? on low watt flourescent lights

[Me]

I bought 5 60 watt flourescent lights that emit about 11 watts from Ikea. I purchased the decorative ones.

Inside the circular case you can see 3 "loops". It appears that 2 of them turn on instantly, and the other one can take up to a minute to turn on. Therefore, it takes about a minute for the room to completely light. It occurs on all 5 lights. I bought 3 packages of 2, for a total of 6.

I have other non-decorate flourescent lights in my hosue I got from Home Depot that are low wattage that light up instantly.

Is this normal? It's bearable, yet annoying. I'd rather not return them unless I know if I buy another brand it will be better.

[jay]

I suspect this is the way they were designed. I have a similar problem (60 second warm up time) on some energy saver flourescent floodlights I got at Home Depot and those take up to a minute to achieve full brightness even though the non-floodlight energy saver bulbs from Home Depot turn on instantly at virtually full brightness. It is annoying how the floodlights start out so darned dim and then require a minute of warm up time before they're at a full level of brighness. It is even more annoying when the package says "quick start technology" on it (if this is quick, then I'd hate to find out what slow is)

Jay

[Joseph Meehan]

That was common on the older design lights. All the new ones I have start up right away and are at near full brightness.

BTW they are 11 watt lights emitting about the same light as 60W incandescent lamps. :-)

[willshak]

On 1/6/2005 12:55 AM US(ET), jay took fingers to keys, and typed the following:

Last month, I bought some GE compact fluorescent bulbs from Sam's Club. It was a packet of 6 - 13 watt, equivalent to 60 watt 'Soft White' incandescent bulbs. Sam's sold the packet of 6 GEs for the same price as a packet of 3 Philips comparable bulbs in Lowe's or HD. When switched on, the bulb takes less than a second to light, and it is then about 80% of its full brightness. Within 10 seconds, it is at full brightness. I was so satisfied with them that I bought another pack of 6. I am replacing all incandescents as they burn out, or for those that I leave on for extended periods of time. The only lamps that cannot use them are the type that have the bulb clamps to support the lamp shade.

[jay]

Are any of the new ones you have floodlights? If so...then what brand?

The floodlights I recently bought at Home Depot start out very dim and take at least one minute to reach full brightness.

Jeff

[jay]

I've used the spiral type compact energy saver bulbs with a lamp shade that has a clamp. I just had to be very careful when installing the shade, and making sure it doesn't clamp too hard onto the bulb, etc. Whether it works or not depends on how much tension is in the clamp, and the lamp needs to be in a location in which it is unlikely to be disturbed. Since flourescent bulbs contain mercury, I don't recommend anyone try this (just to be on the safe side). I'm just saying I lucked out and it worked for me.

[Joseph Meehan]

Sorry no flood lights. The only flood light I have are on dimmers and I like them that way so for now the FLs are out.

[Robert Barr]

When switched

I found a newer type by Sylvania that puts out a whiter light, rated at

3500K versus the usual 3000K. They are identical in appearance to the 13 watt spiral units. Here's a link:

*=4001 Not sure if that link will survive...

I've seen these compared side by side with identical Sylvania 3000K CF's, and the difference is dramatic. The standard CF looks yellow and horrible.

Sadly, the price is dramatic too -- about five bucks a copy. Once that settles down, these will be the units to have.

[Pop]

W H A T ?

[willshak]

On 1/6/2005 6:34 PM US(ET), Robert Barr took fingers to keys, and typed the following:

*=4001

The GEs are less than $2 apiece at Sam's. It was $11.something for 6. I don't see the light output expressed in K terms on the package. It says Light Output = 825 lumens. Energy used = 13 watt. Life = 8000 hrs. I placed two desk lamps side by side. One with the CF bulb and the other with a GE 60 watt incandescent Soft White bulb. I understand that the 60 watt incandescent is about 840 lumens, but I don't see a noticeable difference.

[jay]

I guess you're not familiar with the type of lamp shade that clamps onto a bulb, and that it's awkward to clamp such a shade onto a spiral compact flourescent bulb rather than a standard bulb. Although I did get this type of shade to clamp onto a spiral compact bulb, and it worked for me, I was just saying I'm not recommending others do the same thing, since if you wind up breaking the bulb it would be a bad thing because these bulbs do contain a small amount of mercury.

Jay

[Joshua Putnam]

It's amazing to me that it took so long to get a selection of color temperatures in spiral compact fluorescents. A decade ago it was easy to get temperatures from 2700 up to 4100 in replaceable-bulb CF lamps.

[DontJamyourthumb]

purchased the decorative ones.

Inside the circular case you can see 3 "loops". It appears that 2 of them turn on instantly, and the other one can take up to a minute to turn on. Therefore, it takes about a minute for the room to completely light. It

occurs on all 5 lights. I bought 3 packages of 2, for a total of 6.

I have other non-decorate flourescent lights in my hosue I got from Home Depot that are low wattage that light up instantly.

Is this normal? It's bearable, yet annoying. I'd rather not return them

unless I know if I buy another brand it will be better.

[willshak]

On 1/7/2005 7:11 AM US(ET), [e-mail] took fingers to keys, and typed the following:

[SteveB]

The ones in my MH are probably 12v, stepped down from 110v. They start dim, and brighten up. They are particularly dim when they are cold.

STeve