Best 'instant on' CFL bulbs?

[jamma-plusser]

Getting a bit tired of CFL bulbs that take up to a minute to warm up too 100% brightness, so can anyone recommend any 'instant on' 60 Watt (13 Watt CFL?) equivalent bulbs please?

Thanks

[Derek Geldard]

There aren't any, sorry.

They are better than they were in the dear old days but the best of the current (No pun intended) crop are still about 30% - 50% down at

1 minute, and another 30% down after 12 month's service.(All except "Dynamo" Hansen's, they positively coruscate within seconds of being energised).

IMV Feit lamps from Costco (& others) are the3 best of a bad bunch

Derek

[jamma-plusser]

Oh dear, that bad huh?

So we've had these poor quality CFL bulbs foisted upon us and, to make matters worse, can no longer buy the old 60w non-CFL bulbs.

What a shambles.

[NT]

best go up to at least 15w for a 60w equivalent.

NT

[jamma-plusser]

Noted, ta for the tip.

[Andrew Gabriel]

Trouble is, the run-up time is necessary for the high efficiency. For fittings I make myself, the 2D compact fluorescents are about the best in this respect, but that's also because they are slightly less efficient.

Agreed. They are the only CFLs I've seen which actually have the correct filament equivalency printed on them (with 23W = 100W). They also seem to last very well, including in enclosed (hot) fittings. The 23W CFL lamps are bigger than 100W lamps, but are probably the shortest 23W CFL you'll find, and fit in more existing fittings than any other make I've found.

[spamlet]

Also, go for the 'warm' colour temperature: the high colour temp ones make a room look cold and dark however bright they are when you look right at them. And our ones (the only kind we could get to fit in the narrow screw size at the time) rapidly became so dim as to be pretty well unusable.

S

[jamma-plusser]

Hmmm, don't seem to have a Costco near me - who else sells these 'Feit' bulbs?

[David Hansen]

On Mon, 03 May 2010 15:35:09 GMT someone who may be [e-mail] (jamma-plusser) wrote this:-

If you want "instant" starting then you need to buy LEDs.

I have been using compact fluorescent lamps for many decades. Some of the older ones were noticeably slow to start, especially the old glass bulb ones, as are some newer ones. These take time to warm up. However, despite long and loud assertions from some that it is impossible, I use Philips and General Electric compact fluorescent lamps in places like stairs and toilets where rapid light is necessary. These lamps are not noticeably slow to start. As the lamps last a long time it is not possible for me to say anything about the lamps now on sale, the ones on the stairs and in the toilet are at least a decade old.

The exception is the bottom of the stairs. The SES reflector lamp I tried there was a little too slow to start (another poster has explained why), so I replaced it with a LED version.

I use the slower starting lamps in places where a slow startup is not a problem.

[Huge]

Oh yes you can!

Troo.

[Derek Geldard]

Correct.

All a bit empirical that, especially from such a biased source. Please show us your measurements.

Ditto.

Where do you use the dim ones and what for ?

Derek

[jamma-plusser]

Isn't it the case that LED bulbs have a more concentrated light so that, in a location like a living room where one normal incandescent bulb would be fine, with LED bulbs you would need more than one?

[John Smith]

You coud always try the halogen energy saving bulbs ( look like an ordinary bulb but with a 'capsule bulb' inside.

[S Viemeister]

What sort of energy consumption do those have? I assume better than standard incandescent, but are they better, worse, or the same as incandescent bulbs? And what sort of light do they put out? (I've just been looking at buying a ceiling light which calls for them.)

[S Viemeister]

Brain isn't working this evening - obviously, I _meant_ to say 'better, worse, or the same as CFL bulbs'.....

[Adam Aglionby]

Energy consumption as in use or whole life cycle?

Whole life cycle , tungsten filament dash of bromide, quartz inner and glass outer enevlope steel and mixed metals connectors , not huge making or disposal energy cost, about 30% better energy wise tghan non halogen , nice light far better than CFL, CRI100 against CRI80 odd fro most CFL

CFL glass outer, phosphor and mercury filled inner, tungsten in filaments, copper and electrmics in base , plastic housing questionable life span whole life cost not green at all really.

Lighting aint in a domestic setting a great target fro energy savings.

Cheers Adam

[David Hansen]

On Tue, 04 May 2010 10:44:57 GMT someone who may be [e-mail] (jamma-plusser) wrote this:-

That depends on the design of the lamp. I have not looked to see what is available in that sort of lamp, LEDs may not be quite there yet for a number of reasons including the colour. However, replacing a 60W lamp with two 1W lamps seems like a no brainer to me.

I'm also not sure why a living room needs "instant" starting. The lamps I mentioned are fine in that sort of setting in my view.

[S Viemeister]

"jamma-plusser" wrote

(snip) Useful information, thank you. What about electricity use over normal life of the bulb?

[Adam Aglionby]

Halogen should give you at least 2000 Hrs against 1000 of normal incan, 42W =3D 60W 70W=3D100W so roughly around 30%

Turning the temp down on your heating and washing will save considerably more energy.

Different if you need lighting off grid.

Cheers Adam

[S Viemeister]

Just what I wanted to know.

Already done.