How many of you use CFL's? and of what wattage?

woodsman · #1 06-06-2004, 08:28 AM

Since discovering the light/energy use of CFL's I can't seem to buy a regular incan bulb. I just bought three 85 watt CFL's from top bulb, they are rated at 6000 lumens each.
After screwing them in I love them even though they are only 2700 kelvin. Which is still much whiter than the rest of the place. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img] I will eventually switch over to all cf's in the near future. I was looking at them last night and found a 120 watt compact, although it had no lumen rating it was only 8 or 9 bucks. I will grab three for the ceiling fan. Lukily I live close to a www.lightbulbdepot.com

Later, Jeff

smokinbasser · #2 06-06-2004, 09:06 AM

I am slowly converting all of my hot wires to CFs I have a new 3 way CF and am very happy with the light color and output it has the equivalent wattage of a 50/100/150 hot wire with much better enery usage. I have one ceiling fan with CF lighting 30 watt max and it is a variable output with no steps just smooth ramp up and down. I don't use the house lights at night so much as the EDC LED of the moment to safely navigate at night. The CFs need to be in lights that are usually on in order to realize an energy savings, but I'm not concerned if immediate reduction in energy bills don't materialize; it takes a significant number of energy saving items to notice the difference in energy bills. There have many improvements to household energy vampire appliances in recent times and newer refrigerators are one area where considerable effort was spent making them more efficient energy wise, electric waterheaters are better now and they are always looking for new technology for more energy saving improvements.

Glenn · #3 06-06-2004, 09:15 AM

I use CFL's from 60-125 depending on where used/amount light needed where they are not turned on and off a lot.
Otherwise I use the GE Reveal that are close to daylight.
I bought a supply of the "Reveals" and replaced EVERY incandescent in my house with them.
Even the ones in the basement and carport.

Glenn

jtr1962 · #4 06-06-2004, 09:16 AM

I have two 28W 5000K Panasonic light capsules in my bedroom for when I want lower lighting levels than my ceiling fixture (4 x 32W 5000K T-8 full-spectrum tubes). My mom's bedroom has two Feit 3-way CFLs (10W/20W/28W) in the table lamps. In the living room we have two older large type CFLs (1 22W circline tube and 1 27W D tube, both warm white). The kitchen has a 14W CFL above the stove for a night light and the bathroom uses 3 14W CFLs (3000K) above the mirror and a cool-white 32W circline tube on the ceiling. The garage has two 25W CFLs plus the old (i.e. removed from kitchen) 4x40W linear tube fixture with Sylvania cool-white deluxe tubes. The outdoor side light uses a 25W CFL. Most of our CFLs, except for the Panasonic light capsules which I bought on eBay, are the usual readily available warm whites which I personally can't stand but I bought them cheap when the local K-mart went out of business (and even warm white fluorescent looks way better than incandescent, which I hate with a purple passion). Most of the rest of the house, including the entire finished basement and the kitchen, is lit with four-foot linear tubes (either T-12 or T-8). I only use 4100K, 5000K, or 6500K tubes with high color rendering. The only incandescents we have are in the master bedroom, living room, and dining room chandeliers, and those will be replaced as soon as some nice 5000K LED replacements are available (hopefully within a few years).

CFLs are a good thing in that they allow a quick efficiency upgrade of any existing fixture, and if you want to hunt around a bit the higher color temperature ones also offer much nicer lighting than either an incandescent or the standard warm whites. However, I generally only consider them a half-measure. As I mentioned in another thread I prefer to use linear 4-foot tube T-8 fixtures for lighting upgrades as they are 50% more efficient than CFLs, give a huge amount of light, and you have a huge variety of tubes to choose from, including some with CRIs as high as 98 (the highest CFLs I've seen so far are 93).

James S · #5 06-06-2004, 09:16 AM

I use a LOT of them also. They are somewhat problematic with some of the home automation stuff from X10 that I use so I have to rig things up, or use more expensive switches than I would with a regular bulb, but thats a minor problem compared to the savings I get from them.

Mostly my love of them has to do with the heat they don't produce. Especially now that it's really getting hot around here and the AC is on. They make a huge difference in comfort levels in the room. Last year I replaced 700 watts of kitchen lights with 150 watts of CF's. They are brighter than the array of 75 watt bulbs that they replaced and I can run them without overheating the room.

