Light Bulbs- All Ya Wanna Know

Hey Guys,

Found some interesting information you might find handy, I have not had a chance to PROOF it all for accuracy but from a glance it seemed like some good info. Give it a look see.

TROUBLESHOOTING LIGHT BULBS, LIGHTING FIXTURES, AND LAMPS
What the “Big Three” (better) light bulb makers are
Troubleshooting incandescent light bulb problems
Troubleshooting halogen lamp problems
Troubleshooting fluorescent lamp problems
Troubleshooting mercury, metal halide and sodium lamp problems

GUYS- If you dont want to link away from NACHI they are listed below…but if you want to link away click on the links above…:slight_smile:

What the “Big Three” (better) light bulb makers are

By the “Big Three” light bulb manufacturers, I mean General Electric, Osram/Sylvania, and Philips. They are the main producers of good light bulbs in the USA.

Please note that store brand light bulbs with lumen light output figures and hour life expectancy figures like those of “Big Three” actually are “Big Three” light bulbs.

“Big Three” “regular” (A19) light bulbs will usually be:

100 watt ones with 750 hour average life and 1670-1750 lumens average output
75 watt ones with 750 hour average life and 1150-1210 lumens average output
60 watt ones with 1000 hour average life and 840-890 lumens average output
40 watt ones with 1000-1500 hours and 440-505 lumens average light output

Light bulbs other than “big three” ones usually produce less light than “big three” ones.

TROUBLESHOOTING INCANDESCENT LIGHT BULB PROBLEMS

Light bulbs Burn Out Too Quickly (See the more specific entries below also):

a) Check the line voltage for excessive voltage. Call your power company if you determine for sure that your line voltage is excessive. Use longer life or 130 volt bulbs if the power company cannot or will not correct excessive line voltage.

b) Check for excessive expectations. If you have 12 750-hour bulbs each operated 6 hours a day, it is normal to burn out three of them a month.

c) Light bulbs are junk such as “dollar store” bulbs. Get ones made by one of the “Big Three” lamp makers.

Light bulbs in Recessed Ceiling Fixture Burn Out Too Quickly:

Check that the bulbs are of a type and wattage recommended by the fixture manufacturer. Heat builds up in these fixtures.

Light bulbs in Small Enclosed Fixture Burn Out Too Quickly:

a) Check that you are not exceeding the maximum wattage recommended by the fixture manufacturer. Many fixtures are rated only for bulbs 60 watts or less.

b) Off-brand bulbs, especially dollar store bulbs, may not be up to the job.

Light bulbs in Ceiling Fixtures and Desk Lamps Burn Out Too Quickly:

a) Many of these fixtures are rated to use bulbs no more than 60 watts.

b) Off-brand bulbs such as dollar store bulbs may not be up to the job.

Light bulbs Burn Out Prematurely and Have a White Smoky Appearance:

This means the bulb cracked and air got in and oxidized the filament.

a) This usually means the bulb was an off-brand piece of junk.

b) Water dripped on a hot bulb.

c) The bulb overheated by being the wrong kind/wattage for the fixture.

d) Something hits the bulbs and breaks them.

e) Bulbs heat up and then cold drafts hit the bulbs (unlikely)

f) Condensation on a bulb causes thermal stress when dry parts of the bulb get hot (not especially likely).

Light bulbs Break During Use:

a) See just above.

Long-life Bulbs Don’t Last as Long as Expected:

a) Bulb is a junkier off-brand one. Use long-life versions of “Big Three” bulbs, use traffic light bulbs especially if made by the “Big Three”, or use ones made in Poland (available in some hardware stores).

Light bulbs Sometimes Get Dim and/or Flicker and then Go Out:

a) Check for corroded contacts on the bulbs or in the socket.

b) Check for poor fit or mashed-down socket contact. You may be able to pry up the center contact in the socket (with power off!). Do not over tighten the bulbs.

c) Check for poor contact or wires screwed down too loosely in the fixture or in the house wiring, especially if changing the bulb does not change the behavior much.

d) Replace the socket or the fixture if necessary.

NOTE - Flickering with dimming must be fixed or avoided. There could be major heat production at the site of resistance due to poor contact. This is a possible fire hazard.

