Compact fluorescents slow to reach full intensity
 

In all the praise of compact
fluorescent bulbs I've see in
the press, nobody mentions that they
take at least a minute to reach
full intensity after they are turned
on...Or have I bought the wrong type
of bulb?

--
Charles Packer
http://cpacker.org/whatnews
mailboxATcpacker.org

Compact fluorescents slow to reach full intensity
 

Compact fluorescents slow to reach full intensity
 

wrote in message
oups.com...
In all the praise of compact fluorescent bulbs I've see in the press,
nobody mentions that they take at least a minute to reach full intensity
after they are turned on...Or have I bought the wrong type of bulb?
Charles Packer

All that I have seen have a delay of sorts, but I have found that
different brands have differing delay rates. I have found that the
nvision ones sold at HD had a relatively bright initial intensity, where
the GE ones that I bought at Walmart take much longer (but are cheaper).
Where I want more initial light (kitchen) I use the nvision ones, where is
matters less ( living room) I use the GE ones.

It is something that I have trained myself to tolerate as a trade off to
savings.
Tomes

Compact fluorescents slow to reach full intensity
 

Thats pretty normal, but I hear some brands are getting
better. Sometimes these bulb are less than $2 apiece
at home depot. Havent had to replace one yet.

Compact fluorescents slow to reach full intensity
 

In misc.consumers.house wrote:
: In all the praise of compact
: fluorescent bulbs I've see in
: the press, nobody mentions that they
: take at least a minute to reach
: full intensity after they are turned
: on...Or have I bought the wrong type
: of bulb?

I find that the ones that say "quick-start", "instannt-on", etc on the
package have no noticible delay. I use the cheap/slow ones for my
dusk/dawn porch lights, and the fast ones for lights where I flip a
light switch.

I had a light fixture that took 5 60W light bulbs. As the
incandescents light bulbs burned out, I replaced them one at a time
with "quick-start" "warm" "60W equivalent" CFLs. I had a mix of
incandescents and CFLs in the same fixture, and I couldn't see any
difference besides the shape of the bulb. Color, intensity, and start
up were identical as far as I could tell.

--- Chip

Compact fluorescents slow to reach full intensity
 

On Mar 7, 9:37 am, "Charles Buchholtz"
wrote:
In misc.consumers.house wrote:

: In all the praise of compact
: fluorescent bulbs I've see in
: the press, nobody mentions that they
: take at least a minute to reach
: full intensity after they are turned
: on...Or have I bought the wrong type
: of bulb?

I find that the ones that say "quick-start", "instannt-on", etc on the
package have no noticible delay. I use the cheap/slow ones for my
dusk/dawn porch lights, and the fast ones for lights where I flip a
light switch.

I had a light fixture that took 5 60W light bulbs. As the
incandescents light bulbs burned out, I replaced them one at a time
with "quick-start" "warm" "60W equivalent" CFLs. I had a mix of
incandescents and CFLs in the same fixture, and I couldn't see any
difference besides the shape of the bulb. Color, intensity, and start
up were identical as far as I could tell.

--- Chip


I haven't seen one yet that didn't have a significant difference in
output for many seconds after being turned on, including the ones that
say they are quick start. In my experience, the quick start ones are
better, but there is still a significant delay of maybe 30 secs or
more in reaching full output. And it's worse in cold applications.
It's also possible that people thinking they reach full output right
away just aren't paying close attention. If you turn one on, take a
look at it initially and then again at 2 mins.

I would like to see a spec on the package that says how long it takes
to reach 75% brightness and how long till 100%. Then we could figure
out which is best without having to buy a bunch of crap ones. That
would help get them adopted and save energy.

Compact fluorescents slow to reach full intensity
 

On Mar 7, 3:14 am, wrote:
In all the praise of compact
fluorescent bulbs I've see in
the press, nobody mentions that they
take at least a minute to reach
full intensity after they are turned
on...Or have I bought the wrong type
of bulb?

it's not mentioned because it's common knowledge and not that big of a
deal.

