Gallery of Lights
The Site => General discussion => Topic started by: Mike on November 11, 2011, 09:42:43 AM
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Hi everyone, my parents have been going "CFL crazy" and putting in CFLs everywhere. :8) :( After a while of the CFLs being used on the switches in my house, they will make a sizzling or "POP" sound. Why is that? :-\ I've noticed also that one of my T8 wrap lights has this affect on the switch. What makes it do that and is it dangerous to keep those switches installed? The switches are only 8 years old.
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I believe this is because some cheapo residential switches are rated for a resistive load only, ie incandescent lamps and tends arc when switching a inductive load such as fluorescent lights, and motors.
Another reason might be the contacts in the switch opening/closing too slowly. The older switches were spring loaded and closed the contacts quickly even if you move the toggle slowly to prevent this problem(hence the snapping noise). Newer switches have a much weaker spring in them it reduces the snapping noise but this weaker spring won't open/close the contacts fast enough if you move the toggle slowly.
One way to prevent this is to use higher quality switches - box store dollar bin switches need not apply.
Also, see this thread. (http://www.galleryoflights.org/mb/index.php?topic=214.0)
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We have commercial heavy duty grade 20amp switches in every room. They "snap" closed. They're used in buisness and applications like classrooms, or even to control boilers and whatnot.
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We actually have standard household switches in the classrooms at my school. :o
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I like using the spec grade and commercial grade switches, they're much better than 99 cent residential switches.
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I like the commercial grade swithces better too. If you tighten the screws on the wallplate cover too much, they'll crack. >:( My bedroom has newer ones I bought that have more flex to them becuase I cracked all my wall plates. :(
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The nylon and the metal ones are hard to break. They're a bit more expensive than the regular plastic ones though.
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The nylon and the metal ones are hard to break. They're a bit more expensive than the regular plastic ones though.
We have wood ones around the house. They look nice when kept clean. They have them at HD for $4 and they have a steel plate behind them.
The light switch cover in my room is a heavy steel diamond plate because it looks cool. :P :8)
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Mine are just the regular plastic ones but I've been slowly changing them to nylon ones as the old ones get damaged.
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All of them in my house exept for in my room are hard plastic that's very brittle. My room has flexible plastic thoigh. Is that nylon?
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Yep the flexible plates are nylon, they're harder to break than the old style ones.
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Ahh. i see. Yes, the softer ones are way newer...
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I'm guessing those were replacements............................................................
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Yep i replaced the plates in my room since i overtightened the screws and they cracked.
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Yeah you got to be careful with those plastic wallplates.
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I HATE them. My mom does too. my dad could care less about them all being cracked. they still stay in one peice, so they're fine i guess......
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I keep a bunch in garage as spares.........................
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It's up to my parents whether or not they want to replace the wallplates. We dan't have any spare electrical parts for the house (I have my own parts, but no spare switches, outlets, juction boxes, or wallpates) Usually there are spare lamps, but we've been buying lamps as we need them now....
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I have a lot of spare stuff, lamps, ballasts, outlets,etc I keep around for repairs.
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I'm a buy-as-it's-needed type person. I'm stockpiling incandescents and will probably buy mercs in bulk quanities when I find good deals. I'll wipe out Lowe's and HD's mercs when they go on clearance. I'll be swiping 1000Bulbs too.
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The prices of some of the lighting stuff at Restore are very stockpile friendly, also I keep and eye out for cheap stuff at the box stores.
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Yeah. I wathc Lowe's carefully because when their stuff is on clearance, the price is very very low.
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Yeah Lowe's marks down by a lot when they clear out their lighting stuff. Otherwise I've gotten some good stuff from Restore too.
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There's a few nylon wallplates around my house, but most are regular hard plastic. Though they can crack if the screws are overtightened, I do like that they dont dent in around the screws. In my bedroom, I have stainless steel plates. Almost all my outlets and switches are "Decora" style, so the only differences in style are single gang and double gang.
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I got lots of Sylvania 95w soft white incandescents at Lowes for 62 cents per pack of 8 bulbs, the 95w bulbs were discontinued as of December 2010, due to California's ban on 95w-100w bulbs as of this year.
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I prefer the toggle switches over the "decora" switches. As for the outlests, i'm nuetral...
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I don't have that strong of a preference as to switch/outlet type but I prefer the white ones over ivory ones.
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I like the off-white color switches and wallplates we have. They're either called almond or ivory. i don't know.... The white ones get dirty too easily. My grandparents have black switches, outlets, and wallplates.
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Black switches on stainless steel wallplates also look pretty sharp too. A lot of commercial places used to use them before the decorative switches became popular.
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They also make UNBREAKABLE plastic plates, I tried them they can accept over tightening screws a LOT better....and they bend well too!!!