# CFL spirals getting more efficient?



## chevrofreak (Oct 24, 2006)

I was just at Walmart and as usual I made a trip down the lighting section. The GE "40W" replacements are 10 watts and rated 525 lumens, but the Feit electric brand ones sitting next to them are rated 9 watts and 800 lumens. That's a pretty big improvement if it's true. A lot of "60W" replacement fluorescents are only 825-900 lumens and run on 13-16 watts. You could almost replace those with the smaller bulb and get the same light output, but have it fit a lot more different fixtures, as well as ramp up to full brightness faster due to being smaller.


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## lpcmidst128 (Oct 24, 2006)

I noticed that too, a 40W replacement compact fluorescent wattage varies. I'm not a lighting expert but they probably improved the ballast so it is more efficient. Kind of like comapring T12 to T8 fluorescents. If you compare a 40 watt replacement spiral to a covered kind, then of course the covered one has the lower output. Spiral design fluorescents are the most common kind and gives off more light with compact design. I used to have the kind with the triple lamp, that seems to give off less light than the spiral one. Newer compact fluorescents start instantly, I still have one older one that takes like 1/2-1 second to start. Its nice that CFLs are much less expensive, the first CFL I bought was like ~$20.


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## h_nu (Oct 24, 2006)

I just assumed it was lumen inflation, like some flashlight manufacturers. I hope it's true.


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## bfg9000 (Oct 25, 2006)

I recall Consumer Reports tested CFL bulbs and the only manufacturers who did not live up to their lifetime claims were Feit and Lights of America. But at 68 cents each now, they're only twice the price of an incandescent.


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## chevrofreak (Oct 25, 2006)

I had a Lights of America daylight bulb burn out in 1 day of use, but these Feit bulbs I bought from Costco have been flawless. I'm running probably 20 of them around my house.


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## Phaserburn (Oct 25, 2006)

I just bought a bunch of GE Daylight 6500K CFLs at Walmart, 6.44 for a 2-pack. They had 60W, 75W and 100W incan levels. I believe the 60W version is only 13W and the 100W is 26W.

The color from these lights is really great. I am thinking of getting some more. Anyone else get some of these yet? I'm trusting in GE's good name here.


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## lpcmidst128 (Oct 26, 2006)

I still have one Lights of America CFL 60 watt replacement left in my house, the other two stopped working well before their expected lamp life (less than a year).

I remember at Costco the Feit Electic are relabeled as Conserv-Energy something like that. They also carry the Philips brand as well.

The GE Daylight must be new stuff, never seen them before, GE soft white fluorescents dominate the shelf. Do the GE Daylight come in spiral shape? Daylight color appears kind of blue since its on the higher end of the spectrum. I don't know if GE makes a full spectrum 5000-5500k CFL. I have a couple of the GE soft white CFLs, still working good after many years. If you compare soft white, cool white, daylight, and full spectrum, which one is brighter give they are the same wattage?


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## idleprocess (Oct 26, 2006)

Lights of America is junk in my experience. I've had good luck with GE and Commercial Electric (which Home Depot seems to be dropping). I've had a fleet of those last about 3 years now - they survived the move and are still going strong.

I bought a number of what looks to be Home Depot's newest house brand - n:vision or somesuch - so that almost every fixture in my new apartment is CFL. We'll see how it goes.


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## Phaserburn (Oct 26, 2006)

lpcmidst128 said:


> The GE Daylight must be new stuff, never seen them before, GE soft white fluorescents dominate the shelf. Do the GE Daylight come in spiral shape? Daylight color appears kind of blue since its on the higher end of the spectrum. I don't know if GE makes a full spectrum 5000-5500k CFL. I have a couple of the GE soft white CFLs, still working good after many years. If you compare soft white, cool white, daylight, and full spectrum, which one is brighter give they are the same wattage?


 
Yes, they are spiral shape. Actually, they appear luxeon white to my eyes; shining a luxeon into the ceiling reflection of a GE Daylight CFL shows very similar white. I was afraid that these bulbs would appear blue-ish to me, so I tried one before buying several. My wife actually came up to me and told me she really likes them because they appear A) brighter B) cheerier and less dulling mentally than incans. My wife is no flashaholic, so I put stock in her unsolicited testimonial. I also agree with her assessment. 

