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Posted by Don Klipstein on April 29, 2008, 12:26 am
ransley wrote in part:
>You say you replaced 75 watt incandesant with 100w Cfls!!!! You dont
>know what you are talking about, 100w cfls are GIANT and put out 400w
>equivilant of incandesants and cost a crap load, maybe you mean an
>equivilant amount which is a 22w Cfl
I have yet to see a CFL under 25 watts fully match a "standard" 120V 750
hour 100 watt "A19" incandescent. Most under 25 watts claim less than
1700-1750 lumens. The lowest wattage spiral I have seen so far achieving
this much is 26 watts. I have seen only one 25 watt screw base model
achieve this - a Philips SLS "triple arch".
I just want people to not feel let down when they get a 23 watt CFL that
claims to achieve "100 watt equivalence" but falls a little short. 23
watt ones produce 1600 lumens at best so far in my experience. There are
some 100 watt incandescents that produce less than that (superlonglife
ones, vibration duty ones, and GE "Enrich" ones, but 750 hour "standard
frost" 120V 100W A19 with coiled-coil filament normally produces 1710-1750
lumens.
CFLs also fade slightly as they age and have reduced light output when
their temperature is not optimum. They may work less well in some
fixtures than incandescents due to different light output pattern or
different shape/size of the light-emitting area. They may appear a
little dimmer in some areas because 2700K CFL has a lower
scotopic/photopic ratio than most incandescents 60 watts or more and
rated 1500 hours or less (or halogen). So one can easily need "claimed
incandescent equivalence" one step higher than claimed.
7 watt CFLs usually match or outperform 25 watt incandescents.
9-10 watt ones on a good day match or outperform most 40 watt
incandescents. With all of the above real-world factors, 9-10 watt CFLs
often fall a little short of better 40 watt incandescents.
11 watt spirals do well at matching/outperforming 40 watt incandescents.
13-15 watt spirals match better 60 watt incandescents when everything is
going right. Otherwise, they only have a high rate of
matching/outperforming 60 watt incandescents if the incandescents are
"commercial service" or 130 volt ones or the like.
18-20 watt spirals, when everything is going right, match 75 watt 750
hour "standard" incandescents. Otherwise, only count on them at least
matching 130V or "commercial service" or similar 75 watt incandescents.
These should have little problem at least matching the best 60 watt
incandescents.
23 watt spirals even at best are slightly dimmer than 100 watt
"standard" incandescents, but usually match or exceed the light output of
"commercial service", 130V and "vibration duty" 100 watt incandescents and
the brightest 75 watt incandescents.
26-27 watt spirals, when at their best, match or very slightly exceed
the output of "standard" 100 watt incandescents. In the real world, in
average conditions and after a couple thousand hours of use, these have a
high rate of falling slightly short of 100 watt "standard" incandescents.
30 watt spirals do well at having at least as much light output as a 100
watt "standard" incandescent.
This is after the CFL warms up. Spirals with bare tubing generally warm
up to close to full brightness in half a minute to a minute.
Keep in mind that screw-base CFLs over 23 watts easily overheat in
recessed ceiling fixtures, other downlights, and small enclosed fixtures.
Take all of this into consideration, and you will be much less likely to
be disappointed.
- Don Klipstein (don@misty.com)
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