Lightbulb Demise!

richardc1983

I am quite interested in the CCFLS actually they sound quite good but it would be good if we can get the cheap CFL bulbs you see in wilkos to be a nice colour temperature, they are a really white cold light. Whereas the phillips ones that are still like £6 a bulb are a nicer colour. Because you cant see them operating before you buy you have to take the risk. I have put the CFLs in every light in the house apart from the ceiling fan light and bathroom light as it would take too long to warm up in the bathroom and being that the bathroom will be used for perhaps 2minutes at a time with no window the light will wear out. We put one in there a year ago it burnt out within 8months and the tube was all black from constant turn on/off cycles. Once there on they are designed to be left on for the evening. I also think outdoor security lights should be designed to use energy saving bulbs. THese are the biggest user in lighting of the home.

My bedside lights are the small screw type lights and have CFLs in, got them from tesco 4 for 30p. Awful colour temperature im going to throw them away this weekend and buy some normal bulbs for them! THey make the bedroom look very cold.

richardc1983

Sir bendy

Im all for the energy saving bulbs, however I think for the decent quality ones that have nice colour temperature you still need to pay £6 for a philips one. These tend to last the full quoted life time! The cheap ones are awful and they should not be sold! You end up replacing them quicker than normal bulbs some of them! Also its hard enough finding a bulb with a nice colour temp never mind if it flickers or not. To the everyday person without migraines or epilepsy you are not going to notice the flickering, its far too fast a frequency however to people with epilepsy etc they notice it!

Sirbendy wrote: »

Operative word: Can.

Not WILL. Can. Is "can" definitive and all encompassing? Not last time I checked.

It's hardly a big challenge I would imagine to find bulbs with various frequencies of flicker - not something I've looked at personally, but I know some "normal" tubes can flicker like a swine, whereas others don't. As I say - try them before you buy if you can. It's one of the "YMMV" things, but I don't see what the issue with the "OMG, we want to keep stupidly inefficient 200 year old design" is all about.

If flicker is a major issue, then...well...don't watch TV, don't use monitors either..they're worse than any CFL I can think of..

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=flickering-fallacy-cfl-bulb-headaches

Quote: Industry experts acknowledge that day-to-day exposure to older, magnetically ballasted long tube fluorescent bulbs found mostly in industrial and institutional settings could cause headaches due to their noticeable flicker rate. The human brain can detect the 60 cycles per second such older bulbs need to refresh themselves to keep putting out light. However, modern, electronically ballasted CFLs refresh themselves at between 10,000 and 40,000 cycles per second, rates too fast for the human eye or brain to detect.

richardc1983

Yesq correct but its the cheaper CFLS that are not electronically ballasted, or they use a cheap ballast!

Sirbendy wrote: »

Operative word: Can.


Quote: Industry experts acknowledge that day-to-day exposure to older, magnetically ballasted long tube fluorescent bulbs found mostly in industrial and institutional settings could cause headaches due to their noticeable flicker rate. The human brain can detect the 60 cycles per second such older bulbs need to refresh themselves to keep putting out light. However, modern, electronically ballasted CFLs refresh themselves at between 10,000 and 40,000 cycles per second, rates too fast for the human eye or brain to detect.

Fire_Fox

richardc1983 wrote: »

Your wrong. Fluorescent lights flicker thousands of times a seconds due to the frequency at which they operate at. For migraine sufferers or epilepsy sufferers this can lead to attacks or migraines.

Google it!

"The frequency of flashing light most likely to trigger seizures varies from person to person. Generally it is between 8-30Hz or flashes per second. CFLs 'flicker' at a rate well above this sensitive range and do not pose a hazard to sufferers of photosensitive epilepsy. Researchers have concluded that compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) are no more likely to be a greater risk to people with photosensitive epilepsy than other lamps."
http://www.environment.gov.au/settlements/energyefficiency/lighting/publications/fs2.html

"However, the Lighting Association, which represents bulb manufacturers, said that the latest energy-saving bulbs did not produce a flicker.
A spokesman said: "A small number of cases have been reported by people who suffer from reactions to certain types of linear fluorescent lamps. These were almost certainly triggered by old technology."
Last year the charity Epilepsy Action reported that a small number of people with the illness could have seizures triggered by low-energy bulbs."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7167860.stm

Sirbendy

I've got phillips ones, tesco ones..and whatever southern sent me. Tesco ones aren't bad at all. Phillips, about the same (actually had one fail). The spiral ones ARE a harsh white, almost blue tinged...good for uplighters mind.

I've got..I think it's a Tesco one in the bathroom..as you say, commonly on for a few minutes. No warmup with it though - it runs at full chat straight off! Quite impressed.

I do agree that external lamps and energy savers = good...but CFLs suffer there, When it's cold, they really CAN be dim. Mum has them, and sometimes it makes me cringe. It's purely down to the external temp being low though.

I have a battery powered "dual-head" PIR on the side of my place..solar charged, 3 white LEDs per head...now THAT works quite nicely..:)

Clive_Woody

richardc1983 wrote: »

Your wrong. Fluorescent lights flicker thousands of times a seconds due to the frequency at which they operate at. For migraine sufferers or epilepsy sufferers this can lead to attacks or migraines.

Google it!

Epilepsy can also be triggered by televisions, computer monitors, flash cameras, you can also get audiogenic forms of epilepsy triggered by various frequencies of sound.

Migraines can also be caused by excessive noise, various fruit, some smells and pollutants, PMT, etc....

Anyway, as somebody already pointed out this claim by the Daily Wail is flawed and my original statement stands.

davey4444

Does anyone know which bulbs are compatible for dimmer upstanding lamps? Mine has an ES fitting and the only dimmable bulbs I can find seem to be these - http://www.megamanuk.com/products/product.php?sid=13 - and they state that they're not suitable for this type of lamp.

molerat

oldone wrote: »

...... since it is agiven that in spite of refuse tips having safe disposal areas for these low energy bulbs, the majority will continue to dump them in their bins, just as they have always done.

My council have no facilities for the disposal of fl tubes. I phoned them to ask what I should with about 20 I had to dispose of and they said put them in the normal bin. The weight / volume of these is obviously not enough to make a significant impact on the government waste disposal targets.