Fluorescent light bulbs are not what they advertise

There is one issue with florescent bulbs (of all types) that I have not seen anyone mention, that being that they can and do set off seizures for people who have epilepsy.

General Information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photosensitive_epilepsy

Unfortunately, that citation makes it sound like this is rare, but it is not. The CFLs are made without electromechanical ballasts, so the reported incidence of problems is lower, but it can still exist.

Also, there are health risks associated with fluorescent bulbs. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light_sensitivity

Read the section labeled "SCENIHR study and report" if you want to be wondering just why these bulbs do not come with warning labels ala "cigarettes."

I, for one, am betting that LEDs are the wave of the future, as the prices will come down as more factories start making them.

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Supply and demand - Not just a good idea, its the law.

Agreed,LED is the bulb of the future,or the now if you pay the price. Just dont look at one lit up,OUCH!

As for the heat output,that is not only not free but the most expensive heat you can buy.

No free lunch on that.

For chickens get an infrared heat lamp.

Incandescent is a wasteful Fred Flintstone tech,time to move on if we have to drag folks kicking and screaming so be it,its a HUGE National power saver that all can do at little cost.

And Energy Star appliances,oy did folks squeal about that,and look how painlessly weve reduced appliance power consumption,and it didnt put folks out of business,or raise costs,or ....anything.Just cut your power usage,not a bad thing.

Yup,LED,LOVE IT!!!!

Yup,energy efficiency,Love that even more.

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Compact flourescents do have ballasts. That's what the big white thing at the base is.

Incandescent light bulbs have a light color, brightness, and quality we have come to expect over the years. CFL bulbs do not have as stable of a color temperature as incandescent. CFL bulbs are also not as bright. As Harry pointed out, light is measured in lumens. A 60 watt equivalent CFL does not put out the same lumens as a standard incandescent. In fact, a "60 watt" CFL is about as bright as a 40 watt incandescent. The new LED's also have a color quality issue compared to incandescent. They are also not as bright as their equivalent CFL or incandescent. A "60 watt" LED is about as bright as a "40 watt" CFL which is about as bright as a 25 watt incandescent. These are all using the rated lumens. LED's have lost a lot of the promise of long life because of all the heat they generate in high wattages and all of the electronics they have to put into the "bulb" to make them work.

CFL's do not last much longer than an incandescent in this house. They do last a little longer. LED's, I won't buy. They just aren't there.

In the winter time, all of our CFLs get replaced with incandescent as they are also a small heat source.

Good catch. I meant to say they do not have electromechanical ballasts, those have been replaced by electronic ballasts which are eons ahead of the old type when it comes to flickering (strobe-effect.)

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Supply and demand - Not just a good idea, its the law.

That's not true. The flicker comes from the cycles per second (Hertz) which is 60 in the US. The electronic ballasts and magnetic ballasts do not change the HZ, only the voltage. Flicker is more apparent in florescent bulbs because the light occurs in a gas and not a filament (they are glowing white hot and dim as they cool) like incandescent.

<sigh> YES, they DO change the frequency. Changing it is a minor electronic tweak. CFLs are often at about 10K hertz. Please read Klipstein's pages.

I read the same thing. However, I can tell you with absolute fact based on testing, they cycle at 60hz. I have a high speed camera that operates at 480 frames per second. I have shot the bulbs at 480fps and can see, without a doubt, the 60 cycle flicker.

I do know that on higher end electronic florescent ballasts they can take them up to 10-12K but not on any CFL.

Ha! I just attempted to prove it. I captured the CFL at 240fps. Played back, you can "almost" count the cycles which equal about 15 per second played back. BUT, I uploaded to youtube which used mpeg4 compression and smoothed out the flicker... You can't see any flicker on the youtube clip. Let me see if I can find another way to get the video out here for you to see.

Ok, got it uploaded so that the flicker is there. You can see it here but with a lot of artifacts.

Phalynx - - - Awesome! I enjoy being PROVEN wrong, because it makes me think harder and check MY assumptions. OK, you done it. Now, both of us need to go back and figure out WHAT is going on and why.

Harry, having read your posts on many forum boards and topics, believe me when I say, I wouldn't have gone up against you unless I was 100% right.

I think the issue with the CFL's are simply, they are built in China to a very poor standard and to keep the costs down, the ballasts are designed with economy, not quality, in mind.

Excellent video!

Any objection to me putting that in my article?

