OT; Light bulbs

Brown Swiss

Well-known Member
A couple years ago Pa and I put in a light socket in the breeze way of the barn, that is between the milk house and the barn. Any way getting to the point he put in one of those screw worm florescent light bulbs. Last night when I was bedding down cows the darn thing started going on and off and then started melting, smoke coming out. This type of light bulb is what we are to use in the future? Seems I have had more trouble with these bulbs than I know what to do with them! And the gov said mercury is bad can't have it in thermometers but I guess it is ok in a light that has a melt down. I think the govs light bulb burned out and they can't figure out how to replace it! LOL
 
I bought some of the newer LED's from Costco and I am impressed with the amount of light they produce.
 
CFLs have a very short life if turned "on" and "off' a lot. CFLs are not the "bulbs of the future." LEDs are and don't use heat to make light. Also are the only bulbs that do not suffer from being turned "on" and "off" a lot.
 
Get an LED replacement. I just bought several LED bulbs at Lowes and they are much better than the CFL's I've tried. I got some of the 100 watt equivalent for outside lights and a 75 watt equivlant for some lamps inside. The LED bulbs capable of dimming are a bit pricier so if you don't need to dim the light get the cheaper non-dimmable ones.

Dan
 
I agree that LED bulbs will be the future but they are so expensive now they will take many, many, many years of use for the electricity saving to offset the initial cost. And during that time they'll be making better ones so you might not want to use them that long.

My advise is use the new halogen bulbs that look just like incandescent bulbs. Walmart has them in 4 packs for about $4. They look and are packaged so closely to the old incandescent bulbs you might think they are incandescent.

Halogen bulbs have light color like incandescent, full brightness from the moment they are turned on, use less energy than incandescent, and last longer than incandescent.
 
I agree, those curly bulbs are a bad deal, do not live up to the promises as to life, brightness, durability, cold starting. Really dislike them. They are. Typical govt solution - cost more, preform worse in all ways.

Led seems to show great promise, as we buy more they should get cheaper and seem to work well in different environments. I've been using a lot of them.

Screw the screwy bulbs tho!

Paul
 
I tried some awhile back. Didn't last long at all and had one burnt out left it in for some time and finally got around to changing it and darn near burned my hand ! Thing was still drawing power burned out and was HOT ! I suppose could cause a fire ?
Just like the Government mandated toilets that save water. But they really waste water because now you have to flush so many more times to take care of business. Now I see 2 stage toilets these sound like a lot better idea. Never tried one yet. Use # 1 or # 2 depending on what you did how much water they use.
 
It appears those "squiggly" CFL's are on the way out as LED's are to become their replacement since they produce much more Lumens per watt, far less heat, and not all the problems of those squigglys. I have already converted to LED in the RV and the home is next as the prices fall.

John T
 
Wasn't all the long ago we had to get rid of the milking system vacuum gauges that had mercury in them. Now they want mercury in the feed alleys where the cows can ingest it if a bulb gets broken. Smart move.
 
Halogen bulbs ARE incandescent. Sorry to contradict, but BY DEFINITION, any bulb that uses a heated filament to produce light IS INCANDESCANT. .

What you are referring to as incandescent is the older Tungsten filament in a glass globe that has been evacuated. The bulb that Edison invented. Halogen bulbs also use a heated filament, but are actually pressurized with an Iodine vapor. The glass is a special quartz glass. The operating principal is to redeposit filament material back onto the filament rather than blackening the inside of the glass - as the older more conventional bulbs did.
 
I think jdemaris hit on something with the on/off factor. I have 2 CFLs in the cupolas on my barns that are on an eye are on every night. They were installed in April of 2002 and I finally had to replace one in April of this year. I'm still getting 3 to 4 times the life in the house but that isn't saying much. The last few years of incandescent bulbs, I was only getting 6 months.
 
Yeah, I wouldn't' use those corkscrew wound fluorescents if they gave them to me......I had one in a reading lamp and one evening that damned thing burned out and scattered hot glass fragments all over the table it was setting on. Some of the pieces were hot enough to burn little spots on the highly finished table top, could have started a fire if there had been a doiley ( sp?) under the lamp like you often see. Dangerous things they are!
 
Yea I knew that was technically correct. I was just using the common vernacular for the different types of bulbs--sorry it confused you.
 
one of the issues that I have,is that sometimes I want an incandesant lightbulb not so much for the light but as a small heat source I have one spot on the plumbing system here that is prone to freezing,but all it takes is a 60 watt light in a trouble light hung in the right spot no problems . now an led,or flourescent wont help for this application. They have also noticed this problem on traffic lights the LED lamps burn so cool that the snow builds up on the lights and obscures the lights,now someone has to clean them off after a storm . nobody appreciates the elegant simplictty of Edisons design.the light has built in current limiter,the filiment breaks and its done, the twist lights will stop illuminating,but still draw current and they do get hot!
 
You should already have the fixtures installed that have a mason jar looking cover over the bulb in such areas.
 
SIL works for a local REA as a lineman, a few years ago the COOP gave them a case of the squigley bulbs, he got me a case.

Now, Our house is "hard" on lightbulbs. They burn out alot. someone told me the house does not have a good ground. I tried the squigley bulbs, they didn't last very long at all. And didn't put out much light.