Compact fluorescents slow to reach full intensity
 

In article om,
says...
On Mar 7, 3:14 am, wrote:
In all the praise of compact
fluorescent bulbs I've see in
the press, nobody mentions that they
take at least a minute to reach
full intensity after they are turned
on...Or have I bought the wrong type
of bulb?

it's not mentioned because it's common knowledge and not that big of a
deal.

It's a big enough of a deal (along with the crappy color) that I
won't buy any more CFs.

--
Keith

Compact fluorescents slow to reach full intensity
 

krw wrote:

In article om,
says...

On Mar 7, 3:14 am, wrote:

In all the praise of compact
fluorescent bulbs I've see in
the press, nobody mentions that they
take at least a minute to reach
full intensity after they are turned
on...Or have I bought the wrong type
of bulb?

it's not mentioned because it's common knowledge and not that big of a
deal.


It's a big enough of a deal (along with the crappy color)

You can get CFs with great color. My Photo Club switched from
incandescant photo bulbs (the kind that with a short life, a high K and
color balanced frosting) to a commercial CF. The color balance (you can
really see this on B&W prints) is much better on the CFs. Not all CFs
are created equal.

that I
won't buy any more CFs.

Your call. I like saving electricity.

Jeff

Compact fluorescents slow to reach full intensity
 

On Mar 8, 7:07 am, krw wrote:
In article om,
says... On Mar 7, 3:14 am, wrote:
In all the praise of compact
fluorescent bulbs I've see in
the press, nobody mentions that they
take at least a minute to reach
full intensity after they are turned
on...Or have I bought the wrong type
of bulb?

it's not mentioned because it's common knowledge and not that big of a
deal.

It's a big enough of a deal (along with the crappy color) that I
won't buy any more CFs.


This raises an intersting questions: What if California and Australia
succeed with their ban on incadecents?
What would happen to things such as flashing marquees on signs and
carnival rides, or any application that
requires lights to be able to flash on and off quickly? LEDs? Do they
have LED clusters that can screw into
a normal socket and deliver the kind of light needed?




--
Keith

Compact fluorescents slow to reach full intensity
 

zeez wrote:
On Mar 8, 7:07 am, krw wrote:
In article om,
says... On Mar 7, 3:14 am,
wrote:
In all the praise of compact
fluorescent bulbs I've see in
the press, nobody mentions that they
take at least a minute to reach
full intensity after they are turned
on...Or have I bought the wrong type
of bulb?

it's not mentioned because it's common knowledge and not that big
of a deal.

It's a big enough of a deal (along with the crappy color) that I
won't buy any more CFs.

This raises an intersting questions: What if California
and Australia succeed with their ban on incadecents?

Australia wont be having a mindless blanket ban on incandescents.

What would happen to things such as flashing marquees
on signs and carnival rides, or any application that
requires lights to be able to flash on and off quickly?

Those and a raft of other stuff like fridge and oven
lights will certainly have an exemption in Australia.

LEDs? Do they have LED clusters that can screw into
a normal socket and deliver the kind of light needed?

Yes, thats already available for car lights and its perfectly
possible to do that with mains voltage bulbs too.

They're already widely used for traffic lights etc too.

Compact fluorescents slow to reach full intensity
 

I highly doubt such a ban would extend to this type of application,
but cold cathode CFLs would be a good alternative.

See:
http://www.tcpi.com/PDF/494_01112%20...ors%20SS.pd f

Cheers,
Paul

On 8 Mar 2007 14:59:37 -0800, "zeez" wrote:

This raises an intersting questions: What if California and Australia
succeed with their ban on incadecents?
What would happen to things such as flashing marquees on signs and
carnival rides, or any application that
requires lights to be able to flash on and off quickly? LEDs? Do they
have LED clusters that can screw into
a normal socket and deliver the kind of light needed?

