GE Unveils Unique Hybrid Halogen-CFL Light Bulb Coming in 2011

[DanManTX]

I wonder how much this will cost? Any CPF'ers interested in this bulb?


GE Unveils Unique Hybrid Halogen-CFL Light Bulb Coming in 2011
http://www.geconsumerproducts.com/p...consumer_lighting/Hybrid_halogen_CFL_2010.htm

 

[kethd]

What an odd idea -- hard to believe they are really serious about this... I've never had a big problem with CFL slow starting, but if that is a big deal to the market, I guess this might actually make sense... I thought dimmability was a much bigger concern, which this seems to not at all address.

 

[jellydonut]

CFLs with their ballasts and mercury can go somewhere the sun doesn't shine. (aw sheesh, I just noticed what a ridiculous pun that was. Can we excuse it? not intended ) We're replacing our incandescents with LED-based 'bulbs' as the incandescents fail instead.

 

[Black Rose]

Interesting, if a bit odd.

The brand of CFLs we use come on instantly.

Should the Halgen bulb burn out before the CFL reaches EOL, what do you do?

 

[Lynx_Arc]

Unless it is a 3 way bulb I don't see a point in it. 3 way CFLs are a joke as like the first 3 way LED flashlights the modes are too close together to warrant the middle mode in them making them a 2 way with a spare useless mode. With a hybrid like this you could have CFL, Halogen, and CFL+Halogen for a light that would dim well on Halogen, run cheaper on CFL, and be bright on combined mode.

 

[kethd]

The halogen part just lights at the beginning, then goes out. It does not have to be bright, just fast. So with careful design, the halogen will last almost forever. And even if the halgen were to burn out, it should still function as a normal CFL... But if the CFL burns out, will it then be a very weird halogen bulb? That turns on for a few seconds and then goes out automatically? Or will the halogen keep shining because it senses the CFL is not working? Or will the halogen not come on at all, because it senses the CFL is broken?

 

[kethd]

They could use LED instead of halogen. Just for first two seconds. Faster than halogen. The LED would not have to be bright or efficient, and the driver circuit would not have to be efficient. So it could be cheap. The LED light would not have to be even, just enough to prevent tripping in the dark. And no serious worries about LED heat...

 

[Canuke]

I suspect that the tech used to get CFL's to light up faster incurs certain costs, in dollars, efficiency or longevity (or a combination thereof) such that they think this is a good solution.

 

[richpalm]

Forget anything other than a filament... not gonna burn my house down with China-junk electronics.

Rich

 

[Marcturus]

(...) Unique Hybrid Halogen-CFL Light Bulb (...)

BEEEP!
verdict: not unique: Italian company Leuci had a similar design before, as others may have.

 

[deadrx7conv]

The halogen capsule inside GE's new hybrid halogen-CFL bulb comes on instantly, allowing the bulb to operate noticeably brighter in less than a half a second. The capsule shuts off once the CFL comes to full brightness.

Halogen booster while awaiting CFL to warm up is a great idea. Does it have a light sensor, a timer, or a heat sensor to turn off the halogen?

This is one reason why I have several closets that haven't been upgraded to CFL. I need instant light to find what I want quickly. Waiting for eyes to adjust to CFLs that are warming up....can be a pain. I used some 40w halogens to replace the 60w incans there. The 14w-20w CFLs took too long to warm up.

Sometimes, I might be organizing in the closet a little longer which means I'm wasting electricity. So, this bulb might just work for me if technology doesn't bump up the G60 LED bulb output over the next year.

I also fear the local fire dept and homeowners insurance policy, and is why I haven't filled the place up with homemade bridgelux's.
What would happen if something went wrong and the homemade lights were to blame whether at fault or not? insurance battle!!!

I think an LED/CFL hybrid would be more interesting!

 

[blasterman]

The only thing that would potentially catch fire is the driver, and if you stick to name brands with proper consumer certifications it's a non issue.

I know a lot of people who build their own computers, and know of several where the PSU went up in flames taking out a room and furniture with it. I don't see insurance adjusters denying the claim because they built their own computer.

I'm trying to think of ways to actually start a fire with a low voltage LED array, and can't think of any. However, I've seen 24volt open track lighting rails throw sparks like jumping a car battery because they are running on non regulated drivers.

 

[smokin]

It's hard to believe a company like GE resorting to a contraption like that to add instant-on to a CFL lamp. It's horrible, the lamp needs an instant-on ballast in it instead.

If GE did the same thing to one of their jet turbines, it would have an instant-on rocket in it for instant thrust, imagine what that would look like.

