You know, those really expensive bulbs promoted for energy conservation because they go on forever and cost so little? Cost savings from conservation could be especially important if extended brown-outs or rationing are associated with much higher rates. On the other hand, it would be helpful to know how susceptible the low-wattage specialty fluorescents are to unusual occurrences of power surges or fluctuations. (I may be conserving energy, but am I also saving money if the long-life bulbs aren't?) Any ideas? Brooks.

-- Brooks Bie (brooksbie@hotmail.com), December 31, 1998

Answers

The main possible problem with those compact flourescentsa lihts are not the tubes themselves, rather the *ballast* that runs the lights.

We had a brownout here about 2 weeks ago. Voltage was at 60 volts for about 2 hours. None of our compact flourescent lights would work. However, none of the ballasts broke, either.

The lights we have are "Lights of America" and have electronic ballasts. This means there is an electronic circuit that controls the light.

Overall, we're happy with our lights - but have had one failure after only about 40 hours of usage. We think it may have had a manufacturing defect & have returned that light for a replacement. The ballast was ok.

Just a thought.

NALEX

-- N.A.Cornelius (nalex@cloudrunner.com), December 31, 1998.

A related comment:
After living for years with compact fluorescent lamps, and discussing them with a lot of others who also do .. many of us who have used a variety of brands of compact fluorescents have come to know "Lights of America" as a less-than-reliable lamp. Yes .. they work. They just don't have a very good track record overall. In plain English .. other brands work better. My best luck has been with Phillips Earth Lights, Panasonic Light Capsules, and *some* of the GE models... to (if you'll pardon the pun) shed a bit of light on the situation. Dan

-- Dan (DanTCC@Yahoo.com), December 31, 1998.