[RFI] CFL Bulbs that are OK!

[Michael Coslo]

On Dec 2, 2010, at 8:54 PM, Gary Joe Mayfield wrote:

> I've enjoyed the topic....  CFLs are supposed to be kept vertical.  Are
> people replacing their light fixtures?  My home has light fixtures that hold
> two bulbs up against the ceiling.  The CFLs did not last as long as
> incandescent bulbs in this horizontal arrangement.
> 
> Many of our rooms have ceiling fans (to save energy).  Has anyone found a
> CFL that is recommended for that service?


THe XYL replaced the incandescent bulbs in our living room fan with CFL's. That didn't work too well - after a couple minutes, they started strobing on and off. It turns out that the fan uses some circuitry to keep regular bulbs from burning out, it brings the voltage up slowly, and the fluorescents must hate that.

In out kitchen, we have two fans, with CFL's in each. These ones work just fine, but the particular bulbs we have in them now take too long to come to full brightness - around a minute. But the light fixture in those fans takes the smaller base bulb, so there selection is limited.

The Hallway to my office has a fan with CFL's, and it's been going for some 3 years now with no problem. 

Each fixture has the bulbs upside down and at an angle, but I don't think that's been harming anything.

She also snuck in a CFL lamp  in the shack. That one is sitting two feet from my radio, and tests show no  interference from it. I used both my ears and a waterfall display from a sound card program. 

> 
> For me I need about 2000 hours out of the CFL to break even....  I have
> tried it, they don't last that long. 


I also have enjoyed this thread. The good news is that we are getting a lot of comparison points. The not so good is that they are all over the place regarding noise, warmup, and cold weather operation.

Is anyone keeping track of all this? 

- 73 de Mike N3LI -