tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2718819858434072309.post7922768366542479519..comments2012-06-12T16:33:36.031-04:00Comments on Granite Viewpoint: Watts up with these CFL bulbs?Granite Viewpointhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14044061178423886105noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2718819858434072309.post-17278112117161871192010-12-07T11:45:57.942-05:002010-12-07T11:45:57.942-05:00Hi Richard,
Thanks for commenting. I'm not s...Hi Richard,<br /><br />Thanks for commenting. I'm not sure what to say about the results that you saw. I can say definitely that I and many many others have tested the power consumption of CFLs vs incandescent bulbs and have not seen results like yours. I used a kill-a-watt meter in my own testing and saw power consumption in line with the manufacturer specs.<br /><br />I suspect there was an error in your test setup or a malfunction in the bulbs you were using.Granite Viewpointhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14044061178423886105noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2718819858434072309.post-83636204630502865352010-12-07T11:35:29.034-05:002010-12-07T11:35:29.034-05:00My son just did a science project on CFL bulbs, he...My son just did a science project on CFL bulbs, he wanted to compare the cost savings a home would experience by switching to CFL bulbs. We tested the bulbs on an watt meter (not an amp meter that then multiplys to figure watts) and we found that a Sylvania 19watt CFL bulb was drawing 89watts, and a BGE home CFL 14 was drawing 44watts. We left them on for four hours and no change occured, since its drawing 89 watts its going to cost more than an incandescent 60watt bulb (that actually draws 57watts). The idea that the bulb stops drawing current is incorrect, we then shut downn all of our breakers except one, we stopped our home meter and then plugged in the CFL bulb for 3o mins, then we did the same with the 60watt incandescent, the incandescent used less electricty by 30%. So when looking at billed watts the new bulbs are false advertising, they do not save money as they claim, they lose brightness over time, and they are more hazerdous to the enviroment when one breaks. Getting to the real why is the question no one can answer.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18281963863207768615noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2718819858434072309.post-38403644494608893492010-11-17T22:10:44.593-05:002010-11-17T22:10:44.593-05:00I'm glad I found this post. I'm an electri...I'm glad I found this post. I'm an electrician in training, and I do lots of side work while I'm going to school. I was working at a friends house installing some new light fixtures (2 fixtues with 3 bulbs total) and upon completion we screwed in some cfl's. The switch was a dimmer type but ( and knowing full well that dimmers and cfls are a no no) he was rushing to see them work. We fired up the breaker and POP!!! The dimmer fried. We Shut off the breaker and scatched our heads. I installed another dimmer and repeated. POP!!! WTF I said. I finally installed a single pole switch and it worked fine. Several hours later it hit me. In rush or high start up current must have fried them. Seaching the internet I came upon your post which just proves my theory. Thanks buddy, now I know...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2718819858434072309.post-9846837937422206002010-05-20T05:32:47.736-04:002010-05-20T05:32:47.736-04:00apart from this post, one thing i´ve noticed about...apart from this post, one thing i´ve noticed about what this lamps do to the wire connection boxes...<br /><br />if using this lamps, be sure to tighten the connections on the boxes.<br /><br />In my house, i´ve installed about 2 of this, and a few weeks later i had no light in there.<br />turns out that the arc created by the capacitor creates a kind of repulsive energy in the connections... and they just got loose. <br /><br />cyaBroken Horn(y)https://www.blogger.com/profile/03956284421038335349noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2718819858434072309.post-3166042957297288492010-01-08T14:04:58.508-05:002010-01-08T14:04:58.508-05:00This is an outstanding report! I sell CFL's a...This is an outstanding report! I sell CFL's and I had never seen the inside of the base nor did I realize that they spiked to light. I guess that makes sense or else they would take a much longer time to excite the gas and produce enough light to reach their expected brightness. Instead of running several smaller watt CFL's you could try one big 85w or 105w that could brighten a whole floor of the house in times of emergency.<br /><br />Here is a quick video we created for high watt spirals in case people haven't seen one in person before: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9tRUESeijo" rel="nofollow">High watt CFL spirals</a><br /><br />If you like the video please support our business <a href="http://www.planetbulb.com" rel="nofollow">Planet Bulb</a>Planet Bulbhttp://www.planetbulb.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2718819858434072309.post-30517777232962063962009-07-31T12:07:52.843-04:002009-07-31T12:07:52.843-04:00John,
Thanks for the comment. I'm no expert ...John,<br /><br />Thanks for the comment. I'm no expert on light-switch construction, but my understanding is that most switches are rated for 15 or 20 amps. Even if a 20 watt bulb sees an inrush current of 200 watts, you'd need more than 10 of them on a single switch to get near 20 amps. <br /><br />OTOH, I'm not sure there's anything else in the typical household that would have the same load characteristics as 10 or more 20-watt CFLs on a switched circuit. I guess we could be in unchartered waters.<br /><br />JimGranite Viewpointhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14044061178423886105noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2718819858434072309.post-90318124035151050012009-07-31T09:54:46.605-04:002009-07-31T09:54:46.605-04:00Do You notice that You often get a noticeable &quo...Do You notice that You often get a noticeable "snap!"-ing noise from Your light switch when You turn on a CFL? I suspect the high inrush current with CFLs -perhaps a lot higher than with incandescent bulbs- will cause premature contact wear on electrical switches. But it may be a few years down the road before people start discovering their wall switches are failing and need replacement.John F Robinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06919503781887624705noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2718819858434072309.post-62011290871049831302009-07-22T23:16:32.406-04:002009-07-22T23:16:32.406-04:00Candles may be easier, less costly, and more envir...Candles may be easier, less costly, and more environmentally friendly - but they'd be much less fun :)<br /><br />Well, that is unless we could harvest beeswax from a backyard beehive to make into candles - like a certain <a href="http://granitegeek.org/" rel="nofollow">Nashua Telegraph columnist</a> for example.<br /><br />JimGranite Viewpointhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14044061178423886105noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2718819858434072309.post-79313055331238048792009-07-22T20:35:46.321-04:002009-07-22T20:35:46.321-04:00Egad! Wouldn't it have been easier to light ca...Egad! Wouldn't it have been easier to light candles?Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03127656017029986210noreply@blogger.com