Fluorescent Bulbs

In this type of light you have what we call a electronic balas, but to ritsh the full brigtness you are not supouse to wait several minuts in reality you will have full brigtnes in betwing 2 or 3 second after turnig the switsh on

High end bulb co's male a flood style compact. They still will require a moment to get to full brightness but as they are flood bulbs they have a rear reflector so it will give a normal "pattern" as to what your wife is desiring. If you want a WOW moment make sure that the CRI, [color rendering index] is above 85 and you will be amazed at the results.

FL circuit may be a bad design and requires heater to work before making the bulb on. While FL works on Plasma discharge, initially ends are heated by a resistive filament for short time. Ask the manufacturer and they can help.

Shyam

Depending on the brand, what is hapening is that the mercury must evaporate from where it condensed before significant UV is produced. Elevated temp only can evaporate the mercury. Philips and Lights of America brand used to be bad. They were using a reduced mercury scheme out of environmental concerns. The newer Chineze units are very good in this respect. They come on at full brilliance right away.

Similar results with Crompton brand 50% don't work at all the rest intermittent. Have found Nelson to be good.

One member has remarked that Philips,Lights of America brands are using reduced mercury scheme (for CFL lamps)out of environmental concerns and that newer Chineze units come on at full brilliance right away. Therefore,are Chineze units using increased mercury scheme,without environmental concern? Verification with Chineze manufacturers,who normally do not compromise with environmental considerations,would certainly help to reach to any conclusion.Can someone advise?

I have had the same results with a GE brand. Here's what I try to do with new things. Only buy one or a few at first. Test it. If you like it buy more. If not try another brand. I have an issue with one of these brands that for some reason it causes the X10 remote appliance module into which it is plugged to randomly turn back on after you turn it off. That's annoying.

Take your wife out to a surprise dinner nd tell her it is because of the savings on the new FL and to shut up about taking 10-15 seconds to reach full brightness.

If only it only took 10-15 seconds. I've seen it take several minutes. Also, it's like going from a 40 watt to a 100 watt (incadescent) in terms of difference.

Most of the world doesn't have electricity much less FL so be a little grateful.

Good point!

I want to tell you one thing about vision that many of you may have over looked. If you find that light has doubled, that means it has actually became 10 times. Eye response to light intensity of X1, X10, X100 is actually seen as X1, X2 and X3 only by the eye. That is true for vision and sound both.

If it takes several minutes then there may be other problem in the designs such as slow start-up to protect filament. These filaments consume lots of current when they are not hot. It is about 10 times. If you warm filament slowly then lamp may last 3-years to 5-years. China bulbs have life of few months only as they use quick heating and unsafely damage the filament. That one-minute start up can increase life to many years.

If you use higher voltage (600V) then you do not need filament to create plasma. Bulb will turn ON immediately. Even fused FL bulb will glow. However, electrons will have too much energy and they will damage the ends easily. To test this you can use full wave rectified voltage with 600V capacitor filter of 0.47uF (it will double the input voltage) to two ends of the FL bulb.

Shyam

Hi there anonymous, a word of advice, it sounds like the wife is not really complaining about the light bulbs per se, This is a 'territorial' dispute in my view. I should not wonder that the Lady in question is very house proud and makes a beautiful home for the both of you. The hidden message, is "next time please consult me". By all means explain the cost savings, 80 watts x 6 hours x 365 days x Kw unit price, is not inconsiderable per bulb. But first say that next time you will consult.(try to think of how much divorce lawyers cost, i.e. several thousand times the amount saved on your utility bill)

Good question, now since we have had all these great response on the subject matter, I will not add my bit. However, as for the wife being upset, give her a book on economics and have her do the actual bulb research. Give her the math required in delivering a sound judgement for her question at hand. Once she understands the laws of physics, the comparison between a standard bulb to an energy efficient bulb, I bet she will be reading the testing results that are available from the U.L. or the Consumer Reports. Good luck in tamming the shrew. Been ther and done that!

I have noticed that trying to be frugal usually gets translated into "being cheap" when dealing with women. Doing your part to save the world by decreasing CO2 emmisions, reducing the consumption of non-renewable resources, or saving the world for "the children" could be more persuasive arguments. If power is supplied by a coal fired generator, reducing energy consumption by 2,500 kWh will avoid burning 1 ton of coal and reduce CO2 emmisions by 2.9 tons. In general a fluorescent will produce the same light at 1/4 the power use of an incandescent or halogen.

I buy mine at Home Depot, I don't know the brand, but I've never had any trouble at all.

I have the same problem. When first installed the new bulbs seemed fine but over time noticed that startup, especially late at night seemed dim. Got complaints, and replaced 2 of 8 with original incandesant bulbs. (Those lamps nearest the light switches). The instant on of the incandesants provides immediate light and the other 6 FLs provide savings. They also seem to work better and reach full brightness sooner. Probably an illusion.

Check that you've installed outdoor units.
indoor units will not start as well when temp.s are low.
You may have more trouble as winter comes on.
I have seen 'outdoor` rated units on sale, which
have ballasts optimized for cold starts.
These should 'pick up` quicker at normal temp.s as well.
As to the delay, it's the nature of the beast, it
takes time to get all the vapor up to speed.
As to the spouse problem, I suggest spending the
savings on an increase in her shoe budget.
(Gets em every time).

Everyone seems to think that they can present arguments to the wife as if she is a man. Wrong. Women are not wired like us. Just tell her to keep out of your area of expertise. Hand her a pair of netting niddles and say "go make something" lol And then duck. I've been married 47 years. Takes a sense of humor.

This could be due to temperature (cold) the ones I use are instant on.