Here in AZ, I live in a housing development where each house has two
outside light fixtures that are on all the time - they are not on
switches. Makes the area inviting, don'cha know, to have each house
lighted at night, and I kind of agree. Some homeowners remove the bulbs
or simply let them burn out, but then the HOA comes after you. Since I
am here only 6 months of the year, but the lights burn all 12 months, I
put small flourescents in both fixtures. I learned a few things.

1. You're right - they are too stubby to fit in the standard outdoor
fixtures. But most any hardware store, Wal-Mart, etc, has short "socket
extenders" that get you past this.
2. Color doesn't matter in an outside light, IMHO. You're looking for
illumination, not artwork.
3. Brightness is hard to judge by eyeball. Incandescents look brighter
because they are a point source of light, whereas fluorescents are an
extended source. However, I found that if I put a 60-watt-equivalent
fluorescent in one fixture and a 60-watt incandescent in the other,
waited until dark, and then stepped back from the house and out into the
street, they appeared to wash an equal amount of light down the wall and
into the yard.
4. UL/CSA and RFI don't have any connection with each other. UL/CSA
are safety organizations.
5. It doesn't get cold enough here to cause light output to drop - but
I tried the same thing in Maine, and sure enough, the lamps barely light
when the temp dips below about 50F.

Bill Jeffrey
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Terry wrote:

Recently attracted by the low price ($2.99) for a single fluorescent (screw
in replacement for a regular lamp/bulb) package I decided to try one in the
outside fixture over our front door. Previously I had only seen them in
packages of two ranging in price from $10 to $19.
The package claims such things as "Uses 15 watts but gives as much light as
75 watts". (Not that I've ever seen a 75 watt bulb AFIK).
I've understood that these 'fluorescents' last longest and work best when
left on continuously. Since our outdoor light is usually on all night it
seemed like good bet!
And might save some electricity.
So I removed the 'long life' incandescent, which I understand is basically a
130 volt bulb running on 115 volts? That lighting circuit is served from a
circuit breaker sub-panel next to the kitchen at one end of the house.
Changing the lamp requires the use of a step ladder; so in the current
winter weather the idea of a long life bulb was also attractive!
The results were disappointing to say the least.
Even after an hour or so when the lamp/bulb had warmed up the light out put
was low; less, I estimated than a cheap 40 watt incandescent. The colour of
the light was poor; a sort of washed out white.
The lamp is also physically longer so it won't fit in some fixtures unless
one were to modify them.
However; and the main reason for posting this here, is that it caused
significant radio interference to the bedside radio some 50 feet away
plugged into a wall socket fed from a completely separate circuit from the
main circuit breaker panel. The interference was not sufficient to interfere
with the local broadcast stations some miles away, when tuned exactly to a
station; but if the orientation of the radio with its built in antenna was
changed interference was apparent on a number of frequencies particularly in
the low end of the AM 'Broadcast Band' e.g. around 600 to 900 kilohertz.
Unfortunately I discarded the package, but I'm pretty sure it was labeled
"Complies with UL and CSA (Canadian Standards Association)".
I intend to go back to the store and get the details from an identical
package.
Unless I happened to buy the one defective unit bought randomly, in a batch,
it seems strange that a device that radiates such noticeable interference
should be sold in North America.
Anyone have similar experience? And maybe this comment may avoid some
unintentional RFI (Radio Frequency Interference).
Cheers. Terry.