?? Question For Electrical (120V) knowledge people

Are these any good......or a waste of money ?


http://www.longlite.com/Products/Products.aspx

Years ago there were disks that were to be put behind a light bulb to make them last longer.
They were usually in "gift catalogs" and cheap. (Less than $1.00 each).
I read that they wasted more in electric than what they saved in bulbs.

These are different (I THINK).
My electric supplier had an insert about them in with my bill.
They will sell them to me (for about double what the direct from Longlite price of $16.50 for 10 shipped is).

THANKS FOR ANY AND ALL INPUT,
Glenn

I should have put this in the origional post:
The reason that I am interested in these is for bulbs that are hard to change and turned on and off a lot.
The on/off a lot rules out the compact flouescents.

If you want to save electricity and have longer lasting bulbs switch to compact fluourescents. Considering how ridiculously cheap regular old light bulbs and grid power is, I see no reason to "save" either.

Re: ?? Question For Electrical (120V) knowledge pe

Battery Charger, Please see edit.

I am also using the GE Reveal bulbs that cost more than ordinary bulbs. Especialy in the "flame" type.

Glenn

Re: ?? Question For Electrical (120V) knowledge pe

I have a set of discs in on of my bathroom fixtures w/ two bulbs. Put them in for same reason-hard to change. The bulbs are slightly dimmer then without discs but bulbs are now 8yrs old and neither one has burned out as of yet.

Re: ?? Question For Electrical (120V) knowledge pe

These have been around in some form for 10 or more years. Do they work yes, are the worth what they cost you? I think you are on the right track by using them in a place that is hard to change bulbs, that alone would make them worth it IMHO.

Re: ?? Question For Electrical (120V) knowledge pe

I'll think you'll find that they are a simple diode which will reduce the current the lamp draws a bit. A small drop in current will greatly extend the life of the lamp.

I have mostly florescent lights in my house. They take a little getting used to (they warm up and brighten over a couple of minutes). The difference is in my bathroom is a good example I have 8 glass globe florescent lights that each draw 11 watts for a total of 88w. The equivalent incandescent would be 40w each for a total of 320w. Pretty large difference for the same amount of light. The lamps were more expensive but should last at least 10 years since you don't run them for long periods.

Anyway. Power is cheap so the payback is minimal. I'm in favor of using them to save power even though there is no real savings. Its also nice not to have to replace them as often. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Re: ?? Question For Electrical (120V) knowledge pe

I doubt they'll work as claimed. Three times the life with no loss in output and no change in color temperature? And 10% energy savings to boot? Simple physics says this can't be. It takes a certain amount of power to run a given filament at a given temperature. This is determine by the bulb design and nothing else. No add-on device is going to change the bulb characteristics. Therefore, you can't get the same amount of light for 10% less power.

You can make a similar argument for the lifetime claim. The only way to get longer life from the same bulb is to reduce the filament temperature. Soft starting doesn't make that much of a difference, maybe 10% or so. However, two problems with reducing the filament temperature in exchange for longer life. For starters, the efficiency decreases, and incandescents are already notoriously inefficient as it is. Second, the light get even yellower, increasing the chromatic distortion typical of incandescent light relative to natural light sources like the sun.

What I think these really do is to smooth the AC current to something close to DC, and maybe at the same time run the lamps with a little less power. This may result in not much change in perceived output, and perhaps 2 or 3 times the life. Given how cheap bulbs are, I'm not sure I see the point. Most of the cost to run an incandescent bulb is the energy, not the replacement cost.

I don't get why anyone would even be selling a device like this or why a power company would recommend it. Incandescent bulbs have exactly one use-for applications which aren't on very long but which are switched frequently. In any application where the light is on often enough that lifetime and efficiency become a concern you should use fluorescents, either CFLs or better yet the linear type. They just don't have the drawbacks they used to any more except for frequently switched applications. I'm surprised that's not what the power company is promoting instead.

Re: ?? Question For Electrical (120V) knowledge pe

[ QUOTE ]
Chris_Medico said:
Anyway. Power is cheap so the payback is minimal. I'm in favor of using them to save power even though there is no real savings. Its also nice not to have to replace them as often. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

Not here. It's $0.18/KW-hr. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif Not replacing bulbs as often is a huge advantage. One thing I've always hated about incandescents is that it's so annoying to seemingly be constantly changing bulbs. Now that most of the house is on linear fluorescents with a few CFLs dead bulbs are maybe a once every few years occurence.

Re: ?? Question For Electrical (120V) knowledge pe

we have used the DIODE ones before
also created them by soldering 3A barrel diodes to the bottom of a bulb.

the diodes worked by only passing 1/2 of the sine wave to the bulb,
the bulb dims a bit, uses less power, because it is underdriven a bit it lasts longer.
the bulb gets more yellow, and could completly destroy various compact florescents.

the Value of the DIODE ONLY ones is 1$ wholesale, mabey $2.50 for retail.

i dont know if these are the diodes, resold with snake oil or if they actuall put a different hunk of silicoln in, that ramps and resists.

and yes i have destroyed compact florescents with "diode" type curcuits, one set of the motion sencors we have uses a SCR, instead of a triac (saves 8c) , and it likes a LOAD the way it connects.
so i didnt know that the CF were getting torched, one even ripped itself apart.

Re: ?? Question For Electrical (120V) knowledge pe

[ QUOTE ]
jtr1962 said:
[ QUOTE ]
Chris_Medico said:
Anyway. Power is cheap so the payback is minimal. I'm in favor of using them to save power even though there is no real savings. Its also nice not to have to replace them as often. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

Not here. It's $0.18/KW-hr. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif Not replacing bulbs as often is a huge advantage. One thing I've always hated about incandescents is that it's so annoying to seemingly be constantly changing bulbs. Now that most of the house is on linear fluorescents with a few CFLs dead bulbs are maybe a once every few years occurence.

[/ QUOTE ]

That would make it worth it for sure. Power here is about 7.5 cents/kwh. My choice is more about conservation in general than actual $$ saved.