Compact fluorescents slow to reach full intensity
 

In article .com,
says...
On Mar 8, 7:07 am, krw wrote:
In article om,
says... On Mar 7, 3:14 am, wrote:
In all the praise of compact
fluorescent bulbs I've see in
the press, nobody mentions that they
take at least a minute to reach
full intensity after they are turned
on...Or have I bought the wrong type
of bulb?

it's not mentioned because it's common knowledge and not that big of a
deal.

It's a big enough of a deal (along with the crappy color) that I
won't buy any more CFs.


This raises an intersting questions: What if California and Australia
succeed with their ban on incadecents?
What would happen to things such as flashing marquees on signs and
carnival rides, or any application that
requires lights to be able to flash on and off quickly? LEDs? Do they
have LED clusters that can screw into
a normal socket and deliver the kind of light needed?

Yes, they do:

http://www.ledtronics.com/markets/25mm_med_index.htm

--Gene

Compact fluorescents slow to reach full intensity
 

On Mar 8, 2:59 pm, "zeez" wrote:
What would happen to things such as flashing marquees on signs and
carnival rides, or any application that
requires lights to be able to flash on and off quickly?

that would be great, I absolutely loathe vegas-style lights, they're
so tacky

Compact fluorescents slow to reach full intensity
 

In misc.consumers.house wrote:
the press, nobody mentions that they
take at least a minute to reach
full intensity after they are turned
on...Or have I bought the wrong type
of bulb?

For me, I find that an extra benefit first thing in
the morning to not have *bright* light all at once
in the kitchen is kind of nice. There's plenty of
light to see, but it's not annoyingly bright and you
get some time for your eyes to adjust.

Actually, I'm sort of annoyed that my kitchen fixture
seems to burn out CFLs. I need to find some that are
more tolerant of being mounted "upside down."

Bill Ranck
Blacksburg, Va.

Compact fluorescents slow to reach full intensity
 

Hi Bill,

Heat is the killer of all things electronic and CFLs are no exception;
base up or base down operation will make little difference.

The Philips Marathon Universal (available at Home Depot) has an
operating range of -30C through to +60C (-22F to +140F). If any CFL
is likely to provide long service life within an enclosed fixture,
this is the one.

See:
http://www.nam.lighting.philips.com/...pdf/p-3754.pdf

Cheers,
Paul

On Fri, 9 Mar 2007 15:02:48 +0000 (UTC), wrote:

Actually, I'm sort of annoyed that my kitchen fixture
seems to burn out CFLs. I need to find some that are
more tolerant of being mounted "upside down."

Bill Ranck
Blacksburg, Va.

Compact fluorescents slow to reach full intensity
 

Compact fluorescents slow to reach full intensity
 

Say, has anyone seen the dimmable CFLs anywhere? I've looked at all
the big and small stores around where I live and none carry any.

Compact fluorescents slow to reach full intensity
 

Hi Bill,

They're out there, but the selection is limited and you'll pay a
considerable premium for this feature. I do know Home Depot stocks
the dimmable and three-way versions of Philip's Marathon.

Cheers,
Paul

On 9 Mar 2007 13:40:15 -0800, "WDS" wrote:

Say, has anyone seen the dimmable CFLs anywhere? I've looked at all
the big and small stores around where I live and none carry any.

Compact fluorescents slow to reach full intensity
 

And here's another way to get bit in the ass with CFL. I just bought
a 3 pack of Feit CFL 120W floodlights at Costco. Was going to try
them in some of my recessed indoor ceiling fixtures. Well, guess
what? They don't fit. Even though a regular flood light, either
interior or exterior will go in, these won't. The problem is that
the base gets too wide too close to the metal screw in base. These
fixtures use metal clips on each side of the socket assembly to hold
it to the rest of the fixture. The CFL bulb hits these clips, so the
bulb won't screw in.

