Energy saving lightbulbs

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BobbyFowler

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Is it just me, or are Energy Saving Light Bulbs a bit of a scam? I've lit matches that emit more light than them. Bought a few of them yesterday. They claim to use just 11W (which I can believe) but emit similar light to a 60W bulb. I reckon it's safer to say you're buying an 11W bulb which emits 11W of light.
 
Re: Energy Saving Light Bulbs

BobbyFowler said:
Is it just me, or are Energy Saving Light Bulbs a bit of a scam? I've lit matches that emit more light than them. Bought a few of them yesterday. They claim to use just 11W (which I can believe) but emit similar light to a 60W bulb. I reckon it's safer to say you're buying an 11W bulb which emits 11W of light.
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I've certainly noticed that they take a few minutes of 'warming up' time before the intensity is at an acceptable level.

I find them OK - but maybe if you are mainly turning them on for short periods, they don't get a chance to emit what they are capable of.
 
Re: Energy Saving Light Bulbs

I'm sitting here at my laptop in the living room with an 11W bulb burning away in the background. It's been on for the last hour. I may as well be sitting in the back garden looking at a star for all the light coming out of it:)
 
Re: Energy Saving Light Bulbs

BobbyFowler said:
I'm sitting here at my laptop in the living room with an 11W bulb burning away in the background. It's been on for the last hour. I may as well be sitting in the back garden looking at a star for all the light coming out of it:)
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:D

I'll check exactly what we have tonight - maybe there is a difference with brands etc.

Should I say I'll try to check - might need a welders helmet to look directly at our blazing pulsar of light! ;)
 
Re: Energy Saving Light Bulbs

BobbyFowler said:
Is it just me, or are Energy Saving Light Bulbs a bit of a scam? I've lit matches that emit more light than them. Bought a few of them yesterday. They claim to use just 11W (which I can believe) but emit similar light to a 60W bulb. I reckon it's safer to say you're buying an 11W bulb which emits 11W of light.
Click to expand...

I would agree -kitted out a few areas with them a few months back and they are not great. I think there is a few years more development before these things emit a decent amount of light.
 
Re: Energy Saving Light Bulbs

BobbyFowler said:
I'm sitting here at my laptop in the living room with an 11W bulb burning away in the background. It's been on for the last hour. I may as well be sitting in the back garden looking at a star for all the light coming out of it:)
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Lighting a living room with a 60w bulb is some thing my parents/grandparents would have done. Anyway a 11w CLF typically gives out about 55w of light, when compared to a normal bulb when given time to warm up time. (11/2)*10 = 55
What drives me mad is you can't tell a good CFL from a cheap CFL from the information on the box. A good one will have electronic start/HF ballast (instant on and no 50Hz flicker), very fast warm up time, a CRI of 90 or better and state its true colour temperature etc etc.

Towger
 
I've noticed similar from the CFLs I bought recently - even at "full blast" they appear fairly dim compared to the original CFLs which were extremely bright!

I particularly noticed how dim they were when I bought a daylight spectrum bulb which emits real white light - wow! Now I can see all the dirt in the corners......:(
 
I agree - they seem dimmer than the claimed "normal" wattage and the light that they emit is usually a ghastly pale shade (haven't tried any "soft tone" ones). As a result we only use them for places like the hall, porch, under the stairs etc. and not the regular living spaces.
 
And while we are knocking these bulbs...

I've had problems using ESL's with a dimmer switch - tried it in childs room where I just want a minimal amount of light when putting child to bed.

ESL just flickers on and off.

I'll stock up on incandescent bulbs if they ever go ahead and ban them ;)
 
Most or all CFLs should not be used on dimmer switches. I think that there are some energy saving (CFL?) bulbs that can be used on these?
 
I got Philips Candle 'Soft Tone' bulbs in Dunnes. 8 Watt * 5 for the the sitting room. The problem is they give out a green shade of light. They are supposed to be 2700 Kelvin! God knows what the CRI is, probably in the region of 70. I am now planning to put in 18 of these dimmable 11 watt downlighters http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/MGGU11D.html


AJC. The basic CFLs are not dimmable, but I did manage to dim the Philipps bulbs quite well when one of the 5 bulbs was normal one. Without the normal bulb the load was below what the dimmer was rated for and they flickered.
 
I bought some in Aldi earlier this year and also some of the two for one in Tesco. They are as diffent as night and day. Tesco ones 'warm' up to a fairly bright light but even so leave a lot to be desired (phillips brand) Aldi ones don't 'warm' up and the 11 watt ones are only good for cubby holes or places where you don't need much light
 
I have bought Philips one, and own-brand Atlantic homecare ones at a fraction of the price, but only got a fraction of a the quality.

THe Philips ones are emitting good light a year later and the cheap ones
are useless. They take a few seconds to light at all, and the light is poor.
I think they were better when new, but not sure.
 
BobbyFowler said:
Is it just me, or are Energy Saving Light Bulbs a bit of a scam? I've lit matches that emit more light than them. Bought a few of them yesterday. They claim to use just 11W (which I can believe) but emit similar light to a 60W bulb. I reckon it's safer to say you're buying an 11W bulb which emits 11W of light.
Click to expand...

They are a foul scam, I know for the "Greens" they are a bit of a poster boy but like much so-called "Green" ideas when you analyse them they are bas value not just for poor light emissions but because they contain Mercury. There is much negative press about them, a typical example,

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Light emitting diode (LED) lights are a newer kind of energy saving light.

I've seen LED equivalents of GU10 spot lamps in Woodies. They are very weak light intensity but have even lower power consumption that CFL. They don't have the slow start up issue that CFLs have. The colour balance is worse than CFLs. The LEDs are available in white (very light bluish/uv light) or warm white. Neither is as satisfying as the spectrum of the traditional tungsten filament bulbs.

On-line I've bought much brighter LEDs (with 60 individual LEDs per bulb) than the kind sold in woodies but they're still only about 50%-66% as bright as the tungsten higher wattage bulb that they're claimed to be equivalent to.

The LEDs can't be used with dimmers.
 
I have 4 of those GU10 spots (on a newish fitting) and they are fairly useless as it is. would hate to see a replacement that was even worse. Wouldn't mind so much if they were efficient but they are far from.
 
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