Lights, a year and some later

Over a year ago, in late February or early March, jmaynard and I switched almost all the lights in the house to compact fluorescent. Now that it's been over a year with them, I've realized that the reliability claims seem to be true.

In the past year we've replaced two CFLs. One was a case of "infant mortality" where the circuitry failed immediately when first switched on. This was covered under warranty, almost. A replacement bulb was sent, but not in the same style. When we informed the company of that issue they sent another bulb, but it was the same style as they had sent and not the one we wanted. So that was the one bulb we bought a replacement for.

Another bulb failed a month or two later, and was replaced with one of the bulbs that had been sent. Since then we've had no problems.

Had we still been using incandescents I expect I would have replaced two or three bulbs in the office light fixture in the last year.

I don't expect incandescent lights to ever completely disappear as there are places that I really wouldn't want a fluorescent light, such as in an oven. But the idea of using incandescents for general lighting seems a rather quaint notion to me now.

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Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

doodlesthegreat.livejournal.com

I would wager that for ovens and other smaller areas, incandescents can be replaced by LEDs.

vakkotaur.livejournal.com

If the plastic casing can withstand the heat involved without burning, outgassing, or decomposing then I could see oven use. In other places I can easily see LEDs taking over.

yakko.livejournal.com

Such as in the porch lights and other outdoor lights that take 10 minutes to get bright in the winter with CFLs.

In high-temp environments, I think the semiconductor part of the LED would suffer even if its epoxy case didn't. Hot places are probably the last sustainable domain for incandescents.

I've looked into LED lighting some and it doesn't really seem to be ready for general use. In some applications (flashlights, nightlights, decorative lighting) LEDs are great. But LED bulbs that fit in normal bulb form factor are rather dim overall. $20 will get you an LED bulb that puts out 100 lumens, which is almost as much as a 15 W incandescent puts out.

Much as I'd like to use LEDs for general lighting they have a few problems. The price per unit needs to come down. The output per unit needs to go up. And the limited spectra (three, or maybe up to six spectral lines, roughly) means that many things will not look quite right. Not a big deal for some things, such as security lighting, but for general (indoor) use it'd be a problem.

LEDs may well take over for outdoor lighting, but I don't expect LED porch lights to be common for a while yet.

altivo.livejournal.com

Another place we've found they don't do well is areas where the temperature falls below freezing or thereabouts. We've had one out in the barn for a couple of years, and though it does come on in the winter (unlike some of the long tube fluorescents, which don't even start) it takes 30 minutes or so to attain a usable brightness.

We haven't changed out the outdoor bulbs, partly for that reason. Also, we use them so little it really would not make any real difference. We do have a couple long fluorescent tubes in the garage and they never quite reach full-on in the colder temperatures.

nefaria.livejournal.com

I love my compact fluorescents, I swapped in two about five years ago and I haven't had to replace them yet. It's nice that they use much less energy than incandescents too, so they more than pay for themselves over their lifetimes.

If all green technology was this efficient and beneficial to people, I'd be a rabid environmentalist.

That's the thing, the new stuff will take over, but only if it is better as seen by the user than what it replaces. Too many don't seem to comprehend that.

That's probably the reason behind the relatively slow uptake of hybrid vehicles. I still can't see why I should pay $10k more for a hybrid (even IF I can justify the cost per year given I'd keep the car for 10 years or so) when I can get a regular car that gets nearly equivalent mileage...

I've been using CFLs since they were not so compact (1994). The expense used to be higher initially (but isn't significantly higher now), but in those 14 years, I've had to truly replace just one CFL bulb. The rest were generational upgrades to get to bulbs that were actually the same size as incandescent ones. Overall, a very good experience.

thecanuckguy.livejournal.com

Can you replace our CFL? Please?

(Just kidding, ours still kicks ass over yours. ;) )

Sorry, I don't have any bulbs that dim.

Vakkotaur