"Doug Kanter" wrote in message
...

"Jeff Wisnia" wrote in message
...
Today I encountered something that is either stupid design or I've
somehow missed the point.

While out shopping last night I found some nice looking flourescent
torchiere lamps on sale at a very attractive price. They had the usual
pair of "circline" flourescent bulbs and a switch for three light
levels. I decided it was time to pick up a couple and get rid of the
ancient 300 watt halogen ones (Pre safety guard models even.) sitting
around in two spare bedrooms. I had creepy feelings about some
uninformed guest drying out damp clothing by hanging it over a lit
halogen and starting a holocoust.

I got 'em home, assembled them and was pleased with the results.

This morning I went to move one and noticed that even though it had been
off all night, the electronic ballast, which was located topside in the
center of the bulbs, was noticably warm. I put my hand over the other
lamp's ballast and it too was warm.

I took one down to my workshop and measured its current draw with the
lamp off. It was a bit over 9 watts. It appears that the ballast is
powered up continuously and there's a couple of control lines which get
diddled by the switch on the lamp's column to make the bulbs turn on.

I've got a couple of other flourescent torchiers in the house which
switch line power ahead of the ballast as I'd expect.

As we're paying close to 10 cents a KWH for electricity these days, I'm
not amused by the thought of paying around $15 a year for the priviledge
of keeping those two "energy saving" lamps plugged in, nor do I want to
go to the bother of unplugging them when they're not going to be used or
installing and wiring wall switches to control the outlets they are
plugged into.

Those stupid lamps were returned to the store today, I'll go get ones
next week which don't waste my money when they aren't in use.

Am I missing a reason why those lamps were designed that way other than
it may have enabled the manufacturer to save a few pennies on each one?

Happy Holidays,

Jeff

Perhaps it's because they were made in China, a country whose policy it is
to put expedience and profits ahead of environmental concerns. I'm
assuming
this is where they were made because I've been shopping for floor lamps
and
in 2 months, I have not found a single one that didn't come from China.

If you liked them (other than the stupid electrical setup), you could've
installed inline foot switches, the type that go right on the power cords.


I understand you have basically four possible states lamp: OFF-OFF; ON-ON;
OFF-ON and ON-OFF. To obtain the result you desire requires, for example,
two double pole switches. each switch has one pole controlling the tube the
other poles are in paralle, making a logic OR to feed the ballast.

Such design approach is irresistible to the cost cutting mentality to
replace the double pole switches with cheaper single pole, a whopping $0.06
and leave the ballast under power, beside no body will notice or have the
sophistication to know the difference or care.

It is true, quality is going down, I do not mean poor construction quality
which is bad enough but the current consumer market is flodded with bad
design, inadequate material strenght, undersized everything. Is difficult
to find good product even if you are willing to pay the right price. The
cheap stuff drives the good stuff out of the market. As much as I would
like to blame the suppliers, I believe the blame is with the consumer. We
got to start refusing to buy and definitively return the poor stuff, is the
only feedback we have.

MG