Photo-obsolescence

[vakkotaur]

On my desk are were four light bulbs. They are not classic incandescents, nor the slightly more efficient (less inefficient) halogen bulbs. These are compact fluorescent bulbs, and there is nothing actually wrong with them. They work. They do have the issue of slow-start and taking a bit of time to come up to full brightness, indicating they are now some rather early models. The fixture they were in now has LED bulbs which if they do not turn on instantly, the delay is so minor as to be readily ignored.

A local hardware store had a good sale on LED bulbs in a tolerable color temperature (3000K, not ideal but certainly better than the ugly yellow of 2700K) so I got a few of those and with various swappings, wound up with a few 'spares'. Eventually the CFL start delay of the dining room fixture bothered jmaynard and I replaced the CFLs there with the LEDs.

Now there are, I think, no actual incandescent bulbs in use in the house, aside from small appliance and indicator lamps. Even closets have CFL or LED. There are some incandescent bulbs outside the house, but they see minutes of use per year so there is no urgency in swapping them out. Even a straight tube fluorescent lamp above the sink has been replaced by LED. There is a torcherie halogen lamp - which I would love to change to LED, but the replacements for that aren't quite ready yet, as it's a 300W version and last I checked, LEDs weren't up to that. But I suspect it won't be long before replacements are affordably available.

We now have quite a number of spare CFLs - and not just the four that had been on my desk. They work. They're reasonably efficient. They give a good light. But LEDs are better, thus these join the collection of incandescents (we also have a box or two of those) as obsolete. It's a bit of a weird feeling, as these are not actually defective - they work. But, there is no useful place for them now. And these are the 'fancy' CFLs with the external A19 envelope to mask the spiral and look 'right' in exposed fixtures, too.

Comments

[pharwarner.livejournal.com]

Slow start... As you know that's been my complaint from the beginning. Early models is the real issue. The current house we're in has early CFs. Drives me mad. It was a ripoff as a result of getting a "cheap" $2,000 "upgrade" for recessed lighting. Need to have decent lighting? Turn the lights on 10 minutes before you need to use the room. They'll light, but it takes about ten minutes for the CFs to actually deliver the lighting you want in the room. Great in the evenings. "It's starting to get dark, I'll turn on the lights." Bad if you're coming home from work and immediately need to dump gear, use the bathroom, wash up e.t.c...

I've got the place right, except for the bedroom. Most areas can be lit immediately by an incandescent either directly or from an adjacent room. I turn the bathroom light on for the bedroom because it at least has a 50 watt incandescent for immediate light until the Cfs can warm up.

We have three LEDs recently installed in the kitchen which show the way forward. But I can't bring myself to dispose of Cf bulbs which haven't failed. I write this in the office under a 60w incandescent. Long may it last...