This summer I replaced another thousand watts or so of floods in our family room with CF's. Just the $9 85 watt equivalents from home depot. They are holding up very nice, and you can light the place without feeling any heat at all coming down from the lamps! The AC doesn't cycle any harder and it stays cool in there. The fancy ones would probably have had a little bit nicer color temp, but these really are nice, not blue but whiter than the old lamps were. They are excellently bright for the play area there too. I'm very happy with them and It doesn't even make me mad when they get left on for a while with nobody in there [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Now I'm spoilt by them though. And I can't put then in the various chandelier type fixtures around the house. The one in the kitchen over the table is particularly problematic. It's got nearly 500 watts of those little bulbs. Everytime my wife turns it on during the day she also has to turn down the AC in order to comfortably sit under it. So someday that fixture might get replaced, but not this year.

jtr1962 · #6 06-06-2004, 09:23 AM

[ QUOTE ]
Glenn said:
I bought a supply of the "Reveals" and replaced EVERY incandescent in my house with them.

[/ QUOTE ]

I forgot to mention in my post that I also use Reveal in the few remaining incandescents where I live. They're a huge improvement over standard incandescent as far as light quality goes. Just eyeballing it their CCT appears to be in the 3700K to 4000K range, which is about the lowest CCT that I find tolerable (5000K to 5500K is just about ideal for me).

IlluminatingBikr · #7 06-06-2004, 10:01 AM

In my house we have CFL wherever we can. There are a few places where we don't use them. My room is one example, but my lights are on a dimmer so it's not possible to use them. I'm thinking of losing the dimmer and going with CFLs! [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/buttrock.gif[/img]

The_LED_Museum · #8 06-06-2004, 10:22 AM

I have three CFLs in the bathroom (two 28 watt units above the mirror, and I think a 13 watt in the ceiling), and three CFLs in the bedroom. For the two in the ceiling fixture, I don't know for sure what wattage they are, but I think they're 13 watts. And the one in my bedside lamp is 28 watts. I have a fourth CFL in a bedroom lamp, but I don't use it very often.

There are two CFLs in the living room lamps too, but I hardly ever use the lamps. My computer monitors, TV, and LED flashlights generally provide whatever lighting I need in that room.

The only two lights I have that still use incandescent light blubs are in the front hall and in the kitchen.
I don't often need the light in the front hall, but when it comes time to change the light blubs in the kitchen fixture, I'll probably install CFL bulbs in their place.

In the desk lamp by the computers, there's an LED bulb. It uses 24 white LEDs, and has a medium screw base to fit any 110-120VAC light fixture. But otherwise, the majority of my house lighting comes from CFL bulbs. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

IlluminatingBikr · #9 06-06-2004, 01:09 PM

Oh, I forgot to add something. We have a 55W (actual wattage [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/eek.gif[/img]) CFL in our garage. It took the place of a 100W bulb, that screws into a mount that's on the side of the wall, next to the door that goes from the garage to the house. After that thing gets warmed up, we call it "the sun." [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

Zelandeth · #10 06-07-2004, 02:12 PM

Have a few CFL's in here, only light that isn't flourescent in here is the main ceiling light, which is a 100W Philips halotone. That only tends to get used when I'm taking photographs, and I haven't found a CFL with sufficient output to replace it yet.

Have got a page on general lighting things on my website, mostly populated by CFL's just now.

http://zelandeth.artamir.org/ Click on the "LED & Lighting" button. Couple of the pages aren't there yet as it's a new page, and there's still a LOT to be added.

woodsman · #11 06-07-2004, 03:40 PM

Zelandeth,
www.topbulb.com has some 85 and 105 watt CFL'S The 85 watt one's I have are supossed to be rated at 6000 lumens each.
If your looking for a very powerful CFL to replace your 100 watt philips, [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img] although I don't know how many lumens It produces.

Jeff

PhotonWrangler · #12 06-07-2004, 06:04 PM

I use CFLs almost exclusively now. Most are in the 14-18w range. I tried using one of the Philips "dimmable" CFLs in a 3-way dimmer lamp but it just didn't work right - the lamp would flicker at all sorts of different brightness levels (except the one that I wanted at the moment). Wound up putting an incandescent back in that one because it was so cranky with CFLs.

I think the "dimmable" moniker on the Philips package mostly means that a dimmer won't fry the electronics.