Compact fluorescents slow to reach full intensity
 

And here's another way to get bit in the ass with CFL. I just bought
a 3 pack of Feit CFL 120W floodlights at Costco. Was going to try
them in some of my recessed indoor ceiling fixtures.
Well, guess what? They don't fit.

That's one reason there are bulb extenders:
a socket that extends the bulb up an inch or so.
I understand that they're an additional cost
but it's a one time expense.
--

-- mejeep deMeep ferret!

Compact fluorescents slow to reach full intensity
 

Bucky wrote:
On Mar 8, 2:59 pm, "zeez" wrote:
What would happen to things such as flashing marquees on signs and
carnival rides, or any application that
requires lights to be able to flash on and off quickly?

that would be great, I absolutely loathe vegas-style lights, they're
so tacky

As opposed to other vegas-style things which aren't tacky?

- Logan

Compact fluorescents slow to reach full intensity
 

In article .com,
wrote:
I haven't seen one yet that didn't have a significant difference in
output for many seconds after being turned on, including the ones that
say they are quick start. In my experience, the quick start ones are
better, but there is still a significant delay of maybe 30 secs or
more in reaching full output. And it's worse in cold applications.
It's also possible that people thinking they reach full output right
away just aren't paying close attention. If you turn one on, take a
look at it initially and then again at 2 mins.

I don't see a difference, but if I hook up in series some batteries, a
resistor, a photoresistor, and a current meter, and put the
photoresistor under a CFL and turn it on, I can see the current is
indeed going up over 30 secs or so, and so, presumably, the light is
going up.

With one of my lights, the current in the aforementioned circuit started
at 0.36 milliamps, and rose to 0.40. With another light, it started at
0.34, and rose to about 0.38. (The photoresistor was not at the same
distance from the lights, and they were not the same brand of light, nor
the same color, so such variation between the two is not surprising).

--
--Tim Smith

Compact fluorescents slow to reach full intensity
 

In , Paul M. Eldridge wrote:

Heat is the killer of all things electronic and CFLs are no exception;
base up or base down operation will make little difference.

The ballast is what typically gets outright killed by heat, and that
part of ballast-included CFLs will usually get hotter in base-up
situations.

The Philips Marathon Universal (available at Home Depot) has an
operating range of -30C through to +60C (-22F to +140F). If any CFL
is likely to provide long service life within an enclosed fixture,
this is the one.

The 15, 20 and 23 watt non-dimmable SLS ones are even specifcally rated
for use in recessed ceiling fixtures, which are heat hellholes for CFLs.

- Don Klipstein )

Compact fluorescents slow to reach full intensity
 

On Mar 9, 5:21 pm, wrote:
...They don't fit. Even though a regular flood light, either
interior or exterior will go in, these won't.

Isn't that what the code on the packages is for? I know I've gotten
the wrong size floods before with incadescents, too.

Compact fluorescents slow to reach full intensity
 

On Mar 10, 2:26 am, "WDS" wrote:
On Mar 9, 5:21 pm, wrote:

...They don't fit. Even though a regular flood light, either
interior or exterior will go in, these won't.

Isn't that what the code on the packages is for? I know I've gotten
the wrong size floods before with incadescents, too.

No, it's not a bulb size issue. The bulbs are the same size. So
are the sockets. If you look at them side by side, they look almost
identical. It's the fact that this CFL gets wider closer to the base
than a similar regular floodlight, (probably for the electronics),
thereby hitting the 2 small clips which hold the fixture together.

Jeff's idea of a bulb extender won't work either. The flood light
bulbs come to within about 3/4 of an inch of the bottom of the
recessed fixture without one. With an extender they will stick out.

It's kind of a bummer too, as I have 20 or so recessed fixtures and
they are all the same, so I don't know where I'm going to use these
CFLs. I'll take a look at other ones and see if I can find a brand
that has a thinner design near the base.

