[Closed] Energy saving light bulbs FFS........

Mine keep popping as well

Still wondering if there are all that energy saving as you have to leave the things on to see where you are going. How often do you put the light on and then off before the damn things warm up

try the megaman ones, been using them in the pub for over a year 12 hrs a day. Just started to replace them now, the look and light is more pleasant than most.

There is a new led based light coming on the market. Looks like a conventional bulb, with a glass dome, it comes on instantly and is dimmable. It uses four white and two red led's, to give a nice warm light. Not cheap, at around thirty quid, but should last for yonks. Sorry, can't give a link, I read a newspaper article about them a couple of weeks ago; a quick google ought to do the trick.

my outsie light which cost about 5 times as much as a filament bulb lasted 8 months and certainly did not get turned on every night, bleedin rippoff.

Still wondering if there are all that energy saving as you have to leave the things on to see where you are going. How often do you put the light on and then off before the damn things warm up

thats what ive always thought!

Turning them on is always such a, umm, disappointment!

Still wondering if there are all that energy saving as you have to leave the things on to see where you are going.

I still have some old non-energy saving bulbs and I they also have to be left on for me to see 😉

I can only honestly say waiting 5 seconds for the light to warm up doesn't bother me in the slightest. I've been using energy saving bulbs everywhere in my house since i bought it 8 years ago.

It's not only the waiting for them to warm up. They just don't give as much light off as a conventional bulb of the equivalent wattage.

can't say i can tell the difference in that either. had one of each in my cellar briefly last week when i broke the energy saving one with a tyre and didn't notice any difference.

I can tell the difference. The energy saving ones are dingy, flicker, humm and give you migraines. They also don't last a quarter of the time they claim and cost a fortune. Might as well go back to using to whale oil lamps.

>and cost a fortune

10p each when I last looked.

they don't give me migraines. which is a relief, as I get enough of those in daylight as it is

ours take atleast 5 minutes to warm up and give full light

I also don't see the problem with them. Been using the same ones for 2 years now, paid 50p each for them, and they take around 5 seconds to lighten right up, not 5 minutes! I like knowing I'm only using 11 watts instead of 60 too.

Are some of you using cheap sh*te from Ikea?

Good energy saving bulbs warm up within 5 secs and should last much, much longer, and give a reasonable light.

I just acquired a full case of 100w old style [incandescent] lamps
Should keep me going a while?

I really don't like the light from the energy saving ones

I just acquired a full case of 100w old style [incandescent] lamps

Shh...... if I had a case of the good stuff hidden away, I wouldn't go boasting about it on the internet. 'They' know where you live.

they're for 'commercial' use 😉

It's not only the cheap bulbs that take ages to warm up. We've only got cheap ones in our house, but my parents bought some quite expensive 'incandescent bulb' looking ones & they take minutes to get to full brightness.

I reckon that we have changed 4 of ours in the last year & we've not been using them that long. So, I think the claims that they last years and years that were originally banded about are a bit dubious.

My 'issue' with them is that I have heard they use a 'lot' of energy turning them on. I have been unable to find what a 'lot' is. But i wonder if in areas of the house where you might pop in & out and only use the light momentarily, you use more enrgy than you would do with a normal bulb.

Also, they are loaded with dodgy chemicals and can't just be chucked in the bin so I am not convinced they are terribly eco-friendly.

I reckon they will be the minidisc of the bulb world and LEDs will take over in 5-10yrs.

LEDs are becoming more popular..... so in a few years you be able to rob your house bulbs for a nightride.

[i]cost a fortune[/i]

Yeah I was shocked cost me £1 for 10 the other month, scandalous.

There is a new led based light coming on the market. Looks like a conventional bulb, with a glass dome, it comes on instantly and is dimmable. It uses four white and two red led's, to give a nice warm light. Not cheap, at around thirty quid, but should last for yonks. Sorry, can't give a link, I read a newspaper article about them a couple of weeks ago; a quick google ought to do the trick.

Might be the solution:
http://www.fieldlines.com/story/2007/1/28/215243/977

Don't forget to turn up your central heating now you're not getting all that lovely heat from your bulbs.

Just back from Hong Kong Lighting show.

Guess what the latest new product is now 100 watt carbon filament lamps are banned?

Yep you guessed it 99 watt Carbon Filament lamps 😯

will1 - do you want me to bring you some 100w bulbs up this weekend?

Yes please

I have an low energy bulb in my porch light - 18 years old - still works.

The latest low energy lamps have a much nicer colour of light than the earlier ones. They are cheap too.

In my kitchen, to get round the warm up issue, I have two low energy and a traditional filament. It costs me a bit extra to have the filament lamp, but not a great deal. Worth it for the istant light you get from these.

