Incandescent light bulbs, a relic of the past

[rmay635703]

I'm an ecovillan I use incandensant lights often because I use them rarely and usually only for a few minutes, most of the time I leave all the lights off.

Also when I go into the -20 deg garage and I want to grab a tool in a few seconds I don't want to have to wait an hour for the light to brighten so I can just shut it off after completing my errand.

It also seems that my 8+ year old incandensants seem to be outlasting all my compact fluoresants. Seems like the most I've ever gotten out of one is 2 years before it dies, very irritating.

My folks also do small time ye olde fashion computer portraits in the summer (the old cloth wanted posters) and are stocking up on spot lights for the camera. Non-incandensant bulbs make everybody look blue or purple
Its amazing a 23year old computer can still do really nice photos but then again it was $25k new.

I plan on stocking up a bit on 40-100watt light bulbs, I figure a couple dozen should last me the next 15 years or so (as long as I don't drop them when the light fixture fails and I move the bulb to another). Most regular light bulbs I've had fail is because of something I did, not that it burnt out.

Cheers
Ryan

[sid]

I hear a lot of complaints about the short life of compact fluorescents. I have CFLs I bought over 25 years ago when they first came out that are still working. Of the at least 20 CFLs I've used over the past 25+ years, only four have failed. Two of those are ones I acquired in the past two years. The problem isn't that CFLs are inherently unreliable. The problem is some lousy manufacturers have entered the market. Like everything else, there are quality products and there are garbage on the market.

[rmay635703]

Originally Posted by sid

The problem isn't that CFLs are inherently unreliable. The problem is some lousy manufacturers have entered the market. Like everything else, there are quality products and there are garbage on the market.

I think it has a lot to do with how you use the bulb, if the light is turned on and off a lot but only for a few minutes (or even seconds at a time) it tends to crap out very rapidly. At least CFLs do, I don't think they are designed to handle that very well.

Now I do have NON-CFL florensents that are OVER 25years old but I tend to think them a better bargain overall despite the size.

[TheMarkofPolo]

I've slowly been replacing my incandescents with CFLs and LEDs over the last few years. My "investment" in LEDs seems to be paying off. The C. Crane GeoBulb, for example, used to cost $119, IIRC. Now, the bulb is on sale for $25 (since the release of a newer bulb).

I purchased an example of several of the popular LED bulbs from C. Crane, EarthLED, and LEDlight.com and have been experimenting with them. Most have:
30,000+ hrs lifespan
1-13 watts tend to "equal" 10-100 watts from incandescent bulbs.
No mercury or lead
Instant-on
Improving color and
1-5 year warranty

CFLs have their purpose in my apartment as the 'heat lamps.'
Incandescents could be useful during the winter as heat lights too, but I prefer to just wear layers and drink lots of hot tea and hot cocoa...

The biggest problem is brightness and directionality. Finding the right application for the bulbs, most of which are not omnidirectional, is a bit tough.

[Ryland]

My first LED that I bought ($45) about 7 or 8 years ago is a one watt LED and is not very bright, you can read by it if it's pointing at your book, get it far enough from a news paper to light both pages and it starts to fade out a little, my newest LED ($11) is 1.1 watts and is much brighter, it lights up my entire room and I use it as a task light over my desk and is a multi directional LED, really it's 18 LED's, 6 on each side of a pyramid where that old LED I have is a single LED that is set up as a spot light and the spot is not as bright from the same distance as the new multi LED cluster.
At some point this winter there is talk of an LED party among some of my friends, the idea is to get people who are interested in LED's together to see what they look like in real life, I see this kind of gathering as important because there is no other real good way to compare what people have bought online to what you can buy in a store to what you bought at an event from a vendor who had a display, I hope someone brings a light meter so we can get some real life numbers on how bright they are.

[TheMarkofPolo]

A LED party sounds awesome! It'd be neat to test my collection of bulbs empirically.
I once bought several LED bulbs that utilized panels of perhaps 100 diodes, but several of them failed prematurely--soldering, circuitry?
I prefer the light engine technology of high-power LEDs; they are brighter, much more durable, and the warranties are generally longer-term. 5-7.5 watt LED bulbs can now compete with 40-60 watt incandescents.

[rmay635703]

Originally Posted by TheMarkofPolo

A LED party sounds awesome! It'd be neat to test my collection of bulbs empirically.
I once bought several LED bulbs that utilized panels of perhaps 100 diodes, but several of them failed prematurely--soldering, circuitry?

Been there

Originally Posted by TheMarkofPolo

I prefer the light engine technology of high-power LEDs; they are brighter, much more durable, and the warranties are generally longer-term. 5-7.5 watt LED bulbs can now compete with 40-60 watt incandescents.

I think LEDs hold more promise for general in home lighting than fluorencent I am still waiting before I dive in as my first little tikes were nothing more than toys that broke rapidly.

I am also curious if LEDs are at all affected by extreme cold, this would be the make or break for some areas I need light.

Cheers
Ryan

[galahs]

I replaced all my Incandecant bulbs with CFL's and to be honest the purchase costs of the CFL's was nearly $200. I wonder how long it will take to actually re-coup the initial expence

I guess with rising electricity costs, less than I currently imagine.

[solarguy]

I use incandescents to drive my food dehydrator. Cheap, available, very efficient at making heat (approaching 100%), the right sizes, adjustable (4 lamp bases, use what you need, change wattage, etc.)

I use CF in most of the house.

Haven't found the exact right combination of lumens/$ for "corncob" LED lights for the house, but I keep looking.

One of my church buddies is expanding into sales of LED's for industrial lighting of refrigerated warehouses. Follow along...

Right now, the warehouse is using high pressure sodium, and it takes several minutes to attain proper brightness. As a consequence, they have to leave them on all the time so the fork lifts can do their job. But they have to pay the refrigeration bill to remove all that excess waste heat.

Roger's LEDs are instant on, so they wire up each aisle with a motion detector. When the fork lift heads down aisle, it lights up as needed, and shuts off shortly after he leaves. They save electricity on the light itself because it's more efficient, and a lot more because it's only on a fraction of the time, not 100%, and save much more electricity on the heat-not-produced-and-not removed.

He has some samples that physically fit in conventional 4' fluorescent fixtures, but you have to remove the ballast. They run on straight 120V.

He is working on some of the local grocery/big-box stores, but they are intimidated by the high initial cost, despite the long term math looking very attractive.


Interesting times we live in.

troy