Maybe I'm reading the room incorrectly, but a lot of people don't seem to appreciate these wonderful little pieces of lighting history. They certainly had flaws (one I overlooked here was that larger wattage equivalents required the lamp itself to be physically larger) but so does any stepping-stone technology. I want to clarify regarding the flaws fixed by their successors that LEDs can still be prone to premature failure, but it seems more often than not that happens thanks to a manufacturing defect. If you buy a whole bunch of the same lamp perhaps after a few months some will have failed, but the rest will likely stay in operation for years. Look up the bathtub curve if you're interested in that phenomenon. And, somehow, I missed perhaps the most important thing about them. Compared to incandescent lamps, they used 1/4 the energy! LEDs are routinely besting that today, but being able to cut lighting costs by 75% made a big difference. And when you found a sweet-spot application for a CFL, you probably didn't need to replace that lamp for years. So stop hatin' on them!

@TheSilentCartgraph3r

3 жыл бұрын

Heavy toxic metal proliferation is not worth it, TC. You should know that nobody would dispose of these correctly.

@TheSilentCartgraph3r

3 жыл бұрын

Any climate impact offset by CFLs was not worth the permanent mercury pollution in the air, water, and soil.

@5Andysalive

3 жыл бұрын

@@TheSilentCartgraph3r That must have been tiny. Given the size and the lifetime. At least for the small home ones. After all we were fine with literal (and metric) tons of lead in the air for decades. Which is about as toxic as mercury. Quite intersting story behind how that ended. It took more than a slow and harmless fading into history. Involves the guy who measured the age of the Earth. (and couldn't because the air was full of lead). And a LOT of lawyers (in the story, not the air).

@SlyNine

3 жыл бұрын

I enjoy them. But I don't like walls of text.

@virginiahansen320

3 жыл бұрын

I think you got a lot of broad-based opposition to CFLs. You had left-wing environmentally minded people hating them because of the heavy-metal issue, and you had right-wing libertarian/conservative people hating them because they were being forced on them by the government. Combine that with some of the other issues with them and it was a recipe for everybody hating them.

TIMESTAMPS: 0:05 1 CFL bulb on set 1:08 2 CFL bulbs on set 5:04 4 CFL bulbs on set 5:39 6 CFL bulbs on set 5:51 8 CFL bulbs on set 6:24 10 CFL bulbs on set 7:15 12 CFL bulbs on set 7:54 13 CFL bulbs on set 9:26 15 CFL bulbs on set 10:06 17 CFL bulbs on set 10:37 19 CFL bulbs on set 12:19 20 CFL bulbs on set 12:48 21 CFL bulbs on set 14:12 23 CFL bulbs on set 14:53 24 CFL bulbs on set 15:00 26 CFL bulbs on set 15:54 27 CFL bulbs on set 17:43 30 CFL bulbs on set 18:21 32 CFL bulbs on set 19:02 34 CFL bulbs on set 20:19 37 CFL bulbs on set 20:45 39 CFL bulbs on set 21:18 41 CFL bulbs on set

@user93237

3 жыл бұрын

Loving this.

@johnweber4504

3 жыл бұрын

there's something inherently funny about how the amount of bulbs slowly started increasing over time

@Gomisan

3 жыл бұрын

yup i noticed that too.. was counting as I watched :)

@camrouxbg

3 жыл бұрын

This is what I've been looking for.

@GuiSmith

3 жыл бұрын

I realised they were increasing and now I’ve found this. Can’t wait to see the full majesty!

The most admirable thing about CFLs was the circuitry, which managed to keep running an electrically horrible load while being baked to the point of turning brown.

@jameswalsh5683

3 жыл бұрын

the plastic of those bulbs spent about 5 minutes being white

@StevenRides

3 жыл бұрын

Literally just passed the part where you're mentioned Love your vids too!

@AndytheWhite

3 жыл бұрын

We could all learn a thing or two from the work ethic of CFL circuitry.

@joannaatkins822

3 жыл бұрын

Fancy seeing you here, I should have known you'd be up at two in the morning commenting on lightbulbs ;)

@SagePatrynXX

3 жыл бұрын

Had at least two catch fire or began smoking. leds not a fire yet I said yet unless I stuck a 110 lamp in a 230 :)

The best use for slow starting CFLs is in the bathroom when you get up and are tired and your eyes hurt and you start your bulb and it takes 2 minutes to get bright and your eyes can adapt to that better than 0,01 sec. LED.

@kholdstare90

Жыл бұрын

100% Also great for late night bathroom trips as I could be in and out before the light stops being dim.

@TheSimoc

Жыл бұрын

Actually, Alec had a fundamental misconception about "instant-start", it's "annoyance", its actual effect on startup time, technicals, as well as market influence. (Topic on video at 13:00) First of all, no-one actually hated the second-or-couple delay while preheating electrodes. What more people hated, was the *minute* of dimness while mercury was vaporising. And the electrode-preheating model actually somewhat helped to speed up that process, not much though. The reason of the so-called instant-start model to take over the markets, was purely the lower cost of manufacture. Unlike implied by Alec, the instant-on model wasn't fancier circuitry, it was exact opposite - it was the very same circuitry but *crippled off* of the PTC thermistor making the delay for turning on the discharge voltage between electrodes. It was notable that (some) good-quality expensive brands were in the end the only ones having the luxury of electrode pre-heating (or in technical sense rather a delayed firing of the tube discharge voltage). In early 2000s, Osram even had two product lines: Longlife and Economy. They were otherwise same but the Longlife had the preheat and was a little more expensive, while the Economy was cheaper and "instant-start". In earlier stages of development, the preheat, along with better quality in general, was more common even among cheaper ones due to typical market dynamics - when new invention gets into markets and mainstream adoption, it is usually brought with good quality by all providers, and when markets "mature", more and more lessened-quality cheapo players come into field and finally even the quality brands tend to lower their quality while cutting costs to stay competitive against cheapos, and all this becomes even more cruel when the technique of the product is becoming obsolete. You could see very similar quality trend with, say, VCRs. When they came to markets, even cheapo brands were of fairly good quality, then came crappy cheapos, then even quality brands got worse, and in the 2000s when the VCR as a technique was becoming obsolete, there were nothing else than flimsy-plastic-crap models anymore. Edit: To clarify the technicals about the "instant-start", it didn't, unlike Alec implied, use any higher startup voltage for discharge than the electrode-preheating model. Both use an elevated voltage for startup though, just like any fluorescent lamp setup. But the point is, that also the "instant-start" model works principally exactly similarly by preheating the electrodes to be able to start it with very similar startup voltage, only difference is that the intentional, beneficial delay has been left out from those cheapos - instead they let the gas discharge to fire up immediately when the electrodes have gotten pre-heated *barely enough* to fire up the discharge. Which means they are not completely heated up and thus, due to lower level of thermionic emission, causes some entire atoms of the electrode material to be pulled away along with the electrons by the startup voltage, thus causing significant premature wear for them. The idea of the few-cents-costing thermistor, on which was saved those cents in "instant-start" cheapos, was that when turning on as "cold", it served as a bypass for current to flow trough electrode pre-heat circuit, during which keeping the discharge voltage (between the electrodes which at the moment are connected to each other through that thermistor) clamped down, until the thermistor heated up in the second or two due to that current through itself, making its resistance to raise, transferring the voltage from the preheat circuit (through the series-connected electrodes) into between the now-essentially mutually-disconnected (as the thermistor resistance has risen into next to "disconnected") electrodes.

