Perhaps What Do You Think?
(No cellphoner either.)
My experience is good with CFL units. Odd one packed it in but not
that many. Whole house converted and even some outdoors, working fine
at -40C.
Slater VE5OA
On 17-Jan-09, at 12:13 AM, Roger (K8RI) wrote:
Hardy Landskov wrote:
> And WYDT is what? We are not all cellphone addicts.
>
For that I have no idea.
> <snip>
>
>
>> I am guessing ... postulating ... that if someone conducted a
>> scientific
>> test they may discover that the environment is a significant factor
>> in
>> the life of a CFL.
>>
I'm not guessing. I've used CFLs just about since they've been
available. I was guessing 3 or so years, but I guess it's been a lot
longer than that. They come with a number of environmental operating
restrictions such as temperature (recessed or enclosed), keep upright,
don't get wet, don't use with dimmers (although some now do work with
dimmers), and how to clean them up just-in-case you break one. Also the
on/off cycle is a real killer. Put them in a lamp or fixture that gets
a lot of short term on/off cycles and it will have a very short life.
They should be left on if you leave and are going to be back within 5
minutes. Five minutes was given as a minimum cycle time. Lifetimes are
now listed in thousands of hours running from 12,000 to over 20,000.
OTOH turn them on and off a lot and they'll never make it.
I mentioned earlier I'd only had a couple failures, but I did forget the
150 watt equivalents out in the garage. Those are mounted inverted and
in a relatively high humidity, not to mention very cold environment this
time of year. It's been on the order of -15F that past few nights.
Although normal winter weather causes them to dim a bit when they first
come on, they reach full brilliance in just a couple of minutes. At -15
they are *dim*. Kinda like an incandescent with very low voltage. They
do come up to full brilliance with in a few minutes though. OTOH one
didn't survive being sprayed with Yellow Jacket killer. The CFL was a
mass of the bad tempered little critters, so I hosed it down with one of
those "Wasp and Hornet Killer" cans that shoots a stream 20 feet plus.
I had forgotten about the vents in the base which was now the top. It
snapped, popped, and growled while it flickered a bit although it did
stay lit. Unfortunately even a week later when I tried it again it still
did the same thing.
>> Looking at the stability of the power system, moisture, temperature,
>> dust, vibration, proximity of magnetized materials, proximity of
>> strong
>> RF fields, etc.
>>
The ones in the garage are near the openers (vibration), near my
antennas (legal limit) mounted inverted, and in a very humid area
particularly in spring and fall.
As to "made in China", CFLs are likely to go the way of the Do, Do bird
in just another year or two when they are replaced by LEDs..."made in
China".
Unfortunately if we can not produce them at a competitive price we will
not produce them here.
But take heart, with the value of the dollar in relation to other
currencies around the world we now have a TV set manufacturer back in
the states, so who knows we might just have the return of other
products as well.
>> Between the actual bulb and the power supply there are a number
>> of potential vulnerabilities which need to be addressed.
>>
>> This could also impact the aging effect vis-a-vis increasing RFI.
>>
>>
I have seen no change in RFI Vs age.
73
Roger (K8RI)
>> WDYT?
>>
>>
>>
>>> Dan Violette wrote:
>>> I had the opposite. Started about 8 years ago and replaced mostly
>>> the
>>> whole
>>> house with CFLs. Only had 3-4 that are not still running (including
>>> lights
>>> in all ceiling fans) and average electric bill dropped about $5/mo
>>> that
>>> first year when I checked. Did not replace outdoor nor 3-way
>>> lamps. Dan
>>>
>>>
>>> Do far my experience with CFL's has been very poor. I mark the
>>> date in
>>> service on each one as I install it. 6 months is the longest one
>>> has
>>> lasted
>>> with a couple a little as 2 weeks. Overall, I would rate them as
>>> more
>>> expensive than incandescent bulbs. Reduced power consumption does
>>> not
>>> offset the initial price. I am going to have to replace two more
>>> 100W
>>> equivalent ones this morning.
>>>
>>> David
>>> KC2JD
>>>
>>>
>> --
>>
>> Thanks! & 73, doc, KD4E
>> FS/Swap/Wanted: http://kd4e.com/swapn.html
>> Free OS : http://www.PuppyLinux.com
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