CFL's revisited
Nate Nagel
I decided to take a systematic approach to attempting to find acceptable
CFL lighting for each room in my house. I have collected the following:
- GE "soft white" nominally 2700K
- Sylvania "soft white" 3000K
- GE "cool white" 4100K
- GE "daylight" 6500K
- Ott-lite "HD natural lighing" (color temp? Seems pretty freakin' high.)
- GE "soft white" incandescent
- GE "reveal" incandescent
all CFLs are 13 or 15W, incandescents are 60W, to make light output
comparable
What I'd like to see is if a color temp somewhere between the Sylvania
soft white and the GE cool white might not be preferable in some
locations, but I'm not aware of anything commonly available, does anyone
make a standard Edison base CFL that fills that gap?
Unfortunately my color preference in most places out of the above seems
to be either one of the two incandescents or else the Sylvania CFLs, and
I really, really hate that little delay when you turn the Sylvania CFLs
on cold. I guess I will have to learn to live with it though, or else
become an energy wasting pig and use incandescents.
Also, are there any GOOD globe style CFLs available preferably somewhere
around the 4000K range? (looking at the selection at Tarjay, they have
GE ones, no color temp or even hint thereof, but the packaging appears
similar to the "soft white" bulbs, which I am not sure I'd like in the
bathroom.) I have some n:vision ones and also some "bright effects"
ones and they're both garbage, take waaaaay too long to warm up. Also
the n:vision ones do not last, one is dead and since I bought them in
2-packs and have a 3 light fixture, I had a spare, the spare is
noticeably brighter than the two that have been in use. Can't be more
than two years old. Why are the non-spiral format bulbs so much
crappier than the spirals? Haven't had any trouble with the spirals,
even the grab bag that came with the house.
nate
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Ed Pawlowski
> I decided to take a systematic approach to attempting to find
> acceptable CFL lighting for each room in my house. I have collected
> the following:
> - GE "soft white" nominally 2700K
> - Sylvania "soft white" 3000K
> - GE "cool white" 4100K
> - GE "daylight" 6500K
>
> What I'd like to see is if a color temp somewhere between the Sylvania
> soft white and the GE cool white might not be preferable in some
> locations, but I'm not aware of anything commonly available, does
> anyone make a standard Edison base CFL that fills that gap?
>
> Unfortunately my color preference in most places out of the above
> seems to be either one of the two incandescents or else the Sylvania
> CFLs, and I really, really hate that little delay when you turn the
> Sylvania CFLs on cold. I guess I will have to learn to live with it
> though, or else become an energy wasting pig and use incandescents.
I bought a two pack of the 6500K bulbs. Much too blue. In one room, it is
not so bad, but in the other room that has pale blue walls to begin with, it
is not so good at all. Like you, I'd like to see something int he 3500K to
3800K range. I've gotten used to the 4100's though and will probably buy
more of them.
In any case, they are far superior than the old dingy green lights of the
past. A couple of them are on timers so I don't see the lag at start up.
Pete C.
Have you run any CFLs for a decent amount of time? The color temp
settles a bit warmer and the turn on delay reduces after a month or so
of normal operation.
Robert Neville
> - Sylvania "soft white" 3000K
The latest Sylvania micro minis are 2700K. Very close to traditional
incandescent color temps (warm).
Frank
>
> - Show quoted text -
What is this K value? Does it refer to peak wavelength, which should
be in angstroms?
I had one pair of bulbs - do not remember brand - that were so blue
that I had to relegate them to the front porch as they were unusable
inside.
Frank
HD has good reference. Kelvin is a temperature reference but bulbs
obviously cannot reach these temperatures so it must be reference to
light from source at this temperature.
Myself, I go for the lower rating. Also pleases wife when I go for 75
watt equivalent in replacing 60 watt incandescent as she will tolerate
the delay for the reward of brighter light.
I don't use for bathroom fixtures where usage will be brief.
Jules
> What is this K value? Does it refer to peak wavelength, which should
> be in angstroms?
Everything you need to know:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_temperature
:-)
> I had one pair of bulbs - do not remember brand - that were so blue
> that I had to relegate them to the front porch as they were unusable
> inside.
Aside from the color issues, they just never seem to last as long as
manufacturers claim, the "incandescent equivalent" ratings often seem way
out, and then (from an ecological point of view) there are manufacturing
and disposal issues.
It's even worse up here where the heating's on for half the year, because
any energy saved through the use of CFLs is just going into house heating
anyway (and it's not even 50/50 across the year, because the days are
longer during the warmer months, so we have the lights on far less anyway)
If the whole point as 'saving the planet' there are better ways to be
going about it; switching everyone to CFLs is just pissing in the
wind...
