Not so. Energy Star requires performance testing, including lamp life, and certification of the data by a "3rd. Party" (usually an approved test lab.). Requirements are also due to be tightened later this year.
Tomsic
Still doesn't addres the "C-Factor" - and they do not check to make sure every bulb meets the spec the first one met.
Like I said - you are not addressing the "C-Factor"
"None seem to last long," because you changed one once? That would be the typical knee-jerk reaction from most people...
That all sounds simple and makes sense, but how the hell do you install a ceiling light base down? You'd have to use all table lamps, or put light fixtures on the floor. These companies know how light bulbs are installed (I hope). They should be designed to operate base up. Maybe there could be an after-market heat shield or something..... Although they should make them FOR base-up uses, since that's how at least 90% of them are used. The only fixtures in my house that are not base-up are two bedroom lights - horizontal bulbs and two bathroom wall fixtures that are base-down, but I dont use CFL in the bathroom cuz of the many on-off cycles. (table lamps and trouble lights not included).
Seems that small wattage bulbs dont get black as much as hi-wattage ones. When I was a kid, they had a lot of 500W incandeacents bulbs. My father installed them outdoors in a metal shade covered fixture and they would get real black over time. Those were replaced by 100W or 150W flood lights later on, which seemed to shed as much light and lasted longer.
For those not already aware of this:
Depends on the fixture.
It will likely get sorted out as we move slowly away from screw-in bulbs and existing sockets and begin using more dedicated fluorescent and LED fixtures where the fixture is engineered to take account of the thermal needs of the light source. Such fixtures now, for example, typically separate the LED and driver circuitry and build in heat sinks and other ways to keep the temperatures under control. Few recognize how difficult it is to design this new generation of screw-in electronic bulbs. The bulb has to be small, even tiny, and then the socket and most of the existing lighting fixtures are designed to only make the fixture safe at elevated temperatures, not to keep the bulb itself near room temperatures. Fans, metal heat sinks and liquid-filled bulbs are all being tried. The new GE LED bulb, designed to replace a standard 100 watt, even has electronic "lungs". I don't hold out much hope for existing fixtures that operate CFL and LED base up. They'll always operate the lamp circuitry hotter than base down; but as the lamps themselves become more efficient, lamp watts (and heat) will be reduced for the same amount of light and that will help. Or, maybe we'll begin to see adapters and kits that will change the bulb orientation or with clever ways to handle the heat. That's whats happening with the LED downlight conversion kits. They have large heat sinks with some disguised as decorative trim rings.
Tomsic
Whatever that is.
As wikipedia makes clear, Energy Star is about more than "power consumption".
The post you responded to said Energy Star included life testing. Wikipedia says Energy Star includes "lifetime criteria".
There should be a test for every bulb? Not in the real world. UL tests representative samples at the start and has periodic checks, which may not include testing the product.
Every bulb should be tested for "lifetime criteria"?
The "china factor"
No, but their should be spot checks. I've bought numerous products out of china - first one you get excedes all specs -a bit farther along they JUST meet specs, and then after they have you comitted, the crap starts rolling in. Nowhere CLOSE to spec.
In most cases, where the product design did actually meat all the requirements for energy star rating, rather than just getting a counterfiet label attatched, the product sold and put on the shelves a year or so later is a totally different product.
That is the "C-Factor" ( AKA "China Syndrome")
Are any CFLs made in the US?
Maybe you should stop buying in the dollar store or in Canada.
I would buy one of many well known brands. If it is "Energy Star" I am confident it meets Energy Star standards which, as Tomsic wrote, cover more than "power consumption".
If it has a UL on the side, does it really mean that it's UL listed? Wanna buy a bridge?
If you have any suspicions that a UL label is a fake, contact UL. They have a fraud group that will act on such reports. It's no secret that it's a problem for them; but they've got to deal with it to protect the brand and reputation -- and they do. Same goes for CSA.
Tomsic
>
Tell them to check the HF electrical section.
Long ago, and far away, in my vacuum tube class as an EE, we discussed tungsten filaments. As time goes on, three things occur, if I remember correctly:
You get "hot spots," which speed the failure process. Adding argon or nitrogen help on the evaporation issue. Halogen lamps work even better.
There is also the "bathtub" curve issue. Many DOA, or "infant death," then quite a period of useful life, then they start to fail. Curve looks like an old-fashioned bath tub in cross section.
73 /paul W3FIS
No, you tell them. You have the details and I don't work for UL.
Tomsic
Nicely said. You learned well.
Your #3 is what usually leads to lamp failure as I understand it from the lamp engineers. The filament becomes thinner due to tungsten evaporation and it also becomes brittle and more sensitive to shock and vibration. At some point, even a slight movement or vibration of the fixture is enough to make the filament fail. Often, of course, the filament fails at turn-on when it heats quickly and may be subject to movement (like in a portable lamp) at the same time.
The "bathtub curve" applies to solid state devices, but I've not seen such a curve for inancescent bulbs. Early failures due happen, however.
Tomsic
Idiot.
I broke one filament when it was on its way from the package to the fixture. These things are *fragile*. The ones with more supports are much better.
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