[mythtv-users] [Slightly OT] solar power for all our gadgets

Brian Wood beww at beww.org
Sat Mar 21 03:10:31 UTC 2009


On Friday 20 March 2009 20:57:58 David Brodbeck wrote:

> > Any CFL that behaves the way the OP described is either broken or VERY
> > old. Con-ED in NYC was giving away better ones than that in 1991.
>
> They're actually almost brand new.  And I doubt all eight of them were
> broken from the factory.  Oddly, the ones they installed elsewhere in
> the house worked better, but they were the twisty kind.  The bathroom
> ones are exposed so they're the kind where the twisty tube is encased in
> a plastic sphere, to look like decorative incandescents.
>
> They do produce *some* light right away, but it's less than half their
> eventual brightness.  The installer assured me that would change after
> they broke in, but that hasn't been the case.
>
> My opinion is that CFLs only make sense for lights that are turned on
> and left on for long periods. In a bathroom, the constant on/off cycling
> will kill them too fast for them to pay off.
>
> The same is true for LED bulbs, really.  While power-cycling won't kill
> them, a bathroom light is probably on for less than an hour a day. 

You obviously do not have teenage daughters.

I have around a dozen CFL lamps, and all of them produce at least 80% or so of 
their final brightness instantly, then increase slowly to 100% in about 15 
seconds. They might increase a little after that, but not significantly.

Some of these are the spiral type indoor ones, others are floods and spots 
outdoors.

(I realize we are way OT, but I've not seen complaints, yet.)

-- 
beww
beww at beww.org


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