Light bulbs Sometimes Bet Brighter When Something Else is Turned On and also Burn Out at an Excessive Rate:

a) This usually means that you have a broken or poor neutral connection, usually in the main panel, or sometimes in a sub-panel if you have any sub-panels. Be sure that screws holding down wires in your fuse boxes / breaker boxes / panels are adequately tight. If you are not up to this fix or it fails to correct this situation, call an electrician. This is a dangerous condition that must be fixed urgently.

Light bulbs Break or Pop Off Their Bases when they Burn Out:

a) Some off-brand bulbs and a few production runs of “Big Three” bulbs have been known to lack internal fuse wires. The current surge due to a “burnout arc” reaches hundreds of amps and makes the wiring in the bulb explode.

Light bulbs Damage Dimmers or Electronic Switching Devices when they Burn Out:

a) This usually means marginal quality dimmer or switch that cannot withstand the current surge drawn by a burnout arc. Get a sturdier dimmer or switching device.

b) The light bulbs lack internal fuse wires - change brand.

c) For adventurous hacking homebrewers, replace the triac or (or SCR, less likely) in the dimmer circuit with one having much higher current capability and trigger current no higher than that of the original. Use a triac or SCR with slightly higher trigger current requirement at your own risk, although this usually works.

Light bulbs Burn Out Too Quickly Only In Certain Rooms/Fixtures:

a) Check for wrong kind or over-wattage bulb in the fixture.

b) Check if you are putting junky off-brand light bulbs such as dollar store bulbs in the fixtures in question.

c) Check for vibration from slamming doors, people dancing nearby, children jumping or bouncing balls, etc. Vibration-resistant bulbs may be the solution.

Light bulbs Seem Dim:

a) Check line voltage - if necessary, shift loads or upgrade the wiring. Call an electrician if you need a wiring upgrade that you can’t do yourself. Call your utility if the problem is upstream from your electric meter.

b) Long-life bulbs are dimmer than standard-life, “Big Three” bulbs.

c) 130 volt bulbs are dimmer than 120 volt bulbs - typically by 22-25 percent, more if the life at 130 volts is longer than “standard”.

d) Light bulbs with vibration resistant or shock resistant or rough service filament design are normally less efficient than standard light bulbs.

e) Junky off-brand bulbs such as most dollar store bulbs are dimmer than “big three” light bulbs.

Projector Bulb or Photoflood Bulb Burns Out Quickly:

a) Note that these usually have short lifetimes anywhere from 2 to 60 hours.

b) Bulb is misused - use only the proper bulb and only in equipment designed for the bulb and use the bulb/equipment only as directed. Some of these bulbs have mounting position requirements and/or cooling requirements.

TROUBLESHOOTING HALOGEN LIGHT BULB PROBLEMS

Halogen Bulb Blackens And Burns Out Too Quickly:

a) Halogen bulbs have to be on long enough to reach their usual temperature in order for the chemicals in them to work properly. Do not use them for closet lights or refrigerator lights.

b) Some halogen bulbs do this when dimmed. Off-brand ones do this more than ones made by the “Big Three”, ones made by reputable specialty halogen bulb makers, or ones made in Japan.

c) I have heard of lousy off-brand 300 watt halogen bulbs for torchiere lamps](http://www.arcadianlighting.com/torchiere-lamps.html) and similar off-brand 500 watt bulbs doing this even when run optimally. Try a “big three” bulb.

d) Bulb may have cracked due to contamination of the quartz - see below.

Halogen Bulb Cracks or Explodes or Burns Out With A Smoky Appearance:

a) Although halogen bulbs have a slight risk of doing this anyway, this usually means that the bulb cracked from a stress due to contamination. The bulb contains substantial pressure and the quartz bulb operates at lead-melting-hot to red-hot temperatures. Any sort of salt, ash, or alkali can slowly leach into the hot quartz and cause strains, causing the bulb to crack.
Avoid touching the bulb with bare skin! Clean any contaminated bulbs with a clean cloth or paper towel or tissue soaked with alcohol, then rinse with distilled water. When handling a halogen bulb, it is best to use the original packaging - your skin touches only the outside of the packaging and the bulb touches only the inside of the packaging.