UncleFester · #13 06-07-2004, 10:31 PM

Here's a pretty cool application. Put a 13 Watt CFL in a clip-on flood light. Get a voltage inverter and take the whole thing on your next camping trip. When you need a lot of light in the middle of nowhere, it's no problem. Long distances from the inverter are no issue because the 13W at 120Vac is such small current there's very little loss in the extension cord(s). [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

yuandrew · #14 06-08-2004, 12:12 PM

Let me see, My first CFL was an old GE magnetic ballast 13 w PL adaptor that I don't use anymore (broke the bulb.)
CFLs I currently have in use are 13 watt Lights of America "The BULB"(longest lasting!) and a 13 watt GE Electronic BIAX both in the ceiling fan in the dineing room.
I have several "Top Lite" brand 20 watt bulbs both in the PL and the Spiral form. PL versions are in recessed fixtures in the hallway and the Spiral versions are in a table lamp and a back yard light. The rest await to be used and are sitting in the cabinet over the washer.
There's one 13 watt Top Light Spiral in the hood over the stove and a 23 watt MaxLite Spiralmax in another table lamp in the living room.
I also have a 55 watt Flourscent Torchier and 27 watt "Easy Eye" lamp in my study.
Ok, not a compact flourscent but I hacksawed one of my 20 watt Top-Lites and placed the ballast circuit board in an undercabinet lamp with a 2 foot GE Chroma 50 that is on the ceiling in my room. The "bulb" part of that lamp was placed in a flourscent lantern in place of the twin tube it had originally.

James S · #15 06-08-2004, 01:36 PM

you want to know how many I have up? Oh, well OK

the biggest installs of them here are in the kitchen and the family room. In the family room I've got 8 of the 85 watt equivalent Commercial Electric floods from Home Depot. Previously they were all 65 watt regular bulbs and were dim and hot and expensive. The other 2 ceiling lights in there are 75 watt equivalent marathons. There are 2 3 way marathon bulbs in 2 end table lamps in that room. So you can see that it's significantly reduced the amount of power used and heat generated in that room!

In the kitchen i've got 8 cans that don't require par type bulbs as they are already reflective. I replaced 8 75 watt bulbs in there with an assortment of 60/75 and 100 watt equivalent bulbs. the brighter ones over the stove. Some of Commercial Electric, some are GE. So they all startup a little differently but thats OK. once warmed up it's brighter than before and doesn't significantly add to the heat in the summer which is important to the expensive AC. Also over the sink is a commercial electric 65 watt equivalent. They warm up very slowly and are pretty useless for the first few minutes, but after a few more you can leave it on for a long time without worrying about it.

My office is lit by 2 of the same 85 watt ones as the family room, and 2 60 watt equivalent GE's in the ceiling fan light kit. Also the darker hallways that tend to get turned on at dusk and run all evening are 60 watt equivalent GE's.

I made the mistake of buying 2 of the 75 watt "cool/daylight" colored commercial electrics one day. They are so blue it's almost funny. Some people might like them though, once warmed up they are not so bad. I put them in the fixture in the laundry room as I think it's easier to see stains and such under that light.

Both bathrooms have 60 watt commercial electrics in the fixtures. These lights tend to get left on and with those in there I don't have to worry too much about it.

In the living room I've got 2 100 watt equivalents in the couch side reading lamp, and another 60 watt in a lamp in the other dark corner. This room has quite a bit of regular lighting also, but I keep it dimmed a bit and only have the computer turn it on after dusk. couple of others in the master bedroom, in a regular lamp and a reading lamp, 60 watts each.

finally I just put 4 60 watt equivalent commercial electrics in the fixtures in the kids rooms upstairs. I'm working to repaint the second bedroom up there and it was just too hot to work up there with 4 regular bulbs in it!

I have some regular tube type in the garage and over the workbench.

So, yes, I have quite a few [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] And mostly I've been happy with them. Initially they had high failure rates, but in the last couple of years i've been happy with almost all of the ones I've bought. THey seem to be getting the manufacturing problems sorted out. I think I still have better luck with the lower wattage ones.

