I'm particularly glad to see them making it to market now, while the eco-wackos are working on legislation to mandate fixtures that can ONLY hold the mercury-laden fluorescent devices in all new home construction and renovation. (The recent hype about the miniscule bits of toxic materials in the LEDs tells me the fluorescent manufacturers are also expecting LEDs to become a threat in the near future.)[ Parent ]
Saw some interesting stuff at a chandlery last couple weekends: - 12V CFL fixtures with the tiny straw-sized tubes, like those used in LCD displays: Straight, snaked, or embedded in transparent mini-fluorescent tubes of standard form factor. - LED arrays and fixtures for area lighting, spot lighting (some with white/red selectability for keeping night adaptation while at the navigation station), as navigation signaling and marker lights, etc. (Appropriate, since chandleries started out as suppliers of marine lighting consumables - candles and lamp oil - before they evolved into convenience/general stores for sailboats and small powerboats.)
I've seen LED marker lights for trucks and trailers for some time now. I bet a good truck stop, RV store, or auto-customization supply will have similar 12V living-space lighting fixtures by now.[ Parent ]
Small inverters work great with CFL. Tested out a 100w inverter powering an 18 watt CFL(verified on Killowatt meter) took just under 20w. Very happy with performance.
Most of the 12v CFL are small wattage, I wanted 18 or 23 watt, not to be found. The 100w inverter cost $10 on eBay including shipping. Over all cheaper than 12v CFL. Nice feature can power couple more CFL with same inverter, love options! What do you think?
Have fun, Scott.[ Parent ]
I used to say CFLs and inverters don't get along with each other. I recently changed my mind, at least a little. Some at the shop are going fine after a year or 2 now with 0 problems with the inverters or the CFLs. Not used much. Name brand inverters and CFLs. Could be inverters and CFLs are getting better, or just a long string of bad luck before.
There are 12V 25W class CFLs. Quality of the ones I saw was poor for the price. G-[ Parent ]
Bought two 70w inverters for $13, driving one 18 w CFL shutdown too hot after 45 minutes. Worked after cooled down. Power draw was the same, opened it up, limited Heat sink area, to use would repackage adding heat sink area.
Interesting my Vector 350w used exactly the same power as the 100w, surprising. Expected the 100w to be less. 350W has fan, can drive many CFL at once.
1000w stand by current was 6x higher... forget the numbers.
Have fun, Scott. [ Parent ]
