100w Light Bulbs.

Well, yes. There's also the feature that at large screen sizes, the power needed to run the LCD backlight is not that far off the power needed to run a CRT of the same screen diagonal.

However, the point I was trying to make is that if the buyers see a net perceived benefit to the new technology, it'll be very popular. It is self evident that domestic consumers, in the main, have not been convinced of the net benefit of using CFLs - so government prodding has been needed.

Standard fluorescent lamps have been around for a very long time, and not displaced incandescent in general domestic use - garages, workshops, and oddly enough, kitchens being the exception - so something was deterring people from using them generally. That 'something' is not cost, as people have been quite happily forking out large amounts of money for LCD and plasma TVs, and for new mobile phones each fashion season. Over the period standard fluorescents have been available, homes have sprouted dishwashers, washing machines, microwaves, freezers, and home computers - so it is not as if people are afraid of new technology, or lack the wish to spend money on new things. I don't know the exact reason why people don't want CFLs, and we could all speculate on the possible reasons, but the plain fact is that people (in general) have been staying away from them in droves. It has required government/EU intervention to incentivise people to buy CFLs by restricting the easy availability of incandescents in the form easiest to use.

The money used to encourage the use of CFLs would (in my opinion) have been better spent on encouraging the replacement of electric resistive element space heating with heat pumps, especially in new-builds.

Cheers,

Sid

Reply to
unopened
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The misleading, indeed, completely incredible claim.

Reply to
Andrew Gabriel

Indeed -- you need nearer a 25W one as frequently mentioned here.

Keep an eye out, and buy some stock when you see them. Costco had some Feit ones which I'm very impressed with. Fortunately I bought another 3 packs after trying some, as they've since run out of the BC ones. (Presumably other people found them very good too.)

There's only one room where that's the case for me. In all other rooms, the warm up time is not a problem, and in a few cases it's a positive advantage. Note that warm up applies to all fluorescent lamps, not just CFLs.

Filament lamps fade over time too. A 100W lamp will have lost

20% of its output at normal end of life.

One trouble with CFLs is they often don't die at end of lifetime, and people are too used to running lamps until they die. They then complain that they're dim, when they're well past their rated lifetime, and should have been replaced. You might think about marking them with a "use by" date when you fit them, based on rated lifetime and expected frequency of use.

Reply to
Andrew Gabriel

I said the same, but after I tried all the alternatives for my Office (11'x13'), I ended up with four 58w Tri-phos daylight fluorescents. I can now read my screens (no glare) and it seems to have helped my SAD too.

OK, it's not the lounge (where I have 50 & 75w halogen spots on tracks), but we are all going to have to find ways of getting decent lighting with what is available.

Regrettably just firing GoreDoom, and hiring The Cameroons isn't going to get the incandescent bulbs back.

R.

Reply to
TheOldFellow

I was worried by this whole thing but it seems there are halogens coming out to get round it all? Now, do you think there will be a halogen dimmable to replace my dimmed screw thread incandescent reflector spotlamps?

Reply to
clumsy bastard

not really, who would have fitted cats to car exhausts voluntarily? Not that I think the light bulb change makes much sense.

Reply to
clumsy bastard

so halogen also no go with 25 year old dimmers?

Reply to
clumsy bastard

Back in the UK I replaced my kitchen lights with chrome louvre fluorescents bought off eBay for about £15 each, installed above the front edges of the worktops. Excellent shadow-free lighting.

Meanwhile my mum had her kitchen flourescents replaced with 2 x 4x50W spot fittings - horrible lighting that left you working in your own shadow.

My flat here in Australia - built 2005 - has recessed 50W spots everywhere. To read a book or newspaper you need to sit at the right hand end of the sofa. At some point I may well change them - this being Australia, to be legal I will have to get a licensed electrician to change them!

Reply to
Tony Bryer

From previous discussions on here (not speculation):

  1. The 5X equivalence factor is dishonest. A 20W CFL gives much less light than a 100W incandescent despite claims that they are equivalent.
  2. The amount of light reduces significantly as the CFL gets older.
  3. CFLs' quality of light is poor, both in terms of colour temperature and flicker.
  4. CFLs' longevity is far less than claimed.
  5. CFLs are still much more expensive than incandescent bulbs and their longevity does not fully compensate.
Reply to
Bruce

I've been meaning to do that for a while, and hearing about shops running down stock has goaded me into actually doing something about it.

How much do you think is "enough for several years"? I've surveyed the bulb numbers and types that I want to keep incandescent for the forseeable, now I want to multiply that by some number of "expected replacements". Essentially, for each installed bulb, how many "backups" do I need? I don't have vastly more or less of one particular type than any other, so no need to apply "diversity" type thinking.

Anyone have a finger-in-the-air estimate of how many replacements I should bank on? I'm not trying to last out till I die, only till something better than current CFLs comes along.

Cheers,

Pete

Reply to
Pete Verdon

AFAIAA - yes :-(

Reply to
Jethro

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When I worked for a weighbridge company, an enclosure which housed a small ticket printer for unmanned weighing used to have a 60W light bulb inside to prevent dampness from causing the paper to stick .....

Reply to
Jethro

It might be that the dimmers would not be happy with halogen lamps. But it's nothing to do with their tungsten-ness (or otherwise). Both ordinary incandescent and halogen incandescent lamps use tungsten filaments.

The lamps that cause greatest annoyance are the touch sensitive dimmer ones - that have become so common and yet are CFL-incompatible (so far as I can tell).

Reply to
Rod

Thats not the only pork pie. Note the tubes have 2 prongs at each end, not one, so theyre filament ended. No-one has ever managed to get

6000hr lamp life out of a filament ended fluorescent tube when using them with on times of 2 minutes. 6000hrs if you run them for 3 hrs each time, sure. Filament ended lamps are usually good for around 1000 starts, and 2000 minutes is about 33 hours. Pork pie factor: about 200!

NT

Reply to
meow2222

Of all the examples you can quote the compulsory fitting of cats to cars is probably the worst example with interference from certain groups within the EU.

The legislation outlawed the use of "lean burn" engines through insisting on stoichiometric mixtures.

Also a cat won't come on song for a few miles and given that most urban journeys are within this range the cat is just warming up and of no use. They do make for clean motorways!

Cats also use up another 10% more fuel adding to CO2 emissions.

All in all, not a good example.

(BTW, it is true that the CO emissions of a Morris Minor could pass the MOT test when cats first came out.)

On the other hand a CFL is a step forward to reducing fuel use and CO2 generation. I do agree with the sentiment about space heating by electric. It goes to show that we should be taxed more on electricity. Didn't New Labour vote against increasing VAT on electricity? Don't forget that for every kW consumed another 2-3 go to waste up a chimney with it's appropriate amount of CO2 into the atmosphere.

Reply to
Fred

Reply to
Huge

will not accept a 25W CFL.

Reply to
Huge

You don't read this newgroup much, do you?

Reply to
Huge

Cobblers. A 25W if you're lucky, and within a year two of them.

Which won't fit in the same fitting.

Reply to
Huge

I ordered some this morning.

Reply to
Huge

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