Compact flourescent bulbs and measurements?

[simon7000]

Originally Posted by toprepairman

In my workshop I use the 12V 20W dichroic halogen lamps.
I run them off a 12 Lead acid battery which I charge up at night on a timer on cheap low tariff electricity. Best of both worlds, good quality lighting, no RFI and cheap.

Lets talk about solar cells! Whenever you already own the battery, they actually make sense! With some shopping they run around $5 a real watt. That is around a 20 year payback around here. But hey electricity rates are only going up.

[Pano]

12 or 24 volt makes sense. Interestingly, they are more efficient than higher voltage incandescent bulbs. Ditto 120V bulbs vs 220/240.

I first noticed this while reading charts in the "Great Soviet Encyclopedia" many years ago. Further research showed it to be true. 24V seems to be the sweet spot in practical terms.

[ebattleon]

I had a CFL that lasted me 7 Years, when it finally died and I opened it I found Heat-sinks on the Switching transistors. I have opened a lot of CFL's and none had Heat sinks on their Transistors, this was the only one.

The reason I brought this up is most of Decent CFL's ! use have 2 year life but this one lasted 7 years. I am surprised that such a tiny but significant addition more than trebles the life of a CFL. Now I'm heat sinking everything

Sadly I can't find that brand anymore