In message , Gazz writes
I have cfl that has failed. The only way to get rid of it legit is tot take it to the local tip which is a round trip of about 8 miles using over a litre of petrol at £1.38 in my Landie. (No bus service goes anywhere near)
And the people who make the decisions are not answerable to anyone - neither electors nor consumers.
I have 4 Par38 downlighters in the kitchen. Two are now CFL equivalents.
2 are 80w incandescent. The latter give instant light and are over the sink and hob so give welcome heat in winter
As mentioned in another thread, I tried swapping 25W candles for their replacements which are 18W halogens - noticabley dimmer. Had to go up to the 28W version (which is supposed to replace 40W). Actually, nowhere on the packaging for any of these lamps that I have does it claim they have the same light output was the ones they are supposed to replace. I can easily show with a light meter that the 70W and 42W (100W and 60W replacements) are dimmer than their original GLS lamps.
Equivalence of a 7W CFL will be about 4 x 7 = 28W. CFL candles usually have quite a lossy outer bulb, which will drag that down. If the fittings rely on the expected filament position for lamp optics, then much of the light from the CFL comes from elsewhere on the lamp.
If the fittings are well ventilated, you might consider a GE Genura, although it's an R80 replacement so might not fit well in some cases. The GE Genura is a 23W electrodeless CFL, with slightly more light output than a 100W R80, and thus fairly unique in generating more light than the filament lamp it replaces in the same size. They are expensive, but should last a long time providing they don't run too hot (they have no electrodes to wear out, which is the normal CFL failure mode). B&Q used to stock them (not looked for ages though.)
I would estimate more like 3 x 7 in this case...
Its a difficult one to judge - with all three on, there is not much visible difference looking at the lamps, or for that matter looking at the light spilling on the walls. However, the moment the filament lamp fails, its a case "who turned out the lights?", the loss in overall illumination is then very noticeable (whereas removing one of the CFLs does not make much difference).
On the bright side, they are physically similar in appearance, and a good colour temperature match (even if not comparable for colour rendition).
No these are cap up, on a three armed pendent affair with hemispherical semi opaque glass shades above, and a dangly bits round the bottom - so the bulb is free to do its stuff without interference.
And, like candles, they take a while to reach full brightness.
Or Asda, or Morrisons, or Tesco, or... They are still widely available, just not in 100W versions.
MBQ
I have six GE Genuras in a ceiling track fitting (it's a big room!). Their brightness is impressive, but like all CFLs (IME) they fail suddenly long before their advertised lifetime, and they're jolly expensive to replace. Temperature may be an issue, because they're in bog standard unventilated fittings, but being intended as an R80 replacement surely that's exactly what they should be designed for?
I'm surprised the manufacturers can get away with quoting an 'average lifetime' that is only achievable if the lamp has good ventilation, something which I would think is hardly ever the case with an R80 fitting.
Richard.
I've tried them too. Very impressive. But what seems to be the problem is if they are run pointing downwards - as pretty well all spots are - the heat from the unit effects the life of the electronics. And at that high cost it saved me no money at all over a tungsten. If pointing upwards, they may well have their claimed life...
Our house has lots of previously-installed upward-pointing lights. I hate them. But that seems to be the trend, illuminate your ceiling. Strange.
Attractive idea except that heat rises so you will be adding heat to where it eventually ends up that's why most heating systems are low down close to the floor where all the cold air is.
I have two of those in my hallway. Tried them in the lounge out of interest, and they are not as bright as 50W halogens, so be careful.
If they're not warm white, don't bother, either. LED light is otherwise very blue.
Neil
Given that 2 or 3D is bright enough for most purposes, I have always assumed that the only reason security guards carry them is so they can use them as weapons without having to worry about getting into trouble for carrying them.
Neil
Sounds right. You don't need more than 3x3D cells for looking into cars.
-=20 Davey.
Ah, but what you do is replace 2 of the batteries in a 5-cell with a stack of coins (2p's in the UK, no idea what the merkins use) to make the flashlight a better cosh. Or so I'm told.
Quote: "Ah, but what you do is replace 2 of the batteries in a 5-cell with a stack of coins (2p's in the UK, no idea what the merkins use) to make the flashlight a better cosh. Or so I'm told."
And wait for it to melt in your hand? Rather you than me. My wife's handbag is like the one that little old lady used a few months ago to stop a jewellery shop robbery, so I feel safe!
Where did the text go, that I was replying to? Strange, it was there in the original, but I had to copy and paste it for this reply.
Why would it melt?
I don't own a Maglight. I have a diver's torch that serves the same purpose.
Huge wrote: [snip]
How does the diver find his way around?
He doesn't. He's retired (from diving). He's me. It's one of the very few bits of kit I kept (torch, compass, knife, fins, mask.) I guess I could chuck out the last 3, since I haven't used those for years. The knife was only for Crocodile Dundee impressions, anyway. ("That isn't a knife, *this* is a knife!")
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