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Florescent light bulbs?

T

T Wake

Jan 1, 1970
0
CoreyWhite said:
Al Gore came on Opera yesterday and said we could save 20% of the
energy our light bulbs use if we switched to more expensive florescent
bulbs. These bulbs last longer you know. But are you aware that the
light bulb companies are conspiring to keep florescent bulbs off the
market? They charge you more for them already, but Tesla invented a
florescent bulb that is still burning in the Tesla Museum 50 years
later. If we all used his bulbs we would never have to worry about
screwing in light bulbs. So the answer to the most important question
of the day: How many scientists does it take to screw in a light bulb?
Really should be none. Because we don't have to ever change our light
bulbs in an ideal world.

But can anyone tell me how I can get a hold of one of these Tesla bulbs?

Click your heels three times and make a wish.
 
T

T Wake

Jan 1, 1970
0
CoreyWhite said:
80%?? No way!! That is like a FREE ENERGY MACHINE!!! Are you telling
me that we can take what's left over from the 20% of the energy it
uses, and use it to power the rest of the appliances in our house?? WHO
NEEDS SOLAR POWER!!!

(IFYPFY)

You need less caffeine for a start. Then a quick lesson in mathematics and
reading comprehension.

The post said they save 80% compared to incandescent bulbs.
 
T

T Wake

Jan 1, 1970
0
But does it cost less to actually buy the bulbs? I don't remember how
much Al Gore said a package of florescents costs.

Try a shop.
 
T

T Wake

Jan 1, 1970
0
Eeyore said:
Very much so.



No it's not !

CoreyWhite has an interesting posting history on sci.physics. He often
fixates on Tesla and "free energy" and went through a phase of trying to
"curse" me with his black magic.
 
T

T Wake

Jan 1, 1970
0
Don Lancaster said:
No, but all of their electricity is radioactive.
Woud YOU want radioactive electricity in YOUR house?

:)
 
T

T Wake

Jan 1, 1970
0
CoreyWhite said:
He is wrong about a lot of his theories.

Possibly because he isn't a scientist. Are you ever wrong about a lot of
your theories?
 
T

T Wake

Jan 1, 1970
0
I like Al Gore's scifi movie, "An Inconvenient Truth" where he preaches
about the myth of global warming from the backseat of his armoured,
7mpg limousine.

Nice troll.
 
B

Bob Kolker

Jan 1, 1970
0
T said:
Click your heels three times and make a wish.

Or go to Ace Hardware, Home Depot or CVS Pharmacy. These places not only
have the bulbs but they usually are on sale for half the catalog price
if not cheaper. One time I got a 6 pack for six dollars and change.

Bob Kolker
 
E

Eeyore

Jan 1, 1970
0
Helmut said:
Fluorescent bulbs create a considerable EMF disturbance radiation.
I don't like them for that reason, because they pollute all radio
bands from longwave to VHF.

Besides this, they do not live that long, at least not 13 times the
lifespan of an incandescent bulb.

The purported longer life is simply a lie.

That's not my experience. I've never seen one claiming to have *13* times the
life though. 6 times, 9 x , 12 x and 15x for different brands and models but
never 13 x.

Graham
 
J

Jonathan Kirwan

Jan 1, 1970
0
Helmut Wabnig wrote:



That's not my experience. I've never seen one claiming to have *13* times the
life though. 6 times, 9 x , 12 x and 15x for different brands and models but
never 13 x.

It's been my limited experience the compact fluorescents do _not_ last
as long. I have a pair of sockets for my living room that are near
each other in the ceiling (20 feet up, yes I have room for two floors
in that room.) When I first bought the place, there were two
incandescents already there. One eventually went out and I replaced
it with a compact fluorescent... twice... before the other one finally
expired (it was also incandescent.) They are on the same circuit and
attached to the same light switch so they are either both on or both
off, always. That's only one example case here in the house. I've
been tracking this elsewhere around the home, because of that
experience, and it seems consistent that I cannot get the same life
out of a compact fluorescent as I do a similar-rated (in lumens)
incandescent. Not 4 time, not 2 times, not equal. But decidedly less
and perhaps about half.

Now, I did go read a data sheet on an IC being sold to those who make
compact fluorescent bulbs. The gist of my reading through it suggest
to my limited hobbyist eyes that there are cheaper things you can do
that destroy lifetime (the data sheet goes to some length to explain
why you want to do certain things in your design to greatly improve
lifespan.) I take it then that perhaps some companies add the nickels
needed and some don't. The compacts I have bought for many of the
lighting around the house have been from Costco and are branded as
Philips "Marathon" units. The ones I've tried in that ceiling (where
I _want_ longer life because of their height), were from FEIT ELECTRIC
CO, UL#E170906. The package says "lasts 4 times longer," which simply
has not been even close to my experience with them.