 

[KevinL]

I find it strange too.

Osram and other manufacturers have instant-strike ballasts, the lights come on AT LEAST 60-70% power then gradually ramp up to full power over the next few seconds. Even if you take it conservatively, half of 1.3K lumens is still 650 lumens. That's pretty freaking bright, as we flashaholics should understand. A handheld device throwing 650lu out of the emitter would be considered 'pretty good' nowadays and 'mind bending phenomenal' not so long ago I've long switched to Osram CFLs with integrated instant-strike ballast because of this. They still maintain their thousands of hours lifespan.

I've seen some even better designs instant-strike at 80% power, it's too close to call between that and max output.

The bulbs are not expensive either. Maybe $5 for a 23W unit that lasts years? I've paid much more for much less in the past.

 

[kethd]

HOW TO MINIMIZE CHANCE OF FIRE?

@deadrx7conv:

There are two approaches to the homemade BridgeLux what-if-fire issue.

IF there is a fire, will insurance cover it? Don't know...

HOW TO MINIMIZE CHANCE OF FIRE?

Carefully analyze and address potential failure modes. Consider every possibility...
Generally, the power LEDs themselves are unlikely to start a fire, even if you abuse them and they break. You should give them generous metal heatsinking anyway, which spreads out any potential heat so that temps never get near high enough for fire.
If you use a constant-voltage power supply and a voltage-dropping resistor, the resistor is a danger. If you don't use conservative design (at least twice the wattage rating as you actually expect) the resistor could get very hot. But the LEDs could suffer domino failure (one shorts out, which leads to more current to others, which causes another to short out) greatly increasing power through resistor, causing fire. Beyond general over-conservative design of thermal aspects, with plenty of sheet metal to spread out any unexpected heat, using fast-blow fuses sized to be just barely big enough should provide belt-and-suspenders safety. Every LED series string should have a fuse, and every driver input should have a fuse. The driver should be surrounded by sheet metal; with a proper fuse, even if the driver is cruddy and defective you should be protected from fire.

Anything involving dimmers makes everything more complex and could increase chance of fire.

Also note that Bridgelux is targeted at the commercial market. So we can expect a variety of fully certified BL based lighting products. At a price...

Cheap high-power LED light bulbs should be a greater danger in general than any carefully planned homemade approach, because the heat is so concentrated in a light bulb -- just don't ever try doing things that way at home! The only hi-power LED light bulbs you should try are big-name ones with full certifications; I guess those currently cost up to $100. Maybe the $20-ish from Home Depot is cheapest?

(There really isn't much reason to worry about the efficiency of lighting unless it is used a significant number of hours per year.)

 

[deadrx7conv]

Re: HOW TO MINIMIZE CHANCE OF FIRE?

There really isn't much reason to worry about the efficiency of lighting unless it is used a significant number of hours per year.

That's the problem. I could care less if my bill is $1 more or less because of my home lighting. When you think on a global scale, and not on a selfish scale, that bulb multiplied by 300 million residents in the USA or billions around the world IS SIGNIFICANT. So, I'd prefer to use as little power as possible everywhere as possible.

 

[kethd]

@deadrx7conv:

I don't mean, don't bother to make your lighting efficient; I mean, make sure you invest your resources starting with whatever will actually do the most good, whatever will save the most kilowatt hours per year.

Also; every lighting "improvement" project is an investment/expenditure of resources -- so when a project does not work out, or does not get much use, the end result might not actually be saving any resources at all, overall...

 

[deadrx7conv]

That is exactly why I don't replace/upgrade instantly. I wait until I have bulbs burn out. The investment/expenditure is a must, whether incan/LED/LVD/CFL/CCFL... I had an incan burn out in the basement. I moved a CFL from the kitchen to the basement. I tossed an LED in the kitchen.
I had another incan quit outside. And, repeated the process.
Goal is to only replace when there are failures. And, to move around as needed to get what I want where ever I want. I kinda look forward to 'burnt out bulbs'. Unlike the govt', I can't finance to replace ALL at once hoping they live up to their expectations. IMO, CFLs aren't living up to their lofty expectations. LEDs are still few, weak, and expensive.

This hybrid CFL/Halogen GE bulb, would hopefully be perfect for my closet. But, they might just come out with a 650-800 lumen LED bulb sooner too. The ~400lm ones don't cut it. Close, but no dice.

Not soon enough:
http://www.geconsumerproducts.com/p.../commercial_lighting/1500_lumens_LED_2010.htm