@maukschilol

Жыл бұрын

Guess it depends on the person. I always hated the delay until full brightness in the bathroom (even at night^^)

@lXlDarKSuoLlXl

Жыл бұрын

That really sounds like a non issue mate, you know you got eyelids, right? You also know that those eyelids are not discrete but continuous aperture right? You also know how late at night, you really don't _want_ to have your eyes very open, right? Then there's also the elephant in the room in which, you don't really look at the light bulb when you turn it on 🤔

@greggbarrett7117

Жыл бұрын

Not dimmable at all, no matter what the package says.

I remember growing up and feeling so excited when i could replace a normal bulb with the "fancy ones" that were better. Felt like a milestone to me or something

I'm from a poor country. My first job was near a lamp hardware store (it sold bulbs and fixtures). Every paycheck I got there and bought one or two CFLs to replace the incandescent bulbs we had at home. The change in the electric bill was measurable and it was among the first things I did to improve my parents home.

@FlightSimXtreem

Жыл бұрын

Your a good person Carlos

@davidcobra1735

Жыл бұрын

You're kidding right? The saving's about 10% in a country like Canada and that's just for lighting, not the total electrical bill, so basically nothing. Do you live in a country on the equator or something? "Economic lightbulbs" are only really economical in very warm countries. Actually even looking at it like that is very stupid, they're basically for office buildings, garages, public venues, anywhere you need constant cheap light but don't want heating. At home they make almost no sense but the damn technocrats in government made us use them.

@Carlos-ux7gv

Жыл бұрын

@@davidcobra1735 I live near the equador, yea. So, yes, most of our electrical bill in the 2000s came from incandescent light bulbs, not from heating or preserving food.

@davidcobra1735

Жыл бұрын

@@Carlos-ux7gv Are you sure about that? How's that even possible? Most of your bill should be from washing clothes, your refrigerator and other electrical appliances. And you have sunlight coming through the window almost all day long for a good part of the year. Pretty sure lighting's never more than 25% of the total for home use anywhere. What I meant by savings in warm countries was that stores and other places like that can save more over the course of a year. At home your bill should stay about the same regardless what month of the year it is.

@EdricLysharae

Жыл бұрын

@@Carlos-ux7gv, thank you for being patient with people like David. 🤣

I love how, over time, more and more CFLs remain on his table.

@wallaceragsdale6203

3 жыл бұрын

Lol i was searching for this!

@beartankoperator7950

3 жыл бұрын

41 i think at the end including the one in the lamp

@rob_i208

3 жыл бұрын

Can't find any place to dispose of them.

@arisacharya4895

3 жыл бұрын

@@rob_i208 Lowe's will happily recycle them talk to customer service or the electrical departments for more information

@valorantgamer9726

3 жыл бұрын

I've commented with timestamps. It does indeed end at 41

When I was a kid we had an entire storage shelf in our garage dedicated to spare lightbulbs, that was how commonly they had to be replaced. With CFLs (which my light engineer family was a very early adopter of) we only kept a few spares on hand and our lightbulb shelf was no more, it was merely a spare lightbulb spot on the shelf. These days we don't even keep spare bulbs, we just go out and buy an LED bulb whenever we actually need one, which is almost never. I miss the lightbulb shelf sometimes.

@stephensnell5707

11 ай бұрын

Well it will never rerurn any time soon

@Larslegos

9 ай бұрын

The good 'ol days of the lightbulb shelf

@morlamweb

6 ай бұрын

@@LarslegosI thing you mean the bad old days. It was no fun to replace bulbs back then, especially wen the fixture was hard to reach.

@teaser6089

5 ай бұрын

we still keep spare bulbs, but we rarely not even once per year. apart from this year, we had some electrical malfunctions and those managed to kill 2 led bulbs, may they rest in peace.

@drl5002

5 ай бұрын

My leds don't last. I might as well have incandescent bulbs for all the longevity I'm getting out of led bulbs.

I actually preferred the slow turn on, it gave my eyes time to adjust. And that swirl shape I personally think looks awesome.

@ryanthebomb

7 ай бұрын

Same

@user-kh2dg7it2n

7 ай бұрын

I agree, LED is horrible for some applications, like for example getting up to take a piss at 2:00 AM and turing on the LED to instant blindness. My CFL would turn on bright enough but not blinding and by the time I piss and hit the light switch leaving the bathroom it was just starting to warm up. That little bit of time makes all the difference in annoying me. I tried a night light but the plug isn't near the toilet and don't work well. I'm torn between my desire to piss in the toilet with light privileges or trying to not miss the toilet in the dark. I got tired of the nonsense and switched back to a CFL and no more issues. I didn't want to go out and buy any motion sensor portable light or any type of additional nonsense, I all want is to piss without instant blinding light.😂

@Owen_loves_Butters

7 ай бұрын

@@user-kh2dg7it2n This is why learning to solder + some basic electronics can be pretty useful. A battery powered but decently bright LED, a battery to power said LED, a setup to either easily recharge or easily replace said battery, a switch, a resistor to regulate current, and a decently sized capacitor, and you can make your own slow turn on LED (also slow turn off).

@Dowlphin

3 ай бұрын

I also got a supercompact one, with that serpentine pattern. It sits in an ancient desk lamp design, like from the 70s, and the bulb emits daylight spectrum including UV. 😎 I am that kind of guy. I also bought V4-80 stainless steel screws and nuts once for my used car's header heat shield and exhaust system, in part out of compassion for car mechanics, in part just out of principle because afficing header heat shields in a way that you can never remove them without huge hassle upset me so much.

@Transgender__

3 ай бұрын

yoo wild zionist

What astounds me is we had filament bulbs 'forever' and when CFLs hit, i replaced all my filament bulbs with those as they died. But by the time my CFLs started to die off, LED bulbs were here.

@TaylorTheOtter

3 жыл бұрын

That means there's probably some poor sucker who's timing was just off. Their filament bulb broke just before CFLs were available so they were stuck with filament. At some point those broke so they finally got their newfangled CFLs, only for LEDs to take off shortly after. I imagine they will replace their CFLs with LEDs just before the next evolution in domestic lighting takes off.

@stevenclark2188

3 жыл бұрын

There was at least half a decade of the ring or rod style mostly CFLs being out there but rarely used before CFLs arrived. So I think it's mostly that the final developed form hit about the same time white LEDs finally got practical.

@paullestrange

3 жыл бұрын

I got rid of all my incandescent bulbs about 14 years ago. I replaced them with CFLs. Loads of them are still working fine. There is no imperative to replace them. But eventually they will be replaced with LEDs. They have saved a small fortune...

@AileTheAlien

3 жыл бұрын

Yeah, I only had CFLs for about 5 years, and after they started failing LEDs were cheap and good enough, to make the switch the obvious choice! :)

@Penoatle

3 жыл бұрын

Once LEDs dropped below $2/ea, I just swapped most bulbs with them. The only exceptions were the FLs in the kitchen. I could not find a decently priced LED replacement so I just went with FL and may replace when that kicks the bucket.

gotta love the fact that, as the video progresses the desk fills up with CF-lamps

@IMarvinTPA

3 жыл бұрын

They're like tribbles.

@Harey0407

3 жыл бұрын

@@IMarvinTPA Trouble with CFLs?

@felicityc

3 жыл бұрын

i would have never noticed. i was too busy reading the comments

@warwagon

3 жыл бұрын

at one point in the video I was thinking "Where did all those light bulbs come from?

@DaneeBound

3 жыл бұрын

@@warwagon it's the all-famous "power of buying two of them"

The biggest problem with CFLs is the government banning the sale of incandescent bulbs before the CFL was perfected and usable. When we first started using CFLs when I was young, I didn't have a problem with them. But once we ran out of incandescents and had to use CFLs in applications not well suited for that bulb, the CFL became a lot more infuriating.

