I need a good room lamp...thats bright but stays cool

[RollWave]

Anyone have any good suggestions? Its hard finding a good lamp these days now that the 500W halogen torches are gone for safety reasons.

 

[Itchrelief]

Originally posted by: RollWave
Anyone have any good suggestions? Its hard finding a good lamp these days now that the 500W halogen torches are gone for safety reasons.

Wait, so you're saying the 500W halogen lamps were cool?

 

[RollWave]

Sorry for the lack of clarity. They werent cool by any means, I'm just looking for something a little more energy efficient that wont start my house on fire that STILL puts out ample light. The old halogens put out light but would start moths and creatures on fire all the time. Deadly.

 

[Jeff7]

Originally posted by: Itchrelief

Originally posted by: RollWave
Anyone have any good suggestions? Its hard finding a good lamp these days now that the 500W halogen torches are gone for safety reasons.

Wait, so you're saying the 500W halogen lamps were cool?

No, I think he's saying that the 500W halogen lamps put out a lot of light, and now that they're gone, it's tough to find a good light.


I don't know quite how much they cost, but there are torchiere style lamps that use fluorescent tubes.

Or you could always risk a DIY halogen fixture with a 1500 watt halogen tube.
It doubles as a lovely space heater, too.

 

[dighn]

fluorescents not bright enough?

 

[Mo0o]

http://www.officemax.com/max/s...7&prodBlockOID=5369370

I have this one but with a round stand instead of a clamp. I love it

 

[Jeff7]

Originally posted by: Mo0o
http://www.officemax.com/max/s...7&prodBlockOID=5369370

I have this one but with a round stand instead of a clamp. I love it

What's the model number or Office Depot #? They appear to have one of those poorly-made sites that doesn't allow normal linking due to cookie requirements.

 

[RollWave]

yeah which lamp? Damn their site!

 

[Rubycon]

What's the lumen requirements?

High wattage CFL's will work in most cases but they do get warm.

HID (6000K) Metal Halide will provide excellent lighting but requires a driver or ballast that can get warm.

The 500W "torchiere" lights have poor efficacies, short lamp lives (much shorter if dimmed), and can be a downright fire hazard. Believe it or not quartz halogen lamps give off enough ultraviolet radiation to require a glass shield too. :Q

 

[RollWave]

dont really know about lumens that I need...but I want something like the old 500W lamps...but something that wont heat up so damn much. I live in louisiana so the last thing I want is a higher bill.

 

[Rubycon]

A self ballasting 65W 5000K CFL will provide about 4800 lumens - this will give similar lighting indoors to a 500W QH light. (albeit cooler however the 2700K CFL's often suffer from lower CRI's and this makes skintones look bad and can increase eyestrain when reading.)

 

[RollWave]

so....do you have a specific lamp recommendation? What is CRI? I need to have excellent light for reading so least eyestrain possible. I'll be reading for hours and hours in the living room.

 

[imported_Baloo]

CFL then is the only thing you should be looking at. One 100 watt CFL puts out a lot of light.

 

[Rubycon]

CRI = Color Rendition Index. 0 = monochromatic light, 100 = afternoon sunlight at mid latitudes. Obviously the higher one gets to 100 the better. On average the inside lighting is around 80CRI. Incandescents actually have the highest CRI at 99+ based on photometrics but their color temperature is low. Hard driven halogens can break 4000K but they won't last long.

A good triphosphor compact fluorescent will yield a CRI in the mid to upper 80's. It's possible to get higher CRI's with fluorescent lighting but efficacy (measured in lumens per watt) suffers.

 

[RollWave]

where do you get CFLs that are 100W? Or do you mean the 26W CFLs that put out 100W of light?

 

[Rubycon]

Originally posted by: RollWave
where do you get CFLs that are 100W? Or do you mean the 26W CFLs that put out 100W of light?

No, there are 100W CFL bulbs that put out the equivalent of a 650W tungsten lamp! The largest medium based light (fits a standard lamp in the US) is about 42W if I recall correctly. That's still pretty bright - a pair of table lamps with one each will give your room the same lighting as a 500W torch in high and shadows will not be nearly as bad.

 

[everman]

LED is nice, but way too expensive.

 

[RollWave]

i must go to a hardware store immediately. Thanks for the info Rubycon, you've been immensely helpful!