Bruce and List mates,
Sad to say, the video provided by the link was repleat with a fair supply
of fertilizer, as are most of the "news" reports on this topic. The
problem is twofold: 1) The document to which everyone is referring is
officially known as "Energy Independance and Security Act -2007", which was
signed into law by President G. W. Bush on December 19, 2007. It is
officially Public Law 110-140. It does NOT "outlaw" all incandescent
lights, as many would have you believe. 2) The applicable section of this
Act is Section 321 - Efficient Light Bulbs.
My information source is from a synopsis of the Law as provided by Acuity
Brands Lighting - a group of companies who manufacture commercial and
industrial lighting products, but not light bulbs. I printed out the
information from their website around a year ago.
The AFFECTED light bulds are: "standard" medium screw base ("Edison")
bulbs that operate in the range of 110 to 130 volts, are intended for
general purpose applications, and are in the range of 40 to 100 watts. The
100 watt bulbs are the first affected, to be discontinued effective
1/1/2012, followed by 75 watt bulbs on 1/1/2013, and then 60 and 40 watt
bulbs on 1/1/2014.
NOT AFFECTED are: Rough service, vibration service, 3-way lamps, 150 watt
bulbs, shatter-resistant bulbs. The acceptable replacements are: Halogen
(still use a filament), CFLs , and LEDs.
Section 322 of the Law AFFECTS Incandescent Reflector lamps, types BR, ER,
and BPAR with ratings in the wattage ranges of 40 to 205 watts. The
exceptions (meaning NOT AFFECTED) are BR30, BR40, and ER40 lamps rated at
65 watts; ER30, BR30, BR40, and ER40 lamps rated < or = 50 watts; R20 lamps
rated at < or = 45 watts.
In reply to some other postings on this subject:
1) At least 2 semi-conductor manufacturers (Maxim Integrated Circuits and
ST Microelectronics) now offer LED controller chips that are compatable
with some of the existing wall dimmers on the market. That means that no
special low voltage dimmers are required - users can screw in an LED lamp
assembly (with one of these chips inside) and dim the lamp just as if it
were an incandescent. I have seen no price or availability info on any
end-user LED lamp products featuring these chips.
2) As regards the posting about RFI from a driveway light post in which a
photocell was controlling a CFL: Some of the packages that I have
containing CFLs indicate that not only are the CFL lamps NOT dimmable, but
they are not to be used with photocell controllers, either. It sure would
be nice to get an explanation from a lamp manufacturer as to why the
photocell controls represent a problem. (My guess is that all would be
well if the photocell controlled a relay to switch power on-off to the
lamp, but if the photocell is carries the current of the lamp, maybe there
is an issue of either the inrush peak currents of those nasty little
switchers inside the base of each CFL or the added series resistance of the
photocell is a problem for the switcher control circuits.)
3. Anyone who buys some LEDs, especially those with dimmer capability, I
am sure the group would like to know if you have any RFI issues with the
lamps. You may recall I posted information about an article back in
February in which the design topology of power supplies for LED lamps was
discussed, and there was a lot of discussion within the article over the
non-filtering of the high current driver leads to the actual LED chips
because the circuit provdies smoother brightness control with unfiltered
power leads. (The filter caps tend to hold up peak voltage and thus render
dimming a little less precise and slower.) That's all nice and pleasing,
but what about RFI?
73, Dale
WA9ENA
Sr EMC Engineer
> [Original Message]
> From: Bruce Lanning <belanning@myfairpoint.net>
> To: <rfi@contesting.com>
> Date: 3/8/2011 9:32:36
> Subject: [RFI] The new light bulbs
>
> http://www.lewrockwell.com/blog/lewrw/archives/75548.html
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