None of this contamination stuff matters to halogen capsules inside glass outer bulbs, such as Philips “Halogena” and Sylvania “Capsylite” - unless the outer bulb breaks.

b) The bulb has subtle cracks from excessive or undue force applied to the base or connection points.

c) The bulb is off-quality and/or extremely old (I have seen one bought in a flea market do this). Suspect extreme age or low quality especially if the smoky appearance is black or dark gray as opposed to white or light gray. Darker smoke color usually indicates excessive age or low quality and lighter smoke color usually indicates cracking of the bulb.

TROUBLESHOOTING FLUORESCENT LAMP PROBLEMS

Burnout and Blinking and Strange Glow Problems

Starting Problems

Light Output and Color Problems

Burnout and Blinking and Strange Glow Problems

Fluorescent Bulbs Burn Out Too Quickly:

a) You have a bulb-ballast mismatch. Read the label on the ballast and read the markings on the bulb. Note that 34 and 35 watt bulbs may say F40T12(color code) and “energy saver” or something like this.

b) Ballast is low grade or defective. If the ballast states an amp figure and you have an AC ammeter, check for highly excessive current consumption as a sign of a bad ballast.

c) The lamp is started too many times - starting causes wear.

d) You have poor contact with the bulb due to corrosion. Usually twisting the bulb around will break through the corrosion, at least temporarily. If there is corrosion, (WITH POWER OFF!) scrub the corrosion off the socket contacts or the bulb pins with fine sandpaper. This may be tricky. In bad cases you need a new fixture.

e) Some “shop light” bulbs have life compromised by designing them for extra energy efficiency or low cost - use standard bulbs if they are compatible with the ballast in the fixture. Also, some cheaper “shop light” fixtures with cheap ballasts may be hard on the bulbs.

Bulbs Die In Pairs - Is It The Ballast or One Bulb or Both?:

Many ballasts operate the bulbs in pairs. The bulbs are in series. If one bulb goes bad, both go out or go dim.

In many cases, there is a “bleeder resistor” or other auxiliary component to apply the full ballast output voltage to just one bulb if both are not conducting - this helps the bulbs start. If one bulb is glowing very dimly and the other is completely out, it is possible for the dim bulb to be the bad one and the completely-out bulb to be the good one.

If the good bulb spends a lot of time in dim glow, it can be damaged - prolonged glowing with the filaments at elevated but less-than-full-normal temperature can be bad for them.

Since the “good” bulb is probably through most of its life and may have suffered if it spent a lot of time in dim glow, it is normally a good idea to replace both bulbs of the affected pair. In case you are curious as to which bulb is the bad one, there is usually noticeable darkening all over one end of the bad bulb. This means 2-3 inches of tubing are noticeably darkened. A mere spot or blotch or ring / band at one end or both ends is usually not a sign of end-of-life.

Bulb Is Out or Very Dim and Ends Glow Dim Orange:

Bulb is dead and a rapid start or trigger start ballast is making the filaments hot enough to visibly glow. Replace the bulb.

Bulb Blinks - from once every few seconds to a few times a second:

Preheat bulb has died. Replace the bulb. Remove the bulb even if you cannot immediately replace it. This blinking is hard on the starter, and the ballast can get stressed if the starter gets stuck in a starting attempt. If the bulb has been blinking a long time, it is a good idea to replace the starter anyway even if it is not yet dead.

Bulb in Fixture With a Starter Only Glows at the Ends, usually off-color or orangish, sometimes each end glowing a different color:

The starter is bad and the bulb may be bad. If the bulb is brand new, a stuck starter can still do this. This is bad for the bulb. Remove the bulb until the starter can be replaced. Replace the bulb along with the starter unless the bulb is known good. A bad bulb can ruin a good starter after a while and a bad starter can ruin a good bulb after a while.

WARNING - Stuck starters can cause excessive current to flow through the ballast and overheat it. I have known a fire to start this way - in an elevator yet! Remove bulbs that glow only on the ends or blink or blink but with only end glow, even if you cannot immediately replace the bulb. This is whether the end glow is bright orange or yellow-orange or whitish orange-yellow or closer to the normal color of the light from the bulb.

Near-normal color end glow indicates an arc across the filament and an incandescent-orange color indicates lack of such an arc. Filaments that glow brightly yellow-orange to whitish-orange-yellow without arcing are almost certainly worn beyond usefulness. Heating will usually not be much different whether an arc forms or not. In any case, remove the bulb.

