Technocrat

Black Market Bulbs

zogger
Tue Jul 01 20:14:00 -0700 2008
Science
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Possibly coming soon to a nation near you, the latest black market expensive product, demanded by the addicted users, who can't do with out it, and banned by the authorities-the incandescent light bulb.

The brighter bulbs are already fading from view, according to Glen Gotten of the light merchant Ryness. "100w and 150w are difficult to get hold of," he says. "The larger manufacturers have stopped making them. We still manage to get enough to supply our customers for now, but they will start drying up." ed.z.: ya, I know they just say hoarding, but that is one step away from the big time hoarders going to sales. Remember closeout freon, and how much it eventually went to on the market after the ban on new stuff being made? Same deal. And once it gets to being a blackmarket, maybe we'll see street dealers with industry slang terms "Yo my man! Hang me a center and a half (150 watter), and two three-trays!(2- 75 watters)"..well, it *could* happen..maybe..anyway, on the anecdotal, you make the call side, I have one. In the big poultry houses they were some of the first to try and go whole hog to the CFLs because of the hugemongous electricity bill. Well, the electricity bill went down-and so did the profitability, the cluckers took longer to grow under the fluorescents (every day counts because the sale price is the same), and it wasn't nearly controllable enough, the light spectrum was just wrong, meaning it actually cost more money over all, so they switched back to normal incandescents and a mass computerized dimmer and lighting cycle program. It just didn't work with living creatures near as well as the experts first assured them. There's now umpteen thousands/millions/who knows of used cfls sitting around farms all over now. Work is ongoing with the LEDs but those are even harder/more expensive but will be well received when they get them working better. It's not only the energy cost savings, it is the replacement bulb and labor cost savings they are looking at, where the lights hang at the ceiling gets *hot*, so they burn out fast, and when you have hundreds per house, it gets to be an expensive chore changing them. Kinda like all engineering challenges, good, fast, cheap, pick two, in this case, low watts, correct lumens and color output, cheap per bulb, pick two.

lighting is fun

Thomas Lord
Tue Jul 01 22:52:15 -0700 2008
 manage

Best lighting set-up I had for a while, two apartments ago, had power-efficient little lights here and there (could have been better efficiency-wise than it was but that was then), a couple of vague ambient sources for when lazy, and then some serious halogen directable lights that could be focused on a work area or else bounced off a corner for a very bright room.

That was a nice mix. I don't mind mostly not using hella-bright spot-lights day to day but they sure are nice to have around.

Day to day, a room designed where you have little islands of light where you need them creates a nice intimacy -- but when you need bright, nothing else will do.

-t

lighting is fun
ColaMan
Tue Jul 01 23:39:59 -0700 2008
 manage

Aye, that's my pet peeve - a house with poorly-engineered lighting.

Recessed halogen lights are all the rage in new houses here in Australia. Want to light a loungeroom? No worries, we'll just put in 12 x 50 watt downlights!

So you've got these lights designed for spot lighting, trying to light a large area and doing a pretty poor job of it. Two decent luminares and a couple of 60 watt bulbs - or (gasp) 15-watt CFLs - could have done the job just as well.

Without the added power draw.

Or the extra 600 watts of heat now being pumped into the room in summer.

Or the extra 10 holes punched in the ceiling now leaking heat out in winter.

But it "looks good" so I guess that's all there is to it.

Black Market Bulbs
Matt Fulkerson
Wed Jul 02 07:55:16 -0700 2008
 manage

The problem with an outright ban is that incandescents are more efficient/cost effective/environmentally friendly for cases where you walk into a room turn on the light for a couple of minutes, and walk back out (don't forget to turn off the light!).  They are more reliable for that situation, and at 10 cents per kW-hour, it would take fifty quick trips to the bathroom at night for a 60 W bulb to cost a single penny.

Flourescents are perfect for cost effective continuous lighting.  A single properly aimed 150-W-equivalent-to-incandescent bulb in a $10 lamp is perfect for lighting a  room while reading Technocrat on an old laptop, which doubles as a lap warmer in the winter if for some reason the cat is unavailable.

Black Market Bulbs
Charles E Hill
Wed Jul 02 12:26:06 -0700 2008
 manage

You need a spare cat.

Black Market Bulbs
Matt Fulkerson
Thu Jul 03 17:36:59 -0700 2008
 manage

I already have two.  One likes attention pretty much at any time, but doesn't always choose to seek it out (he's too lazy) unless you happen to walk by.   The other one alternates between wanting to climb into your lap 24/7  vs. being grumpy and sitting in a corner.

Black Market Bulbs
chipmonck
Wed Jul 02 15:03:39 -0700 2008
 manage

Don't forget that you can also significantly extend the life of the incandescents that you do have.

Back in the 70s there was a device that was marketed to "save money on bulbs" - it was really just a big NTC thermistor. Incandescents almost always burn out immediately after being turned on - this is due to the huge slug of inrush current when the filament is cold (typically 10x the normal operating current). If you just limit the inrush current, you'll make the bulbs last a lot longer.

Also, by reducing the operating voltage by 10%, you'll also extend life quite a bit.

Too bad I'm not a switching power supply designer - sounds like a heck of an opprtunity to me.

 

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