CFL Experts

[Sphexi]

The previous tenant of our apartment installed these really nice looking 4-spot track lights in the hallways here, but they use those 50-watt halogen GU10 bulbs, and so we barely turn them on as we don't like using 200 watts of power just to light up a hallway. Also the bulbs burn up in about two to three months, and even though they're cheap it adds up.

I finally got around to buying a replacement fixture, it's only 3-spot but it uses more standard bulbs in it, which I intended to use CFLs for. It says it uses A15 style bulbs, and standard 45 or 60 watt bulbs work perfectly, but the 15 watt CFLs I have won't fit through the frosted glass covers, due to that giant base on them.

Do they make any CFLs that have an extended mount on the bottom, so that the part housing the electronics is further up on it? Or should I try to shave away the base so the bulb fits through? This is the only fixture I could find that didn't use halogen bulbs, so I'd rather just replace the bulbs if possible.

Paging Rossman Abram?

 

[BigJ]

Just buy ordinary socket extenders.

 

[Sphexi]

Originally posted by: BigJ
Just buy ordinary socket extenders.

Your answer intrigues me, and also kind of shames me, as I probably should've thought of that as I was standing in front of them in HD

 

[BigJ]

Originally posted by: Sphexi

Originally posted by: BigJ
Just buy ordinary socket extenders.

Your answer intrigues me, and also kind of shames me, as I probably should've thought of that as I was standing in front of them in HD

It's the simplest thing to do, plus you really do not want to mess around with the ballast on those CFLs.

On an slightly unrelated note, you could've just used 35w GU10s

 

[Sphexi]

Originally posted by: BigJ

Originally posted by: Sphexi

Originally posted by: BigJ
Just buy ordinary socket extenders.

Your answer intrigues me, and also kind of shames me, as I probably should've thought of that as I was standing in front of them in HD

It's the simplest thing to do, plus you really do not want to mess around with the ballast on those CFLs.

On an slightly unrelated note, you could've just used 35w GU10s

Yeah, 120w x 2 fixtures = 240w, so much better than my plan, 60w x 2 fixtures = 120w ....plus the GU10s are very directional, as they have the foil on the back, so the light goes forward only, doesn't really spread to the sides too much. The hallway isn't too wide, so unless I point them straight down they weren't lighting up the hallway much, these work way better.

 

[0roo0roo]

how small is the socket area?
40-60watt equiv cf bulbs have had the biggest shrinks. some ge models are very small, i've seen them side by side with same wattage larger models so they might be a separate product line. i dunno. i've seen them at walmart.

 

[Slick5150]

And here I thought this thread would be about Canadian football.

 

[theknight571]

Originally posted by: Slick5150
And here I thought this thread would be about Canadian football.

LOL... that was my first thought too... then I tried to figure out what DYI people had to do with Canadian Football.

I replaced the bulbs in my basement fixtures with CFLs... and they're ok, if I let them warm up.... seems to take a good 5-10 minutes before they reach full light.

I haven't switched any of the other bulbs in the house due to this issue...plus when I went by the info on the package, I bought the 60w equivalents and they aren't nearly as bright as a standard 60w...even after the warm up.

If you like the brand / wattage you bought, let me know what kind they are, cause I'd like to try them elsewhere in the house, but would like the light when I turn the switch and not 10 min later.

 

[Sphexi]

Originally posted by: theknight571

Originally posted by: Slick5150
And here I thought this thread would be about Canadian football.

LOL... that was my first thought too... then I tried to figure out what DYI people had to do with Canadian Football.

I replaced the bulbs in my basement fixtures with CFLs... and they're ok, if I let them warm up.... seems to take a good 5-10 minutes before they reach full light.

I haven't switched any of the other bulbs in the house due to this issue...plus when I went by the info on the package, I bought the 60w equivalents and they aren't nearly as bright as a standard 60w...even after the warm up.

If you like the brand / wattage you bought, let me know what kind they are, cause I'd like to try them elsewhere in the house, but would like the light when I turn the switch and not 10 min later.

That's kind of odd, because the 15w CFLs are brighter than a normal 60w bulb, if you go strictly by lumens. I've replaced as many bulbs as possible with CFLs, down to the ones in our chandelier. There's about 5 or 6 that are on all the time, that's about 43kw/h or so we were paying for a month, or at our rate ($.09/kw/h), $4-5 a month. Now we're saving at least that much per month, and the bulbs last 10x as long if you don't click them on or off so much. A few months and I made back the $15 I spent on the bulbs, everything after that is profit as far as I'm concerned