This is a newer industry, though. Incandescents have had the time for
pretty much all of the materials science stuff to get refined to a
gnat's eyebrow, by now. Ratings there may even mean something,
because they combine much known theory as well as a lot of engineering
knowledge and practice. Fluorescents are being pushed out the door as
replacement business and a lot of folks are looking to muscle into a
market they may not have had much chance to with incandescents because
of the high vertical barriers there (technical and marketing.) Perhaps
this will all settle out in time, but right now I suspect that there
are some really good compact fluorescent designs out there but you
really need to do your research, still.

I very much am reading this for good, measured experiences. I see
Osram mentioned and I haven't tried theirs. I may have to search for
them and see. But Philips is not on my 'good' list, right now. At
least, not those Marathon units sold through Costco.

Jon
 
I very much am reading this for good, measured experiences.

Mine seem to last a longer than incandescent but I've never
kept logs. The light isn't as good as incandescent so I
use a combination in the lamp that I use the most. I would
like to use the flurescent in the ceiling lights but all
warnings say not to use them if recessed.

I have noticed that turning them on sometimes creates a burst of
EMF which causes a loud static if I have the radio on. I do
not know if this is going through the house wiring or the air.

Another odd behavior of the flourescent is the reaction of
my radio's display to it. The radio display brightens or
dims depending on whether it thinks it's daytime.
Incandescent causes the display to brighten; fluerescent does
not.

So far, those are my experiences. I did not use a controlled
experiment to see how much less KWH I used when I started
to use them. My use is 150-200 KWH/month.

For long-lasting bulb, have you tried a bulb that is
made for work lights?


<snip>

/BAH
 
D

default

Jan 1, 1970
0
Al Gore came on Opera yesterday and said we could save 20% of the
energy our light bulbs use if we switched to more expensive florescent
bulbs. These bulbs last longer you know. But are you aware that the
light bulb companies are conspiring to keep florescent bulbs off the
market? They charge you more for them already, but Tesla invented a
florescent bulb that is still burning in the Tesla Museum 50 years
later. If we all used his bulbs we would never have to worry about
screwing in light bulbs. So the answer to the most important question
of the day: How many scientists does it take to screw in a light bulb?
Really should be none. Because we don't have to ever change our light
bulbs in an ideal world.

But can anyone tell me how I can get a hold of one of these Tesla bulbs?

In 1992 there was an announcement or two about something called the "E
bulb" It was supposed to be an RF excited fluorescent lamp - ala
Tesla style. The idea was to have the electronics in the base with a
glass covered coil extending into the bulb envelope. No electrodes to
wear no filaments to burn out.

Searching on "RF lightbulb" yielded a (very) few hits on it.

from http://www.arrl.org/w1aw/1995-arlb098.html
The Federal Communications Commission has waived its rules to permit
the General Electric Company to begin marketing an ''RF lightbulb.''
The Commission waived, at GE's request, FCC Rules Part 18 limits on
the amount of RF energy that may be conducted into the electric
power lines by RF lighting devices in the band 2.2 to 2.8 MHz.

The article goes on to mention another company trying to make an RF
excited lamp in the 13 MHZ range.

Looks like RF radiation is one of the design problems to overcome - if
it ever to replace cheap compact fluorescent lamps with more limited
life spans - not that I expect a company to sell bulbs that last
forever - that doesn't sound too profitable.
 
E

Elder

Jan 1, 1970
0
WHO
NEEDS SOLAR POWER!!!
What if you were to combine Solar power for electricity, water heating
and radiators, with your normal mains electric and lower power
flourescent bulbs. Think of the saving you could make then. 80% of your
lighting bill gone, 40-60% of your hot water bill gone, and 20% of your
room heating gone. And you have cut down on the emissions caused by
electricity generation. Saved money, saved the planet and the warm fuzzy
feeling might not just be because the radiator was up too high.
 
E

Elder

Jan 1, 1970
0
But does it cost less to actually buy the bulbs? I don't remember how
much Al Gore said a package of florescents costs.
99p (about $2USD) for the equivalent of a normal 60watt globe. They are
being reduced to silly cheap compared to how expensive they used to be,
because nobody likes the look of the cheap ones, and won't play the
price for the better looking ones.
 
