km@mathcs.emory.edu (Ken Mandelberg) (11/16/90)
I've seen a few pieces on TV showing some new high tech florescent light
bulbs that can directly replace an incandecent bulb. The benefit is much
longer life, and energy savings. The ones shown are roughly the form factor
of an ordinarily incandecent light bulb, and were said to be about $20/bulb.
I've looked around for these in the usual places, the hardware superstores
(Home Depot, Handy City, ..) with no luck. They seem to have the same stuff
that's been around for years, basically a small ring shaped flourescent bulb
with a center hub that can fit in a light socket. This can work in some
fixtures, but far from all.
Anyone know where to get the new florescent bulbs?
--
Ken Mandelberg | km@mathcs.emory.edu PREFERRED
Emory University | {rutgers,gatech}!emory!km UUCP
Dept of Math and CS | km@emory.bitnet NON-DOMAIN BITNET
Atlanta, GA 30322 | Phone: (404) 727-7963rick@ameristar (Rick Spanbauer) (11/18/90)
In article <1990Nov16.091211@mathcs.emory.edu> km@mathcs.emory.edu (Ken Mandelberg) writes: >I've seen a few pieces on TV showing some new high tech florescent light >bulbs that can directly replace an incandecent bulb. The benefit is much >longer life, and energy savings. The ones shown are roughly the form factor >of an ordinarily incandecent light bulb, and were said to be about $20/bulb. > >I've looked around for these in the usual places, the hardware superstores >(Home Depot, Handy City, ..) with no luck. They seem to have the same stuff >that's been around for years, basically a small ring shaped flourescent bulb >with a center hub that can fit in a light socket. This can work in some >fixtures, but far from all. >Ken Mandelberg | km@mathcs.emory.edu PREFERRED Real Goods sells various Panasonic units via mail order: Real Goods 966 Mazzoni Street Ukiah, CA 95482 800-762-7325 (order line) Some representative prices: 18W panasonic light capsule (1100 lumens): $25 27W panasonic twin tube capsule: $29 As I recall, I paid less for the 18W unit at the local hw store - it may pay to shop around more, eg check professional electric supply houses. Note that you should try out the bulbs before you purchase many of them - you may find their color temperature unsatisfactory, they start too slowly for the application, may not operate at low temperature, or have the wrong form factor to fit into some fixtures, etc. I tend to use the bulbs for indoor lighting that remains on all the time. Rick Spanbauer Ameristar
DBG@SLACVM.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU (11/19/90)
I have found 16W units by Lights of America for $9.95 Home Depot
to $12.95 Target(?), but they are usually out of stock. Today
Home Depot had a case of replacement bulb units (looks like four
fluorescent sticks stuck together), but no bulb bases (ballast
circuitry). They sell out instantly, they said. These are
instant on circuits, which makes them much more useful for
many applications. They give off nearly as much light as an
incandescent 75W. They will fit many places a bulb is used, much
more so than the ring types, but they are fatter at the base
and taller than a normal bulb so I couldn't use them in my
ceiling fixtures, and in my yardlight the base uses up much
of the window area while the light is kind of up in the plastic
roof peak. Not ideal, but OK.
-- David B. Gustavson, Computation Research Group, SLAC, POB 4349 MS 88,
Stanford, CA 94309 tel (415)926-2863 fax (415)961-3530
-- What the world needs next is a Scalable Coherent Interface!
-- Any opinions expressed are mine and not necessarily those
of the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, the University, or the DOE.