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For all you electrical engineers ...

jpr62902

jpr62902

Jeanclaude Spam Banhammer
I've been lighting my living room with a 300 watt halogen lamp that has a dimmer (rheostat?). I usually had the dimmer at about 66% of max power. My guess is, that's still using 300 watts, yes?

I've recently switched to a floor lamp with a 26 watt CFL that is apparently the equivalent of a 100 watt incandescent bulb. As far as I can tell, the lighting is about the same as with the halogen lamp.

So my question is, am I now using only about 1/12 the energy with the 26 watt CFL as I was with the 300 watt halogen lamp?
 
On your halogen light at 66%, you're using approximately 200 watts. If your new CFL is using 26 watts, your using approximately 13% of the electricity (1/8th) that you were before, you tree hugger you, for no visible apparent loss in illumination. :biggrin:

Like you, I got rid of my halogen lamps. As I deplete my stock of incandescent bulbs I'm replacing them all with CFL's. I've probably got the house 50% converted over right now. As soon as I find a place that will take the burned out CFL and florescent tubes off my hands because of the mercury in them, I'll be a happy man. :sad::sad:

It's not easy being an environmentally conscious, law abiding, tight wad. :biggrin:
 
EastTexFrank said:
On your halogen light at 66%, you're using approximately 200 watts. If your new CFL is using 26 watts, your using approximately 13% of the electricity (1/8th) that you were before, you tree hugger you, for no visible apparent loss in illumination. :biggrin:

Like you, I got rid of my halogen lamps. As I deplete my stock of incandescent bulbs I'm replacing them all with CFL's. I've probably got the house 50% converted over right now. As soon as I find a place that will take the burned out CFL and florescent tubes off my hands because of the mercury in them, I'll be a happy man. :sad::sad:

It's not easy being an environmentally conscious, law abiding, tight wad. :biggrin:
Click to expand...

Thanks, Frank! I thought the potentiometer\rheostat\dimmer only reduced the output, not the draw.

I do like the CFL's though. The local power company sends out coopinz to get 'em real cheap at Wal-Marts, so I pick 'em up whenever I can.
 
jpr62902 said:
Thanks, Frank! I thought the potentiometerrheostatdimmer only reduced the output, not the draw.

I do like the CFL's though. The local power company sends out coopinz to get 'em real cheap at Wal-Marts, so I pick 'em up whenever I can.
Click to expand...

You may be right, I'm no expert, but I always thought that it reduced the current reaching the bulb and thus the amount of light generated. No doubt somebody who actually knows what he is talking about will reply and educate us both. :yum:
 
We went to all cfls, dont like them and we are going back to the old bulbs as fast as we can. Later Jerry:biggrin:
 
EastTexFrank said:
As soon as I find a place that will take the burned out CFL and florescent tubes off my hands because of the mercury in them, I'll be a happy man. :sad::sad:
Click to expand...
I had a couple of those CFLs and they lasted as long as the incandescents. When I replaced them with the old lamps my bride said I should find a recycler that would take them and deal with the mercury. My response was "Screw the chi-com loving enviro wackos, the cfl is going in the regular trash. If they create EPA laws making it prohibitive for US companies to produce these little death devices with mercury, then let the chi-coms have a monopoly because they are buying our worthless paper, then let them figure wtf to do with this thing when it shows up at the landfill inside a garbage bag. I'm not going out of my way to spend time and money to dispose of a problem THEY created under the guise of saving a planet that does not need saving by the piss ants living on it."

I wonder what the rolling eyes thing was all about as she left the room ??
 
jpr62902 said:
I've been lighting my living room with a 300 watt halogen lamp that has a dimmer (rheostat?). I usually had the dimmer at about 66% of max power. My guess is, that's still using 300 watts, yes?

I've recently switched to a floor lamp with a 26 watt CFL that is apparently the equivalent of a 100 watt incandescent bulb. As far as I can tell, the lighting is about the same as with the halogen lamp.

So my question is, am I now using only about 1/12 the energy with the 26 watt CFL as I was with the 300 watt halogen lamp?
Click to expand...
With the dimmer on the halogen bulb set at about 66% your load would be a little less than the 300 watts, maybe 250 watts (just a guess). The dimmer consumes some power itself. Feel one, they get warm. Warmth is the power being consumed by the dimmer.
The light of the 26 watt CFL is spread out differently then a halogen bulb, that's why you see about the same light with it as a 300 watt halogen dimmed down a bit.
 
we've recently started buying LED bulbs for the house to replace the CFLs we installed 3 years ago as they burn out. they use about 1/5th the watts as a CFL, or roughly 1/20th what the incandescents used. they even have them in "warm" pink light instead of the "cool" blue that was all you could find 5 years ago. the only downside to the LEDs is the fact they don't handle dimmers well.
 
Interesting Erik. I had not considered LED's. I'll have to try them out. I have some spots I'm sure they'd work in, others will be trial and error.

I there anything for replacing incandescent flood lights that does a good job?
 
they have LED floods, too -- 14 watts supposed to = 500 watt incandescent. right now the LEDs are about $5 each for small and medium base or 10-15 for high output floods, but they're supposed to last for 30k hours or more, so if they last 5 times as long as an incandescent or fluorescent, you're not losing any $$ on the purchase.
 
They make CFL spots too, both indoors and outdoors. The only problem I've found, with the outdoor ones especially, is that if they're cold, they tend to start dim and brighten as they warm up.
 
EastTexFrank said:
They make CFL spots too, both indoors and outdoors. The only problem I've found, with the outdoor ones especially, is that if they're cold, they tend to start dim and brighten as they warm up.
Click to expand...
My experience is the same with the indoor ones. Extremely unhappy with mine indoors.
 
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