cfls Archives - The Silicon Underground

LED bulb longevity report

Dave Farquhar — Fri, 06 Mar 2015 11:00:05 +0000

Now that I’ve had a couple of LED bulbs burn out, I can actually give an LED bulb longevity report. I’ve been buying LED bulbs since 2010, and now I’ve lost three of them. It’s a little disappointing, but two

The post LED bulb longevity report appeared first on The Silicon Underground.

CFL bulbs burn out quickly? Here’s what to do.

Dave Farquhar — Thu, 23 Jan 2014 11:00:19 +0000

I’ve been hearing a lot of complaints about CFL bulbs lately. I’ve written about how to address premature CFL burnout before, but I guess it bears repeating. It’s a five-minute fix, usually, to get the bulbs to last a while.

The post CFL bulbs burn out quickly? Here’s what to do. appeared first on The Silicon Underground.

LED bulb garage door opener interference

Dave Farquhar — Thu, 04 Jul 2013 22:44:44 +0000

While installing a new garage door opener, I found a curious statement in the manual: Don’t use LED bulbs. Why can’t you use LED bulbs in a garage door opener? Six words: LED bulb garage door opener interference. Fortunately I had

The post LED bulb garage door opener interference appeared first on The Silicon Underground.

Another month, another go-to LED bulb

Dave Farquhar — Tue, 28 May 2013 11:00:29 +0000

LED lighting seems to change constantly. I read about Cree’s LED bulbs a good 12-18 months ago and they sounded too good to be true. In a way, they were, because you couldn’t buy them anywhere. The wait is finally

The post Another month, another go-to LED bulb appeared first on The Silicon Underground.

The new Philips 420240 10.5-watt 800-lumen LED bulb

Dave Farquhar — Sun, 23 Dec 2012 13:03:28 +0000

I picked up a couple of the new Philips 10.5-watt 800-lumen LED bulbs this weekend. All around, they’re the best sub-$20 LED bulb I’ve seen yet. They are the same size and shape as the 60-watt incandescent bulb they are

The post The new Philips 420240 10.5-watt 800-lumen LED bulb appeared first on The Silicon Underground.

LED bulbs and breakability

Dave Farquhar — Sat, 22 Sep 2012 20:53:32 +0000

A longtime friend posted something on Facebook about CFL bulbs–namely, that in addition to containing mercury, that they also emit ultraviolet light. I thought everyone knew that fluorescent lights emit more UV than other types of lights and that wasn’t

The post LED bulbs and breakability appeared first on The Silicon Underground.

The lightbulb reinvented

Dave Farquhar — Wed, 19 Sep 2012 22:10:13 +0000

Timothy Hunt asked me (via Twitter) if I’ve seen the lightbulb reinvented, an LED bulb that screws into a standard socket but has wi-fi capability so you can tune its light temperature and otherwise control it with a smartphone. I

The post The lightbulb reinvented appeared first on The Silicon Underground.

A preliminary review of the Inland warm white A19 LED bulb

Dave Farquhar — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 13:12:06 +0000

Micro Center had the Inland warm white A19 LED bulbs on sale this week and had a hard time keeping them in stock. I snagged an 800 lumen (60W equivalent), non-dimmable bulb, which uses 10 watts, for $13. It’s not

The post A preliminary review of the Inland warm white A19 LED bulb appeared first on The Silicon Underground.

When to upgrade to new LED bulbs

Dave Farquhar — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 00:59:37 +0000

PC Magazine asks when it’s worth upgrading to the new Philips L Prize-winning LED bulb, lamenting its high price and long payback time. I can only say what I plan to do, based on my experience with high-efficiency bulbs. I

The post When to upgrade to new LED bulbs appeared first on The Silicon Underground.

Review: First Alert PIR725 motion sensing socket

Dave Farquhar — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 01:36:50 +0000

I bought a First Alert PIR725 motion sensing socket, which has the distinction of working with CFLs, as well as incandescent bulbs. The premise is simple. Screw it into a bulb socket, screw the bulb into the socket, and it

The post Review: First Alert PIR725 motion sensing socket appeared first on The Silicon Underground.