I went out and stocked up on 100W, 90w and 75w bulbs several years ago. Hopefully have enough to last my lifetime.

Gene
 
Gosh, Gene, looking through all the comments, I was beginning to think maybe I was the only one who socked away enough incandescents to last for "the duration." Of course, we had a reason- have conventional light sockets in the horse barn, and below freezing, the squigglies won't come on about half the time. Got pretty dark, feeding in the winter, so we laid in a lot of bulbs.

Got the best buys on them right before each wattage became illegal, as the stores tried to sell out their inventory. I guess the sheeples were already resigned to putting up with the dam things.
 

A coupe of years ago I bought 300 of the 100W and 200 of the 60w bulbs simply to spite the government of the US.
 
Oh, I have a shelf full in the basement of regular bulbs, figured a. 10 year supply would see me through. ;)

Paul
 
yes, just installed some LED'S in a biulding at work and man are they bright. very impressed.
 
We have been using cfl's ever since they came out and have only had one fail. Now as the price comes down on led's we are slowly switching to them. As far as the mercury pollution, yes if you break one it will pollute, but if you recycle it properly that doesn't happen. If you do break it and release the mercury into the environment it's still better than using an incandescent. If your power is generated by coal there will be more mercury released from the stack to power the incandescent bulb. As far as using incandescent for heat, they only burn about 2 months continuously, not as long an a MN winter!
 
Yes, the CFL with all its cold weather problems and short life when switched on / off a lot, but the day of the CFL is nearly over now that good LED's are below $8 for an 800+ lumen bulb.

I just bought a new house and decided it's lighting would be all LED. They should out live me and save a ton of money on electricity cost alone, as they take only 1/6 the power of an incandescent bulb.
 
Sorry, you did not confuse me. I knew what you were trying to say, but you were passing misinformation to others. There are some that may not have known what you were trying to say.
 
In our area they put heaters in with the LEDS on traffic lights. I sometimes wonder what we are doing. Some one forgot to check on Cause and effect Save money on light bulbs , pay 3X the regular price and add electric heaters. Oh well, nobody said progress is cheap
 
(quoted from post at 09:52:34 12/17/14) Get an LED replacement. I just bought several LED bulbs at Lowes and they are much better than the CFL's I've tried. I got some of the 100 watt equivalent for outside lights and a 75 watt equivlant for some lamps inside. The LED bulbs capable of dimming are a bit pricier so if you don't need to dim the light get the cheaper non-dimmable ones.

Dan

Some LED bulbs are dimmable, but require a LED compatible dimmer. Most older dimmers will not work with them. Also in enclosed fixtures the get too warm and cook their electronics.
They generate little heat but cannot tolerate much heat. Not running them down just pointing out some limitations.
 
I put one of those squiggles in the chicken house every winter on a timer to keep the eggs flowing. The bulb was busted out this year so I grabbed some different bulb from the stash. I'm not sure what I grabbed but there sure is a blue glow to it. It almost looks like a grow light. I'm sure the neighbors all think I'm trying a crop of wacky tabacky in with the chickens. I'll bet that's a surprise when it comes on at 4 am.
 
I have a few CFL here and there. So far so good. LED is the future for sure though. But, I have not found one I like. The light is bright, but does not cast out very far. Anybody notice that? And it is a weird light. It's like the frequency is something I cannot get used to.
I worked for Copper Lighting for a few years and they are going all in on the LED technology. Our plant was all LED and while they do run cheap, I just can't get used to the color of it. To me it is just off.
They are buggy too. We were constantly having to change out the drivers and PCB's. They were making the maintenance guys nuts. We had one that shorted out and the entire 300,000 sq ft. building dropped out when it tripped a GFI in the switch gear. Don't kid yourself that they don't make heat. They make tons of heat. Our high output units required heat sinks in order to survive making the price really high. In time I am sure they will be OK, but for now I am sticking with the old stuff.

Greg
 
(quoted from post at 09:17:28 12/17/14) A couple years ago Pa and I put in a light socket in the breeze way of the barn, that is between the milk house and the barn. Any way getting to the point he put in one of those screw worm florescent light bulbs. Last night when I was bedding down cows the darn thing started going on and off and then started melting, smoke coming out. This type of light bulb is what we are to use in the future? Seems I have had more trouble with these bulbs than I know what to do with them! And the gov said mercury is bad can't have it in thermometers but I guess it is ok in a light that has a melt down. I think the govs light bulb burned out and they can't figure out how to replace it! LOL

Around here the CFL's are being replaced with Sylvania LED's . They make some 3000K lamps in the 15,16,17,20 & 21 W lamps . This is getting into the equivalent lux of a 100+ watt lamp.
 

For an omnidirectional ordinary A21 shaped lamp.The Sylvania LED20A21/DIM/0/827 draws 20 watts and provides 1675 Lumens. Colour is warm white at 2700K.
For a directional light with the PAR38 housing and reflector. There is the Sylvania LED20PAR38/DIM/830/FL40. 20watt and 1300 lumens. Colour is cool white at 3000K.
GE manufactures a LED26DP38S-FL/TP . It draws 26W and provides 1650 lumen of 4000K light which is white instead of warm white. A directional light with "reflector".
 

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