Fluorescent Bulbs

[bigtiller]

I have two "can" lights recessed in the kitchen ceiling above the island. The electrician put 65 watt bulbs in them when the house was built and we have replaced them with the same when they burn out. I would like to replace the bulbs with the new fluorescent bulbs but I am not sure what size to buy. I would like to have as much or more light than i have now but I don't know about the heat or wattage limits on the "can" its self. Any advise?

 

[dooleysm]

I have started replacing my 65 watt bulbs with the CF equivalent. If you go to walmart they will be easy to find. Just look for the 65 watt equivalent, maybe 15ish watts? So far mine work great. As normal with CFs, they take a short, but still noticable amount of time to kick on. Mine start out dimmer than the regular bulbs, but slowly become brighter. Within a few minutes they seem slightly brighter than the 65 watt bulb they replaced. No worries about heat, they produce less. Far fewer watts for the can to handle too.

 

[Bird]

Our kitchen has three 4' tubes in one fixture and then two fixtures mounted to the cabinets (one on either side of the sink) in which I've placed 14 watt CFs. They really light up your work at the sink when you need it. We have 3 light fixtures in the breezeway and I have CFs in them, too, but don't remember just what wattage, then we have a 5 watt CF light in front of the garage door and one just outside the back door of the shop.

 

[dmccarty]

The CFIs will generate less heat than the incandescents bults. A 65-75ish watt incandescent will only use 13-15ish watts so it will generated less heat. We have 85ish recessed light fixtures in the house and all of them have CFI bulbs. You can us "regular" CFI bulbs. We use R40 CFI bulbs for the majority of the cans. Some of the fixtures can be "aimed" and those take R30's. We could use the "regular" bulbs but the R30/40's look better but they are more expensive.

We have had better luck with the bulbs from HD. The latest ones we have been buying at Lowes are burning out quickly.

Later,
Dan

 

[KAB]

I have switch to the cfl lights. I have found the same that Dan had found that the Home Depot lights (nvision) seem to work the best. They have less delay and I have had not had any problems with them. I use the daylight style of light. They have a slight blueish tint to them when on, but are brighter than the soft white bulbs (I use 40w equivalent instead of 60). There is also a bright white bulb that seems to fall between the brightness of the softwhite and daylight bulbs. ( I no-longer look at the lumen rating as it appears to be less than accurate.)

It did take a while to get used to the blueish tint of the daylights but now hate the yellowish tint of the soft white bulbs.

Kurt

 

[dgl24087]

Are there any CF's that are dimmer compatible? I would love to replace the incandescents in a couple of torchiere lamps but haven't found dimmer compatible bulbs yet. I've tried Home Depot, Lowes, & Walmart with no luck.

 

[KAB]

Are there any CF's that are dimmer compatible? I would love to replace the incandescents in a couple of torchiere lamps but haven't found dimmer compatible bulbs yet. I've tried Home Depot, Lowes, & Walmart with no luck.

Do a google search on "dimmable cfl lights" without the quotes.


Kurt

 

[Highbeam]

I have replaced almsot all of my incandescents with CFLs. I like the light, energy savings, coolness, and low power startup. Notice I didn't say long life? That's because they do NOT have long life. I have replaced many many CFLs of different brands over the years with many having lifes in the 6 month arena. Don't do it for bulb life.

 

[Logan]

I was a home depot last week buying a few packs of the new CF lights and I am almost positive (getting old) that I saw some that were dimmer switch compatible. It seems they were $8 or $9 each. I am happy with the CF's, the first I have bought. They take a couple of minutes to come to full brightness and then are as bright or brighter than the old bulbs. They come on immediately and don't flicker when they start, like the tubes do in my shop lights.

 

[RonMar]

I have replaced almsot all of my incandescents with CFLs. I like the light, energy savings, coolness, and low power startup. Notice I didn't say long life? That's because they do NOT have long life. I have replaced many many CFLs of different brands over the years with many having lifes in the 6 month arena. Don't do it for bulb life.