J

Jim Thompson

Jan 1, 1970
0
What if you were to combine Solar power for electricity, water heating
and radiators, with your normal mains electric and lower power
flourescent bulbs. Think of the saving you could make then. 80% of your
lighting bill gone, 40-60% of your hot water bill gone, and 20% of your
room heating gone. And you have cut down on the emissions caused by
electricity generation. Saved money, saved the planet and the warm fuzzy
feeling might not just be because the radiator was up too high.

Yep. Isn't warm fuzzy science so grand ?:)

...Jim Thompson
 
R

Randy Poe

Jan 1, 1970
0
Elder said:
What if you were to combine Solar power for electricity, water heating
and radiators, with your normal mains electric and lower power
flourescent bulbs. Think of the saving you could make then. 80% of your
lighting bill gone, 40-60% of your hot water bill gone, and 20% of your
room heating gone. And you have cut down on the emissions caused by
electricity generation. Saved money, saved the planet and the warm fuzzy
feeling might not just be because the radiator was up too high.

It is possible to live "off the grid", i.e. without using electricity
from the utility company. People do it. There are websites
devoted to it. This isn't news.

- Randy
 
G

GregS

Jan 1, 1970
0
Mine seem to last a longer than incandescent but I've never
kept logs. The light isn't as good as incandescent so I
use a combination in the lamp that I use the most. I would
like to use the flurescent in the ceiling lights but all
warnings say not to use them if recessed.

I have noticed that turning them on sometimes creates a burst of
EMF which causes a loud static if I have the radio on. I do
not know if this is going through the house wiring or the air.

Another odd behavior of the flourescent is the reaction of
my radio's display to it. The radio display brightens or
dims depending on whether it thinks it's daytime.
Incandescent causes the display to brighten; fluerescent does
not.

So far, those are my experiences. I did not use a controlled
experiment to see how much less KWH I used when I started
to use them. My use is 150-200 KWH/month.

For long-lasting bulb, have you tried a bulb that is
made for work lights?

I have been using CF's for a few years. Probably bought at least 30.,
In my experiance the life is as predicted, however incandesants
can last longer than typical. espically some rugged ones.
I bougth on CF at The Home Depot several years ago. I modified one
of those tall halogen floor lamps and bought the extra expensive CF
that works with lamp dimmers. Worked great. Lets not talk
about noise.

greg
 
G

GregS

Jan 1, 1970
0
What if you were to combine Solar power for electricity, water heating
and radiators, with your normal mains electric and lower power
flourescent bulbs. Think of the saving you could make then. 80% of your
lighting bill gone, 40-60% of your hot water bill gone, and 20% of your
room heating gone. And you have cut down on the emissions caused by
electricity generation. Saved money, saved the planet and the warm fuzzy
feeling might not just be because the radiator was up too high.

The biggest saving I got was when I moved. Electricity is about 40% cheaper
at the new home 10 minuites away. I have fun trying to burn electricity.

greg
 
E

Elder

Jan 1, 1970
0
Wrong about the myth. GW is most probably real - if it wasn't the Petro
companies wouldn't be channeling millions into 'independent organisations'
to attempt to rubbish it.
But who is to say that GW wouldn't happen anyway, even if man hadn't
evolved from apes, even if technology hadn't happened and even if
industrialisation hadn't occured.

We have Global cooling(Ice Ages) as part of the natural cycle, so why
not Global Warming. Maybe we can't do shit to stop it happening, maybe
we are just inconveniencing our selves for nothing, and maybe we are
just paying "green" taxes becauase we are told to and all it is doing is
making government revenue. Maybe the human race is going to get wiped
out at anytime soon anyway, no matter how many solar panels, wind
turbines, BioFuels and organic lentils are installed, consumed or used
as fertiliser.
 
K

Kevin White

Jan 1, 1970
0
hours or 3KwHr. If you have ten in the house that is 30kwHrs.

You can cut that down to 10kwHrs. The main saving is on lifetime.

The more light you use, the more you save on both the replacement cost
and the operating cost.

Bob Kolker

I think you need to check your arithmetic.

3000 hours at 100W is 300,000 Watt Hours or 300KWHrs (Three Hundred).
At the rates I pay that will cost about $60 for the electricity. A CF
lamp over the same period would use about $15 worth.

In addition it is unlikely that an incandescent would last 3000 Hours -
they are normally designed to last about 1000 Hours.

It is a tradeoff of life vs efficiency for an incandescent - you can
make an incandescent last as long as you want by lowering the filament
temperature, but the efficiency drops of dramatically. At the other
end of the scale from domestic lighting, incandescents for photographic
work give off a lot of light but only last a few hours.

kevin
 
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