Compact fluorescent bulbs in old light fixtures

[My4t2de]

I hate them, hate them, hate them! Well, I'm at least not fond of them......we replaced our bedroom lamps bulbs because my hubs likes to leave them on a lot. Can't see past the nighstand, they just don't spread the light. Got one for my desk lamp which takes a standard 60w and the cfls won't screw in. You can't put them in fixtures that are high up because the light won't illuminate to people level. We have them in the garage, lousy lighting in there too.

[artfox]

Last week I was in a Sam's Club store and noticed several styles of standard base LED bulbs for sale. One was labeled "not for use in shaded fixtures". I was in a hurry and didn't get to read all the data on the packages.

Has anyone here used these? It sure looks like they wouldn't put out much light.

[brian89gp]

LED bulbs get very hot, the larger ones will have elaborate aluminum heat sinks on them, probably the reason for the "no shades" statement. The payback period calculations I did on LED bulbs (the light socket base ones) show that they aren't quite cheap enough to be worth buying. The cost savings for LED and CFL bulbs depends a lot on how long the bulb is on every day, for me most CFL's pay for themselves in around 12 months, 3-4 months for the ones I leave on for long periods of time. LED bulbs were somewhere around 10 years...

As far as CFL's, I have had real good luck with the Bright Effects brand that is usually in Lowes around here. I usually get the soft white variety (yellow box) and the color output is very similar to regular incandescent bulbs. They have been extremely reliable even outdoors exposed to the weather and rain, no burnouts so far. For me since I have so many bulbs and leave some of them on 24/7 I save around $20 a month by switching to CFL's. By switching all of my outside halogen flood bulbs to CFL's I am saving an additional $15.

I have not had good luck with the Sylvania brand bulbs and the GE bulbs seem to be hit or miss.

[Steve in MA]

The only reason the incandescent ban was passed is because Philips Electronics lobbied for it. The residential product is a total failure, and nobody would buy them. So they flashed some cash at lawmakers, and Congress gave them everything they wanted. Working girls always aim to please.

The talking point about "saving mercury" in coal-fired plants was cooked up at a PR agency. CFLs won't shut down one coal power plant. Power plants are built for peak usage, and peaks occur during the day, not when you're turning on your dining room light for a dinner party. The Chinese are probably going to have to build ten more coal plants to ramp up production for their force-fed American customers.

[raymanretro]

Well its hard to knock em if you dont try em, so I bought one for the lamppost at the street. I got a low wattage one so it looks kinda like an inclandestine bulb from the house. Says it uses only 13watts. I feel so trendy. I have also found that vinyl siding makes great shims for my porch flooring!

[lavender_bush]

an inclandestine bulb

Ooohhh... gotta get me one of those

[Steve in MA]

an inclandestine bulb

Ooohhh... gotta get me one of those

I think that would be any incandescent bulb you hide from the revenuers after they're illegal.

BTW, I don't understand the comment above about hot LEDs. There are some supposedly great LED lights for special residential applications that don't get hot at all. Certainly Christmas bulbs stay cold.

[cjd]

As I understand it, LEDs are cool in that they don't radiate heat like an incandescent. Therefore, if you put your hand near the light, you wouldn't feel any heat. However, as with any light, being less than 100% efficient, they do generate some heat. LEDs are temperature sensitive and will be damaged if the heat is not dissipated properly. Because they don't radiate the heat outward from the light, the heat is focused in the base where there is usually some design to act as a heat sink type device. (When LEDs were relatively small, the heat dissipation was really not a major consideration, but now that they are trying to use them in more powerful applications, there is more waste and therefore significantly more heat).

Therefore, I guess both claims are correct, they are both hot in one sense, and cool in another.

[Hambone]

I hate CFL's although i do appreciate the savings that they bring in terms of electricity. That said, I have found the best in terms of a more incandescent style light are the CFL's sold at IKEA of all places. They have some sort of rubber membrane over the globes that diffuses the light and warms it up considerably. We have them in our night table lamps and a few other places and they look like regular incandescent light. Only issue is they tend to take about 30 seconds to get to their full brightness.

The other issue with CFL's is they are not suited for areas where they are turned on and off frequently...kills the lifespan, and hence, the money savings.

I plan on stocking up on some edison bulbs for the real authentic exposed lighting. (where it really counts).

[rodpaine]

Over the past three years, I've been experimenting with all sorts of CFLs, trying to replicate the lighting our earlier 40w dimmed tungsten light bulbs were producing. The short story is that the use of various shades of NAIL POLISH has provided the type of lighting I was looking for, to use in our old lamps. In the following pictures, Maybelline #220 was used. It has a lot of metalic in it and is not killed by the CFL UV, nor does the very low wattage and resultant lamp heat create any sort of problem for the nail polish. While it is very difficult to photograph the total effect, here are examples of what my tinkering has resulted in.

Living Room

4w Torpedo on

4w Torpedo off - note painted surface

Dining Room window lamp on

Dining Room 5w painted lamps

-Rod