Compact fluorescents slow to reach full intensity
 

Hi Don,

On Sat, 10 Mar 2007 05:15:13 +0000 (UTC), (Don
Klipstein) wrote:

In , Paul M. Eldridge wrote:

Heat is the killer of all things electronic and CFLs are no exception;
base up or base down operation will make little difference.

The ballast is what typically gets outright killed by heat, and that
part of ballast-included CFLs will usually get hotter in base-up
situations.

I agree that it's the ballast that's at risk, but within the confines
of a small, fully enclosed fixture, I suspect the operating
temperature, base up or base down, is not likely to be significantly
different either way; it's going to be hot not matter how you slice
it.

The Philips Marathon Universal (available at Home Depot) has an
operating range of -30C through to +60C (-22F to +140F). If any CFL
is likely to provide long service life within an enclosed fixture,
this is the one.

The 15, 20 and 23 watt non-dimmable SLS ones are even specifcally rated
for use in recessed ceiling fixtures, which are heat hellholes for CFLs.

I fully agree with you on this. The Philips SL CFLs are some of the
most rugged and dependable CFLs out there and are an excellent choice
in applications where heat can be a problem. I have five SL lamps in
my home that have now clocked well over 15,000 hours of use and they
show no sign of quitting. They're a little more expensive than some
of the other brands, but they offer exceptional value and I consider
them to be worth every penny.

Cheers,
Paul

Compact fluorescents slow to reach full intensity
 

"Don Klipstein" wrote in message ...
In , Paul M. Eldridge wrote:

Heat is the killer of all things electronic and CFLs are no exception;
base up or base down operation will make little difference.

The ballast is what typically gets outright killed by heat, and that
part of ballast-included CFLs will usually get hotter in base-up
situations.

The Philips Marathon Universal (available at Home Depot) has an
operating range of -30C through to +60C (-22F to +140F). If any CFL
is likely to provide long service life within an enclosed fixture,
this is the one.

The 15, 20 and 23 watt non-dimmable SLS ones are even specifcally rated
for use in recessed ceiling fixtures, which are heat hellholes for CFLs.

- Don Klipstein )

15 to 23 Watts could still be quite a lot of heat to dissipate, depending
on efficiency.

I wonder how much of that power comes out as visible light,
how much is radiated non-visible, and how much power ends up
heating the fixture?

Don

Compact fluorescents slow to reach full intensity
 

Tim Smith wrote:

In article .com,
wrote:

I haven't seen one yet that didn't have a significant difference in
output for many seconds after being turned on, including the ones that
say they are quick start. In my experience, the quick start ones are
better, but there is still a significant delay of maybe 30 secs or
more in reaching full output. And it's worse in cold applications.
It's also possible that people thinking they reach full output right
away just aren't paying close attention. If you turn one on, take a
look at it initially and then again at 2 mins.


I don't see a difference, but if I hook up in series some batteries, a
resistor, a photoresistor, and a current meter, and put the
photoresistor under a CFL and turn it on, I can see the current is
indeed going up over 30 secs or so, and so, presumably, the light is
going up.

The eye is logarithmic. In photography, one stop is twice the light and
the smallest increment that photographers are concerned with is 1/3 of a
stop. That's a much larger change that what you were measuring.

Jeff

With one of my lights, the current in the aforementioned circuit started
at 0.36 milliamps, and rose to 0.40. With another light, it started at
0.34, and rose to about 0.38. (The photoresistor was not at the same
distance from the lights, and they were not the same brand of light, nor
the same color, so such variation between the two is not surprising).

Compact fluorescents slow to reach full intensity
 

In article , Don K wrote:
"Don Klipstein" wrote in message ...
In , Paul M. Eldridge wrote:

Heat is the killer of all things electronic and CFLs are no exception;
base up or base down operation will make little difference.

The ballast is what typically gets outright killed by heat, and that
part of ballast-included CFLs will usually get hotter in base-up
situations.

