Anybody else hate those new light globes?

[depreciator]

Here's a solution:

http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/socie...arely-20100518-vc5m.html?comments=12#comments

I saw the light - barely May 19, 2010
Comments 12

I HAD a light bulb moment the other day. One of those flashes of inspiration. It was while I was changing a light globe. You see, I've run out of incandescent globes and I've had to resort to those energy-efficient ones. Gee, they annoy me.

In my lounge room, I now have three lamps instead of the one I used to have. How energy-efficient is that? They're expensive, too. And it's a complete hoax that they last longer than the old globes. I want to meet the bloke who reckons the globe I put in my bedroom last week is going to last 3000 hours.

So I'm paying more for each globe, using more of them because they're not as bright, and they're not lasting as long.

But the stupidity really peaked the other day - which precipitated my light bulb moment. I put in a globe that said ''11 watts - equivalent of 65 watts''. Now, I knew that was complete nonsense, but when I put the globe in and flicked the switch all I got was an incredibly dim glow. I looked at the box - had to go outside where there was decent light to read it - and it said that the globe can take two minutes to warm up. Who is the genius responsible for that breathtaking stupidity?

When I turn a tap on, I expect that water will come out of a spout pretty quickly. So when I walk into a dark room and flick the light switch, I have a not completely unreasonable expectation of some light. What am I supposed to do with a globe that takes two minutes to warm up? Maybe set a timer so it comes on mid-afternoon? Heaven help all of us if it's in the bathroom and someone needs to get up in the middle of the night and go to the dunny.

Anyway, back to my light bulb moment. I took a punt that there are retailers and wholesalers out there stuck with stock of the old globes. So I dropped by a local wholesaler. I wandered in and lurked till the tradies had left. Then I sidled up to the counter.

''Hey mate, got any incandescents?''

He looked around. ''Who wants to know?''

''It's OK, I'm not a cop. I just need some candies, man. You gotta help me. I'm going crazy.''

I could see the pity and scorn in his eyes, but I didn't care. I needed those candies.

''C'mon, man. Out the back. Maybe under the counter. I know you've got some candies. I'm desperate.''

So now I've got about 10 years' supply incandescent globes, and I'm unrepentant. I'll plant a tree or something.

Scott Brunsdon

 

[tess85]

Tell me about it! I'm actually allergic to the new kind of light bulbs (not kidding... my dermatologist has confirmed it) but I can't find the old ones for sale anywhere. The govt said they would have special consideration for those who are affected by it but I have had no joy after approaching them.

Going to PM you Scott to see where you found the bulbs!

 

[Ausprop]

they are shocking. they take so long to warm up that if you want to go to a room to grab somehting you have to stand there for 5 minutes to see what you are doing. so you either trip over somehting and break your neck, or just leave the lights on all the time.

 

[Jonril]

I personally like the "warm up" of the new globes it means when I get up at night to go to the loo my eyes have time to adjust to the light. I cannot count how many times I have gotten up in the dark flicked the lights and had to squint until my eyes finally adjusted to the unforgiving brightness of instant on old globes.

 

[steveadl]

Really?

Yeah they take a minute to get to full brightness - but it's hardly a big deal. The room is still light enough to see, and if you happen to want to read, by the time you sit down in the chair, get comfortable and get the book out the lights good to go.

I love the new bulbs, yeah they're energy efficient (whatever, I'll admit it's not a huge deal to me) - but they last a lot longer! Gone from changing a bulb every other week to every few months.

The commercial ones are brilliant as well. Got 3 in particular that amaze me - had them installed about 8yrs ago - 2 finally went over the last 6 months and the third is still going.

 

[Ausprop]

my last house had about 50 halogen globes. in the 8 years I had it I had to change a grand total of 1 bulb

 

[HiEquity]

I love 'em.

The trick is to not believe what the say on the side of the box as to equivalent rating - always multiply by 1.5x at least and you will get the light you want at whatever colour you want. The globes definitely last longer and are much more energy efficient - especially if not housed in downlights.

I have seen six downlights (330W) of halogens light up a room that could be adequately lit with one circa 20W CFL. That is a serious saving - anyone complaining about this isn't entitled to complain about their power bills!

my last house had about 50 halogen globes. in the 8 years I had it I had to change a grand total of 1 bulb

Including transformer losses that's 55W each globe. If you had them all on you would be using 2550W of power. That's an awful lot for just lighting up a house! 200W would do the same job with CFLs.