The thing about color temp tracks with my experience. I worked in a lighting store for a hot minute, and showing people the Lighting Facts label blew peoples mind. They just never looked at it. Had no concept that a CFL could be warm or that there were different temperatures. There was just "incandescent and fluorescent." Also during this era, I'd have roommates who'd buy a CFL because it was the cheapest and looked at no other metrics. Chance would have it that this was often a cold light and they'd curse this "gas station bathroom lightbulb." No Dan, you just bought a cold bulb.

@cohentheblue

Жыл бұрын

Aren't low spectrum leds incredibly rare and expensive? They seem to be in my area. Basically haven't seen any available commercially, in storefronts for consumers (not industrial sales).

@zacharycoleman1117

11 ай бұрын

@@cohenthebluewhere I live you can easily find any color temp for minimal difference in price

@gregorymalchuk272

8 ай бұрын

Why did daylight become the only cool color temperature offering even though nobody likes it? Warm white and daylight are all that are available at most consumer hardware outlets and retail stores like Walmart. It used to be warm white (2700K to 3000K) and cool white (4100K). Commercial spaces and building designers don't like daylight and have never adopted it. The lighting level has to be ridiculously high for people not to perceive everything as being blue. I liked 3,000 for living rooms and bedrooms, and overhead lights in bathrooms, and cool white for kitchens, garages, basements, offices, and mirror-side fixtures in bathrooms.

@4203105

5 ай бұрын

The problem was that warm CFLs came waaaaay later than the cold ones. By that point people had already made up their minds. The manufacturers handled that better with LED, where you had warm options right away.

@gregorymalchuk272

5 ай бұрын

@@4203105 That's not true. The warm ones were actually the first ones deployed in the 80s. The cool and daylight ones were available along side the warm ones which made people not familiar with them get them and be unhappy. And a general lack of education about color temperature and color rendering index made things way worse.

I like how the bulbs on the desk keep multiplying like Tribbles during the video. 🙂

@barowt

3 жыл бұрын

I had to rewatch the video.. I didn't notice until I saw your comment, 🤣🤣!

@kickme8x

3 жыл бұрын

And what is the story behind all those bulbs, he clearly stated that he only has a few but wouldn't replace them until they died but then...

@Bandrik

3 жыл бұрын

Hah, you're right!

@m.cigledy6769

3 жыл бұрын

I was thinking the exact same thing

@atlys258

3 жыл бұрын

All the bits and references he puts in his content just get me 🤣

You're proof that any subject can be interesting or even downright entertaining given a passionate teacher

@MarquisDeSang

3 жыл бұрын

It would be nice if he could make a video about drying paint.

@jamess1787

3 жыл бұрын

Thanks Yikes Mikes!

@mathchessdnd

3 жыл бұрын

@@MarquisDeSang Drying concrete would be amazing. There's actually a ton of chemistry and design that goes into concrete/cement formulation. ...But that might be too "industrial" and not enough "residential" for this channel.

@Dman130

3 жыл бұрын

I agree, I was hooked on his how road signs reflect. It was a 40 min video and it was an amazing video.

@unglaubiger5645

3 жыл бұрын

@@MarquisDeSang There´s so much to tell about drying paint. In most paints, various solvents evaporate. In acrylic paint this is mostly water but after drying the paint is waterproof. In other paints, Oils react with the oxygen in the air and then there is 2k Paint where a hardener starts a chamical reaction. I guess that would make a very long and interesting video. I think it would be better to split it up into multiple parts.

I had a CFL in my ceiling fan fixture that I never turn on. The bulb in my night stand just burnt out and I decided to move the CFL to my nightstand lamp. It is so dim when it’s cold which might seem like a bad thing, but if I turn it on in the morning, it won’t immediately blind me. It’ll slowly warm up and get brighter which is more pleasant. Also, I tend to leave that lamp on for hours at a time so a CFL is perfect for it

When I moved into this house over a decade ago, one of the first things I did was replace all the light bulbs I expected to use often with CFL versions, since LEDs weren't common yet, to save electricity. They weren't very reliable as porch lights, but inside, they did their job well. When LEDs became common, I figured I'd replace the CFLs as they burned out. So far, I've replaced one, the one that stays on at all times day and night. These things just won't crap out on me.

@johnarnold893

Жыл бұрын

I did the same thing and found that they didn't seem to last much longer than incandescent lights. Since then I have changed all of them to LED and have never had one die.

@Sundara229

Жыл бұрын

@@johnarnold893 Agree, the lifespan of CFL's wasn't that great in practice. My memory of these is that there were one or two broken bulbs somewhere in the house at any given time. LED's on the other hand are so reliable, I've yet to encounter a lamp that died on it's own.

@TheBrain2K

Жыл бұрын

Moved into our current house 7 years ago and I also put in compact CFLs everywhere (corridor/staircase, bedrooms, living room, ...). Back then, it felt like LED lamps definitely couldn't compare yet and even the more expensive ones gave off this weird light that just seemed off (shitty color representation?). Some days ago, one of those now 7y old CFLs failed and after watching this, I'll probably look into LEDs again instead of just grabbing a replacement CFL.

@dmitripogosian5084

Жыл бұрын

Exactly, same here, I am still waiting for the one installed 15+ years ago to burn out

@brianfitch5469

Жыл бұрын

@@TheBrain2K Why CfL use the same electricity as LED in my experience last much longer then led. The led are designed to fail now I can't stand them. Order cfls online.

"When used within their limits, they'll last quite a while" The life lesson for everything.

@american6183

3 жыл бұрын

is 'off' one of their limits?

@becauseimafan

2 жыл бұрын

... that's what she said.

The warm-up time was considered a feature in my previous apartment. The bulb was located in a bathroom that was most frequently used at night, and the slow start allowed us to gently habituate our eyes to the light.

@Scoutter

3 жыл бұрын

Exactly my point why I use CFL in bathroom still. I exactly even search for slow-start ones which is actually harder then you think.

@alsternerd

3 жыл бұрын

I still use them in the bedroom and livingroom. 10 years old, still got a bunch lyring in a box around. And I really like the slow start in the morning and in the living room. It's not that much of a punch in the face.

@SalZam150

3 жыл бұрын

I think there is LED with this feature, or at least it is possible to add dimming to LED.

@Muzer0

3 жыл бұрын

Personally for me this was the worst thing about them. It was awful getting up on a depressing dark winter morning, walking from the lovely bright rest of the house into a dark room, turning on the light and having the room somehow get more depressingly dim than if you'd just kept the light off... this will always be the CFL's legacy in my mind.

@andymorin9163

3 жыл бұрын

I have red christmas lights strung around my mirror and a night light, works great! I turn the christmas lights off when I go to sleep as the night light gives the perfect amount of light (it changes colors too, either manually or on it’s own)

In 1994 I installed an at the time more modern stick style cfl in a hallway. It's still working just fine 30 years later! I've never seen one of the newer ones do that.

@Dowlphin

3 ай бұрын

When technology is new, they're afraid of it not lasting long enough. Then they work on understanding how they can precisely determine when it will fail.

In defense of the CFL…. What do I need?: A light for my room. Does the CFL illuminate my room: Yes. And it’s a warm pleasant light too.

"aesthetically suboptimal" - Until now I never realised the CFL and I had something in common.

@CAPSLOCKPUNDIT

3 жыл бұрын

Are you a slow starter too? Welcome to the club!

@ataphelicopter5734

3 жыл бұрын

F

@hungryhungryhummer

3 жыл бұрын

He called them "ugly walmart whores" in the nicest way possible.

@Allangulon

3 жыл бұрын

You're not that ugly!

