US lifts ban on incandescent light bulbs

nivek

As Above So Below
US lifts ban on incandescent light bulbs

This is great news, of course incandescent bulbs are not as efficient as an alternative like LED light bulb or the horrible CFL bulbs, BUT incandescent bulbs provide us with a wavelength of light that is more suitable for the eyes than the LED or CFL versions because its closer to what the Sun provides us...CFL bulbs are the worst of them all, LED cannot get close to incandescent, halogen bulbs are second best when it comes to the wavelength, which is important to me...I use LED bulbs in some place of the house that I am least active in, the rooms like my bed room, bath, living room contain incandescent because I frequent those rooms more, especially places I read have incandescent lighting...My workshop, all incandescent lighting, it may be less efficient but better on the eyes...

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nivek

As Above So Below
Here are the wavelengths of other types of lighting...

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Toroid

Founding Member
I hate the lamps with a specialized bulbs because the replacements are too damn expensive. They have to have the standard bulb socket. I believe some regions & countries have mandated a certain level of natural light for the benefit of the occupants and power consumption. I know in California all new buildings have to install a certain number of skylights. During the day I believe at least 30% of the building/warehouse lighting in automatically switched off. Poor lighting causing accidents and mistakes.
 

nivek

As Above So Below
And with candlelight added:

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nivek

As Above So Below
I prefer candlelight when meditating...

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Standingstones

Celestial
My wife bought some Christmas candles a few years back. When one of the bulbs died I had a hell of a time trying to track down a replacement bulb. I found exact one place on the internet that offered them. I had to buy a few extras in order to make sure those candles didn’t become obsolete.
 

pigfarmer

tall, thin, irritable
The rule in our home seems to be that all lights must be on. Always. Right now there are probably spare lamps in the attic that are on. Rather than confront that I did an end run. Converted the entire house to LED over the past few years and it made a noticeable reduction in my electric bill.

Just installed a pair of 250W LED PAR38 bulbs last night on the motion light in the back of the house. They are producing an impressive amount if light using a fraction of the energy. What was the line from CE3K? The Sun came out last night and sang to me? Screw those dirty yellow old 150W incandescent bulbs. Couldn't bring myself to toss them though. There should be a sniglet (remember those?) for the old bulbs we don't want but can't toss because they still work.
 
We bought a house around 17 years ago, and just then the local Home Depot was having a huge clearance sale. I'd go out there for one thing or another and come home with a pile of stuff that was too cheap to pass up. In that flurry were several packages of CFL bulbs, of which we already had a fair number. We changed just about every bulb in the place. Ten or so years later, when we got a great deal on a solar panel lease, we only needed three kilowatts of power on the roof to offset our use. Neighbors across the street, in a similar old house, put on about three times that.

We moved to a different town, and this time we changed just about everything out to LED. There is a lamp in the living room that we leave on all night just for navigation purposes. It uses a few watts. Our electric bill is quite low, even with charging the car.
 

nivek

As Above So Below
I've changed all the lighting in my workshop to incandescent lighting with LED as a back-up when I have a power loss whilst still connected to the grid...I hope to have the shop powered solely with wind and solar power generation and disconnected permanently from the grid within 5 years...I still will use incandescent lighting when I do rely on my own power generation for the shop, incandescent lights are easier on my eyes when I'm working on projects late at night...

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Standingstones

Celestial
I have a couple of shop lamps that use the F40 tubes. Those tubes were crapping out so I went to the hardware store for some replacements. I got them in place but they still didn’t work. As these were in our washroom we had no available light.

I called our electrician. He said our fixtures had to be revamped in order to use the new tubes. They now work properly but we had to replace the ballasts and starters in both fixtures. What a pain in the ass!
 

spacecase0

earth human
I think that most of the issues people have with LED lighting is that to be the most efficient the color has to be bluish (9000K)
so most that are made are on that end of the spectrum,
I have quite a few 2400K and 3500K LEDs that are quite close to the incandescent lights as far as light output. they are full spectrum as well. but they are a bit more price to get, and are not as efficient (yet still way more efficient than an incandescent).
I have a visible light spectrometer, so anyone that wants pictures, I can show you the light types and what you are getting out.

with that said, I am very happy that the incandescent lights are legal again.
plenty of uses where they work great, such as in an EZ bake oven, or to keep your baby chicks warm.
LEDs and CFLs fail entirely to keep things warm.
and also, there is some fantastic incandescent light technology that is more efficient than LEDs and CFLs, was all set to be not legal forever for no good reason. now we get to see if they can manage to bring the price down on the technology so that it will sell.
 