Bulbs Go Off And On every few minutes to once or twice an hour:

A ballast with a thermal cutout switch is overheating. This may mean the ballast is bad, or the wrong bulbs are being used, or the ballast or the fixture is not mounted properly. Some “shop lights” need to be suspended from the ceiling or beam instead of being mounted flush against the ceiling or beam - flush mounting blocks a way for heat to escape the ballast. “Shop light” fixtures that must be suspended usually have chains and hooks included.

Starting Problems

Fluorescent Lamp Does Not Start In The Dark:

Believe it or not, some starters depend on the photoelectric effect to work! Try replacing the starter with a different brand of starter. Ones containing a trace of radioactive material don’t need light. Maybe put some glow-in-the-dark material near the starter!

Fluorescent Lamp Only Starts When Someone Touches or Brushes the Bulb or Subjects it to Static Electricity:

a) Many fluorescent fixtures require the fixture to be grounded and the bulb to be within 1/2 inch (12.7 millimeters) of a grounded reflector or other grounded sheet conductor. Maybe also required is that black wires are “hot” and white wires are “neutral” (May be different outside the USA). All this affects the electric field distribution within a bulb undergoing a starting attempt.

b) Very slight chance this is from one of the other usual suspect problems such as aging bulbs, bulb-ballast mismatch, low temperature, corroded socket contacts, bad or low quality ballast, low line voltage, etc.

Lamps Fail To Start in Cold Temperature:

a) Although this is not a common problem, rapid start and instant start fluorescent lamps are supposed to have special low temperature ballasts for starting in the cold. You’re on your own with preheat ones, but try a different brand of starter.

b) If the proper low temperature capability ballast is being used, check for proper connections, grounding of the fixture and reflector or other sheet conductor within 1/2 inch of the bulb, bulb-ballast mismatch, low line voltage, corroded contacts, etc.

Starting is Unreliable or Generally “Cranky”:

a) This is probably from any of the other usual suspect problems such as aging bulbs, bulb-ballast mismatch, low temperature, corroded socket contacts, incorrectly wired ballast, fixture not grounded or lacking a grounded reflector, light-requiring starter, bad or low quality ballast, low line voltage, etc.

b) dual-20-watt trigger start fixture with reduced output and/or flickering - the ballast is of a marginal design. Try a different brand of bulbs or get a different fixture.

Light Output and Color Problems

Fluorescent Lamps Look Dim:

a) They’re cold. In really cool or drafty cool environments, you may need those plastic protective sleeves sometimes called “tube guards” around the bulbs to build up heat. Allow a few minutes for them to warm up. Note that these sleeves do not help starting in the cold. Sleeves are not recommended if the bulbs are running only slightly cooler than optimum since that can make the bulbs run substantially hotter than optimum.
In drafty and in slightly cool environments, use enclosed fixtures instead of open fixtures. Enclosed fixtures normally have adequate heat buildup.

a1) The 34 watt energy saving ones seem especially vulnerable to cold.

b) Broad spectrum ones (deluxes, etc.) normally produce a little less light than standard ones and “triphosphor” ones.

c) You have a junky off-brand ballast. I recommend ones made by General Electric, Magnetek, Universal, Robertson, or Valmont or the like, or made in North America or Europe or Japan for “iron” rapid start ballasts.

d) You have 25 watt “shop lights” which are not as bright as the 40 watt ones.

e) Aging bulbs have worn phosphors. Try new bulbs if the bulbs have given you lots of hours of service.

f) Check for bulb-ballast mismatch.

g) See below for problems related to specific lamps.

20 Watt Fluorescents in Fixtures With Starters Look a Little Dim:

These fixtures normally have the common 14-15-20 watt ballasts, which usually deliver about 16 watts to 20 watt lamps. There is not much that can be done about this. Do not kludge up something to deliver increased voltage to the fixture since that will make the ballast overheat.

Dual-20-Watt Fixture Without Starter has Low or Irregular Light Output:

The usual dual-20-watt “trigger start” ballast is of a marginal design. Try a different brand of bulbs or a fixture of a different design.

20 Watt Lights of America Fixture Looks a Little Dim:

The semi-proprietary Lights of America ballast in this fixture delivers a non-optimum current waveform. Not much can be done about this.

