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List: time-nuts@lists.febo.com

From: Dave Martindale

Re: [time-nuts] Conducting Bench Top Material

Sat, Jan 30, 2010 7:26 PM

It was rated for 10000 hours, and probably reached that before I junked it. On the other hand, I've had some cheap Ikea lamps fail in ceiling lights in little more than a year. The electronics self-destructed. Took a close look at the package for a new one, and they are rated for only 2000 hours - which is easy to use up in a year in a room where the lights are on 6 hours every evening. Now, using CFLs of any type reduces electricity use compared to incandescent, and that's worthwhile in many applications. But CFLs also add a bunch of electronics parts to the waste stream when they are thrown out - they're much worse than incandescents in that respect. So when I use fluorescents, I prefer replaceable-tube units (where the electronics in the ballast will last for decades, not be replaced every couple of years). In places where I need a screw-in self-ballast type, I look for the more expensive 10,000 hour types instead of the cheap 2000-hour ones. And, as someone else pointed out, it doesn't make much sense to use CFLs in applications where they are turned on and off a lot, since their life will be much shorter than rated. (But LEDs should be fine for this, once the price comes down a bunch). Dave On 30/01/2010 05:31, Didier Juges wrote: > Also they are very sensitive to heat, so do not use them in an enclosed > fixture. > > I have been burned (figuratively) with these two gotchas, there may be more. > The one that lasts the longest in my house is the outside light at my back > door. It is turned on once a day around 6-7 PM and off in the morning, so > about 12 hours a day every day, and it lasts for years at that rate. Those > in the bathroom that get to be turned on and off several times a day for a > relatively short time don't do nearly as well. > > Didier >

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