@scythal

3 жыл бұрын

Welcome to the club!

I like how he's gone from having 2 bulbs on his desk in the beginning to having, like, a bajillion at the end. Good stuff.

@Redpsyclone

3 жыл бұрын

The year is 2024. Technology connections is buried under endless piles of CFL bulbs. There is no connection. There is no technology. Only CFLs

@docchocobo

3 жыл бұрын

I saw that too :)

I have a 2 bulbs ceiling lamp in my living room and used CFL bulbs, a blue and a red, from 2002 to 2022. I've only used 4 bulbs in that 20 years period; each pair of bulbs lasted 10 years each. That lamp is lit roughly 6 hours a day in average (about 8 hours, during half the fall/winter/half the spring, and about 4 hours, during other half of spring/summer/other half of fall), so each bulb lasted 21 900 hours. The bulbs were operating fully exposed to ambient airflow. These bulbs provided a nice ambient lighting without being too strong, and fulfilled all my needs for lighting in the living room for all that time. A fun fact; when the CFLs blew out, they did it within a few days gap! Incandescent bulbs, in comparison, were lasting only one year, with a total of 2190 hours. They were cheaper than CFL, but considering durability and energy saving, CFLs were definitely a better deal. Someday, a little "green" girl tried to teach me a lesson about the terrible threat about these CFLs because of the mercury inside. Well, 2 bulbs used every ten years having only a fume of mercury inside... No one had been harmed, but she was somehow right. The factories manufacturing these bulbs must have some great stock of mercury in the yard; as long as they handle it safe, there's no problem, but as soon someone makes a mistake and spill all that mercury in the nature, that could be a disaster. Last year, my CFLs blew out, and they were no longer available on the shelves, so I bought 2 LED bulbs instead, having the same colors. The lighting is a tiny bit clearer that the CFL version, but nothing shocking. I've noticed there's a split second delay after turning the switch on before the light come, but again, nothing shocking there, it only clashed my little habits for a while. I have no doubt about their energy saving qualities, which are better than CFLs; let's see now if they will match CFLs in durability, but it will take a while...

Hello! This video helped me get MUCH better life out of my LED bulbs. I realized that I was storing my spare bulbs in the garage, and so they were all pre-fried by the Texas Summer. Since I started keeping my spares inside they are much more reliable.

@gtbkts

Жыл бұрын

The hardest part of cfls, is reading the package and following thier instructions. I never did, and burnt out so many of them. If I had seen this(and the other) video, cfls would of made alot more sense to me.

@CountingStars333

Жыл бұрын

@@gtbkts would have. Not would of.

@buillioncubes

Жыл бұрын

@@CountingStars333 Would would've have worked?

@oldveryveryoldmanfromthe1900s

Жыл бұрын

@@buillioncubes would have

@Jonathan_Doe_

Жыл бұрын

My parents have some first gen led bulbs in their hallway. They’ve been there 10+ years, they’ve dimmed slightly but they’re still fine… The newer ones are all engineered to fail. It’s a joke, the government should hire engineers to inspect/regulate them so they can’t design failure points into them.

I love how the bulbs on the desk keep multiplying throughout the video.

@SpydersByte

3 жыл бұрын

lol I just made the exact same comment

@1axmann

2 жыл бұрын

That caught my eye too 😆

Oh, god. The "power of buying two of them" is finally getting to his head. By next week, Alec's going to have an entire room full of CFLs.

@ZGryphon

3 жыл бұрын

Right? I'm like a damn vampire over here, constantly feeling compelled to pause and count them.

@mdmenzel

3 жыл бұрын

@@ZGryphon I'm tempted to say "you're in big trouble mister" a la "Bad Blood."

@acidhelm

3 жыл бұрын

@@ZGryphon Whew, I'm glad I'm not the only one who did that.

@AlRoderick

3 жыл бұрын

The power of buying a power of two of them.

@graycav56

3 жыл бұрын

Tribbles...

My dad was a master plumber/ do it all handyman. I will admit there were more than a few occasions i felt like i was on tool time. LOL He installed the four foot T5 Lights in our kitchen. Mom was not happy about a shop light being installed where a decent residential fixture was . Still to this day i have to go over and help mom (Shes in her 80s) change out the old 4 foot bulbs in the kitchen for her.

We have a 300 watt equivalent comically large CFL in our garage for additional light and it’s by far my favorite fixture in the house.

@RJARRRPCGP

Жыл бұрын

Over here, 4-foot and longer fluorescents have been the most popular in garages, including during the late-2010s.

I love how the bulbs are multiplying with every scene cut. I used to use enclosed CFLs in my lamp post outside. At -25c, they would take almost a half hour to get to full brightness, but they outlasted incandescent bulbs by far.

@alexatkin

3 жыл бұрын

I had a problem with Cool White CFLs dying quickly, the worst I think only lasted 2 months (though long operating hours as I've always been a night person). Ironically the one that lasted the longest was in an enclosed bathroom fixture.

@KirkNorthrop

3 жыл бұрын

I love how Alec has really taken the "multiplying items" to heart now.

@tomhsia4354

3 жыл бұрын

Oh no, they're breeding. Help!

@h.kurnia3600

3 жыл бұрын

Reminds me of a Jay Foreman Map Men episode

@KirkNorthrop

3 жыл бұрын

@@ALLSTAR284 if only someone made a video explaining this exact thing

I have a newfound fondness for the lamp in my room that takes a few seconds to start. May it shine for a long time.

@bryantfloyd7471

2 жыл бұрын

I used 43 watt halogen bulbs in every light socket in the house.

@ronb6182

2 жыл бұрын

LED all the way for regular lightning. It's a no brainer. You can get them in warm lighting or cool lighting. They use very little energy. I can have my air conditioner back because of LED lighting. Quick calculations 100 minus 10 equals 90 times 10 you get 900 saved watts. I can apply that 900 watts to a 8000 BTU ac unit which cools my bedroom so I sleep well. If I had 100 watt lightbulbs burning it's like running a 900 watt space heater in the summer in Florida. My whole electric bill is about 60 dollars a month. Using LED lights and my ac units . I also save on hot water by using a timer. You don't pay for hot water you don't use. Timers are better on tank heaters than tankless heaters that require 150 amps of electric. Believe me I looked into all types of water heaters. But old faithful tank heater won. Solar is too expensive and you still use electric. I could run copper pipe in the attic and get free hot water in the heat of the day. Most people take showers at night or in the morning. So free hot water is not in the picture.

@daszieher

2 жыл бұрын

Mine in the bedroom takes minutes to reach full luminance. This is perfect when getting up in the morning 😂

@ronb6182

2 жыл бұрын

@@daszieher that's a good idea if you have a proper fixture for the compact fluorescent light. I did use CFLs until lights of America came out with LED light bulbs but they did not last very long the bulbs were made up of little light emitting diodes but got dimmer and dimmer until they were useless. I even bought a tulip light fixtures with 5 sockets but all was a failure. Until GE came out with the LED light bulbs they were the same size as a regular incandescent light bulb. Which I use them now. WalMart came out with spot lights that are LED which I have in my kitchen. I now have plenty of light and my electric bill is kept at bay. 60 dollars a month not bad with air conditioning. I grew up using forty watt fluorescent lights and the other old types circline to name a few. I had one fixture that had 3 15 watt fluorescent light s in a line I used two for my electronic work bench. Well I'm glad LED lights are here.

@matthewbowen5841

2 жыл бұрын

I have 4 of them in lamps that I bought at the same time as the bulbs 6 yesrs ago. Can vouch for all of the pros and cons mentioned. But darn are they long lasting!

