"Energy Efficient Light Bulbs" my butt cheeks !! silly things

[Saracen]

Hmmm.

Better stockpile a few years worth of incandescents now, then.

[oshta]

Thats neat. I take it you arein the country and may need backup power?

Yeah, well certainly we do have breif power cuts.
- However also, we have a ex1000 for the steamboat/work anyway, and currently this country is about as overstreached as it can be, and its nice to be safer than sorry.
- Plus we're madd engineering types, so somehow get some bizare plesure out of such things are large DPDT switchs, and burning petrol to make light and sound.


Daniel

[Bluecube]

I use spiral GE bulbs in every room of my house and they're fine. They start up with perhaps 90% of their full light (rather than 50% as the old ones used to be) and take only a few seconds to reach full light. Wouldn't swap them for the crappy old ones by a long shot.

[teachmech]

I know we will be stock pilling the normal bulbs so that we can go on enjoying the light that we are used to.
I must admit that the last time we tired an energy eff bulb was over 8 years ago. We have not picked one up since.
What about spot lights do they have eff blubs for these?

[pumpman]

all my bulbs in the house now are energy efficient, sure the early ones did take a mo to brighten, but the newer ones are quicker, and last a lot longer, so cheaper to run and cheaper to own.

Wonder if you can overclock them ?

[Rave]

I too have energy savers everywhere but our bathroom (enclosed fitting) and our kitchen (GU10 fitting halogen). I should maybe investigate the GU10 fluorescents but I think they're a bit bigger than halogen GU10s? I'm not sure they'd fit.

All the rest of my bulbs are a mixture of Philips and Ikea- none of them cost more than a pound. I don't even notice any brightening up time, they just come on instantly as far as my unfussy eyes are concerned. The only CFL I've disliked in the last few years was one from the 99p store we had in the bedroom of our old flat. The light was very cold, even harsh. Luckily it didn't last all that long so we went back to another Philips or Ikea light IIRC.

TBH, even if I didn't think energy savers were as good as incandescents I'd still use them as I hate wasting electricity (and hence money!),

[HEXUS]

HEXUS community members have been voicing their likes and dislikes of energy saving lights bulbs over the past few days and well, it's bad news folks, the Migraine Action Association claims the bulbs can cause migraines.

Read more.

[Parm]

I found this whole thread very interesting to read so I've added a little poll up top too.

[mycarsavw]

Megaman (UK) - DIMMERABLE Series

Dimmerable, is that even a word?

Oh my

Use them, hate them, but they offset the 20 halogen spots we have in the kitchen and bathroom

[pp05]

I bought some cheap ones. 60watts. Does feel a bit dark initially. Luckily fixed two in the room to give it that overall 100w light feel about the place.

[Gunbuster]

I use spiral GE bulbs in every room of my house and they're fine. They start up with perhaps 90% of their full light (rather than 50% as the old ones used to be) and take only a few seconds to reach full light. Wouldn't swap them for the crappy old ones by a long shot.

I too use GE Bulbs. I get them from Woolies, the bayonet fittings are pretty much instant and work in sub zero temperatures just fine (I have one next to my front door). I have one spiral fit and that has about a half second delay. I now have two incandescent bulbs, one in the loft and one in a large cupboard that both get used a hand full of times a year.

[snedger]

I put some expensive "close to natural light spectrum" 11W GU10s in my kitchen and am more than happy that I have invested in good quality lighting that I personally prefer to the harsh cold 50W halogens. They don't blow every 2 weeks like the halogens (found out too late that if you touch a halogen your body grease will cause them to blow early).

The Megaman "dimmerables" in my dining room have the fastest warm up of any low energy bulbs and I am happy to have paid extra for that. I don't bother "dimmering" them though.

I am about to get some 20W Varilight bulbs to go on the standard (althought I still haven't checked that the dimmer switches work at a minimum of 20W) dimmer circuits in my lounge and upstairs & downstairs landings. Still not cheap - but I will get the equivalent brightness of 100W bulbs.

Someone posted that they've been using low energy bulbs on a dimmer circuit. That will eventually cause the dimmer switch to fail - the strange noise should have been a clue that you shouldn't use regular low energy on a dimmer switch - you need the recently introduced bulbs from companies like, megaman, varlight or osram - proper dimmable or the soppy dimmerable that requires a quick on/off switch to change lighting levels.

With research lead discrimination you always get what you pay for. And I could not install anything in my house, no matter how cheap, that was substandard, that was going to last for years.

[Steven W]

I've got these energy saving light bulbs in every light in the house. Come to think of it, they do give off a dim light. I often have a lamp on my desk as well even though both lights in the office are on.

My wife has been having migraines, she used to anyway before these bulbs, but she reckons they have become more frequent.

I didn't see this topic before and knew nothing of the issue, but over the weekend we're going to change all the bulbs again for a few months to see if it does make a difference.

[Kilty]

In my experience, some are great, while others are awful.

My parents have recently gone on an energy efficiency rampage, extending all the way through our home, to my flat.

They fitted these energy saving bulbs in my living room, and they give about as much light as a candle, and take about 5 minutes to warm up. When you initially swtich them on, the room stays almost as pitch black as it was (at night obviously).

After falling over, from tripping up over coffee tables and sofas at night, I eventually swtiched over back to normal bulbs for that room. Just couldn't stand it, the light was far too weak to be practical.

I don't entirely hate these bulbs though. The one in my hall is excellent, really bright, and brightens up rather quickly from initially swtiching it on.

I'm sure they can only get better though, right?

Dave

[Saracen]

....

My wife has been having migraines, she used to anyway before these bulbs, but she reckons they have become more frequent. ....

There was an item on the evening news tonight, with a chap referring to a number of medical issues associated with these energy-efficient bulbs, including migraine sufferers, but also including a variety of effects on people with some skin conditions, including photo-sensitive skin (which in turn had a variety of causes, including chemotherapy). According to that report, some 50% of the population could be in a category where they may suffer adverse effects from CFLs.

He was calling fir the proposed ban on incandescents to be scrapped, at least until research allowed non-incandescents to be developed that didn't cause these reactions.

[chuckskull]

BBC NEWS | UK | Low-energy bulb disposal warning

Never knew that.