Same here, I can count the number of incandescents I have on one hand. Using CFL's I can run every light in my house when on my tiny backup generator as it is virtually no load electrically As mentioned, a 60-70W CFL will only use about 15W of electrical power. They also generate very little heat so can go anywhere an incandescent can go. What might be a bigger issue than heat is fitting them into compact light/lamp fixtures as they are typically a little larger than incandescents.

I have never seen one that is dimmer compatible, but I have never looked as I didn't think it was possible based on the nature of the way the light is excited from the tube.

Mine seem to last a good long time, I might have replaced one this last year throughout the entire house.

They are slow starting when cold and in freezing temps(porch light) may take up to a minute to deliver full light. I just replaced the two 100 watt floods on the garage with 123W reflector CFL's(PAR38, 23W of electricity per bulb). Good/same overall light, at a fraction(1/10) of the power.

 

[Logan]

I just searched for the dimmable lights to prove to myself I wasn't losing it, and found some at: Dimmable | E3 Living - Environmental Products | Energy Saving Products | CFL Bulbs

 

[_RaT_]

It has taken some time for me to come around to both compact flourescents as well as cans equipped with flourescent ballasts that take the pin type florescent bulb. As an electrician, I was never happy with the color of most flourescent lighting. There are now dimmable flourescent bulbs (R30's I believe) that fit the standard 6" Halo style recessed cans (they work with 5" cans but the bulb will hang down). The dimmable bulbs have the advantage of being of course dimmable and they have instant full lumens at start up. The down side is that the cost is more and the longevity is shorter than non dimmable similarly lumen producing compacts. I also find that the 2700K to be the closest to incandescent color but the color varies dramatically from manufacturer to manufacturer. Going with GE or Phillips may cost you more, but I have found the quality generally superior. With the cost of electricity in my area and the ability to light much more of your home with a smaller generator, these energy saving bulbs are really working well. I have become much more of an advocate of them. RaT...

 

[Hakim]

To share our experience of the past couple of years.

The bulbs we use in our home as well as digital video and still photography are as close to natural sunlight as possible. The bulbs closest to this are 5500 degree Kelvin and 90 CRI -- the closest replication of natural sunlight available. It produces almost 3,000 lumens of full spectrum daylight.

Generally, the lower the Kelvin rating (3,000 and below) the warmer (more yellow) the light is. The higher the Kelvin rating, the closer to daylight (and more bluish).

We buy our CFO bulbs for video and still photography in 200 watt equivalent from Agri-zone in Lancaster, PA. They use these mainly for raising chickens and various aquarium/fish applications. The great advantage of these lights for video and photo work, is you get 500 watt illumination in bulbs that essentially never get hot. If you are a photographer, you can appreciate what this means.
SAVE ENERGY Full Spectrum Compact Fluorescent Bulb 200W - eBay (item 140010284895 end time Mar-14-08 16:15:00 PDT)

eBay has a number of sellers in various watts.
NEW 65 Watt Compact Fluorescent Full Spectrum Photo Bul - eBay (item 290207585081 end time Feb-27-08 17:02:40 PST)

More here also,
Compact Fluorescent full spectrum, Lamps, Lighting, Ceiling Fans, Home Garden items on eBay.com

One trick for shotting video scenes, is to get one of those pole lamps with three cone reflectors (make sure they are white on the inside, not black or brass color). They are about $20 at WalMart. Assemble the pole light and aim the three 74 watt CF lamp at the subject(s). You can use a single clamp on lamp for similar effect, or as a backlight. The result really improve digital video especially.

If you put four 200 watt CFO's in a Britek header (available from Steve Kaiser, among others) that's 800 watts per light. Two of those = 1,600 watts, etc. PLENTY of light. Generally speaking, the more/better lighting, the better your videos will look.

For day to day home use, we buy full spectrum daylight (5,200-5,600K) CFO bulbs in the lower wattages at WalMart, a real force in getting everyone to use CF's. Many WalMarts have very low priced deals in conjunction with local energy companies.