20 Watt Fixture of Another Type Looks a Little Dim:

The ballast may be a 15-20 watt type. Not much can be done about this.

14 Watt Fluorescents Look A Little Dim:

14 watt fluorescents are less efficient than 15 and 20 watt ones. There is nothing to do about this except replace the fixture with something more efficient such as 15 to 20 watt or 13 watt “twin-tube”/PL compact fluorescent.

4-foot T8 (1-inch diameter) 32 Watt Low Mercury Lamps are Getting Dim:

I have seen this happen and it seems to happen more badly in cool and drafty environments. I suspect some reason having to do with higher “electron temperature” (kinetic energy of free electrons) that results from reduced mercury vapor content. This may cause mercury ions to embed in phosphor particles or 184.9 nm shortwave UV to damage the phosphor.
Use these bulbs in enclosed fixtures. In severely cool/drafty environments, it can pay to use those clear plastic protective sleeves sometimes called “tube guards” to build up heat. Watch for the tubes to brighten and then dim again during warmup - this indicates overheating which means you just want enclosed fixtures instead of the sleeves.

Fluorescent Bulbs Look Different In Color:

Fluorescent bulbs come in all sorts of colors. Be sure to match the color code or color type or color temperature. Note that minor differences from one brand or batch to another are normal. There are five major common color temperatures - 3000 (warm white), 3500 (“a whiter warm white”), 4100 (cool white), 5000 (an icy cold pure white), and 6500-6800 (“daylight” or icy cold bluish white).

How Colors Look Under a New Fluorescent Bulb is Different From Old Bulb:

Even if the basic color or color temperature is matched, the spectral character can be different. Most white fluorescent bulbs are in three spectral classes:

Halophosphate - standard cool white and warm white, lousy color rendering

Broad Spectrum - Improved halophosphate with reduced light output

Triphosphor - usually full light output and better color rendering with brighter rendering of colors. Color rendering index is usually 80-86 but there is a related class with color rendering index in the mid-upper 70’s.

TROUBLESHOOTING MERCURY, METAL HALIDE AND SODIUM LAMP PROBLEMS

High Pressure Sodium Lamp Repeatedly Goes Out for 1-3 Minutes After Warming Up:

The lamp warms up and as soon as it is warmed up, or maybe several minutes after warming up, it goes out. Maybe it takes about 3 minutes to relight, but in fixtures available from home centers it usually relights in closer to 1 minute with often a little dim orange-yellow glow at times before it relights.

This is usually “end of life cycling”. That is a characteristic of the bulb. Replace the bulb and this common problem is fixed.

Less likely, the problem is a reflector that returns light to the arc tube in the bulb and overheats it.

High Pressure Sodium Lamp is Knocked Out for 1-3 minutes When A Heavy Electrical Load Is Started:

Although poor load distribution and/or wiring undersized for the length of a wiring run is likely to exist, this is usually a variation of “end of life cycling”. Replacing the bulb usually fixes this, although less frequently some wiring upgrades are needed. Slight chance it is the problem of a reflector returning light to the arc tube.

Sodium, Mercury, or Metal Halide Lamp Cycles On-Off and Goes Out Before Warmup Is Complete:

a) Bulb is at end-of-life. Replace the bulb.

b) Bulb is wrong type for the ballast - bulb/ballast mismatch. Wattages must match, except for slightly different wattage in some cases. (Sodium bulbs of mercury retrofit type have nominal wattage slightly below that of the compatible mercury, for example.)

Matching wattage alone is not a guarantee. 150 watt sodium comes in three different types - S55 or 55 volt nominal arc voltage, S56 or 100 volt nominal arc voltage, and mercury retrofit. 1000 watt mercury comes in H34 and H36 which are not compatible with each other. Some specialty metal halides and high pressure sodiums such as “white SON” are not interchangeable with the more common types of same wattage but require different ballasts.

In a few rare cases, a metal halide bulb in a mercury ballast may start but go out during warmup due to some “fussy” characteristics of a warming-up metal halide lamp. Metal halides often don’t start and generally do not reliably work properly with mercury ballasts.

