OT Low Energy Light Bulb

In article ,
Derek Geldard wrote:
My limited experience of CFLs is that they do indeed last their stated
life.

Is that 6 years, 7 years or 12 ?

None of those. If you think about it one kept in its box should last
forever. The life is quoted in operating hours.

--
*I got a sweater for Christmas. I really wanted a screamer or a moaner*

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

In article ,
Dickie mint wrote:
What's going to happen to those who use halogens for home lighting?


Replace with LED equivalents?

I was suprised to find a wide range of LED lamps!

And all rubbish for home use. If you like tungsten but dislike the light
from CFLs you'll positively hate LEDs. And I'm not sure this will ever be
sorted.

--
*On the seventh day He brewed beer *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

On Sat, 15 Mar 2008 08:36:21 -0700 (PDT), Dave W
wrote:

I totally agree with everything you've said so far. The light is only
one or two lines in the spectrum, instead of broad band, so no wonder
colours in the room look weird.

Most of the light out of a fluorescent lamp is broad band because it
comes from the phosphor, not from the mercury discharge.

"Roderick Stewart" wrote in message
.. .
In article , Bill Wright
wrote:
So if heat is what you want, it's possible to approach 100% efficiency
by
burning fuel, but if mechanical work is what you want, it isn't.

But this applies to any form of engine, be it internal combustion or
electric. It's inherent to vehicles.

I'd have to look up the details, but I'm sure it's possible to make an
electric motor that is more efficient than any kind of heat engine. A car
engine produces waste heat all the time it is running, even when it isn't
pushing the car along (which is how the "heater" works), whereas an
electric
motor produces zero heat when it's doing zero work.

What do you do about the heater then? I couldn't be doing with a car where
the heater only worked when you're travelling! Not with my circulation
deary!


I had the opportunity to test drive one of those Toyota hybrid cars
recently,
which was very interesting. Even with an electric motor that isn't
providing
all the power, but only assists the petrol engine, occasionally working as
a
generator to reclaim some of its waste energy, the petrol consumption is
well
over 60mpg. Somehow I don't think it would be possible to do that if
electric
motors were less efficient.

The automatic parking was just the icing on the cake. If you ever get the
chance to try it out, take it. It has to be experienced to be believed.

I will, I will. Mind you I've driven a dogem and a milkfloat. And a moped,
which is a sort of hybid vehicle I suppose . . .

Bill

"Terry F" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 15 Mar 2008 00:58:54 +0000, Owain
wrote:

What's going to happen to those who use halogens for home lighting?

I did some semi-scientific tests the last time I built a motorhome and
concuded that an amp going into a halogen gave a better light than an amp
going into a fluo. About the same brightness but much better quality. Of
course the halogen light is more tightly directed so it's a bit of an unfair
comparison probably.

Bill

"Dickie mint" wrote in message
...
Terry F wrote:

What's going to happen to those who use halogens for home lighting?


Replace with LED equivalents?

It'll be a long time before LEDs give a decent light.

Bill

"Roderick Stewart" wrote in message
.. .
In article , Dickie mint wrote:
GU10 fluorescent lamps are also available. They fit in the same
sockets, though as they are about 16mm longer they don't look right in
all fittings, so you have to choose carefully. I have four in a ceiling
fitting that now consumes a total of 28W instead of 200W, and I can
change an individual bulb without burning my fingers.

After considerable experiment I found out that the trick is to turn the
lights off and let them cool before changing the bulb.

Bill

"Mike O'Sullivan" wrote in message
...
Owain wrote:
David wrote:
These are 20w claiming to give the light of a 100w, I'm not convinced on
that based on other makes I have.

That's probably based on softtone or candle bulbs which produce fewer
lumens per watt than ordiunary bulbs anyway.

I'm now wondering even if at a 1p each I have done right in buying.

Well if you bought them for onepence.

That would be "one penny" would it?
No, it would be a penny. As in "When I were a lad chips were 'apny a bag,
but by the time our 'aurice were born they was a penny a bag!"

Bill

"Roderick Stewart" wrote in message
.. .
In article , Bill Wright
wrote:
By the way when I was at junior school our school was in the paper 'cos
it
was the first school in the West Riding to have fluorescent lights.

In the street where I lived in Middlesbrough in the late 1950s the street
lighting was gas. One of the lamps was outside our house so I often saw
the
chap who came round regularly to switch it on and off and occasionally
climb
up a ladder to clean it. He rode his bicycle with one hand because he
needed
his other arm to hold the ladder over his shoulder. And he whistled.

That same man used to light the gas lamps in Bentley. Actually it might have
been a different man because our wasn't a Dick van Dyke character. I know
that because when out dog worried him his accent wasn't American Mockney, it
was pure Yorkshire. I didn't know grown ups used words like that. I thought
they were just for us kids in the playground.


It doesn't feel like ancient history to me because it was part of my own
childhood, i.e. living memory. Though the description might sound
Victorian,
the war was well over before I was born, most people we knew had cars and
there were two television channels, the transistor had been invented, DNA
had
been discovered, the space age was well under way and Kennedy was about to
promise us we'd go to the Moon, and yet... gas street lighting serviced by
a
Dick Van Dyke character on a bike. If you saw it in a movie you'd think it
was an anachronism.
I'm beginning to think I'm an anachronism.


(At least it was a two legged ladder - not like yours).
I'm wondering if Zimmer make ladders. . .

Bill

"Ivan" wrote in message
...
I'm surprised Rod that there were still lamplighters in your area the
'late' 1950s,

Yes there were, and there were knocker-uppers as well.

Bill