Gallery of Lights
Lamps => News about Lamps => Topic started by: Nevada Willis on May 18, 2011, 02:39:13 PM
-
I'm an incandescent and MV fan but I oftentimes have to use CFLs when I use old incandescent lamps for area lighting. A 300 watt bulb running all night just sends my paycheck straight over to NV Energy. The problem with CFLs is that historically their output has been limited. However I recently picked up a new item at Home Depot, a TCP 68 watt (300 watt equivalent) CFL.
(http://www.kbrhorse.net/streetlights/slpics/tcp_300w_cfl.jpg)
(http://www.kbrhorse.net/streetlights/slpics/westinghouse_hr07.jpg)
It has a CR of 2700K which is pretty decent as you can see.
(http://www.kbrhorse.net/streetlights/slpics/westinghouse_hr08.jpg)
I know it's not true incandescent but maybe this technology will preserve some old luminaires, or at least make it affordable for some of us to use gumballs and teardrops for all night area lighting.
(http://www.kbrhorse.net/streetlights/slpics/westinghouse_hr09.jpg)
Maybe some industrial and municipal users will consider using this mongo size CFL rather than take down classic luminaires.
(There is also a direct retrofit CFL out now for 175 MV luminaires. You don't have to change the ballast or anything, but the color looks more like incandescent than MV.)
-
Maybe I should get myself the enlarged CFL :P
-
109 mentioned that some of these CFLs don't last so long in the bulb down position. I'm not sure how well this one will dissipate heat in this position but the base where the electronics live is pretty large. I know back when I converted a bunch of outside lights to CFLs for the Fire Dept. a couple of models had premature failures when the bulb faced down. There are a couple of brands that we learned not to use. This is the first time I've tried one of these TCPs. I'll see how long it lasts. Hopefully it won't overheat and I'll get a good service life from this "experiment."
-
Base up in a fitting is bad, especially if there is no flow of air over the ballast. I have some used base down in essentially an open fixture, with really good airflow from the hot tubing above the ballast, and these are lasting a lot longer than the same batch of lamps ( Phillips Tornado 23W) used in an open top recessed downlighter, even though the downlighter is switched off for half the day, the uplighters are on 24/7/365.
-
I think better idea would be to replace the ballast and use 35W CMH instead...
-
In an enclosed fixture like this, the lamp is more likely to catch on fire. Yes TCP is not good quality. I would advise that you use GE or Sylvania so you don't charcoal your nice gumball.
-
It's true that base up is not the best choice....
You can try a external ballasted CFL though...here's a cool nifty trick Joe Maurath Jr. does (which you now are a member of his yahoo group)
Just read this page of his website (http://www.vintagestreetlights.com/bio/page12.html) to see what he does to save his energy but to keep them still looking good!
-
good looking retrofi,though like jace suggested i would use an Externally ballasted Lamp with the Ballast in the Head of the Luminare.