The Philips Marathon Universal (available at Home Depot) has an
operating range of -30C through to +60C (-22F to +140F). If any CFL
is likely to provide long service life within an enclosed fixture,
this is the one.

The 15, 20 and 23 watt non-dimmable SLS ones are even specifcally rated
for use in recessed ceiling fixtures, which are heat hellholes for CFLs.

- Don Klipstein )

15 to 23 Watts could still be quite a lot of heat to dissipate, depending
on efficiency.

I wonder how much of that power comes out as visible light,
how much is radiated non-visible, and how much power ends up
heating the fixture?

Roughly 18-20% becomes visible with a compact fluorescent, and roughly
5-6.5% becomes visible light with an incandescent. 1 watt of optical
output from a compact fluorescent has more lumens than one watt of optical
output from an incandescent. A compact fluorescent may have 3 times the
radiometric efficiency of an incandescent at producing visible light, but
closer to 4 times the overall luminous efficacy.

As for the remainder: With an incandescent, this can break down roughly
50-50 between convected/conducted heat and infrared, but this varies.
Heat conduction by the fill gas is highest in moderately low wattages,
with roughly 25 watts per inch of visibly apparent filament length. With
less than that, they use a vacuum. UV accounts for maybe .1-.15% of the
input power.
With a compact fluorescent, UV may be up to half a percent of the input
power. Most of the other 80 or so percent becomes convected and conducted
heat. A 42 watt spiral produces slightly more convected and conducted
heat than a 60 watt 120V incandescent.

- Don Klipstein )

Compact fluorescents slow to reach full intensity
 

In article et, Jeff wrote:
Tim Smith wrote:

In article .com,
wrote:

I haven't seen one yet that didn't have a significant difference in
output for many seconds after being turned on, including the ones that
say they are quick start. In my experience, the quick start ones are
better, but there is still a significant delay of maybe 30 secs or
more in reaching full output. And it's worse in cold applications.
It's also possible that people thinking they reach full output right
away just aren't paying close attention. If you turn one on, take a
look at it initially and then again at 2 mins.


I don't see a difference, but if I hook up in series some batteries, a
resistor, a photoresistor, and a current meter, and put the
photoresistor under a CFL and turn it on, I can see the current is
indeed going up over 30 secs or so, and so, presumably, the light is
going up.

The eye is logarithmic. In photography, one stop is twice the light and
the smallest increment that photographers are concerned with is 1/3 of a
stop. That's a much larger change that what you were measuring.

Jeff

With one of my lights, the current in the aforementioned circuit started
at 0.36 milliamps, and rose to 0.40. With another light, it started at
0.34, and rose to about 0.38. (The photoresistor was not at the same
distance from the lights, and they were not the same brand of light, nor
the same color, so such variation between the two is not surprising).

I think Tim Smith made a poor choice of resistor values. I would have
tried no fixed resistors at all, just the photoresistor. My experience
is that compact fluorescents start with eyeball estimate 20-35% of their
full light output when the arc is first fully established. Ones with 15
mm tubing tend to do better in this area in my experience, starting close
to half brightness. But few CFLs have this, and many that do are by
Lights of America, and I have personally experienced more than a fair
share of problems with that brand. Thankfully CFL torchieres often have
this tubing size.

- Don Klipstein )

Compact fluorescents slow to reach full intensity
 

Don Klipstein wrote:

In article et, Jeff wrote:

Tim Smith wrote:


In article .com,
wrote:


I haven't seen one yet that didn't have a significant difference in
output for many seconds after being turned on, including the ones that
say they are quick start. In my experience, the quick start ones are
better, but there is still a significant delay of maybe 30 secs or
more in reaching full output. And it's worse in cold applications.
It's also possible that people thinking they reach full output right
away just aren't paying close attention. If you turn one on, take a
look at it initially and then again at 2 mins.


I don't see a difference, but if I hook up in series some batteries, a
resistor, a photoresistor, and a current meter, and put the
photoresistor under a CFL and turn it on, I can see the current is
indeed going up over 30 secs or so, and so, presumably, the light is
going up.