 

[Ausprop]

Including transformer losses that's 55W each globe. If you had them all on you would be using 2550W of power. That's an awful lot for just lighting up a house! 200W would do the same job with CFLs.

Explains my regular $800 power bills. tho the fish tank burned 550w for 6 hours a day, not to mention the shocking cooling set up

 

[vincenzo]

I personally like the "warm up" of the new globes...

+1, same here!

The equivalent brightness comparisons are approximately correct when comparing pearl candies to energy savers. I've got some 18w energy savers that are a bit brighter than the 75w candies prev used, and in the living room i replaced 3x75w candies with 3x8w (40w equiv) newbies , and i love the nice soft relaxing lighting in there now. I haven't put any newbies in bathrooms, because they have a long operational life, 2but can only take about half or less of the amount of power cycles.

 

[Sheryn]

my last house had about 50 halogen globes. in the 8 years I had it I had to change a grand total of 1 bulb

Ausprop

What brand of light?

Thanks
Sheryn

PS.... Speakng to our Sparkie yesterday complaining about cost and number of blown bulbs, he suggests we keep our receipts as there is warranty on some bulbs eg. 10,000 hours.


I don't think I can be bothered.... but I am seriously thinking about fluro's instead of downlights in current new project.


Thanks
Sheryn

 

[Ausprop]

Ausprop

What brand of light?

Thanks
Sheryn

honeslty couldnt tell you, but the replacement level was nothing short of amazing hey? i have heard of people doing globes on a weekly basis.

they were installed by the sparky and i know the transformers were the bigger clipsal type, before the newer smaller ones came out. i assuem the globes may have been clispal as well?

 

[Aaron Sice]

buy candles.

 

[depreciator]

Part of the problem is that there are now so many different globe options out there and several different bases.

Still, I'm set now with my candy stash.

 

[Propertunity]

I love the 9W (3 x 3W) LED replacements for the GU10 240V halogens we have but I don't like paying $35 a pop for them

 

[Aaron Sice]

i have starlights - the really little 12V downlights.

anyone know of any suitable LED replacement globes?

 

[HiEquity]

Just wanted to point out that the current crop of LED lights are no more efficient than CFLs. If you like the look and are prepared to pay for it though - knock yourself out!

 

[Witzl]

I have the solution for you all:


You guys need to buy "MAINS VOLTAGE HALOGEN" lamps.


They are available at woolies. They are basically a halogen globe inside a light globe bulb.
They are a little more energy efficient than a tungsten filament lamp (ie. incandescent)... a ~70W mains halogen lamp will produce equivalent light to a 100W incandescent.

And they produce a nice, proper, warm white light.
Not a nasty flouro mix of different phosphors to create a certain "colour"

 

[BruceW]

I love the 9W (3 x 3W) LED replacements for the GU10 240V halogens we have but I don't like paying $35 a pop for them

They now come in a dimmable version too (check ebay). I just switched out 4x50W halogens to these. So got rid of the trannies (and the loss associated with them). Thats 220W replaced with 36W.

The dimmable 9W led GU10s were about $35 each, but i should never have to replace the globes again.

No matter how much i tell 'the other householders' these lights seemed to stay on. I figure I'll save about 1KWh per day (based on 5-6 hrs) on these 4 lights.

a 9w led does not quite compare to a 50W halogen, but its pretty close im my application. I think LED lighting is starting to mature. Check out the new OSRAM powerlux range (exxy still, but i think this qualifies as a true halogen replacement)

 

[Strannik]

replaced my whole house with "new" bulbs, never looked back
you just need to get the right ones. i got the 24W ones

problem of them warming up is solved very easy, don't turn them off every time you leave the room for a minute.
it will still work out to be cheaper than having old globes plus they will last longer,

 

[RumpledElf]

Not sure what the problem is, we have been using CFLs for years with no problems. Keep incandescents for test globes when doing a rewire. They last years without going bang, but then I have two nicely rewired houses. I was popping an incandescent every month in the kitchen before I got the last one rewired. They seem to come on straight away, too.

Actually picked up some 120W equivalent globes to use when we were painting as the other ones were lovely and soft but you couldn't tell the difference between the old paint and new paint. Now THOSE suckers took a bit to warm up and then you needed sunglasses.

I think we have 1 watt globes in some of our side lamps. Barely rates as a power user