-- even though a light bulb socket seems like an interesting (and fitting) place to stick your finger, doing so is not wise;

Ditto

-- 10 turns of 24 AWG wire wrapped around a kitchen knife and plugged into the wall socket does not make a good electromagnet (but the sparks are pretty);

I omitted the coil and just used a pair of tweezers. I believe it disappeared. I certainly never saw it again but I didn't see much of anything for a while after the flash.

-- igniting copious amounts of gasoline poured in a hole dug in your backyard, while entertaining, generally gets you a beating;

I had a peanut butter jar in the hole, to hold the gas. No beating but I'm pretty sure we got grounded.

Somehow, I survived.

Pretty amazing, overall. I did so many things that could have killed me.

 

In spite of all the hype I never had good luck with CFLs and they always disappointed my expectations.

And I can say the same thing about women.

 

In spite of all the hype I never had good luck with CFLs and they always disappointed my expectations.

And I can say the same thing about women.

That is the problem with expectations. Kind of like looking at that little reddish-brown cup of cough syrup. They call it syrup. It is viscous and translucent like syrup, it must be sweet like pancake syrup, right?

If they would call it cough crap, then it wouldn't taste nearly as bad.

If a CFL would be called a "a glowing thing that is so dim it cannot make a decent shadow", you would be happy. I don't want to guess about your last sentence.

 

...
@MikeML, what are you going to do when there are no more incandescents? Oil lamp?

I stocked up. I have a (my) lifetime supply, but then I'm getting on...

 

As a child I never had access to gasoline but I was able to obtain alcohol for my chemistry set. Once bored with the official experiments I went on to heating various substances in the test tubes.

I discovered that an alcohol lamp is an excellent heat source to boil off more alcohol. Plus, the vapors were quite flammable.

Yep, you guessed it. I invented an alcohol powered and fueled flame thrower before I hit my teen years.

 

As a child I never had access to gasoline but I was able to obtain alcohol for my chemistry set. Once bored with the official experiments I went on to heating various substances in the test tubes.

I discovered that an alcohol lamp is an excellent heat source to boil off more alcohol. Plus, the vapors were quite flammable.

Yep, you guessed it. I invented an alcohol powered and fueled flame thrower before I hit my teen years.

All that fun with chemistry and you jumped to electronics by college? What happened?

 

As with anything in life..
There are poorly made CFL bulbs and poorly made LED bulbs right along side the quality ones...
Most reveal themselves quickly via their short life span and worst case fire/burned components..
I've had cheap/junk CFL's die in days and cheap LEDs die in under a month (cold solder joint)

now..
I will ONLY buy Cree bulbs and have since the day they came out with ZERO failures so far. (have over 30 bulbs in my house now..both interior and exterior fixtures some have thousands of hours already on them)
Their newest 4flow design is great and they go on sale for $1.97/each (Cost them more to make them but the utility/governmental kickbacks are all handled by Cree and the consumer has no rebate to file)
like this...
I do the "cool white" (hospital clean look) because I like the "whiter" look vs the "yellow" haze of soft whites.. But thats me..
They are even dimmable with standard dimmers


So yes.. CFLs are obsolete and you should only buy Cree...

 

now..
I will ONLY buy Cree bulbs and have since the day they came out with ZERO failures so far. (have over 30 bulbs in my house now..both interior and exterior fixtures some have thousands of hours already on them)
Their newest 4flow design is great and they go on sale for $1.97/each

Where, please?

 

So yes.. CFLs are obsolete and you should only buy Cree...

Lets see,
-"Cree, Cree, Cree".
- North Carolina

Do you work there?

 

1.5 years ago, I replaced 100 8' T12 tubes and 100 4' mixed T8 & T12 tubes in my sisters hardware.
4' were 20W using 110Xsmd-2835 leds 2000 lumen. 8' were actually two of the same inside the 8' tube.

No problems since and she saves $150 a month.
No AC, stays much cooler in summer. 100 ballasts eliminated is a lot of heat.

Since then her store has been the go to place for all commercial type led bulbs.

I've tested many types at one of my industrial accounts. Retrofitting and replacing 400W and 1000W MH high bay fixtures.

