Energy-saving light bulb

Culinia

Culinia

Culinia

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10 Jan 2010
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662
I was in pound shop the other day and I bought 10 energy saver (genie) Philips 11W bulbs (for £1) that are allegedly equivalent to a proper 60W bulb.

However I am having difficulty adjusting to these things I can't see text as comfortably as I would like.

I am looking for alternative, higher wattage energy saving light bulbs (18W?) and want to know if anyone has got any and what their experience is like and what they found the true equivalent of a traditional incandescent lamp is, and of course if possible, if they know anywhere that they can be had for cheap.

Although I can imagine not as cheap as 10p/bulb for these crappy 11W ones!

Thanks.
 
Don't bother. Regardless of what they tell you, energy saving bulbs will take a while to warm up and I'm never impressed by the light output.
 
There is a massive difference between the el cheapo and the more expensive ones. The biggest being 'warm up time'.

Takes about 30 seconds with the better ones. The light is softer, and less harsh, thats why you are seeing a massive difference.
 
you can get daylight bulbs aswell but they cost a lot more than the regular energy saving bulbs and they are higher watt, they are often sold as craft bulbs or cfl grow lights.

they are for people who need to work in good light so many craft shops sell them
 
As with other fields of technology, not all bulbs are the same; there are cheap old generation and more expensive newer generation bulbs. Progress is/has been made with warm up times. We have lots of different brands of e.s. lights here, most of which were given to us free in promotions. Some take up to a min to warm up, others a couple seconds.
 
You want to get yourself the "tornado" shaped ones, iirc Phillips make them. Instant start up and try the 100w equivalent ones, very bright.
 
Spiral. Most of them are 'fast start' (which usually means a few seconds).

Hadn't thought of a craft shop for daylight CFL. I had one in my 'office' and it was great, but it went bang (literally) and haven't got hold of a replacement (current CFL is far too yellow for my liking).
 
I found these are the best ones..

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I've got loads of them. Some free in the post, some free from work, some bought in various shops at prices varying from 2 for £1 to £6 for 1.

They vary from crap to mediocre. Ironically, the £6 one is the worst. It takes about 10 minutes to get to full brightness. I'd bin it, but it's in a room that I don't use and has a high ceiling, so I just can't be bothered to take it down.

The light equivalency is, to be polite, overly generous. I wouldn't put any one under 20W is any room much larger than a cupboard.

Mine are also prone to flickering and buzzing, but that might be down to the wiring in my home. It was redone ~12 years ago, but flickering and buzzing in one bulb can be triggered by turning the light on or off in an adjacent area (e.g. bedroom and landing).

EDIT: You might also find it relevant to know that energy saving bulbs are considered hazardous waste because they contain mercury. Try not to break them.
 
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Culinia said:
I was in pound shop the other day and I bought 10 energy saver (genie) Philips 11W bulbs (for £1) that are allegedly equivalent to a proper 60W bulb.

However I am having difficulty adjusting to these things I can't see text as comfortably as I would like.

I am looking for alternative, higher wattage energy saving light bulbs (18W?) and want to know if anyone has got any and what their experience is like and what they found the true equivalent of a traditional incandescent lamp is, and of course if possible, if they know anywhere that they can be had for cheap.

Although I can imagine not as cheap as 10p/bulb for these crappy 11W ones!

Thanks.
Click to expand...

I've replaced a number of bulbs around the house with energy saving ones - mainly those that are not on a dimmer switches (energy savers don't work on dimmers). eg:-
- Outside light (outside front door)
- Hallway
- Landing lights
- Toilet light

Initially I found the 20 second warm up time annoying, but after a while you just forget about it.

I believe some do brighten up quicker than others, but as a rule none come up to full brightness immediately, and as I said I recon ours take 20-30 seconds to get to nigh on full brightness. But during that (warm up) time, I really just do not notice it now...

Just need to fight a cheap alternative to our GU10 60W ceiling lights now... We have about a dozen of these in the playroom and study, so you can imagine if these are on full then that's over 600W. They're on dimmers though, so typically running less than full power.
 
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arknor said:
you can get daylight bulbs aswell but they cost a lot more than the regular energy saving bulbs and they are higher watt, they are often sold as craft bulbs or cfl grow lights.

they are for people who need to work in good light so many craft shops sell them
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You can get daylight ones the same price as normal ones, just not the same price as the stupidly cheap ones.

Its well worth going to Tesco's/Sainsburys/Waitrose because they VERY often do deals, largely on stock of the older cheaper ones but they can still be good. Warming up time is hardly an issue, its fairly rare you need to turn a light on to you know, get enough good light to defuse a bomb with the time running out, most get to 80-90% of their light output, even the old crap ones, without 10-20 seconds, most of mine are full power within 10 seconds.

Different bulbs simply have different light spectrum's, its also worth noting that I've not seen a single light bulb where the power rating is accurate. If an 11W says its similar to a 60W, count on it being a 45-50W equivalent bulb, so get a 15-20W energy saving bulb and have plenty of light.

Daylight bulbs rock, they look cold, they are white rather than yellow but for me, give hugely better colour on everything and make reading nicer than a soft tone yellow light.

I bought a few decent daylight ones for main rooms, a decent "warm" bulb the bedroom(daylight ones for rooms with tv, comps, that you read a lot in) and el cheapo ones for bathrooms, utility room, spare bedrooms, etc, etc.

Sainsbury's were selling the cheap ones in a few different sizes for something stupid like 50p each and if you bought 5 they were supposed to be only £1 all together, though I ordered 15, and paid nothing ;) .
 
get an energy saving light bulb put in a glass beaker and put in a microwave (but not for too long), this way there is no 'warming up' time :D
 
The "warming up" part is classic when you have drunk friends over. I have one in the basement bath, and they always have a strange look when they come out because the light just keeps getting brighter and brighter as they're doing their business. Makes them think they're more wasted than they really are. :D
 
arknor said:
you can get daylight bulbs aswell but they cost a lot more than the regular energy saving bulbs and they are higher watt, they are often sold as craft bulbs or cfl grow lights.
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My local John Lewis are selling 11w and 18w daylight CFL bulbs for £1.95 each. So it's not 50p silly cheap, but plenty cheap enough for me. Finally! I found some. Great to have decent light in the 'office' again. Only problem is what's good for me is also good for the local wildlife, so I'm expecting an invasion (though I got one last night without a daylight bulb!)
 
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I've noticed that with our energy saving bulbs a lot of them seem to work better after a few weeks, the Ikea R50 energy saving bulbs for example took an age to warm up at first, but now they seem to reach full brightness within a minute or less, and are ok within a few seconds (and unlike the old normal R50's that needed replacing every 3-4 weeks, these have lasted about 2 years of 8 hours+ a day).


Berserker said:
My local John Lewis are selling 11w and 18w daylight CFL bulbs for £1.95 each. So it's not 50p silly cheap, but plenty cheap enough for me. Finally! I found some. Great to have decent light in the 'office' again. Only problem is what's good for me is also good for the local wildlife, so I'm expecting an invasion (though I got one last night without a daylight bulb!)
Click to expand...

ooh I'll have to pop into my local JL next time I go past it, as use the daylight bulbs for the airbrush )
 
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