LED's are the future however. Warm white variants look a similar colour to tungsten. There are some lamps available now, but they aren't yet priced at a point that is economic. I'd give it 2 years before they are flying off the shelves at real world prices.

Here you go: [url] http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d.html/ref=redir_mdp_mobile/278-9024886-0279349?redirect=true&tag=ladder-21&linkCode=as2&a=B001JITHH4&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=B001JITHH4 [/url]

Whinge whinge...

Pretty much all my bulbs at home are lower energy. I don't have a problem with the light, or with the short wait while they warm up, they don't cost a lot and my electricity bill is sod all. I fact a few months back I received a £400 payment from the electricity company as I have been paying a standard monthly cost. Not a single bulb has failed in four years, and when they do fail I'll recycle them.

The price of electricity will rise significantly over the next 10 - 20 years. If you wish to use more and pay a lot more then feel free. I won't go into the environmental issues associated with energy use as it sounds like most of the posters here really don't give a s#it.

At some point LEDs will be in common use but I'm sure you'll find something to write to the Daily Mail about them 😉

IMHO!

[i]Pretty much all my bulbs at home are lower energy. I don't have a problem with the light, or with the short wait while they warm up, they don't cost a lot and my electricity bill is sod all. I[/i]
+1. what a bunch of whingers

+2

I've been using them for donkey's years, and have replaced at most 2 bulbs in all that time. I buy good brands (e.g. Philips) in "warm white". The colour temperature is spot on, and they are at full brightness within a few seconds.

If that's something to complain about, you must have very little going on in your lives.

I have an low energy bulb in my porch light - 18 years old - still works.

Doh, you beat me by miles...... my outside light bulb is a real youngster at 8 years old, it's in a dusk 'til dawn light that runs all night every night 🙂

Moving all our lights over to energy saving bulbs but still need a realistic alternative to the 40 12v downlights we've got 🙁

My 'issue' with them is that I have heard they use a 'lot' of energy turning them on. I have been unable to find what a 'lot' is. But i wonder if in areas of the house where you might pop in & out and only use the light momentarily, you use more enrgy than you would do with a normal bulb.

thats because its a fallacy, they require a high startup voltage to generate the initial spark, so yes, it probably has quite a high power consumption for the time it takes to send a spark form one end of the tube to the other. Incidentaly, Incandessent bulbs need a high startup power too in order to warm up the fillament.

The house we just bought didn't have any low energy bulbs (apart from one in the cupboard where the boiler lives). As I was going to be buying a house-load, I got decent ones from B&Q rather than cheap supermarket ones that can be a bit hit and miss on warm-up times.

They're great. Cost me £70 for a house-load, but well worth it.

Replaced 3 60W spotlight bulbs in the kitchen with 3 15W (80W equivalent) so getting more light for less power use than one of the old bulbs.

In theory, I won't have to buy a lightbulb for a decade.

Moving all our lights over to energy saving bulbs but still need a realistic alternative to the 40 12v downlights we've got

I've replaced some of mine with LEDs. I've kept some of the halogens as they are a bit brighter.

You could also try Philips Masterline halogen bulbs - apparently 20W is equivalent output to 35W for a normal bulb, so it's a decent saving.

my outside light bulb is a real youngster at 8 years old, it's in a dusk 'til dawn light that runs all night every night

Good on you trying to save the planet....err 🙄

Opticians should develop a new pair of spectacles that have an LED light attached to the top of them so people who think that low energy bulbs are crap can see where they're going. I'm presuming these are the same group of people who can't see in dusk/dawn and so we could take advantage of this implementation to ban then from the roads during these times.

I had a problem with a series of 3 (£2.50from Asda) blowing repeatedly for no apparent reason. But other than that I've no problems and they've slashed my elec bill. Dim for a few seconds but then brighten up. And in places where I had 60W bulbs I now have 100W equivs and it's much brighter.

Mind you, I'm not keen on living in a sterile lab environment lit by super-bright white light.

only traditional bulb we have in our house is the 60W (all they had in the Corner shop when it blew one sunday evening) one in the bathroom.
Tried a energy saver in there, but it didnt last long, being only on for short periods.

hall/landings/office/lounge/bedside table lamps are energy savers.
The lounge has 5x 40w equivalent candle shaped energy savers - so get the same warm white as a normal bulb, but all 5 lights use less energy than a single standard bulb - take 2secs to go from on but slightly dim, to full brightness.

have only had to replace 1 or 2 in the last 5 years (they were cheap ones from Ikea 3 for a £1 jobs)
We've been getting a bit of a stock up ATM - Lidl has been having offers on Phillips ES bulbs - buy 1 for 50p, or 5 for 49p (no i don't understand why it costs 1p less to buy 5 than to buy 1... but there you go.)

hate them.
proper guardian reading crap they are. like Prius'

yes normal light bulbs are inefficient at lighting a room, but what they waste not producing light, they kick out as heat, so warm the room ANYWAY.
its still energy.

stick with incandescent and turn the heating down a click or two.

they are also full of all sorts of horrible stuff are they not?
mercury etc?

