Light Bulbs: CFL Vs. Halogen? I am looking into getting a few of these for my hallway....
I am looking into getting a few of these for my hallway. My table lamp fixtures say to put a 60W bulb contained by and no higher. But since the manufacture put a 60w marking on the unknown CFL bulbs the actual numbers are as follows.
60w CFL = 13-15 watts
So, does this mean I could technically put a 75w CFL bulb surrounded by there in need damaging the fixture? The function I ask is that when I moved in the woman I bought my place from have a 100 watt bulb in nearby and one of the fixtures does not work anymore. It did shortly, but then stopped working. Not sure if the sophisticated wattage bulb did it though.
a 75w CFL bulb = 18-25 watts
If this is true, even a 150watt CFL bulb only = 50watts or so. But I don't want to turn that high evidently.
Short answer: Go ahead, use any CFL you mentioned.
CFLs are advertise with equivalent power of standard (incandescent) lights. The feathery output of 14 W CFL is equivalent to light output of 60 W incandescent bulb, at in the order of 900 lumens of light:
They should really be sold by bedside light output ratings, but we are not used to that nonetheless.
There are two issues in using CFLs surrounded by your fixtures: Electrical circuitry and heat dissipation. The ruling: You can use all the CFL bulbs you mentioned within your 60 W fixtures, including the 150 W equivalent CFL that uses 50 W.
For the electrical circuitry, 50 W CFL would be a lighter load than 60W incandescent bulb. You can step that high, beside no fear (except for too much light).
The second issue is that of roast. In that case CFLs are even better, because incandescent street light bulbs turn 90-95% of the electrical energy to warmness and only nearly 5% to visible neutral. This is mainly because modern incandescent desk light bulbs basically work by heat a tungsten filament to about 2800 Kelvin (about 4600 F). The tungsten feathery bulb filament may be the hottest thing you'll ever come so close to. Thanks to Argon gas padding in the bulb, you are insulated from this giant temperature, but bulb surface can still be 550 F (or possibly higher).
CFLs are more streamlined and are cool to touch. A CFL that uses 50 W could never hurt a 60 W light bulb crate, and because CFLs are specifically built for such enclosures, the compound shouldn't hurt the CFL either.
A more prominent issue: If you use dimmers, you can't use CFLs (unless you buy rather expensive dimmable CFLs). Incandescent street light dimmers chop up AC voltage abruptly roughly speaking 120 times a second, and this will make CFL not ultimate long (they usually last 8 - 15 times longer than incandescent bulbs), hum, produce gruesome colors, flicker, etc...
within are two considerations;
First, the amount of power you are consuming. Obviously if the socket was rate to handle up to a 60w bulb, a 20w CFL would not draw as much current (though it does draw more than you would expect, check the markings on the lamp). A standard 60w bulb on 120v draws 0.5A.
Second, If this is an roofed light fixture, within may be a problem with the street light getting too hot. I know it is using less power and it unambiguously wont get as hot as a regular bulb - but- a regular bulb is nought but metal and glass. The CFL have electronic circuitry which will be degraded by high temperature. Check the package to see if the CFL is ok within an enclosed fixture.
Answers: Yes. You only entail to be concerned with the actual wattage, not the "equivalent" wattage.
Bert