The eye is logarithmic. In photography, one stop is twice the light and
the smallest increment that photographers are concerned with is 1/3 of a
stop. That's a much larger change that what you were measuring.

Jeff

With one of my lights, the current in the aforementioned circuit started
at 0.36 milliamps, and rose to 0.40. With another light, it started at
0.34, and rose to about 0.38. (The photoresistor was not at the same
distance from the lights, and they were not the same brand of light, nor
the same color, so such variation between the two is not surprising).


I think Tim Smith made a poor choice of resistor values. I would have
tried no fixed resistors at all, just the photoresistor. My experience
is that compact fluorescents start with eyeball estimate 20-35% of their
full light output when the arc is first fully established. Ones with 15
mm tubing tend to do better in this area in my experience, starting close
to half brightness. But few CFLs have this, and many that do are by
Lights of America, and I have personally experienced more than a fair
share of problems with that brand. Thankfully CFL torchieres often have
this tubing size.

Thanks Don,

I always look forward to reading your posts. I just perused your
website and you know more about lighting than any 10 people I know (put
together).

You may wish to update your site with some of the info that you've
posted here as you've obviously done more experimenting since much of
that was written. If you need an easier way to update this, let me know
as I write CMS (Content Management) and can donate some code.

Working my way through your strobe articles.

Jeff

- Don Klipstein )

Compact fluorescents
 

Compact fluorescents slow to reach full intensity
 

"Don Klipstein" wrote in message ...
In article , Don K wrote:
I wonder how much of that power comes out as visible light,
how much is radiated non-visible, and how much power ends up
heating the fixture?

Roughly 18-20% becomes visible with a compact fluorescent, and roughly
5-6.5% becomes visible light with an incandescent. 1 watt of optical
output from a compact fluorescent has more lumens than one watt of optical
output from an incandescent. A compact fluorescent may have 3 times the
radiometric efficiency of an incandescent at producing visible light, but
closer to 4 times the overall luminous efficacy.

As for the remainder: With an incandescent, this can break down roughly
50-50 between convected/conducted heat and infrared, but this varies.
Heat conduction by the fill gas is highest in moderately low wattages,
with roughly 25 watts per inch of visibly apparent filament length. With
less than that, they use a vacuum. UV accounts for maybe .1-.15% of the
input power.
With a compact fluorescent, UV may be up to half a percent of the input
power. Most of the other 80 or so percent becomes convected and conducted
heat. A 42 watt spiral produces slightly more convected and conducted
heat than a 60 watt 120V incandescent.

- Don Klipstein )

Thanks for the information!

Don

Compact fluorescents slow to reach full intensity
 

"Don Klipstein" wrote...

Ones with 15
mm tubing tend to do better in this area in my experience, starting close
to half brightness. But few CFLs have this, and many that do are by
Lights of America, and I have personally experienced more than a fair
share of problems with that brand.

I second Don's experience with Lights of America. They have been the
shortest-lived CFLs of any I have bought -- little or no better than
incandescents. I will not buy them any more at any price.

Compact fluorescents slow to reach full intensity
 

Hi John,

I've had what can only be described as horrible luck with Lights of
America and, like you, I'll never buy any of their products again.
When people complain about their poor experiences with CFLs, I
automatically think "oh dear Lord, Lights of America".

I've used a variety of CFLs over the past twenty-three years and some
of my Philips lamps are now more than ten years old -- frankly, short
of unscrewing them from their sockets and smashing them on the ground,
these Philips lamps just won't die.

Cheers,
Paul

On Sun, 11 Mar 2007 13:00:17 -0700, "John Weiss"
jrweiss98155nospamatnospamcomcastdotnospamnet wrote:

I second Don's experience with Lights of America. They have been the
shortest-lived CFLs of any I have bought -- little or no better than
incandescents. I will not buy them any more at any price.

