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View Full Version : Important Information About Energy Saver Light Bulbs!




smartguy911
06-11-2008, 12:42 AM
http://youtube.com/watch?v=e-LOtKIIKcg&feature=bz303

sidster
06-11-2008, 01:00 AM
that's funny in a non-humor-type-of-way.

electronicmaji
06-11-2008, 01:26 AM
Why aren't CFL's made of plastic? It's not like they can't be made with that stuff.

constituent
06-11-2008, 05:19 AM
God i wish Ted Poe weren't such a worthless fascist. He's at least right on this issue.

amy31416
06-11-2008, 08:12 AM
God i wish Ted Poe weren't such a worthless fascist. He's at least right on this issue.

He is right on this, glad someone's making the case. Between batteries and shit like this, we are going to have so much toxic waste here, it's ridiculous.

Oh, and so much for my E-Z Bake oven.

LittleLightShining
06-11-2008, 08:15 AM
These things don't really work like they say they're supposed to. Apparently they should last years and years yet for some reason I seem to have to replace them almost as frequently as old kind.

LED lights are the direction we should be heading.

Dr.3D
06-11-2008, 08:18 AM
He is right on this, glad someone's making the case. Between batteries and shit like this, we are going to have so much toxic waste here, it's ridiculous.

Oh, and so much for my E-Z Bake oven.

Buy some extra heating elements (light bulbs) for your E-Z Bake oven now while you still can. :)

tmosley
06-11-2008, 12:11 PM
I put them in my house when I moved in four years ago. I've had to replace about 1/3rd of them since then, which is probably in line with the 5 year average lifespan that was promised on the box.

IRO-bot
06-11-2008, 01:05 PM
These things don't really work like they say they're supposed to. Apparently they should last years and years yet for some reason I seem to have to replace them almost as frequently as old kind.

LED lights are the direction we should be heading.

YES!!! LED's don't really burn out....well they do, but not always......good stuff. Wasn't the first light bulb a good one? Didn't it not burn out? Was it just not energy efficient?

freelance
06-11-2008, 01:08 PM
If you want longevity, buy 130 volt instead of 120 volt (incandescent) light bulbs. They are available in a variety of wattages. If you want to find them hassle free, you can buy them by the case at Home Depot and/or Lowes, but you probably have to ask for them.

asgardshill
06-11-2008, 01:11 PM
I replaced all incandescent bulbs in the house with CFLs a couple of years ago. They've worked well but they do play hob with my DXing (listening to shortwave and ham radio). They interfere with those radio signals badly.

LittleLightShining
06-11-2008, 01:40 PM
YES!!! LED's don't really burn out....well they do, but not always......good stuff. Wasn't the first light bulb a good one? Didn't it not burn out? Was it just not energy efficient?What first light bulb?

I know the first CFL I ever bought was for a lamp that I used only very occasionally in my off-the-grid cabin. I hooked it to a battery so I could read at night but I grew to love candlelight so much more. Anyway, believe it or not I bought that one back in 1997 and I still have it in the lamp and it still works. However, VT has a program (Efficiency Vermont) where they subsidized these CFL's and you could get a voucher at the hardware store and basically get 6 bulbs at a time for free. Some of the bulbs I got when I first used the program worked well (I guess). I've been at my present location for 3 years and have had to replace at least 4 of them since I moved in.

Lately coupons have been showing up in my paper for $1 off of a bulb. My store doubles the $1 coupons so when they go on sale for $1.99 I get free bulbs. I have a small arsenal of them in my cabinet. I never realized just how toxic they are until I watched the video in the OP, so I guess I literally have an arsenal. Normally I dispose of them as I dispose of any bulb-- I just put it in a coffee can or an empty package and chuck it-- Whoops me.

as for LED lights, I saw some recently at a solar store and they are wonderful. I also read (here, somewhere) of a town in the midwest that replaced all the municipal bulbs with LED's and anticipates saving (?) $150,000 because of them. They do have their drawbacks-- directional lighting being one that many find to be a major hurdle. But they are infinitely better looking than the corkscrew thingamabobbers (that don't fit in a lot of fixtures properly) and they are certainly much less toxic than the CFL's

acptulsa
06-11-2008, 01:55 PM
YES!!! LED's don't really burn out....well they do, but not always......good stuff. Wasn't the first light bulb a good one? Didn't it not burn out? Was it just not energy efficient?

Yes, the early bulbs were good ones indeed. I have seen a few of them burning when I was young. They used some kind of carbon compound instead of tungsten. I don't know how well those filaments stood up to being jostled in transport, but they worked. No, they weren't efficient. They ran hot and eventually darkened the insides of their glass bulbs with the carbon. Furthermore, they didn't last forever unless you left them burning 24/7. Letting them cool then warming them back up definitely led to a more normal lifespan for them.

Seeing some of those old things after they finally burned out after decades of burning constantly was interesting. You could always tell which way they had hung because whichever side was up would be nearly black with carbon coating.

As for voltage, if you run an incandescent on less than full voltage you will get dimmer, more yellow light but the bulbs will use little electricity and will last forever.

RideTheDirt
06-11-2008, 06:22 PM
Yes, the early bulbs were good ones indeed. I have seen a few of them burning when I was young. They used some kind of carbon compound instead of tungsten. I don't know how well those filaments stood up to being jostled in transport, but they worked. No, they weren't efficient. They ran hot and eventually darkened the insides of their glass bulbs with the carbon. Furthermore, they didn't last forever unless you left them burning 24/7. Letting them cool then warming them back up definitely led to a more normal lifespan for them.

Seeing some of those old things after they finally burned out after decades of burning constantly was interesting. You could always tell which way they had hung because whichever side was up would be nearly black with carbon coating.

As for voltage, if you run an incandescent on less than full voltage you will get dimmer, more yellow light but the bulbs will use little electricity and will last forever.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centennial_Light
O and I loved the video!I will not buy another one of those crappy poison containing devices.

forsmant
06-11-2008, 06:38 PM
I have seen an average life time of a bulb of six-nine months of continuous use. That is a much longer time than the old bulbs.