VERY* convenient when working in the garage... you never have to figure out where the other half^W^W^W somebody hid the extension cord, and it puts itself away when you're done. You can also just unreel as much of it as you need, which helps keep you from tripping on it.

I still have the reel, but I don't have a good dedicated socket for it yet in this house. When I get a circular tuit I will run another circuit to the garage for it.

Matt Roberds

That elcheapo Royer oscillator in there goes through a set of parameters at every turn on and turn off. While the turnon is nice and quick, the turnof f may stress it a bit more because it is going through a brownout technical ly as the filter discharges. They don't take well to brownouts.

So you do it four times an hour, that is different than doing it thirty tim es a minute. That would be 1,800 times an hour.

I know modern convertor circuits CAN be designed so that no limits are cros sed or even approached under adverse conditions, but not at that price. Wha t, the thing only has about eight components or so ? No current limiting, p robably no soft start as well as no shutdown/low voltage quench or anything of the sort.

This is a case I think where the main filter being in really good condition and well over its rating (they are like +100 % tolerance remember) would b e detrimental.

I can see why if cycled that much it would asvance their demise. Not overni ght, but over time. Plus this only happens when there is a fault condition so it is not the end of the world anyway.

Still, switching to LED is probably still a good move. And actually, when C FLs get old sometimes they like to be dim when first turned on in the cold. If the garage is in an area where they get winter, the LED would be a bett er choice if for no other reason than that.

What's more, when those things are dim it is because of an inefficiency. Th ere ain't much room for inefficiency in those things.

I think overall, the little board fails before the actual lamp. Anyone happ en to know for sure ? Because if the lamps are good on these bad ones and a ll they need is a power supply, that is a stoooopid waste.

From what I have seen industry and governemnts do in this world, I bet that alot of those Royers go bad and then we are forced to throw away that nast y mercury n shit. We couldv'e just changed the board !

If they designed them that way. But they might make less money. OH NO !

The boxes on the shelf presently are from FEIT. No idea what bulbs are installed in the fixtures, currently.

I think I have some (similar) "replacement tubes". They were used in EXIT lighting, IIRC (at least *my* source), and are very long and linear.

When we *don't* have house guests, there are no lamps burning when asleep. (Of course, I often get to bed around sun-up so that kinda defeats the argument). SWMBO likes the dimmable (incandescents) above the sink for her early morning routine: two bulbs on very dim are much easier way to prep coffee, etc. than ten on "full bright".

I've already done that! :> But, it's really just a single outlet, in practice (even if you put a 3-way on the end of the cord, etc.). E.g., if you want to plug in the battery charger, you won't *also* be using it for a (mechanic's) shop light.

E.g., a friend called on me to cut some "cactus boots": in half for an art exhibit she was creating. At the time, I had a soldering iron out there for some "cannibalizing" I was doing so had to scurry to find another outlet for the sabre saw.

I've got several (6 or 8?) of these smaller reels. I figure I could stagger them around the ceiling a few feet off the wall (i.e., in *front* of the shelving that is present, there) and set the "stop" on each so that enough of the cord dangles down that I could reach up and pull it out to full extension -- without it bopping folks in the head, etc.

Then, replace the outlet on the end of the current "reel" with a dedicated drop-light.

No attic, here. So, adding electrics is always a chore.

But, the single outlet in the garage is all alone on that circuit (GFCI). So, adding the reels is just a matter of messing up some drywall...

Be sure to test this with a reasonably tall person. I know some people who are much shorter than me, and they like to store some things by hanging them from the exposed joists in their basement. I have to be really careful of my head if I go down there.

You used to be able to get the handle and cage of a drop light, with no cord or plug, at the hardware store, but I haven't seen them like that for a while. You might get a drop light that has an outlet in the handle, just in case you guess wrong about what you need. :)

In my old house, the garage ceiling was drywall, but there was an attic above it - with folding stairs *in* the garage, handy. In my current house, there is no drywall on the ceiling, just exposed joists... fire_resistance--, easy_to_work_on++.

You could always use conduit. However, this may meet with objections on aesthetic grounds.

Matt Roberds

I'm "reasonably tall". E.g., on my toes, I can touch an 8' ceiling. So, I can locate the ends of the corded reels at 7+ ft and still be able to easily reach them. If someone taller/shorter ever bought the house, they could adjust the "stops" on the reels higher/lower.

Yes, I have a few of the "cages" that will clamp onto . Likewise, drop lights with an outlet in them -- but, trying to use them as a light *and* extension cord tends to result in one or the other being in the wrong place (e.g., you want the light under the hood of the car but the "electrical appliance/tool" under the motor, etc.)

Yes. Here, it's drywall on the undersides of the ceiling joists. So, doing anything is very tedious (from below *or* "above")

I don't like EMT in the house or on the exterior. Currently, only have it to run power to the flood lights mounted on the underside of the eaves. (most folks, here, just staple Romex to the joists :-/ )