Light Bulbs

[drplokta]

I'm delighted to discover that GE have finally figured out how to make a fluorescent low-energy light bulb the same size as an incandescent, so that it will fit in the same light-shades. Now if they can just sort out the warm-up time, the harsh spectrum, the inability to use them with dimmers and the inability to activate light-sensitive devices, the government's stated aim of banning incandescents might start to look remotely possible.

Comments

[sbisson.livejournal.com]

CFLs are only a stop gap. Look for OLED bulbs in a year or so which have none of those problems. Spectrum-wise you can buy broad-spectrum CFLs (it's all a matter of the flourescent materials lining the bulb)- we have a natural light one in the office - they're not cheap, but they do work well.

The latest generation have a much shorter warm up time, enough for me to use one in a bedside lamp happily...

(Then again, I for one am glad to see the end of the inefficient thyristor based dimmers.)

[feorag.livejournal.com]

I find the warm-up time to be a good thing. Much less painful than going from suddenly very dark, to suddenly very light.

Japan already has a vast range of LED bulbs, I noticed. They use even less power. If Japan had the same voltage and type of fitting that we do, I'd have brought loads back.

[sbisson.livejournal.com]

Getting them to work at 240V is a bit of an issue I understand. 110 is a lot easier - 12V DC even easier. I'm expecting OLED to be a halogen replacement first over here - I understand they can save quite a bit of power even in a 12V lighting circuit.

[feorag.livejournal.com]

Additionally, I have a daylight fluorescent in my workroom, which is one of those compact, spiral ones. It was more expensive than the other fluorescents, though.

I can't understand why everyone's treating these bulbs as the latest thing anyway. They've been around since at least the late 80s, which is approximately how long I've been using them for (Leeds Council made them available at a subsidised price). There are better things already available, just not here, because we are not Japanese.

[sbisson.livejournal.com]

I suspect it's because GE and the like have got the production lines up to speed, and prices have now dropped to comparable levels with the tungsten filament bulb.

Our daylight flourescent has lasted four or five years now - but it did cost £30 or so...

[sharikkamur.livejournal.com]

if they can just sort out the warm-up time, the harsh spectrum, the inability to use them with dimmers and the inability to activate light-sensitive devices

I agree entirely. I really dislike the quality of light that these things produce and the warm-up time is a serious nuisance - having to turn the light on five minutes before going to look for something in the cupboard under the stairs does not appeal.

And of course, those of us who've got into the habit a long time ago of saving energy by turning lights off when they're not needed are worst hit - we get more of the warm-up.

Sorry. I'll stop ranting now but I'm really not a fan of these things that we're all being emotionally blackmailed into using.

[sbisson.livejournal.com]

I've switched to battery powered LED lighting for cupboards. It's instant on, and works very well, and a set of 1.5V batteries lasts for a lot longer than you'd expect.

[andrewducker]

Yeah - me too. Very handy they are too.

[sbisson.livejournal.com]

Also (and it surprised me), CFLs have fixed the problem with the old flourescent tubes, so that they now only use the same power as a tungsten filament bulb in start up, so there's no advantage in leaving them on any more.

[redbird]

I was going to note that my compact fluorescents have no noticeable warmup time (I'm sure it's measurable, and so would the warmup time for an incandescent bulb be measurable) and a reasonable spectrum, and then I looked at the comments. Is it that much harder at UK voltages? Or are you just a year or two behind us on this one?

Dimmers would be nice, yes. We still have an incandescent in the bedroom, because that circuit has a dimmer switch (installed by a previous resident).

[armb.livejournal.com]

They vary. Some fluorescents have shorter startup times, some are more compact, some have better spectrums, some work with dimmers.
But finding ones with all of those desirable properties at once, at a reasonable price, is still hard to impossible.

[davidcook.livejournal.com]

Now if they can just sort out the warm-up time, the harsh spectrum, the inability to use them with dimmers and the inability to activate light-sensitive devices, the government's stated aim of banning incandescents might start to look remotely possible.

For me, warm-up time isn't an issue. As for the harsh spectrum, CFLs with different colour temperatures should be available somewhere over here - at least, we had them in Australia 4 years ago, and I'd be very surprised if some place didn't have them available. I believe there are CFLs which work with dimmers, too - again, haven't seriously looked for them over here, but I'd be surprised if they're not available somewhere. The last issue sounds weird to me, but maybe that's because I don't have any light-activated devices. Wonder what they're missing ?