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[raising chickens] [diatomaceous earth] [permaculture] [rocket mass heater] [lawn care]

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While they haven't taken them away yet it is apparently coming. I checked the link to the Phillips Eco friendly incandescents, which will be the only legal type after the phase out beginning in 2012; they were shown on Amazon at $7.99 for a 2-pack. Hopefully the price on those will come down dramatically.

The way I look at it, we have just over a year to stockpile the currently available incandescents. Hopefully a future congress will undo this stupid aspect of the energy bill. But just in case...I wonder how many it will take to be a lifetime supply???

No objections.

If you want heat, use heating cables. I can always find CFL's on clearance for $1 or less. In TX, where cooling load is the vast majority of the elec cost, CFLs are great. And they really do save you a LOT on the electric bill.

Anyway, if you want heat in your henhouse, get a Y bulb adapter, and use 2 CFL's to get more heat. Also, if one bulb burns out, you still have one going. If that is not enough heat, then you need to insulate the hen house better.

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We will meet in the golden city, called the New Jerusalem,
All our pain and all our tears will be no more.....

However, I live in the LED Camp.

I now have about 90 % of my house done in LED.

I started with CCranes: http://www.ccrane.com/ in 12VDC format, I have several 12V Gel Cell batteries, @ 7.2 AH I would recharge every other month, this was a 24/7 light, for my hallway into my bathroom, a ~nightlight~ except, I never bothered to turn it off ...

I recently have bought a series of small "Edison base" bulbs, small as in size.

Lights of America, part number: 2101LED-41K-16 this is a 4Watt, 4100K lamp, which is cool to the touch, 120VAC.

I have three in my bedroom, 2 overhead, one for my reading light while in bed, nice because I use to get burned on my shoulder by the incandescent lamp. ouch.

I use many in my wood shop, again NO HEAT is one factor, but the light on my band saw handles vibration much better than a filament style lamp, which are vibration sensitive, unless you buy heavy duty "work lamps".

I like LOTS of light, without shadows, on my scroll saw, I have 4 LED's from 4 directions focused upon 10 square inches of scroll saw table, try to do that with a CFL... ~If~ you try that with a filament style bulb, you will be fried from the heat! As I twist and curve for my cuts, I am never with out a perfectly lit up line on my woods...

just a variation on light needs.

By the way, at 4 Watts, 120VAC, I leave one on, all the time, it is my Shop's nightlight...

hope that helps someone,


philip

If I didnt have good connection at the light socket, then the CFL which has lasted 3 1/2 years should have burned out much sooner too. Sorry, need to find another argument for the el crappo incandescents being sold burning out quickly.

And my CFL is in my bedside reading lamp and is turned off and on multiple times a day. If yours arent holding up, maybe your lamp socket connection isnt very good???

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"What would you do with a brain if you had one?" -Dorothy

"Well, then ignore what I have to say and go with what works for you." -Eliot Coleman

Wasn't trying make an argument, just offering what I thought might be helpful information. I don't know for sure, but maybe the CFL's aren't as sensitive to the loose connection because they are electronic rather than having the power go directly through a filament. Anyway, I haven't had any problems with CFL's burning out. My issues with them are the dimming over time and how the imperceptible flickering may affect my health. But I'm not trying to talk anyone out of using them. If they work for you, great. You will never have any problem getting them. Those of us who want to use incandescents, however, may not always have the option.

You say you havent had any problem with CFL's burning out but how about incandescents. My incandescent problem isnt limited to that one lamp, I just focused on it cause it gets most use in my house. It gets long daily use especially this time of year and multiple on/off cycling. So its good challenge for any light bulb.

I have little interest in the small amount electricity the CFL may have saved me, it has saved me a lot in buying replacement incandescent bulbs. I dont have problem people buying and using incandescents. But claiming they are some kind of superior light is bending the truth. They arent.

If others havent had problem with modern incandescents short lifespan then they must have found some stash of NOS 40 year old "made in USA" bulbs or are just lieing to themselves out of some political agenda. I know those worried about mercury in CFLs have pure political agenda as they arent wanting to ban commercial fluroescent lighting which has far more mercury and which have been used and tossed in local dumps for decades upon decades.

I havent noticed any flickering in any modern fluorescent. The old ones indeed would give one a headache and that greenish light they gave off was horrible. But that was decades ago. Since commercial use of fluorescents has been very common for decades, I imagine if any flickering were going to cause anybody to grow a second head or something that it would have done so by now.

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"What would you do with a brain if you had one?" -Dorothy

"Well, then ignore what I have to say and go with what works for you." -Eliot Coleman