Home decor plays an important part. I haven't tried them in my son's mostly blue room yet. But for rich colors, they are good stuff. More experimentation will be forthcoming throughout my home. I used a 60W in a desk reading lamp, and am quite pleased at the difference.


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## Tamarack (Jul 27, 2007)

To address color and brightness: Several have asked which lamps (given same wattage) are “brighter;” the soft white – like incandescent –or the bluish daylight colors. Actually, and this kind of hard to describe, but you can have one of the yellowish color lamps put out, let’s say 1,000 lumens. Lumens are a measurement of light intensity. The bluish, or daylight lamp could also be putting out 1,000 lumens. So, they are the same “brightness.” HOWEVER, the eye will perceive the bluer one as brighter. The closer to white or blue white light color the more accurate will be color rendition as well.

To discuss the lumen output of different brands: Lumen output is mainly a function of power used (i.e. more wattage) and phosphor coating. (The white stuff inside the lamp) Lets assume two lamps at the same wattage. The only difference in why one lamp puts out more lumens then the other is the type and quality of the phosphor used. That reason one manufacture will show 800 lumens and another will show 1000 for the same wattage lamp is because one is using higher quality phosphor.

I didn’t see this discussed but I would like to bring it up for general knowledge. As CFL become more widely known about and used the question of mercury comes up. Many will use this as a reason to not use them or to say they are bad for the environment. In reality a CFL is responsible for LESS mercury being introduced into the environment then an incandescent lamp. How can this be you say? Well…

As an average, most CFL’s produced today have about 3.5 milligrams of mercury in them. Of course incandescent have none. However, when electricity is produced by a coal fired power plant it will emit about 10 milligrams of mercury into the atmosphere to produce the energy needed to light the incandescent for its lifetime which is about 1,000 hours. The same power plant will emit only 2.4 milligrams of mercury to light the CFL for the same 1.000 hours. (Because it takes less energy to produce the same amount of light with CFL vs. the incandescent.) 

To take this a little further…
1 CFL produces (depending on type, brand etc) 10,000 hours of light
1 incandescent = 1,000 hours. (Ten needed to = 10,000 hours)
Milligrams from power plant for 10,000 hours of incandescent = *100 Mg.*
Milligrams from power plant for 10,000 hours of CFL = 24 Mg. + 3.5 in lamp for a total of *27.5 Mg.*

Quite a difference. As a comparison of mercury amount in household items:
CFL – 3.5 Mg.
Old style mercury thermometer – 500 Mg.
Manual (non electronic) thermostats – up to 3,000 mg.

And one more……Do you have “silver” (amalgam) fillings in your teeth? Then you most likely have mercury in your mouth!


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## TorchBoy (Aug 8, 2007)

bfg9000 said:


> I recall Consumer Reports tested CFL bulbs and the only manufacturers who did not live up to their lifetime claims were Feit and Lights of America.


Not surprising, as the best CFLs are "only" about 70 lm/W _when new_. Feit's claim of 800 lumens from 9 watts is, shall we say, an exageration (at best).


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## tvman (Sep 2, 2007)

October 2007 Consumer Reports tested samples of 200 (soft white spiral 14/60w cfl's - 5 brands - Bright Effects (Lowe's 146558), Feit, GE, n:vision, and Phillips Marathon (Costco 148031)) in a outside lab and another 120 in 20 households. They ranged from 25-34 secs to reach 80% of max. Bright Effects and n:vision samples (25 secs), Phillips Marathon (29), Feit (30), and GE (34). Their efficiency ratings (initial lumens/w) were 70, 65, 66, 68 and 68.


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## tvman (Sep 2, 2007)

idleprocess said:


> Lights of America is junk in my experience. I've had good luck with GE and Commercial Electric (which Home Depot seems to be dropping). I've had a fleet of those last about 3 years now - they survived the move and are still going strong.
> 
> I bought a number of what looks to be Home Depot's newest house brand - n:vision or somesuch - so that almost every fixture in my new apartment is CFL. We'll see how it goes.



Ditto. I have had GE last 2 and 2.5. I bought LofA on clearance 5 or so yrs ago and every ballast burned up after a few days or weeks. No more LofA even if they are free. I have not had the Commercial Electric and n:visions long enough to have any burn out. I have been running GE cfl inside since 12/04. I label mine with sharpie with date implemented and rated hours. I just had a few GE 26/100w 12/04 8K's burn out 8/07.


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