Cheap and "natural" compact flourescents

[Rabrsniver]

As anyone knows who lives off-grid, it is much easier and cheaper to save energy than produce it. I have tried to use compact flourescent bulbs wherever possible, but my wife hates the "color" of light they produce, and refuses to use them. She is also prone to leaving lights on which drives me crazy sometimes.

Rather than get in a big argument over it, I was hoping to find a compact flourescent that gives off a more incandescent type of light.... and doesn't cost a fortune. I know that there is no such thing as a "free lunch," they are DEFINITELY more expensive than regular incandescent bulbs, no matter what. But are there any REASONABLY priced ones available? $15.00 to $20.00 per bulb just grinds me the wrong way. Can anyone point me to a rerasonably priced source?

Thanks,

John

[dinges]

Hi,

It's all in the mix of phosphor that is used inside the tube. The phosphor converts the UV light to visible light. At my previous employer, I got a demonstration of 'cheap' TL-lamps, versus 'warm/good looking/natural white/good colour rendering' TL lamps. They use better (more expensive) phosphor mixes, plus they had a bit lower efficiency, though not dramatically (a few percent?).

In my experience, colour of CFLs varies a lot with brand/manufacturer you buy; some are blueish/white, others are nicer. You have to buy them to find out their colour, though :-( I am talking about the cheap ones here; if you get in the better quality range, you may automatically end up with nicer colour of light.

You might use the bad coloured ones in a shed or something, whilst selecting the better ones for the living room? (if you have/can find better ones of course)

Peter,

The Netherlands

[crashk6]

For use on 120 volt I've had consistant and pleasing color with bulbs from

feit electric out of california. They are available in retail stores, which

is where I bought them at first... try your local home improvement store..

sometimes home depot or lowe's has them... saw some in sams club once. The

site is www.feit.com

I may add that with the 120 volt CF's I have had luck running them on modified

sine wave inverters with virtually no ballast hum... or at least not any more

than detectable on utility voltage. I did have one die on an inverter not to

long ago.. but that inverter turned out to be malfunctioning.

As companies do redesign products from time to time I can't say how long your

luck with any one brand will last... but so far so good with these!

I'm looking at ordering a box of the 12 volt version of these just to try them

out.

--

crashK6

[willib]

ask her to pay the bills for a month , you'll be eating dinner in the dark..

with a jacket on

[Vince]

The CFs that Home Depot sells come in both the regular and the color corrected. Last time I purchased them, the regulars were $5.00/3-pack and the color corrected were $10/3-pack.

They are 'Commercial Electric' brand. They are not stocked in the department with the normal bulbs. Look in the electrical department, where the lamps and ceiling fans are hanging.

They are a dual-spiral type, which makes for a very compact size that is actually smaller than regular incandescent bulbs.

[crashk6]

Yes, forgot about those.. I have a few commercial electric brand CF's in some of my light fixtures too.. they are also quite nice as far as color temperature. It's very close to the 3,200K warm light of an incandescent... but optically cleaner in my experience... so they must peak slightly higher; but below 4,000k.

--

crashK6

[whatsnext]

Try Phillips brand. Kind of pricey but a very pleasing incandesant type light. GE's are nice also but are a bit 'whiter'. LOA's start out 'white' but then get more 'tan' with use and they are pretty cheap.

[imt]

No, don't do that ;~) I faced the same problem and came up with this partial solution - in each room she complained about I gave her a single "regular" bulb. Reading lamp, closets, etc. I put in solatubes in the bathrooms (IMHO the very best) and watched the Trimetric very closely. My energy usage went up 3 3/4 %. I showed her the results and talked her into another pair of PV panels to offset the increased load. $700 US solved the problem. Everybody's happy now. You on-gridders can make these compromizes even more cheaply.  

Remember, the solution is only as good as its real-world application. If Momma is unhappy with the part of it she sees, its not working for her!