Lighting, Light Fixtures, Ceiling and Exhaust Fans - outdoor CFLs?
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Crocostimpy
10-19-09, 06:29 PM
I have three outdoor coach lights on my house and garage. The way they work is come on from dusk to dawn at 20% power, and there is a motion sensor on each one that will light the bulb up at full power. I think I need to fiddle with the sensitivity some more because they keep coming on for no apparent reason, but that's not my problem. The wife says that the electric bill has gone up noticably since I've installed them. I think that's crap and it has to be something else but that's what she says. I suppose it's possible because each has a 100 watt bulb in it and they keep switching on to full power alot during the night, but I don't know.
So I was looking for CFLs that I could put in and try to save some power, but couldn't find what I think I need. They need to be dimmable and be about equal to 100 watt incandescents in light output. The big thing I think is they need to be able to work correctly in cold weather. Flourescents as I know them never come on all the way when it's really cold outside. Or at least they take a long time to warm up.
Is there such a CFL bulb that would satisfy all of these needs? Or do I not need to worry about a the cold temperatures outside?
So I was looking for CFLs that I could put in and try to save some power, but couldn't find what I think I need. They need to be dimmable and be about equal to 100 watt incandescents in light output. The big thing I think is they need to be able to work correctly in cold weather. Flourescents as I know them never come on all the way when it's really cold outside. Or at least they take a long time to warm up.
Is there such a CFL bulb that would satisfy all of these needs? Or do I not need to worry about a the cold temperatures outside?
chandler
10-19-09, 07:16 PM
CFL's as a general rule don't like photocells, so it isn't the fixture but the bulbs. Now, the dimmable CFL's may work better due to newer technology, but I'm not sure about it.
Larry
Larry
Crocostimpy
10-20-09, 06:31 AM
Maybe I'll just try one and see how it works before I replace them all. If there really is no difference between indoor and outdoor CFLs then I can use it inside somewhere if it doesn't work outside.