</rant>
:-)
cheers
Jules
N8N
yes, of the above, the Sylvania and GE "soft white" have been in use
in my house for some time - I don't recall replacing any bulbs in the
past year or more save for one hallway. The delay with the Sylvania
is still present e.g. in the master bedroom and it annoyed me even
before I correlated it to a particular brand of CFL. It only seems to
happen if the "bulb" has had a chance to completely cool down
however. if you turn it off and then back on again it is much better
(but how often do you do that?) It's really noticeable if you're
doing comparisons with an incandescent in another fixture on the same
switch...
Granted, that also means that the Sylvania are likely at least two
year old production, so if someone can tell me that current production
has improved in this respect I'd be willing to give them a try,
especially given that they seem to have the nicest color of all the
CFLs.
nate
sligoNo...@hotmail.com
I believe they are perfect when used mixed with incandescent
lamps.
With both types on you get a good color mix. Also when you
first turn them on they are dimmer than their full brighness so you
don't get that spotlight in the eyes effect in the morning.
N8N
wrote:
Unless you have electric resistive heating, heating through your
normal heating apparatus is likely cheaper than letting the light
bulbs "help out." And where I live, I heat seriously maybe 3 mos. out
of the year, do nothing a couple more, and probably run the A/C for
5-6 mos. so anything that puts less heat into the house is a Good Thing
(tm)
nate
Robert Neville
>What is this K value? Does it refer to peak wavelength, which should
>be in angstroms?
No.K = kelvins (formerly degrees Kelvin) - a means of measuring the light
emitted by an object as compared to a black body radiator. See the lighting
section here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_temperature
Stormin Mormon
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--
Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
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.
"Frank" <frankperi...@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:hi23kl$gao$1...@news.eternal-september.org...
Don Klipstein
>Also, are there any GOOD globe style CFLs available preferably somewhere
>around the 4000K range? (looking at the selection at Tarjay, they have
>GE ones, no color temp or even hint thereof, but the packaging appears
>similar to the "soft white" bulbs, which I am not sure I'd like in the
>bathroom.) I have some n:vision ones and also some "bright effects"
>ones and they're both garbage, take waaaaay too long to warm up. Also
>the n:vision ones do not last, one is dead and since I bought them in
>2-packs and have a 3 light fixture, I had a spare, the spare is
>noticeably brighter than the two that have been in use. Can't be more
>than two years old. Why are the non-spiral format bulbs so much
>crappier than the spirals? Haven't had any trouble with the spirals,
>even the grab bag that came with the house.
CFLs with outer bulbs around them have their tubing achieving higher
temperature than is the case with bare tubing. The mercury amalgam
formulation has to be adjusted to give the optimum concentration of
mercury vapor at this higher temperature.
(Both too much and too little mercury vapor concentration reduces its
performance in producing the shortwave UV that makes the phosphor
coating glow.)
So the bulb-enclosed CFL has more need for warmup than a bare-tubing CFL
has. In addition, that higher temperature takes more time to achieve.
- Don Klipstein (d...@misty.com)
Don Klipstein
Frank wrote:
<SNIP previously quoted material>
>What is this K value? Does it refer to peak wavelength, which should
>be in angstroms?
>I had one pair of bulbs - do not remember brand - that were so blue
>that I had to relegate them to the front porch as they were unusable
>inside.
That is the temperature in Kelvin that an ideal incandescent radiator
would have to be in order to glow with closest-match in color to the lamp
in question.
- Don Klipstein (d...@misty.com)
Don Klipstein
>Aside from the color issues, they just never seem to last as long as
>manufacturers claim, the "incandescent equivalent" ratings often seem way
>out, and then (from an ecological point of view) there are manufacturing
>and disposal issues.
>
>It's even worse up here where the heating's on for half the year, because
>any energy saved through the use of CFLs is just going into house heating
>anyway (and it's not even 50/50 across the year, because the days are
>longer during the warmer months, so we have the lights on far less anyway)
If your heat is not electric resistive heat, then it costs more to use
resistive heaters (incandescents) than to use your home heating system.
For one thing, combined efficiency of electric power generation,
transmission and distribution is about 35%, with most of the loss being in
converting heat energy (from the fuel) to mechanical energy (to turn the
generators).
>If the whole point as 'saving the planet' there are better ways to be
>going about it; switching everyone to CFLs is just pissing in the
>wind...
>
></rant>
- Don Klipstein (d...@misty.com)