Generally takes 120 to 150 watt to replace 400w or 250 to 300 to replace 1000 watt metal halide.

Cx likes the IP65 300 watt panel lights, with external meanwell driver, best so far.

ps. Been away so long, I forgot how to post picture.

 

Where, please?

They are available at home depot... watch for sales.. they will go down to $1.97 each when utility rebates,etc.. are in effect,etc...

 

Lets see,
-"Cree, Cree, Cree".
- North Carolina

Do you work there?

Nope... I wouldn't mind it though.. great place
They are right down the road but I do not work there at all..
They just make the best LEDs..
They have been the #1 leader in the lumens per watt race for a long time now and anyone thats build anything with high power LEDs knows the name as the leader in the field..

 

...they will go down to $1.97 each when utility rebates...are in effect...

Ahhh. So I am paying for your bulbs with my electric bill. Nice.

 

Ahhh. So I am paying for your bulbs with my electric bill. Nice.

yep... been like that for years now and the money goes to all sorts of "LED/Energy Efficiency" companies..
You didn't think the utility companies would actually pay to make less energy/money did you?
Same way you are paying for all the lazy humans with your taxes who won't get jobs/are on welfare,etc... that sadly inhabit this Earth.

 

Nope... I wouldn't mind it though.. great place
They are right down the road but I do not work there at all..
They just make the best LEDs..
They have been the #1 leader in the lumens per watt race for a long time now and anyone thats build anything with high power LEDs knows the name as the leader in the field..

I've been there. Also at the other high-end, brand name LED manufacturers - Philips lumiLED, OsramSylvania, Soraa

 

They are available at home depot... watch for sales.. they will go down to $1.97 each when utility rebates,etc.. are in effect,etc...

I will certainly try to watch for them, but I don't think they are ever that cheap here in Tennessee. They are almost $8 at Home Depot here. Maybe TVA won't play.

 

Maybe TVA won't play.

I've had some arguments with my sister about TVA related ideas. You're right. They don't play well with others.

I sense some LEDs in my future.

 

For what it's worth... I work at a LED lighting company. We mostly make high quality retrofit kits for commercial customers. We use CREE LED's in most of our products.

My entire house is still CFL, incandescent, or halogen. I like when the CFLs are slow to startup in some cases... like the middle of the night when I have to pee. I can usually pee and have the light back off before they get to full strength. I haven't seen LED's hit a price point where I'm willing to put fourth the extra cash up front for the long-term savings, but if I could find a good quality $2 bulb, I'd change my mind. My main complaint with CFL's is that every one of them puts out a different color if you look closely. Of course I never noticed this until I started working for a high end lighting company!

CFL's are dying a slow death - no doubt. Incandescent are obsolete because of their high power output. I still think they put out the nicest light though. The people in my electronics club really like to tear apart the LED lights. I've yet to see one that I've thought - I need to go buy those - with one exception. My company makes a MR16 deco bulb that is brilliant. Unfortunately, they were not viable on the market, and I believe we quit making them. Fortunately for me - they were cleaning out the closets the other day and I snagged a 10 pack - should last me about 10 years or so.

 

... if I could find a good quality $2 bulb, I'd change my mind.

Ditto. And that explains the current headlong race to the bottom. I'm sure all the manufacturers know that price is the primary hurdle holding back LED adoption, and they're trying to deliver "cheap" while maintaining performance. Unlike CFLs, I'm not aware of much negative sentiment toward LEDs. People think they're cool and they want them. They're just not done evolving yet.

I'm a bit of an enthusiast for LED lighting but, just like with new iPhones and the like, I'd rather let the real enthusiasts be the early adopters. I'm patient.

One thing I'd love to see here is a thread devoted to hands-on experience with LED lighting. Identify and review. I'd be much more willing to spend more for an LED product with good reviews here.

 

One thing I'd love to see here is a thread devoted to hands-on experience with LED lighting. Identify and review. I'd be much more willing to spend more for an LED product with good reviews here.

Exactly!
I could replace my 35 watt HPS bulbs with LEDs, but will I get over 10 years of stable performance? I don't think so.
Are LEDs really much more efficient than HID tubes? I don't think so.