Compact fluorescents slow to reach full intensity
 

"Paul M. Eldridge" wrote...

I've had what can only be described as horrible luck with Lights of
America and, like you, I'll never buy any of their products again.
.. . .

I've used a variety of CFLs over the past twenty-three years and some
of my Philips lamps are now more than ten years old

So far, my longest-lived CFLs are a pair from Ikea that were on sale for
$1.00 each, and have been running 24/7 outside my garage for about 4 years
now.

I have been replacing other, older, "multi-stick" CFLs with the spiral type
as they dim or flicker. I have yet to have to replace any of the spirals.
They are of various brands (no LoA).

Compact fluorescents slow to reach full intensity
 

Hi John,

On Sun, 11 Mar 2007 15:03:10 -0700, "John Weiss"
jrweiss98155nospamatnospamcomcastdotnospamnet wrote:

So far, my longest-lived CFLs are a pair from Ikea that were on sale for
$1.00 each, and have been running 24/7 outside my garage for about 4 years
now.

I don't know much about the IKEA brand of CFLs. I seem to recall the
reviews were mixed in terms of their colour rendering, but I have no
first hand experience to judge this (Don Klipstein would be the best
person to confirm this particular point). In any event, fours years
service is pretty damn impressive -- i.e., 4 years x 8,760 hrs/yr =
35,040 hours, or the equivalent of 35 to 45 incandescent bulbs (each)
and counting!.

I have been replacing other, older, "multi-stick" CFLs with the spiral type
as they dim or flicker. I have yet to have to replace any of the spirals.
They are of various brands (no LoA).

I still have some of my 7 and 9-watt single stick Philips PL lamps I
had purchased back in 1984. They're been long since relegated to odd
ball places where they don't get a lot of use, but some twenty-three
years later they continue to fire up every time.

Cheers,
Paul

Compact fluorescents slow to reach full intensity
 

In article ,
John Weiss jrweiss98155nospamatnospamcomcastdotnospamnet wrote:
"Paul M. Eldridge" wrote...

I've had what can only be described as horrible luck with Lights of
America and, like you, I'll never buy any of their products again.

I wish we had trade embargoes on faulty-by-design products
since they're filling OUR garbage dumps with stuff that
should've never been manufactured in the first place.

So far, my longest-lived CFLs are a pair from Ikea that were on sale

And some of my globe-shaped Ikea CFLs were rather short-lived.
I guess they buy them from whatever mfgr's the best buy that week
since they can choose any mfgr worldwide.
I remember a guide to Sear's products for decoding the product number
to the original mfgr. I wonder if Ikea has a similar coding.

--

-- mejeep deMeep ferret!

Compact fluorescents slow to reach full intensity
 

Hi Jeff,

On 11 Mar 2007 19:12:44 -0400, (Jeff Jonas) wrote:

In article ,

I wish we had trade embargoes on faulty-by-design products
since they're filling OUR garbage dumps with stuff that
should've never been manufactured in the first place.

I agree. The lifespan of some of my LOA products could be measured in
minutes and in at least one case, **pop**, seconds. I don't know if
they're still as bad as that because I haven't bought anything from
them in the past fifteen years (as it turns out, one of the few "never
again" resolutions I've never wavered on).

And some of my globe-shaped Ikea CFLs were rather short-lived.
I guess they buy them from whatever mfgr's the best buy that week
since they can choose any mfgr worldwide.

Good point. I rave about my terrific experience with Philips, but
this is based on a narrow set of products, e.g., the SL lamps that are
(or use to be) made in Mexico. I have no experience with their
"Twister" line, which I suspect is outsourced to some manufacturer
based in China (I honestly don't know this as a fact, but that would
be my guess). That's the risk you take when making blanket
recommendations -- the quality of each and every item may not be
uniform and a change in supplier (or, more likely, one of the
supplier's sources) can result in some rather nasty surprises.

Cheers,
Paul