I remember working with a guy who was changing a hanging CFL. He was trying to remove it while still hot, and the bulb snapped in his hand. He, uh, was changing the bulb with his mouth hanging wide open, so a little cataract of glass and mercury deposited into his mouth. He coughed, looked dimly around, said "Some went in my mouth" then went back to work. Don't know whatever happened to that guy.

@gdj6298

Жыл бұрын

He was probably fine - the dire warnings on the package were (not referring to the environmental warnings here) very over the top. Same as Raid. Guess why..... "Take all your clothes off! Drink Ivermectin! Gasmask on! Tent the house! Move to Ohio! Just pleasepleaseplease don't sue us !

@Larslegos

9 ай бұрын

Seems like he'll get far in life

@Kennephone

8 ай бұрын

He became a mad hatter

@CleedRemus

8 ай бұрын

And that's exactly why these things were unacceptable for home usage.

@XnoobSpeakable

7 ай бұрын

Mercury is mostly inert in your body but if the broken glass scratches your insides then the mercury can affect your body through that

I loved these bulbs when they first came out! I thought they looked really cool and I loved that you could have pure white light bulbs instead of yellow. I remember the biggest complaint I heard from my mom and grandmother was that they didn't look like light bulbs.

@BigEightiesNewWave

3 ай бұрын

That was the whole idea, to look like sunlight. True colors seen, less eyestrain, better vision.

Praise for you locking down the camera's exposure while filming lightbulbs turning on and off.

@luisreyes6905

3 жыл бұрын

yes i see so who will be the primary and secondary user of locking down the cameras exposure?

@ivankiefer3886

3 жыл бұрын

He is using manual setting and even the af is manual.

@AlbertLebel

2 жыл бұрын

I agree. I been trying all sorts of different lights to shoot my videos and I always get blown out whites. Using all these and keeping the video looking good was a great job

That constant past tense is really throwing me for a loop when I still have one of these in my bathroom. It's one of those slow starters, too, which is actually quite nice in the morning since you don't get blasted with light but rather get the chance to slowly acclimate to it over a minute or so.

@clicktv9419

3 жыл бұрын

This actually sounds cool😅😂

@nick15684

3 жыл бұрын

Same, we have them all over my house too... He's talking like their ancient, obsolete technology, when everyone I know uses them to this day all throughout their houses...

@kirksway1

3 жыл бұрын

I have the same thing in my rest room, I dread the day that it fails

@ryans413

2 жыл бұрын

I do kinda miss the flickering when you turn them on from being cold lol just a weird thing I miss

@purplegill10

2 жыл бұрын

Same for me in regards to the slow starter. Our kitchen had them growing up and in the morning it was so great to switch on the lights and not be blinded. Our house was old and dimmer switches for some reason (cost, electricity, etc) weren't viable so when we went to CFL that "negative" actually turned out to be a huge positive for the 2000s and early 2010s of our kitchen. Thankfully nowadays we have a much better lighting setup in there and the LEDs we use worked great but admittedly there's a huge element of nostalgia for me in waking up earlier than everyone else in the house, flipping a switch, and watching as the dim glow of the lights matched the sunrise in the morning.

One issue with both CFLs and LED bulbs is that they are considered as low power devices, thus no requirements for power factor correction. It is said that many little streams make a big river, and it is true also here. When all added together it is a considerable amount of reactive power and harmonics they put on the distribution grid.

@BierBart12

Жыл бұрын

Could you explain what that means?

@haph2087

Жыл бұрын

@@BierBart12 agreed. Arska's comment reads like it means something, but I can't understand what. What's power factor correction? I looked at the wikipedia article, and I think I understand? It looks like a method of efficiency improvement where you try to make the load and amount of available load (how much energy is being put in to circuit) as close to each other as possible (since extra energy would be wasted, somehow). Incandescent bulbs have a simple type of load that is easier to deal with than CFL's, cause some CFL's have a rectifier and alternator to increase the frequency they flicker at (to stop eye strain) this changes the load over the course of a cycle of AC. Incandescent bulbs in comparison just cause a constant load that is easier to correct for. I think the resonance part is about how multiple CFL's on a system might have their load cycle line up with each other (compounding the issue) or opposite each other (mitigating it), or even maybe have slightly different frequencies (causing it to sometimes combine and sometimes cancel). I'm not sure how that would work, but I do see how cyclic changes in load from different devices could resonate, as cyclic changes in load act like a wave.

@molenini

Жыл бұрын

@@haph2087 That's far less of a concern than all British turning their 1500W kettles at same time on a commercial break. Also it's not like everyone will turn on their lights at same exact moment.

@haph2087

Жыл бұрын

@@molenini Nonono, So, if you all turn your kettle on at the same time, that spikes the amount of demand at one point in time, right? Well, CFL’s turn on and off hundreds of times per second. If they happen to line up, you might have spikes in demand (admittedly smaller, but) hundreds of times per second. If there exists a mechanism by which CFC’s can harmonize, you can get a demand curve that large scale, looks flat, but small scale is very very spikey. This is less about “hey we need to turn on three more turbines” and instead “we need fancy capacitors (or something) to reduce electrical noise”.

@molenini

Жыл бұрын

@@haph2087 Oh, I didn't consider that.

A core childhood memory of mine was my dad trying to secretly switch out incandescent bulbs for CFLs and my mom noticing them and switching them back. It was like a never-ending scavenger hunt. She didn't like them for the exact reason you mentioned: the typical color temperature made her feel like she was in the office.

I love how they just kept multiplying on the table lol

@theophilusthistler5885

3 жыл бұрын

Like Gremlis

@theophilusthistler5885

3 жыл бұрын

Gremlins

@stanpatterson5033

3 жыл бұрын

Like tribbles

@stevenbalekic5683

3 жыл бұрын

Was thinking this too...like mushrooms after a good rain.

@dwftube

3 жыл бұрын

@@stanpatterson5033 You have to be a certain age to know that. LOL.

It's truly scary how number of CFLs increases as the video goes on.

@DavidWaltermyer

3 жыл бұрын

even scarier how long it took me to catch on to this little Easter egg - I think I was at about the 20 minute mark before I went "...now hold on just a second..."

@mystic839

3 жыл бұрын

i thought it was a fun gag alongside "i still have some of these cfls kicking around" - you don't say?

@harpoonlobotomy1116

3 жыл бұрын

The extended version of the video ends with the most dangerous ball put you've ever seen...

@seanlavery4695

3 жыл бұрын

For some reason this reminded me of "The Trouble with Tribbles". Just turn away for a second and there's 4 more!

@Bitterjackal

3 жыл бұрын

@@seanlavery4695 Came here to make a Tribble joke! Ha!

When I moved into my current apartment in 2001, I replaced each incandescent bulb that burned out with a CFL. I was done with that slow replacement within a single year. As LED bulbs became the prominent lighting solution, I committed to replacing the CFLs the same way: each burned out one would be replaced by a modern LED light. Except, it's 2023 now, and I'm _still_ waiting for that to happen. I'm starting to suspect that by the time I get to replace the next bulb, LEDs will be a thing of the past, and we'll be back to rubbing sticks together to start fires.

I think they were an excellent transitional technology, anyway, we've still got some running here, though a lot of them finally started falling to attrition after really a lot of years. (I've got a somewhat overflowing box from this house I take care of that needs to go to the e-waste place across town.) The first one I ever bought followed me all over the country with moves and probably lasted more than ten years, saved a lot of power and money, and in general they've lasted long enough to start rotating in LEDs without much fuss or disruption, so I'd call that a mission accomplished, really.

Technology Connections: **attempts to get through one line of script** Long Fluorescent Tube: "Let me sing you the song of my people."