Willmore · #16 06-08-2004, 02:01 PM

[ QUOTE ]
IlluminatingBikr said:
Oh, I forgot to add something. We have a 55W (actual wattage [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/eek.gif[/img]) CFL in our garage. It took the place of a 100W bulb, that screws into a mount that's on the side of the wall, next to the door that goes from the garage to the house. After that thing gets warmed up, we call it "the sun." [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[/ QUOTE ]

When I bought my current house, the garage had no outlets in the ceiling--so no shop lights, no garage door opener... So, I got a permit and wired up a set of switched and unswitched outlets. Then I hung 8 2x32T8 shop lights in there. So, I understand your 'sun' comment. If they aren't enough, I have a 400W MH HID fixture up in the attic that I can lower on a pulley down into the main garage and really light the place up! I've not yet had to do that. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Willmore · #17 06-08-2004, 02:04 PM

[ QUOTE ]
PhotonWrangler said:
I think the "dimmable" moniker on the Philips package mostly means that a dimmer won't fry the electronics.

[/ QUOTE ]

dimmable means that you can use it on a dimmer and that it will vary brightness with the dimmer setting. 3-way lights actually have multiple sets of contacts in the base that they use to run two different filaments. The filaments are normally 1X and 2X in brightness, so you can get 1X, 2X, and 3X brightness by switching the first on, the second on, and then both on. They're completely different animals than dimmable bulbs. You can get CFL bulbs that are specifically 3-way. Keep looking. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

BuddTX · #18 06-08-2004, 03:02 PM

Outside, I LOVE EM!

I have 5 of the CF flood lights. It is like 75 watts of light for only 15 watts of power. I have had them for several years, I have noticed that there are nicer, newer ones in both Lowes and Home Depot now.

Inside, I AM LOOKING for 12 of the 9 watt bathroom vanity bulb looking CF lights to replace the 25 or 40 watt incan vanity bulb lights.

Anyone know where I can find these cheap?

So where do you get dimmable CF? I have some cieling fans that could use them! I have not seen many dimmable CF.

brickbat · #19 06-08-2004, 08:51 PM

[ QUOTE ]
yuandrew said:

Ok, not a compact flourscent but I hacksawed one of my 20 watt Top-Lites and placed the ballast circuit board in an undercabinet lamp with a 2 foot GE

[/ QUOTE ]

Jeez - I thought I was the only one nuts enough to try that. I got fed up with the annoying magnetic ballasts in our kitchen under cab lights, and tried the same trick - working great so far... As for CFL's, I'm generally too attached to warm color lamps (hey I like candle flames, kerosene lanterns, and firelight) so I don't use them in 'living' areas, but our kitchen, outside lights and shop lights are all CFL and linear T8. The most impressive CFLs are the 3W candelabra lamps - amazimg amount of light from a 3W bulb. I have an electronic wattmeter, and they really do use only 3W. Most other CFLs I've checked are pretty close to their rated wattage - usually a touch under their rating.

BuddTX · #20 06-08-2004, 10:26 PM

Man, I found a nice 7W tiny CF with a standard base at my Lowes.

4.98!

These guys are replacing the round globe lights on my vanity bar in my 2 Bathrooms!

42 total (7x6) watts instead of 150! (or 240 if you were using 40 watt bulbs!)

Willmore · #21 06-10-2004, 09:47 AM

I use a 7W CCFT for the security light on my front porch. It's an ungodly high color temperature bulb--some 7000K. In daylight it looks very nice, but at night, it takes on a strong blue/green tint, but being so dim (7W), it doesn't hurt my night vision. Being closer to the scotoptic (sp?) ideal, it appears brighter than an equivalent incandescent would.

I'm just worried where I'm going to get another bulb for it when it burns out.

Lurker · #22 06-10-2004, 10:41 AM

I use them and they are mostly in the range of 15-23 watts of actual power consumption, which is equivalent light to roughly 45-75 watts incandescent. My wife leaves all the lights on all the time, so CFLs are a less expensive option than divorce.

I still haven't replaced the bathroom vanity globe bulbs, but if my wife is willing to accept CFLs there, that is my next move. Lowe's home center is carrying them as well as the Sylvania 3-way reading lamp bulb and the other excellent Sylvania bulbs, too.

Zelandeth · #23 06-10-2004, 02:51 PM

Thanks for that link to Topbulb. Thost 105W CFL's certainly look intersting...shame that I'm in the UK, hence have a 220V 50Hz supply to deal with (Okay, it actually floats between 235 and 255V), so nothing there's of any real use to me.

