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

[David Brodbeck]

Brian Wood wrote:
> On Friday 20 March 2009 18:29:54 Wookey wrote:
>> +++ David Brodbeck [2009-03-20 16:56 -0700]:
>>> The ones our utility oh-so-helpfully installed in our bathroom take over
>>> a minute to warm up.  Just what you want in a room you spend maybe three
>>> minutes in at a time.  They also don't like being frequently switched on
>>> and off, and have begun dying about six months after they were installed.
>>> Color me unimpressed; I'll be replacing them with incandescent bulbs.

>> Please don't do that. Either get some better CFLs (there are plenty),
>> or consider LEDs.

> 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.  The 
payoff just isn't there for replacing them with something more 
efficient, especially since for half the year we're also switching on a 
heat lamp when we're in there to warm up the room.