@Afonso23M

2 жыл бұрын

I’m high on pain medication because of the vaccine and this comment just made me laugh my ass off! Thank you!

@h.c.49

2 жыл бұрын

*bink*

@yeh.80

2 жыл бұрын

@@Afonso23M trollololo

I liked how they had to warm up, they were nice to wake up to, I wouldn't get blinded by them when they first switched on.

@yolo_burrito

3 жыл бұрын

Yeah my vanity has some roughly 20 year old CFLs with great color. One is burnt I’m dreading replacing.

@nijgaming410

3 жыл бұрын

I actually have one of these bulbs in my lamp that I use that's right next to my bed I forget about it all the time kasur just stays on for weeks maybe months at a time and it continues to work as if nothing is wrong

@burntvirtue

3 жыл бұрын

Amen

@kenkahre9262

3 жыл бұрын

That was the very reason I detested them. There were two rooms that were so dim, I considered taking a flashlight with me. When you turn the lights on, you shouldn't have to wait for the lights to brighten.

Have CFLs all over my house. All have been going strong for countless years now! Not planning on replacing until they die out.

@dmitripogosian5084

Жыл бұрын

+1 All my CFL lights that I still have from 15+ years ago are still working (so are most incandescent, to that regard). Already going through second generation of LED's, first installed in 2016. What I had in LED lasted 6 years

@brianfitch5469

Жыл бұрын

When they go out replace with more CFL bulbs you can find them online.

@stephensnell5707

11 ай бұрын

​@@dmitripogosian5084 get rid of your CFL Lights and switch to L.E.D. Lights

@dmitripogosian5084

11 ай бұрын

@@stephensnell5707 Because they last too long ?

seeing that ikea bulb brought back so many memories of my old retail job in a lighting section. sooooo many people came in looking for a replacement for those bulbs and it was always a huge pain because of the intermediate base. i had the shelf spot with the compatible bulbs memorized in case someone came in looking for a replacement. why does ikea do this to us poor saps who work at hardware stores?!

@tanya5322

Жыл бұрын

I’m guessing that perhaps those intermediate base bulbs are/ were more common in other parts of the world where IKEA operated? Or, IKEA wanted to ensure repeat customers?

I love how ElectroBOOM does an LED video and TC does a CFL on the same hour

@Soniboy84

3 жыл бұрын

And they both mention Big Clive lol..

@Case_

3 жыл бұрын

@@Soniboy84 Big Clive is the king of lightbulb videos. Of course they have to mention him.

@sovietshnuckums2357

3 жыл бұрын

Post the link right now

I like how when the video goes on, the amount of light bulbs on his desk increases

@cazomsdragons2625

3 жыл бұрын

It's wonderful to watch them multiply like rabbits.

@warp.routine

3 жыл бұрын

Easter egg found 😂

@alkalinekats8300

3 жыл бұрын

Honestly, I got so distracted with this I had to go back and watch some parts again

@SpeakerPolice

3 жыл бұрын

Came here to say this LMAO...as the video goes on, the bulbs grow in number

I love your videos. Informative and aesthetically pleasing. Even your outros are calming in a retro sort of way that I've yet to pinpoint where they're familiar.

I only realized these things went poof a year or so ago. I only ever bought one set of bulbs for my house, and by the time I finally had to replace them, they were already mostly gone from stores. Wild stuff.

i love how you talk about these in past tense as if 90% of my house isnt lit up by them

@jameseasson4489

3 жыл бұрын

Same here the bulb I had lasted 10 years

@pvanukoff

3 жыл бұрын

Yeah, my house is full of them. And I have a closet full of replacements. Gonna be a while.

@Ajan-X

3 жыл бұрын

@@pvanukoff are you the dad of the other commenter here that lives in the uk, and said his dad still has a cupboard full of these?

@jemsterr

3 жыл бұрын

I didn't even know that LEDs were ready to replace.. I still see shelves of CFL at the store

@rickhapstley3866

3 жыл бұрын

I didn't even know that CFL was considered obsolete, it's still pretty common

The fact that the number of cfls on the desk kept increasing slayed me.

@ChrisHilgenberg

3 жыл бұрын

I thought I was the only one to notice that... And the fact he's straight-laced the entire time when he reappears with more on the table is amazing

Wow. I was on your channel about a year ago when I was curious about the orange street light. Didn't expect that this would be a big channel since you talk about 'exclucive interesting stuff'. Good job you guys, you deserve it.

I enjoy these presentations by Technology Connections, thank you sir. A long time ago I bought what might have been the first commercially available CFL lamps? They were Philips, 60W equiv. with magnetic ballasts. They were large and heavy, very slow to achieve full brightness in the cold. Thank goodness for the progress we have achieved with LED's.

Here in the UK they tried to kill off the incandescent bulb about 10 years ago by flooding the market with really cheap cfl bulbs. They were selling 10 bulbs for £1, my dad bought £5 worth and because they last so long he still has a cupboard full of them.

@simonbeasley989

3 жыл бұрын

Yes, it was ridiculous here, they were seen as the solution to everything regardless of whether they fitted the light fitting.

@HoLDoN4Sec

3 жыл бұрын

where i live when CFL bulbs came out you literally couldn't even find incandescent bulbs anymore, except for really odd size ones like E14 type bulbs. now ever since LED bulbs came out you can't even find CFL bulbs anymore, and needless to say even incandescent bulbs are no where to be found anymore. tbh, those CFL bulbs seem to last even longer than LED bulbs. probably because most LED bulbs out there are made out of crap electronics i guess

@kokofan50

3 жыл бұрын

I would still be working on incandescent bulbs, but I think that says more about how my family uses electricity.

@garethfairclough8715

3 жыл бұрын

Really? We bought dozens of CFLs at that time as well and we went through them in about 6 months. We were changing them out every couple of weeks! We mostly went back to old school incandescent bulbs and they've lasted so much longer. I guess they must be able to put up with iffy power better? Then again, the cheap LED bulb I put up to "try out" a few years back is still going strong. *shrug*

@MasonMouse

3 жыл бұрын

@@garethfairclough8715 I've worked at the building I'm at for a very long time and when we first started getting CFLs I wrote the date I changed them on each one. Some I've replaced after more then 8 years of service and many are still going. Meanwhile my sister several miles away went through CFLs like candy on Halloween. My only conclusion was also that either her electrical supply or the house wiring was a bit iffy. I don't think it's the CFLs themselves (unless you bought super cheap ones).

I remember taking home a "free sample CFL" from school in the early 90's. It takes a while to turn on these days, but it's still there, illuminating my old bedroom!

@kimgkomg

3 жыл бұрын

Your school gave you a lightbulb? I'm gonna have to see the full story there

@dickbutt7854

3 жыл бұрын

@@kimgkomg right? Usually the schools take my money so I can't afford to buy CFLs

@AndrooUK

3 жыл бұрын

Before the days of planned obsolescence...

@kimgkomg

3 жыл бұрын

@@AndrooUK so regular obsolescence

A year later and I still have several of these that just won't give out, just trucking along.

Old video but here's an observation that wasn't discussed in the video: when CFLs were run in an enclosed fixture, I saw another effect (multiple brands and fixtures): the phosphors would color-shift. The lamps seemed to output at about 1000K above their rated, and un-enclosed, design rating. And yeah, they died awful deaths. The plastic base usually had discoloration around the arc-tube holes and maybe a couple other spots correlating to the hottest-running ballast components.

The CFL flood lamps slow start is a feature! I use those in my bathrooms, for ease on my eyes in the morning.

@BastiElektronik

3 жыл бұрын

We use them for that, too. All other CFLs got replaced after dying with LED but the bathroom ones, they got NOS CFLs like the IKEA one with the slow start.