Still, sure that someone makes a 220V version, albeit at twice the price most likely.

Chris M. · #24 06-11-2004, 09:50 AM

Want a big CFL? Try the 4-loop 65 watt Saver-Lamp from http://www.ultimastore.co.uk - it`s that horrid 2700K colour but it sure is bright and only ten quid! They also do an 85 watt spiral now, and although I havn`t seen that one myself yet, I can guarantee you it`s blinding. Claimed to be equivalent to 425 watts of tungsten lighting, and only £16.

[img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/eek.gif[/img]

hideo · #25 06-11-2004, 03:30 PM

me likes 'em. too and and as all of you patriotic citizens know, reducing energy dependence improves national security [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

out of the 16 bulbs in fixtures on the first floor of the house, 10 are CFLs, mostly Sylvania/Osram which last and have a pleasing tint--the six remaining are oddballs, or on dimmers--our second floor is almost all CFLs

read somewhere that if all Americans switched over to CFLs for the fixtures that would accomodate them, we would reduce our petroleum dependency by some obscene amount--anyone have the spec on that?

cheers to all of you!!

hideo

PhotonWrangler · #26 06-11-2004, 08:27 PM

[ QUOTE ]
Willmore said:
[ QUOTE ]
PhotonWrangler said:
I think the "dimmable" moniker on the Philips package mostly means that a dimmer won't fry the electronics.

[/ QUOTE ]

dimmable means that you can use it on a dimmer and that it will vary brightness with the dimmer setting. 3-way lights actually have multiple sets of contacts in the base that they use to run two different filaments. The filaments are normally 1X and 2X in brightness, so you can get 1X, 2X, and 3X brightness by switching the first on, the second on, and then both on. They're completely different animals than dimmable bulbs. You can get CFL bulbs that are specifically 3-way. Keep looking. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[/ QUOTE ]

Thanks, however this three-way lamp is electronic, in that it uses a single-contact (one-way) bulb and provides three different preset levels of dimming. It works great on almost any incandescent bulb, but the Philips dimmable CFL acts very weird in this fixture!

evan9162 · #27 06-12-2004, 01:08 PM

Just went on a shopping spree at the Home Depot, and picked up a bunch of Commercial Electric CFLs. How come only Commercial Electric has figured out how to make ALL of their CF bulbs work right in enclosed/recessed fixtures, while most of the other maker's CFs say specifically not to?

Anyway, today, I picked up an A-type (bulb shaped) 14W CF to complement the other 3 I had, and put them in the cieling fan of the living room - I needed bulb looking CFLs because the bulbs in this fixture are exposed and need to look nice. The drawback is that I'm stuck with the pink-yellow warm 2700K color of those bulbs.

If I didn't care so much, I would have picked up a bunch of the daylight CF mini-spirals instead.

Just out of curiosity, I also picked up a 19W daylight spiral CF, and installed that in a table lamp in the living room. WOW. I love the color! 6500K. I guess I've been spoiled by LED lights or something. The color of this light matches both of my beautifully white 5W luxeon lights.

Also picked up 4 R30 14W reflector CFs to replace a couple of the recessed spotlights in the kitchen. These are also warm bulbs (2700K). They actually put out much more light than the 65W bulbs that they replaced. They are a touch longer than the original bulbs, so I had to move the socket up deeper in the enclosure to make it look nice.

After seeing the daylight CFL I got today in action, I will be severly tempted to go get some more daylight bulbs to replace some of my sickly yellow lights (both incandescant and CFL).

jtr1962 · #28 06-12-2004, 07:48 PM

I like the Commercial Electric daylight CFL also. In fact, I was so thrilled to find something other than the yucky yellow 2700K/3000K in a regular retail store. Some people here have complained that this CFL looks too blue. Maybe next to a regular CFL or before it warms up it does, but when viewed by itself it gives a much crisper light than regular CFLs. Too bad daylight and/or 5000K CFLs aren't more widely available in retail stores.

Zelandeth · #29 06-13-2004, 02:45 PM

Chris M...showing me that site was not a good thing for my wallet. I have just sooo got to get one of those 85W spirals...

Chris M. · #30 06-14-2004, 09:58 AM

Sorry [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif[/img]

But I have to get one too eventually (they didn`t have that one avaliable when I bought a few from them a while ago) so it isn`t all good here either. Wherever will I put the thing?

[img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]