I don't understand this whinging about light bulbs. They're fine. If yours aren't bright enough, get a brighter one. Jeez. If it wasn't for the fact they take a few seconds to brighten up you wouldn't know the difference. It's all in your mind...

hate them.
proper guardian reading crap they are. like Prius'

yes normal light bulbs are inefficient at lighting a room, but what they waste not producing light, they kick out as heat, so warm the room ANYWAY.
its still energy.

stick with incandescent and turn the heating down a click or two.

they are also full of all sorts of horrible stuff are they not?
mercury etc?

Fallacy alert!

The heat from incandescents is at ceiling level, not where you need it. And it's a tiny fraction of what you need to heat your room. They are the equivalent of an electric heater, which no-one uses because they are so inefficient.

Fluorescent bulbs do indeed contain tiny amounts of mecury. Coal-fired power stations also emit mercury, and the extra power generation required for incandescents causes more mercury to be emitted than the amount in your fluorescent bulbs. And of course the mercury doesn't go anywhere unless you break the bulb. Unlike a power station, which sends it straight into the atmosphere.

I see a gap in the market for that Trout fellow. 🙂

Mods - can you ban ransos please? He seems to know what he's going on about. Surely that's not allowed?

Blimey, next you'll be telling me that I shouldn't recreate that summer feel by putting patio heaters outside of each of my open windows during the winter months.

Treehuggers 😉

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Some are better than others at 'Warming up' properly. Some don't last very long (GU10 repalcements seem to be keen) but they ALWAYS use less energy than an incandescent.

They do seem to vary a lot.

I'm using a "normal bulb shaped" energy saver in the living room, but when you first switch it on you hardly even notice that it's on; and it takes a good 5 minutes to get to up to full brightness and even then it isn't bright enough to read by.

I thought I had done the right thing and gone for a more expensive, known brand ([url= http://www.thelightbulbshop.co.uk/Shop/LightBulbs/EnergySavingBulbs/Product/2278/DC5BC/DuluxELClassic.aspx ]Osram Dulux EL Classic - £6.73 from lightbulbshop[/url]). It is nice warm light, but it just isn't bright enough.

Graham - You're surely not saying the 20W isn't bright enough...

recommended replacements:
25W with a 5W
35W with a 7W
50W with a 10W
60W with a 11W
75W with a 15W
100W with a 20W

We have energy saving bulbs, some are pretty instant light, the others are over a couple of minutes to warm up.
Quite annoying as I usually only turn the main light on to find something, then it goes off again. Having to wait 2-5 minutes for it to warm up and then turn it off seems stupid.

[b]Who said they are 10p?[/b]
I think it depends on the type of bulb you are after, show me an R50 spot lamp for 10p, or even a £1.. We have 16 of these with an average price of £10, thats £160 on light bulbs!!! 😯

I'm happy to use the energy saving bulbs, as long as they don't cost silly money, which for certain bulbs they do.

will1 i have sorted those bulbs for you.

they are only of use in the loo where at 3am you dont get blinded by a light when you let the pressure off your bladder.

otherwise horrid things and emit large levels of EMI which cannot be good for you.

I actually now wear a TJTin Foil Enterprises 54-61 EC Non Approved Helmet to protect my neural pathways from these evil evil death waves.

Graham - You're surely not saying the 20W isn't bright enough...

It's the 15w one we have, which is [i]supposed[/i] to be equivalent to 75w incandescent.

It's more like 30w if you ask me - not bright enough to read comfortably with.

otherwise horrid things and emit large levels of EMI which cannot be good for you

applies only to androids and cyborgs

applies only to androids and cyborgs

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I'm doing a study of incandescents vs CFLs at the moment.
Colour wise, some modern CFLs are capable of 2700K, which is warm on the correlated colour chart and only 100K away from the GLS lamps.

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Incandescesents only emit 5% of energy as light. Almost obscene really.
But then CFLs only manage around 20%, some LEDs now are 25% ish....perhaps we should stay in the dark until something reaches 50% or so?

some LEDs now are 25% ish

do you mean experimental organics LEDs ?

Mrs. Starship picked up 5 x 11W (eq. 60W) from Morrisons today for 20p!

Now that is cheap.