Note that mercury bulbs can be used with metal halide ballasts of the same wattage in the event the wattage is 175 to 400 watts. This normally also works for 50-100 watts, but those are pulse start metal halide ballasts and applying power with a bad bulb or one that was just shut off may damage the bulb and may even be a fire hazard and is not recommended. There are two 1,000 watt mercury bulbs; H34 won’t work properly in a metal halide ballast but H36 will.

Please note that mercury and metal halide bulbs will usually be overpowered by pulse start sodium ballasts for 100 volt bulbs. Mercury and metal halide bulbs will usually go out before full warmup if powered by pulse start sodium ballasts for 55 volt bulbs (most sodiums 35 to 100 watts).

c) Less likely - bulb has burning position restrictions being violated.

d) Less likely - Photocell (if any) is catching light from the fixture and turning the fixture off.

Mercury Retrofit Sodium Bulb is Unreliable in Brightness (usually gets brighter with age):

Mercury retrofit sodium bulbs are sometimes not suitable for some types of mercury fixtures nor fixtures that are suitable for metal halide bulbs. Some are only suitable if the ballast is a “high leakage reactance” autotransformer with the proper open circuit output voltage or a “reactor” (plain choke or inductor) ballast (whether power factor corrected or not) with the proper line voltage, and this voltage is usually 230-280 volts or so. Check instructions that come with the bulb and the bulb packaging!

Leading, lead-peaked, “CWA”, and metal halide ballasts typically mishandle variations in retrofit bulb characteristics that change as the bulb ages unless the bulb is rated for all mercury and metal halide ballasts of the proper wattage (slightly higher than the sodium bulb’s nominal wattage). Brand-new bulbs may be underpowered and older bulbs may be overpowered.

Metal Halide Bulbs Change Color and do so in Unlike Ways as They Age:

This is normal. But truly radical changes, especially with a noticeable reduction in light output, usually indicate that the bulb is at or near the end of its life. Remove any HID bulb that is rapidly changing in characteristic.

Bulb is Flickering and it Did Not Flicker Before:

Usually this means the bulb is approaching end of life. If the bulb has been used a lot, this really probably means it is approaching end of life. Replace the bulb.

High Pressure Sodium Bulb has Short Life or otherwise is Not Quite Right:

You can have the right wattage but still have the wrong bulb for the ballast. The 150 watt comes in different types, “white SON” is not interchangeable with others including a standard-compatibility improved-color type, and some retrofit bulbs have restrictions against metal halide ballasts and some types of mercury ballasts.

Replacement Bulb is Dim or Fails to Fully Warm Up:

You probably have an incompatible bulb type despite the wattage being the same, such as H34 1000 watt mercury on an H36 ballast or S55 150 watt sodium on an S56 ballast.

Bulb Explodes:

Extremely rare and usually only from overpowering the bulb via bulb/ballast mismatch, incorrectly wired ballast, or very excessive line voltage. Much less likely but possible is a bad ballast. More rarely, bulbs do this when not overpowered and usually only when operated past their life expectancy - mercury and metal halide bulbs should be replaced after exceeding their life expectancy of running time. It is sometimes recommended to use fixtures of a design to contain exploding bulbs. Metal halide bulbs other than of “protected” type should only be operated in proper enclosed fixtures since their chance of exploding is higher.

Replace or discontinue using any HID bulb if it starts operating erratically or has a major color change or loss of light output that develops over a couple weeks or less. Replace any bulbs with an unusual bulge or “bubble” on the arc tube.

High pressure sodiums have less of a risk - sodium arc tube ruptures normally do not cause the outer bulb to break.

It is sometimes recommended to turn off metal halide and mercury lamps at least once every couple weeks as opposed to running them 24 hours a day 365 days a year - bulbs that are approaching catastrophic failure sometimes do not restart when turned off or give warning signs of obviously erratic operation when restarted.

Written by Don Klipstein.

DISCLAIMERS
Although I believe all information at this site is accurate, there is no warranty of accuracy of such information.

I do not warranty test results, etc. Your mileage may vary from mine. Or, my mileage might be what’s different. Most of my measurements are not made with instruments with calibrations traceable to the Bureau of Standards. Sample sizes are often small. I may fail to report, consider, or even know all factors that could affect reported results. In addition, products tested/reviewed by me may not always be typical production units as of time of test or as of now. Products may also be changed, improved, or “improved” after units that I test were produced.

