Are name-brand low-energy fluorescent "Green" bulbs any brighter than store brand?

[Gary Heston]

In article , Don Klipstein wrote: [ ... ]

[ ... ]

FYI, within the last 5-6 weeks I noticed one of my porch lights was blinking on and off--a GE FLB17 16w CF with external envelope--and had to swap it out.

That light had been in near-continuous operation since about 1993 or

1994. It was out on Halloween nights and during a few power failures.

Calculator tells me that's over 120,000 hours. It's output had faded quite a bit (the 75W incandescent I replaced it with was _much_ brighter--and lasted less than a month) but it was still adequate.

I'll be looking for some more of those...

Gary

[Don Klipstein]

Look at all the hardware stores you can get to - I suspect that one is obsolete.

Otherwise use a Philips "EL/O" / "Outdoor". Last time I checked, that was still available at Home Depot in 15 watt (optimistically 60 watt equivalent). Get the 5000 Kelvin "daylight" version if you can - the spectrum is more favorable to making use of night vision.

If the fixture is enclosed, Philips SLS ("Marathon" triple-arch) non-dimmable 23 watts or less (especially 15) should work well. Go for 20 or 23 watts if you need the extra fixture heating to get adequate warmup in the winter.

- Don Klipstein ( [e-mail])

[Tomes]

"ransley"... How do you post links here, I always recomend them but dont know how to post them.

_____________________

First do this bracket: < Then paste in the link copied from the URL area Then do this bracket: >

Then hit enter

You now will have a usable link in your post. Hope this helps, Tomes

[jmeehan]

For me that is a feature. When I get up in the morning and turn on the bathroom light, I like the idea of it not blasting me until I wake up a little.

BTW I mix traditional and fluorescent lamps. The end result is a very good color mix, somewhere between sunlight and standard lamps. So for the lady of the house who has makeup and clothing color mixing to do, it is great.

[John Weiss]

very good color mix, somewhere between sunlight and standard lamps. So for the lady of the house who has makeup and clothing color mixing to do, it is great.

So far I mix them in the kitchen, where we have recessed floods. I still like the intensity of the halogen right over the workspace of the stove and counter, with CFLs in the other places. Also, the single halogen in each bank lights up instantly, while the CFLs warm up, so I don&#39;t have to wait to work.

[Tony]

So, the problem is easily solved. Buy incandescents. CFL lights use a lot less electricity and last years longer than incandescents. The trade off is that you have to wait a minute for the full light to come on. If it bothers you that much, get rid of them. Problem solved. That is like saying I want a Toyota Prius but you cant stand that you cant fit giant boxes when you purchase something from Home Depot. Simple answer, buy a gas guzzling SUV.

Tony

[GregS]

I will probably start using CFL&#39;s in the kitchen recessed positions after the halogen fail. When i checked last The Home Deopot quit selling dimmer capable CFL&#39;s several years ago, so I went with Halogen. I do like the Halogen color but some CFL&#39;s are close. Figure $15 each for a dimmable CFL.

On another note, a GREEN label is on some 4 foot 40 Watt lamps GE Ecolux tubes in the room here. They FAR outshine any other flourescent lamp I have seen. They typically look twice as bright as the brightest lamp here. They DO have a certain greenish color, and they don&#39;t have them at the Depot.

greg

[Mark Lloyd]

electricity and last

minute for the full light

I have used a lot of CFLs (of different brands) and have not had any that take more than a second or two to come on, until recently (these are flood lights).

purchase something from

[Bert Hyman]

Better move quickly.

The "Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007" applies performance standards to incandescent bulbs which supposedly will effectively ban them in a few years.

I&#39;ve tried to read it but it consists mainly of a lot of edits to existing regulations, like this:

(1) DEFINITION OF GENERAL SERVICE INCANDESCENT LAMP- Section 321(30) of the Energy Policy and Conservation Act (42 U.S.C. 6291(30)) is amended-- (A) by striking subparagraph (D) and inserting the following: bla bla bla ...

so it&#39;s not clear to me exactly what&#39;s going on.

Still, there&#39;s the "Light Bulb Freedom of Choice Act", H.R.5616, which claims to "repeal of the phase out of incandescent light bulbs."

[GregS]

Mine are also floodlights. In the cold they first turn on with a dark purple, Deep Purple ? Seems like they don&#39;t have it down quite right as far as light concentration for more of a spot.

I have several around the house I never turn off, and one in the front yard. Its a standard CFL inside one of those metal glass protective domes, completely incased. I&#39;m sure it gets hot in the middle of a summer day. I intend on hooking up a photosensor, but that might make it burn out more quickly. I&#39;ll find out.

[Don Klipstein]

In , GregS wrote in part:

CFLs with outer bulbs have a general trend of starting dimmer and taking longer to warm up than ones with bare tubing. The tubing in ones with outer bulbs is formulated to work best at a higher temperature.

The light from the reflector is less concentrated, because the initial source (spiral of tubing) is larger and less intense than a filament.

- Don Klipstein ( [e-mail])

[Don Klipstein]

Far from it:

- Don Klipstein ( [e-mail])

[Mark Lloyd]

Seems true here. All the plain CFLs I&#39;ve used would warm up in a couple of seconds. The floodlights (look like regular CFLs inside enclosures) take awhile.

[Macuser]

I personally prefer the name brands because they produce light from a warmer spectrum, which is closer in appearance to a luminscent bulb. Cheapier fluorescents from the dollar store are ok for the night light I have in the front window.

[Twice Retired]

Throughout my home I have 72 CFL&#39;s of various wattages. Mixed brands, most are indies. Color temp varies from 2700K to 2900K, equal to incandescent. Have had 4 failures in 7 years, 2 outdoors and 2 in basement. I think vibration may have got the outdoor ones as they are post lights. The 2 in the basement are on 24/7 for general illumination for cats to find food, water, and litter boxes.

[Nate Nagel]

I don&#39;t think that cats require any more light than a dim glow (equivalent to moonlight/starlight.) They ARE basically nocturnal animals, after all.

nate

[James Sweet]

Even the "name brand" ones are made in China, though some are better than others. The spectrum is determined by the color temperature, not by the brand that makes them. 2700K is incandescent lookalike, 3100K is often referred to as soft white, occasionally you see 3500K which are a bit cooler, and then 5500K-6000K is referred to as "daylight". A few companies charge exorbitant prices for daylight fluorescents marketing them as some sort of magical sunlight substitute, they&#39;re no different than the daylight cfls you can buy at most hardware stores for a few dollars.

[James Sweet]

Cats have far more sensitive vision than people, they have poor color vision, and lower resolution, but excellent nighttime sensitivity. A single nightlight is more than enough.

[LouB]

Interesting, thanks.

Lou

[Macuser]

As far as I know, they&#39;re ALL made in China, but I said I prefer the bulbs be name brand because they tend to have a more attractive glow. GE and other brands tend to be much warmer as far as I have seen. One bulb I have fires up as a dim colored rose bulb, and then it brightens to be a full spectrum bulb. It&#39;s pretty weird.