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Re: light bulb replacement and re-use?

tsuh yang wrote

> Date: Tue, 29 May 2001 17:18:48 EDT
> From: Piabinha at aol_com
> Subject: light bulb replacement and re-use?
> 
> ok, folks, so if you are supposed to replace your light bulbs regularly (6 months? 8 months? 2
> years?) before they burn out, then what do you do with the used bulbs that are still good?  do you
> simply trash them?
> 
> i'm just too much of a tree hugger to just trash perfectly good light bulbs...

Proper phosphors retain about 90% of their useful output for the entire life
of the tube, until it refuses to light. That, IME, has been true of all the
major brands, like GE, Phillips, Sylvania, etc.

Specialty bulbs, in the aquarium trade, seem to have been made by
less-skilled sources, and do lose a great deal of their light in the first
six months to a year. Any tube has an initial drop to what is considered the
useful, rated Lumens of output. It should stay pretty flat, after that. If
you are paying a premium price for tubes that do not maintain output, I
don't know what to say to you (that would not be considered rude). ;-)

There are excellent, long-life tubes out there that should satisfy the most
ardent of tree huggers. They just don't happen to be sold at the LFS. Look
for broad spectrum, pleasing color (5000-6500K range), and a CRI of 80 or
above (look pretty white). Ignore Lumens/Watt, as lower often just means
broader spectrum.

In classic 4' 40W T-12 tubes, my long-term favorite has been a combination
of Chroma 50 (GE "Sunshine") and a "daylight" tube. Total Lumens are lower,
because they have a lot better plant spectrum than "cool whites" o/e. I'm
gradually shifting to CFs and T-8s, so I'll have to learn all over again
what works best for my eye and the plants. [Efficiency is taking on a bit of
urgency in CA, as the politicians have strangled supply and our electricity
costs will soon go through the roof to correct for their foolishness.]

I won't buy tubes that have to be replaced before they die. Guess that
brands me as a tree-hugger, too.

Wright

-- 
Wright Huntley, Fremont CA, USA, 510 494-8679  huntley1 at home_com

        "Congress has not unlimited powers to provide
for the general welfare but only those specifically enumerated."
                                      --Thomas Jefferson

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