do you use compact flourescents?

[kris23]

if so, what color temperature (K) brand and wattage do you use?

need to know because were almost done with this second house were building..... need to get rid of all the 100w bulbs in the house....


yea... what are some quality bulbs and what wattage do you use?

[YAYitsAndrew]

I dunno, I bought a bunch when I moved in about 15 months ago and haven't had to think about it since. As far as I remember, we just bought the cheapest ones at Home Depot.

They're great because not only do they individually cost less, but you also don't need as many. If I filled our ceiling light with all 4 bulbs that it can fit, I'd be able to get a tan in my living room. In practice we only need two bulbs to light up the entire room.

[Chaos]

they are well worth the investment, they draw much less power and last for ages i believe the ones i have are 30w

[temeteus82]

You dhould go fot the 6500K color teperature lamps. 6500K is the sun's color temperature you know

[Matth]

"Warm white" are more comparable to incandescent lighting spectrum.
"Cool white" 4200 k look rather ghostly against warms, and warm whites look pretty awful against them, so the worst possible would be mixing them. I wouldn't go to anything higher than cool white unless you are trying to retain daylight colour rendering, when the rendering quality would also be an issue.

20W are supposedly equivalent to 100W (UK), but you really need a step more to allow for aging, as the power equivalency seems to be exaggerated to make the efficiency look better. It seems that 20W = 75W is more realistic.

Not sure if the system efficiency (including e-ballast) works out better on 240v or 110v


Some tests
The Best Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs: Scientific Lab Test vs. Incandescent - Popular Mechanics

Ban Incandescent Lamps? - and another interesting article, there are many situations where CFL are NOT suitable. Mains power halogen (typically with the quarttz/high temperature glass capsule enclosed in a normal sized bulb) may be a better alternative for difficult areas, but any mixing of incandescent lighting dictates the use of warm white flourescent to keep the balance.

[kris23]

ive been looking at TCP 32w 5500k Full Spectrum lamps and they seem to have good ratings, 90CRI which is pretty good.....

but these generally arent sold in stores nearby and can only be bought in bulk cases of 12 and we need at least 36-48 online

but weve never used 5500k lamps before and since our house is too warmly colored (everything looks orange with 3000k lighting) we need a bit of contrast

wanna buy one and see how it turns out but i wish i can get them locally....

[Matth]

The other question, which format, one piece or tube + base (greener, as you aren't throwing away the electronics every time). Spiral or sticks ?

Buy our SpringLamp 26W 5100K GX24 Base by Technical Consumer Products, Inc., TCP at GoodMart.com looks like a possibility in tube+base, only 26W instead of 32W and a little less CRI (84). With the base, it does work out dearer than a comparable one-piece, maybe reaching or bettering break-even on the next change (if you can still get them) - actually, that is a drawback of the "system" approach, how will price/availability shift by the time replacements are needed.

[Judas]

i find the 2600-3500K are the most accurate to looking identical to that of normal incadecents..

anything higher and it starts to look whiter and then oventually bluer... (the higher, the harsher)

anything below 2500k looks far to orange/red...

[kris23]

yea.... i know about how the Kelvin scale works, use it in aquariums all the time. i was thinking about 3500k but wasnt sure, ill see.

[kris23]

Originally Posted by Matth

The other question, which format, one piece or tube + base (greener, as you aren't throwing away the electronics every time). Spiral or sticks ?

Buy our SpringLamp 26W 5100K GX24 Base by Technical Consumer Products, Inc., TCP at GoodMart.com looks like a possibility in tube+base, only 26W instead of 32W and a little less CRI (84). With the base, it does work out dearer than a comparable one-piece, maybe reaching or bettering break-even on the next change (if you can still get them) - actually, that is a drawback of the "system" approach, how will price/availability shift by the time replacements are needed.

yea..... but the cost isnt too different from buying one piece bulbs. that was also the same site i was talking about having to buy in bulk for, minimum order is 1 case for anything