As to other sites that I provide links to:
I believe that at least some of the information at such sites is accurate and I find such information interesting.
I give no warranty that any of it is accurate. In most cases, nobody else associated with these sites gives any warranty of accuracy.

Whoever provides web sites (internet service providers, etc.) generally give no warranties of any kind as to information that they let their customers provide.

In addition, I specifically DISCLAIM any and all warranty(ies) of completeness of any information that I provide or give links to.
This includes (but is not limited to) any and all information as to risks, hazards, safety, test conditions, etc.

Some devices, circuits, etc. desrribed in my web site have known and/or suspected hazards to real and/or personal property and/or life forms including human beings and pets. Use such information only at your own risk, whether or not any suggested safety precautions are included with information about anything with known or possible hazards. It is impossible to know every risk about everything, and it is impossible to tell everyone all information needed as to how to build/operate/test or even posess hazardous objects, devices, or circuits described in my web site.

Do not build, test, operate, posess, nor even get too close to anything described in this web site unless you are familiar with any and all hazards thereof, and certainly not unless you are fully willing to assume all associated risks.

Sources and providers of information at this web site and other sites will not be responsible for anything that goes wrong.

Especially, please note that much information related to hazardous effects of electric shock is unreliable. Electrocution is unreliable, so is lack thereof when electric shock occurs. The most common cause of death from electric shock is ventricular fibrilation, yet there is no voltage, current, wattage, energy level, frequency, waveform, nor any combination of these guaranteed to always cause this.
Likewise, a wide range of voltages/currents/wattages/frequencies/waveforms/energy levels/combinations-of-these considered “probably safe”, “safe”, or anything to this effect by some (maybe most) sources could have some chance of being fatal.

Yes, the electrical guru comes through again. Thanks greatly.

Your most certainly welcome…I am always searching for information for our members…this will help HI’s explain why light bulbs dim and get brighter and so on.

I’d like to add a little piece of info Paul, that some folks don’t know, that lamps are measured in eighths of an inch, same as rebar. So a T-12 is 12 eighths or 1.5 inches, a T-8 is one inch. A-19s are 19 eighths across their widest point, or about 2 -1/3 inches, R-30’s are three and three quarters across, etc etc.

Just a little bit of trivia to help make you the life of the :roll: party.:roll:

cool…thanks Brian…none of which I knew at all…most excellent

Bump…Good info for the Newbie

Great info always good to upgrade the brain.
I am not impressed with the new screw in Flourscent lamps that are going to save money they are dim they are loaded with mercury ( hazard to get rid of )
They cost more considerable more money
They tell people how much money they are going to save wrong as the electric lights are mostly used in the darker time of they year they tend to heat the area you are in so the saving is very small if any at all.
Some are tending to cause fires.
Some countries as far as I am concerned have not done their home work and have been sold the sizzle.
When I moved into my home I was burning out lights voltage 138 supplier told me thats OK just put in longer life bulbs ( BS) the rest of the equipment in my home would still get to high a voltage .
They turned down the Transformer tap now 122 volts no problem with the lights any more .
Do not let your supplier (BS) you they can and should fix the high voltage.
Roy Cooke

I just switched to CFLs in all my lights. Jim and I both agree that even though they are rated the same as far as wattage, they certainly seem brighter. We’re quite impressed with them.

“loaded” might be a loaded word. Just one of the sites I found:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:CFL_bulb_mercury_use_environment.svg

There’s always a trade-off for new technology. For example, I’m sure the proliferation of computers throughout the world in the last 25 years has not done the environment any good, and they are more difficult to get rid of than my pen and paper. Then we can go back to airplanes, then cars, etc.

That’s why it took me so long to convert. However, friends report that they definitely do last a lot longer, in some cases, years longer, than incandescents.

I don’t see how they tend to heat the area since they definitely are cooler. I can leave my hand on a CFL for an indefinite period of time, something that I could never do with an incandescent bulb. However, if some of them are tending to cause fires, I’d appreciate a link to anything there so that I can educate my past Clients.

Thank You Uncle Fester.:slight_smile:

I was taking about how the incandescents tend to heat the home .
I have electrioc heat and the cost to heat with resistance heating or resistant light bulbs is the same so going to flourscents will save me zip for 8 months of the year .
The other 4 months I need very little light as the sun does looks after most of my lighting.
Roy Cooke