[TowerTalk] Green Power Lightbulb QRN

Wed Oct 31 11:26:21 EST 2007

> Roger:
>
>     What brand name green bulbs do you use?  I've read on other reflectors 
> that some names are better (quieter) than others.

I'd just been picking them of the shelf at Lowe's. The two I just checked in 
the end table lamps were GE.  I'm going to make the wild assumption which is 
never safe, that the rest are *probably* GE as well. The ones I just checked 
were 26 watt so they were probably 75 watt equivelant.

They've gotten relatively inexpensive up through 100 watt equivelant, but 
above that they were still are kinda pricy the last time I purchased some. 
The 150's for the garage were on the order of $15 USD each although that 
was last fall so they may be/probably are much less now.

I find, for my eyes, their claims of 3 times the light for the actual power 
are a bit off and I use 2X as a guide, BUT I took a light meter and find 
their claims to be accurate. Like all but "full spectrum" they do have some 
of the spectrum missing and that is probably why they seem less bright to 
me. some of them seem to take a little while to come up to full brilliance 
and they get a bit warmer in color with age. I think the newer ones come on 
faster.   Even the 150's in the garage come up fairly fast even when it well 
below freezing. How they age? I don't know, but it appears to be a LOT 
better than the commercial 8 foot tubes in my shop. I have 22 tubes and once 
they start failing I know the rest will go within two months so I just buy 
them by the case and do them all at once.

73

Roger (K8RI)

>
>
> 73 de
> Gene Smar  AD3F
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Roger (K8RI)" <K8RI-on-TowerTalk at tm.net>
> To: <TOWERTALK at contesting.com>
> Sent: Wednesday, October 31, 2007 5:15 AM
> Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Green Power Lightbulb QRN
>
>
>>
>>
>>
>>> If you've been considering replacement of your current traditional light
>>> bulbs in the house with the new whiz bang "Green Power" curly jobs 
>>> before
>>> your next favorite contest, DON'T DO IT (at least without some
>>> testing-testing-testing).
>>
>> We've replaced nearly every light in the house with them that wasn't
>> fluorescent to begin. End table, ceiling, bedroom, living room, ...there 
>> are
>> very few incandescents left.
>>
>> The basement has something like 18, two tube (4') fixtures on 4 circuits. 
>> No
>> incandescents down there.
>> My computer/radio room has a ceiling light/fan with a 120 watt 
>> equivelant,
>> the kitchen has 5 of the Green replacements, and the garage has 6 of the 
>> 150
>> watt equivelants. I operate 160 through 440 and have not noticed any 
>> noise
>> from them yet. As for the shop it has 11 two tube (8') 75 Watts per tube
>> fixtures. I currently operate 40 through 440 out there with no electrical
>> noise. OTOH when it's cold the mechanical noise from them is miserable.
>> However when working out there the shop is heated in the winter and air
>> conditioned in the summer.
>>
>> BTW in both the house and shop have two computers within a foot or two of
>> the rigs and the network cables actually run a short ways with the coax.
>> Most of the way the gigabit CAT5e network cables are seperated from the
>> station cables.
>>
>> 73
>>
>> Roger (K8RI)
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> The 40 watt bulb in the lamp near my rig bit the dust a few minutes ago
>>> while I was listening on 160m.  Interestingly, the band noise tonight 
>>> was
>>> minimal here.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> I went to the cupboard and decided to finally open the packaged for a 
>>> new
>>> "curly-widget" GE soft white 40 watt bulb that claims to only use the
>>> energy
>>> of a 10 watter.  But wait.there's more. the package says it's a "5 Year
>>> Bulb
>>> - Long Life * 8000 Hours (lightning bolt) Energy Saver."  With info like
>>> that, it's gotta be good, right?
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> IMHO, somebody QLF'd in production and forgot to add "QRN MAKER" to the
>>> package!!!
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> The RX was on in the background, and when I screwed in the new bulb and
>>> turned it on, WHAMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM. a BIG QRN level appeared that
>>> sounded
>>> kinda like power line noise.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> I turned off the lamp and the noise disappeared.  Hmmm.  Coincidence?
>>> Nope.
>>> 5 more on/off tests and each time BIG QRN.  I checked other bands.  It 
>>> was
>>> worse on 60m, and 15m was a disaster.  Interestingly, several times when 
>>> I
>>> left the new bulb on for a while, the QRN disappeared.  But not always.
>>> Hmmm.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Maybe this is a single "Lemon-bulb" incident, maybe not.  The package 
>>> says
>>> "Made In China" and it has GE's name on it, so it's gotta be a good,
>>> right?
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Has anyone else experienced similar QRN problems with the new "Green
>>> Power"
>>> curly bulbs?
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> FYI & 73.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Rick, K6VVA
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> TowerTalk mailing list
>>> TowerTalk at contesting.com
>>> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>>
>>
>>
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