New GE hybrid bulb

[willshak]

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[Frank]

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Gotta assume it costs twice as much. Wonder if they got out the cfl hum?

[Percival P. Cassidy]

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Neither I nor SWMBO (whose hearing is far better than mine) have/has ever noticed a hum from CFL bulbs.

Perce

[Metspitzer]

I was hoping for a lamp with an extra boost for reading. The instant on is not as important for me.

And getting more fancy and expensive, it should go back to dim after an hour.

[Don Klipstein]

My experience is that most CFLs have had essentially zero audible hum ever since the spiral models became common around 2001-2002 or so.

[Don Klipstein]

3-way CFLs equivalent or nearly-enough-so to 50-100-150-watt 3-way incandescents are now common. Some drift towards 65-110-150 "incandescent equivalence" or something like that, since the CFL electronics allows 3rd to not necessarily equal the sum of 2nd and 1st.

[Don Klipstein]

Interesting - I wish I thought about that!

Not only does the halogen provide light while the CFL is warming up, but also its heat speeds up the CFL's warmup process.

Meanwhile, the article mentions the halogen as solving the problem of starting time. However, some people fail to discern the 2 separate issues of starting time (instant to about a second sometimes closer to 2 seconds) and warmup time (~35 seconds to 2-plus minutes). It appears to me that the halogen part is directed more to the warmup time issue, though it also most-of-the-way solves the starting time issue should the CFL not start instantly or within 1/4 second.

[David Nebenzahl]

On 10/24/2010 12:15 PM Percival P. Cassidy spake thus:

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Nor have I. But then I'm getting to be an old fart. I used to be able to at least *sense* the 15kHz whine of TV sets ...

[LSMFT]

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If you can't wait 2 seconds for a CFL you have real issues.

[The Daring Dufas]

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I was in Lightbulb Depot one day and the counterman showed me an 80 watt CFL. It was the size of a football and it put out a lot of light.

TDD

[willshak]

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I have had them for years in all kinds of lamps and fixtures. Table lamps, desk lamps, and lensed high hats, and in all positions; straight up, sideways, and upside down, both inside and outside, Summer and Winter, and I have never heard a single one hum.

[schmidtd]

I dunno. We just replaced the bulbs in the chandelier above the kitchen table with CFLs, and I'll be darned if I don't flip the switch twice, thinking I've got the wrong one since it doesn't come on 'immediately' any more.

[Josh]

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As Don Klipstein mentions (and the article fails to, showing that they don't really understand what they're writing about), the issue isn't

1-2 seconds of startup.

I put 15W BR-30 (65W equivalent) CFLs in the 6 can lights in our kitchen. They come on fairly quickly (some instantly, some a second or so later), but are quite dim for at least 2-3 minutes, sometimes longer. Maybe 1/4 brightness at first. I've tried a few different brands; they all do this to varying degrees.

I believe this is more of an issue with the enclosed bulbs (as these are), although there's some ramp-up time with the other types also; maybe starting at 80-90% instead, which might not be as noticable.

It's very annoying when you want to pop into the kitchen for something; we tend to just leave the lights on until we're sure we're done in there for the night, which lessens the savings. I've thought about a "hybrid" myself, and would definitely try these.

Josh

[Don Klipstein]

[Andy]

Andy comments:

That's because they all know the words.......

[Mark Lloyd]

[snip]

I think so. I've used a lot of CFLs and the ONLY ones that took more than a second to reach acceptable brightness are enclosed (floodlights).

[snip]