Shadowprophet

Truthiness
I've been Led for years, but I don't choose LED because I like the light levels of the things, Their light has a glare to it that isn't just unsuitable to me, There is something about LED light that gives me flashbacks of being in hospitals, I know that's weird, right? But still, LED light just isn't a comfortable light to be under. I choose LED, Because They last longer, A good LED bulb in a socket and I literally don't have to worry about changing it for years. Still, I stand with most others on this issue, LED light just isn't a comfortable feeling, It's not adequate lighting even if you add more led lights, There is just something about the light itself that's just not a natural and comfortable light to read by.

Meh, This may be the future, but certain things about modern living just suck. I go camping a lot now, Have you ever whipped out an LED light while camping? It's just not the same feeling. It ruins any immersion into nature because the light from those things looks like halogen or some other unnatural kind of light, I use them because they are affordable and I've got metric tons of them. But Yeah, On several occasions, On nights out in my garage, I've lit candles just because I like that kind of light better.

LED light kind of sucks, and the only way I can figure it ever caught on was how everyone keeps whining about the environment and saving energy. You know, That's really not a good enough reason, Cause, I'm just being fair with this, I pay a 280 dollar a month electric bill. I literally pay for the energy I use. So then, why should I be huddled around LED lights That I don't even enjoy?

I'm not a fan of LED lights. But Over the years, I've acquired so many and I even have more just sitting on shelves waiting to be used. It's an irritating kind of glary light that the eyes just never adjust too. They suck.

Plus, is a light bulb is in your light of sight, The mind can ignore an incandescent bulb after a while they don't bother someone, But LEd lights always have that pitch-perfect irritation that if it's in your line of sight you will have to do something to cover or shade it or it will just irritate the hell out of someone.
 

spacecase0

earth human
I still think that people are mostly using the more popular versions that are hyper efficient,
there are better versions out there.
 

Shadowprophet

Truthiness
I still think that people are mostly using the more popular versions that are hyper efficient,
there are better versions out there.
Oh yeah, the kind I use is those GE, Like five-dollar kind from just about any convenience store. The more expensive ones may be better, I just don't want to pay fifteen dollars for a light bulb though :/
 

spacecase0

earth human
Oh yeah, the kind I use is those GE, Like five-dollar kind from just about any convenience store. The more expensive ones may be better, I just don't want to pay fifteen dollars for a light bulb though :/
the ones with really good efficiency would be thousands of dollars each,
they have to work on it before it hits the markets
before they had no reason to work on it, was not legal to sell anyway
now they have reason to work on it.
 

pigfarmer

tall, thin, irritable
when in doubt, just make your own
spacecase0.com: April 2012

That's cool!

I thought about hotrodding flashlights for a while. There is a surprising following for that sort of thing. So much so that a for-real pig farmer from Alabama (I think) made a side business. I dealt with this guy when he first started and he just had a forum presence and ebay. Got a conversion for my old 6D Maglite. Now he's got a website and a polished look so I guess it must be working for him.

You might find this interesting Malkoff Devices High Power LED Flashlights and LED Conversions
 

pigfarmer

tall, thin, irritable
I have a couple of shop lamps that use the F40 tubes. Those tubes were crapping out so I went to the hardware store for some replacements. I got them in place but they still didn’t work. As these were in our washroom we had no available light.

I called our electrician. He said our fixtures had to be revamped in order to use the new tubes. They now work properly but we had to replace the ballasts and starters in both fixtures. What a pain in the ass!

There are LED replacements that you can just pop in that are supposed to play nicely with the existing ballast. There are other kinds that require you to bypass the ballast. By the time you either fix the existing light or retrofit it you might as well just go get an LED replacement.

That said I just bought a two-pack of F32T8s because it was easier to replace the one tube that went out. Can't find just the singles and the rule seems to be that I am always required to have exactly one spare behind my oil tank at all times.
 

Rick Hunter

Celestial
LED flashlights and work lights absolutely rock, I won't buy or use any other kind (other than my Dietz kerosene lanterns, of course). That said, I really like incandescent halogens for 120v use. My biggest gripe about pretty much all the modern bulbs is that you can't buy a real equivalent to a traditional incandescent for low wattage use. I prefer 15-40 watt bulbs inside the house, however all the new tech bulbs are brighter than that regardless of what it says on the package.
 
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