@Hansengineering

3 жыл бұрын

Shit this is the best idea. My rental trailer has the cheapest highest color temp LED bulbs everywhere. The bathroom is eye searing and I just don't use the light in there until an hour after I have woken up.

@kaitlyn__L

3 жыл бұрын

@@Hansengineering 5000-6000K completely baffles me. It’s like blue LEDs but even worse! You will thank yourself if you pull them out and replace them with 2300-2700K ones. (Actual values - a lot of lights which claim to be 2700K “warm white” are clearly 3000K “neutral white” instead.)

@pucktf

3 жыл бұрын

I use them for the same reason in the bedroom, they start gradually and that's much more comfortable when getting up in the morning...

@chunye215

3 жыл бұрын

@@kaitlyn__L for some reason they are (were?) fairly popular in China. When I looked out the window in the evening at the building on the other side like half of the windows wete lit in cold white light. Never really figured out if people prefer it or don't care or dunnowhat. It's not like one is cheaper than the other.

Here's why I love CFL's in my bathroom. That slow start, first thing in the morning while it's still dark outside makes me happy. It saves my eyes. I have a CFL outside in my car port that's been going for about 10 years with no troubles at all.

@dizzywow

3 жыл бұрын

Incandescent bulbs and a dimmer, baby. I stocked up, and will never switch.

@churblefurbles

3 жыл бұрын

But they were terrible in the bathroom, GE reveal incandescent put of the most flattering light. No consumer led even now matches it, not even their own attempts which have been cartoonishly bad.

@fhunter1test

3 жыл бұрын

@@churblefurbles this! Worst CFLs I have seen turned me into a zombie in the mirror. PS. Have low voltage halogen lights in the bathroom with trasformer and soft start. Have yet to change any over last 10 years.

I'm so sorry they are gone. I really liked them a lot. One of the things I really liked a lot was that they lasted a long time. I've had to replace LEDs 3x as frequently since I stopped using CFLs... I rarely had the problems you mentioned because I live in a relatively warm area.

@SB-mr2nk

4 ай бұрын

Really? I have all Phillips hue lights going back to 2016 and I haven’t had to replace a single one.

They used to run ads that these things lasted "7 times longer" than incandescent light bulbs but holy hell I've lost count of how many of them blew out within a few months.

I counted 43 CFLs at the end... really loved them appearing 2 by 2 in the beginning till the end. Also many puns were rather enlightened.

@MisterTTG

3 жыл бұрын

I noticed there were more of them but i didnt catch on to how gradual it was 😂😂😂

@Patrick94GSR

3 жыл бұрын

I counted 39 at the end, including the one in his hand and the one in the lamp.

@Hans-gb4mv

3 жыл бұрын

If they appear 2 by 2, how do you end up with 43?

Slow starting CFLs were brilliant for a quick night pee run. If you were quick enough they wouldn't blind you before you turned them off.

@BronyumHexofloride

3 жыл бұрын

i totally agree, now its like a Nuclear blast tuning on my bathroom light in the early hours, kinda wish there was "slow start" LED lights or even adaptors to slowly ramp up the light levels over say 5 mins from 30% to 100% over that time span

@charliebaker1427

3 жыл бұрын

@@BronyumHexofloride so you want a dimmer switch led they make those

@BronyumHexofloride

3 жыл бұрын

@@charliebaker1427 not exactly, just one thats active for the first 5 mins of being on

@solarbirdyz

3 жыл бұрын

EXACTLY THIS holy crow. Also for getting up in the mornings in the winter when it's two hours 'til sunrise. Kind of a slow wakeup. Not nice enough to keep with CFLs, but... an actual benefit to the slow brightness start.

@ram89572

3 жыл бұрын

@@BronyumHexofloride I have the same issue with too bright in the middle of the night or when I first wake up. My solution without needing to install a dimmer was to just buy some of those color changeable dimmable led bulbs from amazon that come with that little remote control. Those things have a good low level setting but can brighten up a lot if you need the light in the bathroom with just a couple of presses on the remote.

I still use a CFL in my bedroom at one of my houses. It is probably not the greatest thing to be using these days. You can see the light starting whenever I turn it on, but it still works. It is a normal swirly type CFL while upside down, is entirely exposed due to the cover not fitting on the ceiling fan when using a CFL. I believe I used this bulb before, then switched it to LED, but then that LED started flickering for some weird reason, so I switched the bulb back to CFL because I couldn't find another soft white light in the house. I am planning to use it until it stops working.

Man, I love this little guy in my computer. Always has the neatest knowledge.

Ten years later I finally found out why the CFLs in my closet never seemed to last more than a couple of months.

@rodboy4461

3 жыл бұрын

I also found 2 pack of small base CFL'S made to replace torpedo bulbs

@homoevolutus

3 жыл бұрын

And all my studio lighting are giant CFL bulbs. : (

@CTMKD

3 жыл бұрын

@@homoevolutus so not compact then

@czdaniel1

3 жыл бұрын

IKR!!

@exoticcar5482

3 жыл бұрын

Funny thing is even as a kid I was so observant of lights and the moment I saw many CFLs in my house fail I quickly associated the quick start with it in my mind years before this video confirmed my suspicions

I filmed a wedding reception that was lit with CFL bulbs a few years back and let me say it left me dumbfounded when I tried to edit it. The CRI was so bad, they might as well had used sodium vapor lamps to light it. I'm not exaggerating when I say it was like there was no color information. Everything was a shade of the same color and my scopes confirmed it. There was a gentleman wearing an orange shirt that glowed like a neon light. No amount of color correction was able to fix it because there simply wasn't enough color info.

@mfbfreak

3 жыл бұрын

Ooh yes, i know that problem very well. Pretty hard to take proper pictures too. It does vary with the brand/type, though. There were pretty decent ones out there. Oddly, these days you can still get fluorescent tubes with the bad kind of phosfor in them (color 640 for instance, while 840 has the same color temp but with better color rendering). 8[somethingsomething] tubes are pretty much standard because they're better, but somehow the 6's are still sold.

@gorak9000

3 жыл бұрын

They tend to use really cheap phosphor with very peaky spectrums. Because CRI is a very flawed measurement, you can have bulbs (both CFL and LED) that have > 90 CRI that have absolutely garbage color. I bought some Feit LED bulbs from Costco the other week which claim > 90 CRI, which they technically meet, but when you measure them, the R9 (deep red) value is atrocious at 59 and R12 (deep blue) is bad too at 85, and they look pretty terrible. Most CFLs have a > 80 CRI which is even worse yet.

@Chetanarora2308

3 жыл бұрын

@@gorak9000 1

@Chetanarora2308

3 жыл бұрын

@@gorak9000 1

@SteelheadTed

3 жыл бұрын

Was it just the fluorescent lamps or the combined light from different sources at the same time? In a space with confirmed only fluorescence, I’ve been able to get the white balance right. In a mixed light room, say incandescent and fluorescent, it gets much more difficult.

I do know, back in the 80s/90s I had CFLs in a couple of lamps that had a light plastic sheeting as shade liners. The liners DID yellow and got exceptionally brittle after a couple of years. I can only assume that they did, in fact, emit a fair amount of UV.

@GoatzombieBubba

Жыл бұрын

Or UV entering from a window.

