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Lighting (1 Viewer)

BrianW

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The lighting is good, but I don't think they work with a dimmer switch. Nolico.com usually has an assortment of dimmable CFLs, and Lamps Plus carries the smaller 13-watt (60-watt equivalent light) dimmables as well as dimmable fluorescent flood lamps. Fry's might even carry dimmables now.
 

Colton

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I'm using the Compact Fluorescent DULUX EL Twists. Nice and bright lighting. The only thing about them is they don't turn on as fast as normal lightbulbs. Takes about half a second more. Haven't tried them on a dimmer though.

- Colton
 

Elinor

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I use the spiral mini's too. Great, last forever, very bright, and not irritating like some fluorescents can be. And, of course, great energy savings.

Haven't tried in recessed lighting, but the form factor is smaller than a std incandescent bulb. I use them at my rear sliding door (outside, protected) and living room lamp. As the incandescents burn out, I'm replacing them with these.

You can grab them at great savings from time to time at Home Depot.
 

Dave Poehlman

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This is especially true in cold conditions.

I use them wherever possible in my home. You can't use them with dimmers or photoswitches unless specified on the package... and these are hard to find and much more expensive than the standard CF's.

Also, they really should not be used in places where they will be switched on and off for short periods of time (ie: closet, garage)... they're less efficient this way and it shortens their life.
 

Ron-P

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I could be just me but, I notice a greenish tint to flourscent lighting which I cannot stand. I used regular bulbs or the daylight bulbs.
 

Aaron Reynolds

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That's not entirely true -- depends on the colour of the fluorescent. I have daylight balanced fluorescent lights at work because it's a photographic lab. Your standard, old-fashioned cheap fluorescent lights are green, yes, and your standard tungsten bulbs are red.

The energy-efficient spirals I picked up at a sale at Wal-Mart last month (6 for $15 CDN) are less red than a regular tungsten bulb, but not definitely green and not daylight. But check the package -- most will have their colour temperature on them.

They had dimmable ones at Wal-Mart for something like $5 CDN apiece, so about double the price.
 

Ted Lee

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i about drove myself crazy trying to find some flourescent lights for my kitchen. home depot had all these different ones..some had a red tint, some had a blue tint...sheesh! just give me a freakin' light! thank gawd my new kitchen will have recessed can lights...

btw, i thought all flourescent lights required a special dimmer switch?
 

Aaron Reynolds

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If you want the ones like your old household tungsten bulbs, you want the red ones. The ones that appeared "blue" were probably actually daylight-white, but in a room where everything's coloured by non-daylight lights, your eyes adjusted and saw the actual white light as blueish.
 

BrianW

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There are fluorescents that are instant-on, but they acquire this feature by trading off efficiency and longevity. Fluorescent lights that take a brief moment to start allow the ballast to heat up first before lighting the bulb, so these bulbs will last longer in cold environments and under short-/frequent-duty cycle applications (like garages).

Dave is right, and it should be stressed that although a fluorescent bulb may appear to work with a dimmer switch, don't even try it unless the packaging says it's ok.
Ted, that is SO early 21st-century! Get with the times, already! ;)
 

BrettB

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Damn there are a lot of different bulbs out there. :eek:

After 6 years one of the bulbs in a kitchen can light went out. As far as I can tell it was an R40 75W. The sticker on the fixture listed about 10 different kinds of bulbs but not the one I got. What I ended up getting was a compact fl BR40 18W from Lowes. The brand was Bright Effects.

AFAICT the letters (BR) simply refer to the shape and the number (40) is the largest diameter. I should be good, right?
 

Jeff Gatie

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I use them in my house also and my mom got a great deal a few weeks ago at Home Depot - 3 spiral bulbs for $6.99, equiv. of 70W. I paid $19.99 for 3 100W eqiv. at BJ's and thought it was a bargain. They do take a little while to get going, but you hardly notice it.
 

Ron-P

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I changed out 90% of my house to fluorescent a year or so ago, I've lost roughly 8 bulbs within that time, they just do not last and cost much more then incandescent. So, I'm going back to all incandescent, no more fluorescent bulbs once these last few die.

Fluorescent technology has a long way to come before its ready for everyday use in a household enviroment. They just do not last. The packages say 7-8 years, I'm averaging a 10th of that.

The only "green" thing about fluorescent bulbs is the money the companies are making with their green lies.
 

Matt^Brown

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Originally Posted by Ron-P

I changed out 90% of my house to fluorescent a year or so ago, I've lost roughly 8 bulbs within that time, they just do not last and cost much more then incandescent. So, I'm going back to all incandescent, no more fluorescent bulbs once these last few die.

Fluorescent technology has a long way to come before its ready for everyday use in a household enviroment. They just do not last. The packages say 7-8 years, I'm averaging a 10th of that.

The only "green" thing about fluorescent bulbs is the money the companies are making with their green lies.

Ron,
I had this same problem for the first couple of years that I had my house all fluorescent. Now I just do not turn off my lights and they last forever. To be more exact I do turn my lights off but not nearly as much as I use to. Example - I use to turn my basement lights off whenever I came upstairs and would turn them back on 30 minutes later when I went back downstairs. Now I leave my basement lights on from the moment I first turn them on to go downstairs up until right before I go to bed. My electric bill is still really low and my lights last for years. I have lights that have not been turned off in my house for months.
 

Chris Lockwood

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Originally Posted by Ron-P

I changed out 90% of my house to fluorescent a year or so ago, I've lost roughly 8 bulbs within that time, they just do not last and cost much more then incandescent. So, I'm going back to all incandescent, no more fluorescent bulbs once these last few die.
Plus they contain mercury, so you have to call the HazMat team if you break one.
 

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