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Posted by Don Klipstein on June 23, 2007, 8:33 pm
>On Jun 23, 3:37 pm, "Joseph Meehan" <sligoNoSPAM...@hotmail.com wrote:
>> Edward wrote:
>> > We have a set of lights that basically heat the place up like a
>> > toaster oven. So I was thinking abotu putting a bunch of CFLs in
>> > there.
>> > Can I do that with a fixture like this? Or can't one have too many
>> > CFLs on the same circuit?
>>
>> >http://aycu29.webshots.com/image/19508/2002465564101867842_rs.jpg
>>
>> I have much the same setup. I use frosted lamps. I have replaced
>> every other original lamp with CF lamps similar to these
>>http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=82382-7...
>>
>> The mix provides and even better, more natural color than either by
>> itself. It reduces the heat greatly.
>
>Many cfls have poor color rendition, old types make you look green.
I generally find skin tone rendition from CFLs (other than dollar store
clunkers and the "FUL" not-quite-"true-compact") to be a little pinkish
compared to incandescent, rather than greenish.
Many non-compact fluorescents, especially ones without a "triphosphor"
formulation, appear to me to make skin tones more greenish/yellowish/pale.
The offenders mostly have color rendering index outside the range of 82-86
or "daylight"/"full spectrum" icy cold to bluish color or both in my
experience. What I consider the worst is "old tech warm white" whose CRI
is 53, even worse than the widely-berated "old tech cool white" (CRI of
62).
>Popular Mechanics magazine recently did a test of maybe 10 brands and
>the most pleasing they rated. even better than incandesant was Home
>depot brand. Incandesants are basicly heaters, 90% of their energy is
>heat, 10% is light. The review should be avalaible at the magazine
I have yet to see a Home Depot brand CFL.
However, I have seen them sell mainly Philips ones and promote those
until a few years ago when they made Commercial Electric their CFL brand
that appeared to me their favored one. And about a year ago, I saw them
largely ditching Commercial Electric in favor of N:Vision.
Meanwhile, what I have found among 2700K ("regular incandescent
approximation CFL color") CFLs are a couple of trends:
1. Screw-base ones of wattage 19 watts or less and with electronic
ballasts tend to appear to me more incandescent-like in color than others.
2. Ones with non-electronic ballasts appear to me in general to have
slightly more mercury spectral content and less-incandescentlike color.
Nowadays among CFLs this is mainly pin-base ballastless ones, and since
the ballasts for those are in the fixtures this does not rule out the
better electronic ballasts.
3. If you don't like a fluorescent to be more-pink-less-yellow than an
incandescent or a halogen, then I advise against one particular brand that
I consider good and reputable - Sylvania, highly available at Lowes.
I have found Sylvania CFLs in recent years to have their "regular color"
"more harsh" not only by slightly higher color temperature (3000 rather than
2700) but "excessively" (my words & findings) "erring-away-from-greenish"
so as to appear to me to have "the common pinkish/purplish problem".
4. Lately, both Lowes and Home Depot have been carring a few different
wattages of CFLs of a color that is just in the past year being noted as
"bright white".
This is a whiter shade, close to halfway between "regular CFL color"
and "cool white", with the usual 82 color rendering index of decent
CFLs.
I consider this "a whiter shade of warm white" and I find it quite
pleasing.
The nominal color temperature is 3500 K.
I find both the Sylvanias at Lowes and the N:Vision ones at Home Depot
to err slightly from 3500K color by being a bit less yellow and a bit more
purple than "true 3500 K blackbody color", but I still find it pleasant.
Keep in mind that whiter light color can appear "dreary" when light
level is lower. The challenge here gets more extreme when the light is of
sunlight-like or worse-still of daylight-like color. Thankfully, 3500K is
"warm enough" (low enough color temperature) to look good at typical
bathroom illumination levels and even most other brighter home
illumination levels. 4100K ("cool white") has a good chance of appearing
"dreary" unless illumination level gets to around 1000-plus lux (around
90-plus footcandles) common in office areas, classrooms, and retail
display areas.
- Don Klipstein (don@misty.com)
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