In San Diego, we pay only about .77 cents for the 37 watt CFO bulbs, in daylight temperatures. The link below is to CF's on the WalMart web site. You'll have to check your local WalMart for the super special prices. We use the 27 watt (100 watt equivalence) for most household and lamp applications.
Search results for cfl bulb - Walmart

I also buy at Home Depot. They have good lights, and much more selection in t he "daylight" CF's at higher wattages.
We have switched over the past few years and have nothing but positive experience with compact fluorescent bulbs.

 

[JB4310]

I've gone almost all CF through the house and shop, went on a binge, only got a couple of bathroom vanities to do, on a couple of circuits that I had dimmers I removed them to have the energy saving option of the Cf's. definitely seen some energy savings, I have 14 recessed fixtures in 2 rooms that had 65 watt halogens in them, changed them to the equivalent light output CF which is a pretty substantial savings right there. Home Depot has a "bright white" which I prefer over the soft white, they have them in the indoor flood style for the cans as well as the regulars. It's good to know that they are making far less heat in those enclosed fixtures, and they come up to 150 watt equivalent, so you can have more light ( than 100W incandescents) for still less power in utility areas like garages or basements, where 100W is the norm.

 

[CATMAN]

I have replaced almsot all of my incandescents with CFLs. I like the light, energy savings, coolness, and low power startup. Notice I didn't say long life? That's because they do NOT have long life. I have replaced many many CFLs of different brands over the years with many having lifes in the 6 month arena. Don't do it for bulb life.

Highbeam. I used to have problems with the life of any bulb, until I started using 130 volt AC rated bulbs. I measured my outlet voltage at 123-124 volts AC, so I was really stressing a 120 volt AC bulb. A coworker used to work on traffic lights years ago and told me that they only used 130 volt bulbs in their signal lights. I don't know if it will help you or not. I can tell you that my yard light went from 2 months to 8-10 months of life.

 

[Podunkadunk]

I have two "can" lights recessed in the kitchen ceiling above the island. The electrician put 65 watt bulbs in them when the house was built and we have replaced them with the same when they burn out. I would like to replace the bulbs with the new fluorescent bulbs but I am not sure what size to buy. I would like to have as much or more light than i have now but I don't know about the heat or wattage limits on the "can" its self. Any advise?

A while back we had a discussion similar to this one...regarding the new but expensive flourescent bulbs.

Anyhow, the gist of my post then...I've had a ton of them burn out. Every one of them were in the kitchen ceiling, where they are recessed! Luckily, Wallyworld takes them back. They have really long warranties, 3, 5, 7 years or longer on some.

Good luck.

Podunk

 

[SpringHollow]

So my barn is unheated and i am looking for something to replace my HO fluorescent lights. Does anyone have experience with CF's in very cold weather (single digits or lower)?

Thanks,

Ken

 

[RonMar]

So my barn is unheated and i am looking for something to replace my HO fluorescent lights. Does anyone have experience with CF's in very cold weather (single digits or lower)?

Thanks,

Ken

No experience into the single digits, but the two outside CFL floods I have startup and work in the upper 20's. As I mentioned earlier, it takes a little bit for them to go to their full output, but the light level is useable(2/3 of full?) immediatly and they ramp up to full in less than a minute.

 

[_RaT_]

Highbeam. I used to have problems with the life of any bulb, until I started using 130 volt AC rated bulbs. I measured my outlet voltage at 123-124 volts AC, so I was really stressing a 120 volt AC bulb. A coworker used to work on traffic lights years ago and told me that they only used 130 volt bulbs in their signal lights. I don't know if it will help you or not. I can tell you that my yard light went from 2 months to 8-10 months of life.

The price you pay for 130V bulbs is efficiency. The 130V filament also has considerably less lumen output at a similar power consumption rate as a standard 120V. Your right, traffic signals use 130V bulbs, 69 watt bulbs for that matter. Now almost all have or are being replaced with LED. LED can last for 100,000 hours, a real bonus for traffic lights.

 

[davitk]

So my barn is unheated and i am looking for something to replace my HO fluorescent lights. Does anyone have experience with CF's in very cold weather (single digits or lower)?

Thanks,

Ken

We have a CF on our back porch, has started down to -25 F, taks a bit to warm up. Ironically, that particular bulb has lasted three years now without burning out.