Where to find affordable CCFL bulbs?

[AlexGT]

I want to change all 100w bulbs in my house for CCFL bulbs and need about 30+ would like to buy them all in one purchase. Where to get the best deal? I seen ebay for about $35 but they gouge you on shipping.

Do you know of any retailer that have them at a good price?

Thanks!
AlexGT

[AlexGT]

And what color temperature do you recommend? I think 2700 is too yellow, so it would have to be higher, I seen 4100 and 5100 kelvin.

AlexGT

[TedTheLed]

I like dimmable cfls, go through a brown or black out once or twice and you'll find out why. here's what I found when I froogled my favorite :


http://www.1000bulbs.com/product.php...oogle+datafeed

36 Watt - 4-Pin 2G11 Base - 3000 Kelvin - Compact Fluorescent - PL-L 36W/830 - Philips #34511
Catalog Code: FC36/P36059
$6.50 Each (seems like a good price to me!)
acturer Philips Type Plug-In Compact Fluorescent
Base Type 4-Pin 2G11 Over All Length 16-7/16 in.
Color Temperature (Kelvin) 3000 Case Quantity 25
Color or Hue Medium Warm Sylvania Cross FT36DL/830
G.E. Cross N/A Catalog Code FC39/39050PH
Philips Product Code 34511-6 Wattage 36
Additional Information
* Philips #34511
* 36 Watt
* Dimmable
* 4-Pin, 2G11 Base
* Color or Hue = Warm White
* 3000 Kelvin

[AlexGT]

Nice site! Thanks, those are very affordable! Will check it out some more.

What color temperature to choose for all around lighting? hmmm...

AlexGT

[jtr1962]

Originally Posted by AlexGT

What color temperature to choose for all around lighting? hmmm...

I wouldn't go with anything less than 3500K since under that becomes noticeably yellow. Generally, if an area is brighter then higher color temperatures look "right". If you only have one table lamp in a room then 3500K might be suitable. If you have more bulbs, then 4100K or 5000K would probably look better. If some rooms are shady and you want to supplement sunlight during the day then go with 5000K. In fact, I personally use 5000K regardless of light level. Some say that high color temperatures look gloomy at low light levels but I personally don't find that to be the case. In any case color temperature is a very personal matter so I'd suggest seeing what different CFLs look like in a lighting store.

High CRI (>90) CFLs are better of course but most high-CRI CFLs are only available with color temps in the 5000K to 6000K. Either you like that color temp or you don't.

[aceo07]

I replaced most of my lights with CFL bulbs a few years back. Those are expensive in most places, though I've found a great deal once for under $10 for a pack of 4 in an Asian market. It worked great despite the too good to be true price. I've had a couple of the 'good brand' bulb die before and was too lazy to ship it back to be replace, wasn't worth the hassle or time or postage to do so. It's typically sold for $6 for 1 bulb.

[cobb]

We talking about the swirlie bulbs or the rods you can power from a small battery?

If the rods, they sell those pretty cheap at bgmicro.com in a range of colors and with or without power supplies.

As for the cfs, I just buy a 4 pack at sams club. Each time they are cheaper and cheaper. I leave mines on 24/7 and they last about a year.

[James S]

you said ccfl? not just CFL right? meaning Cold Cathode. I bought 2 of these recently, they do have very good dimmable ballasts, but overall I am not happy with them at all. They have become my porch lights.

you mean these ones?



Though these were sold as 60 watt equivalent, they are not even as bright as a 40 watt bulb. i haven't seen them at 100 watt equivalents at all yet. And the color temperature was horrible, I believe these were 2400k and that was the only color they came in. (I dont like any bulb I've seen more than 3500k, all the bulbs I buy now are 3100 or 3500 in that range, anything more looks way too blue to me. Generally JTR is absolutely right, if you have 1 small light, then it will feel better if it's a warmer color, but if you have a whole bank of lights you can use the cooler temperatures to very good effect.)

They have a much wider dimmable range than any dimmanble regular CFL bulb that I've experimented with. And they only use 5 watts, so they make good all night on porch lights, but I couldn't use them inside anywhere due to the fact that they are totally green.

[AlexGT]

All the lights I want to replace are screw in lights, I probably going to go to a lighting store and check the color temperatures before ordering online somewhere. I HATE sellers that label the lights as cool white, warm white, skywhite, diamond white etc. How cool is cool? how warm is warm? diamond? WTF!

I think I want some in 75-100 watt equivalent range, what is that 18-25 watts in CCFL?

AlexGT

[Lightmeup]

I bought a bunch on eBay pretty cheap. They were less than $2 each. I don't like the normal 2800K bulbs either. Too yellow. 3500K to 5000K seems a lot nicer to my eyes.

[James S]

Seems that the home depot here has a new kind of lights, they now come in 3 colors. warm, bright and cool. They do actually print the color temperature on the bulbs, but it's nice to have a middle of the road choice rather than only green (warm) or blue (cool) but one thats actually white to my eyes

Lowes is also now carrying 2 or 3 different brands and color temperatures.

I just can't bring myself to buy any more really cheap ones, my experience with them has been universally bad. I replaced just a handful of lights a month the last 18 months or so and have just about everything important in the house done and have had some of them long enough to know what brands suck. By far phillips or sylvania or osram bulbs are my favorite, the 3100 or 3500 color temp. The lowes here is even carrying the 60 watt equivalents in a contractor pack box.

[Vikas Sontakke]

Just today I picked up spiral CFL i.e. replacement bulbs for $0.74 each at my local Walmart. These are 26W/"100 eqvt" and are made by Lights of America. I had purchased one couple weeks ago from the same store to check out the tint and I was very happy with the bright white color of the bulb. It also reached full brightness instantly.

The only problem is that the bulbs were moved somewhere else in the store and now I am not sure if I purchased the same brand. I will know when I go home and compare today's purchase to the one from two weeks ago.

- Vikas

[James S]

Lights of America is a brand that I've had very bad luck with. The first batch of 60 watt ones I bought 7 years ago ran forever, I just got rid of the last one last year. But every one since then I've bought has died an early death. When they started to release dimmable ones I jumped on and bought 4 of them for some lights here. 2 died in the first week and were replaced, the 2 replacements have now started to flicker on and off randomly and will soon be dead too. I took apart one of the early dead ones and found cooked ballasts and I took apart one of the flickering ones and found that they dont even solder the connection to the bulb, the HV wire is just wrapped around a post a few times and as it corrodes the light starts to flicker. Your experience may be different, but I will not be sending that company any more of my money. You get what you pay for...

They never used to print the color temperature on them either.

[Lightmeup]

Yeah, LOA are notorious for early burnout. Consumer Reports did a test of CFLs a few years ago, and LOA were one of the worst ones they tested.

[AlexGT]

Wow 74 cents! that is incredibly low, I might try one to check it out.

AlexGT

[tvman]

I bought some Lights of America on clearance for $1 or $2 about 5 years ago. My experience with them is that they are crap. They did seem to last but a few weeks. I also experience the cooked ballasts. Not even worth $1-2.

If you have a membership or access to a member, Sam's club has the 13/60w for about $1.50 each and the 26/100w for about $2.50. These are GE 8k hrs in 5pk (100w) and 6 pk (60w). My experience with them (more than the rated 4hrs per day) is they have lasted about 1.5 yrs (about 12 hrs use per day) each.

[ProofTech]

Two CFL brands that I recommend staying away from are Commercial Electric and Feit Electric. They tend to have rather short life spans.