@toweri_li

Жыл бұрын

It was probably UV-A, the least harmful, longest wavelenght light. That can also affect plastics - as well as visible light can too! A regular sheet of window glass passes approximately 30% of UV-A, that is emitted by the CFL too. (Evidence: the faint blue light that you may see escaping the ends of old-time fluorescent tubes, where the phosphor coating was not reaching quite to the end caps. That is part of the discharge emission spectra going from UV-C, completely blocked by the glass tube, UV-B, still invisible and alsmost entirely blocked by the glass, UV-A, also invisible - and the tail end of it being visible blue light.) As a window pane can pass some 30% of UV-A, the solar light may well be the culprit (as "Aaron" already mentioned.) Not to mention that some cheap plastics just do not contain enough stabilizing agents, and they just self-destruct given long enough time...

@danielramotowski5187

Жыл бұрын

I think it’s heat more than UV actually.

@rosehawke2577

Жыл бұрын

@@GoatzombieBubba The windows, such as they were, were kept covered with room darkening shades as this was our master bedroom.

Bulbs repopulating the table is a funny touch. The yellow-orange bulb in the middle reminds me of the two orange CFLs I bought for outdoor porch light fixtures on Halloween night, which will likely last forever due to such lengthy intermission between use.

When you said that compact florescent light bulbs "are no more", it's kind of wild, it seems like it was only yesterday that they were released.

@capitalinventor4823

2 жыл бұрын

It’s been about 30 years since they were readily available in grocery and hardware stores. I bought my first one around 1990 from a grocery store. I think it cost $20 and it took a couple of minutes to brighten after turning it on but the quality of light was wonderful. I used it in a bedside lamp for over a decade and only stopped when I changed lamps. The bulb didn’t fit in the new lamp. It wasn’t twisty in shape but had a couple of loops about 1.5 times taller than a regular bulb.

@NoogahOogah

2 жыл бұрын

From the time I was born to the end of high school (2013) my family used incandescent bulbs. Once I moved out I got CFLs and felt like I was really modern. Apparently I was actually decades behind. Man that’s a depressing feeling, lol.

@JayEmGe

2 жыл бұрын

@@NoogahOogah I'm thinking that was my case as well.

@SergioLeonardoCornejo

2 жыл бұрын

I still use them since LED bulbs are expensive in my country. However, I consider all light sources contextually valid. We use what we are technologically capable of using.

@mikek6298

2 жыл бұрын

There have been CFLs for a while, but I'd say they weren't consumer viable until the 2000s, and only in the last 5 years or so have LEDs become the norm. I remember my dad getting one the very first time he saw them in Home Depot, and that was about 2012-2013. I still have to convince my boss to get LEDs every time we order bulbs.

Before I left town 6 years ago I modernized my grandmother's house with CFL bulbs. When I got back in town recently I replaced them all with LED bulbs so she would have even lower power bills. Every single one of the CFL bulbs was still working. Now they are sitting in the closet just in case they are needed.

@pascal2085

3 жыл бұрын

Why have you replaced the CFLs if they are still working fine? Even with high electrical prices like in Germany it's still not worth to replace them.

@Anonymousfox1.0

3 жыл бұрын

@@pascal2085 Yeah why. Most of the time, the new LEDs when they are given for free won't last this many years the CFLs are working for. Why do people replace them with LEDs when the old bulbs are working fine?

@NoTraceOfSense

2 жыл бұрын

@@Anonymousfox1.0 I put the first LED bulbs in my house so long ago I forgot. They’re only now just starting to go bad. They start faster, use less power for more light, and the biggest thing? RGB, BABY

@keiyakins

2 жыл бұрын

@@Anonymousfox1.0 well, I replaced the one in my bedroom as soon as I could because I'd already broken one in there - I bet you can still detect elevated mercury in my body from that. Iirc I just moved the bulb somewhere less prone to breakage though. Actually might be the kitchen lights - that actually has two CFLs still, an LED bulb, and an incandescent that refuses to die XD

@SuperPickle15

2 жыл бұрын

@@keiyakins i doubt you couldnt even detect mecury, even if you broke every bulb in your house. Go eat a can of tuna, and thats a different story.

This popped up on my feed maybe because I was shopping for light bulbs earlier today (stupid ceiling fan uses an overpriced A15). I found this video to be way more interesting than I anticipated, so I'll definitely check out some of your other videos. I'm happy to hear I can still use my old CFLs.

thank you for this really great factual knowledge-based description! More of these no matter what subject ... would make the world really a better place!!

I kinda liked the dark start effect that some of these had. I have very sensitive eyes, and when I would turn on my lights in the morning to wake up. I liked having the light gently get brighter as my eyes acclimated. I know this wasn't intentional, but IMHO, it was a happy accident.

@SimonBauer7

2 жыл бұрын

you could get phillips hue led bulbs which are programmable to software

@gorgarath

2 жыл бұрын

The old CFL bulbs I had put in the bathroom vanity were like that. I found it annoying at first, but came to appreciate it in the mornings or when waking up in the night to go to the bathroom. Though still found it slightly annoying any time. Had 1 of the bulbs fail fairly quickly, a few months maybe. Then another 6 or 8 months later another failed. I ran it on the 2 bulbs for another couple years before a 3rd bulb failed and I probably went another month or so before I replaced all 4.

@CT-vm4gf

2 жыл бұрын

That’s a good point! You have to pay a considerable amount to have that feature these days.

@conman1395

2 жыл бұрын

@@CT-vm4gf not really, just install a dim switch and use dimmable bulbs

@claireredfield4842

2 жыл бұрын

@@conman1395 You'd be surprised the amount of people who don't know how to change their own switches.

i love how there's a bigger pile of bulbs on the table every time

@HayLeesHomeMade

3 жыл бұрын

I like to think that's how many takes he did at that point

@Bertie_Ahern

3 жыл бұрын

More And more And moooore....

@Deadbass_

3 жыл бұрын

I was expected the entire desk to be literally a CFL bulb by the end of the video 😂

@ad636051

3 жыл бұрын

Lol I didn't notice until you mentioned it

@surrealdynamics4077

3 жыл бұрын

Lmaoo

I like how overtime the number of CFL bulbs on the table starts increasing to about 40 in the end

The remark on plastics and UV was superb!

after watching the bloopers at the end, this act of laying the lamp on the table silently 3:43 is extraordinary

@Heylon1313

3 жыл бұрын

The whole 121 metric centimeter long rod! Very impressive indeed.

@StraightOuttaJarhois

3 жыл бұрын

You can tell he's doing it _extremely_ gingerly.

@Case_

3 жыл бұрын

And it only took him 357 takes to get it right ;)

The Silence of the Lamps "Well, Clarice, have the bulbs stopped beaming?"

@victorhugoeh974

3 жыл бұрын

😂🤣that's a good one!

@jamesslick4790

3 жыл бұрын

👍😜👍

CFL had there time and place and like Disco, died. They where a good stepping stone to the LED wonderland we live in now. I have on CFL still active in my shed, can't even remember when I put it in and I turn it on maybe once a month and it is so dim you can barely see until maybe 60 seconds passes. About 5 years ago I switched every bulb in the house to LED and almost all are still alive. I had one burn out from my room light (the heaviest used light bulb). I remember when CFL started to take over the market my grandpa refused them, he made me go buy like 50 "regular" light bulbs before they where taken off the market. Then one night when he was asleep I secretly changed all his bulbs to LED to see if he would notice the change. He didn't until 3 months later when I told him.

I remember the brightness upgrade for these being amazing at the time. However, the biggest design flaw that I encountered was that when mounted sideways over our bathroom mirror, they tended to attract ladybugs that snuck in yearly through some unknown gap in the room. While this on its own might not be a problem, the shape of the bulb caused a concerning issue. One day I went into the room and noticed a burning smell. Turned out that several light-bleached ladybugs over the years had accumulated and had been "cooking" in the extreme heat of the bulbs. The hollow space in the middle was perfect for light-loving bugs and dust to sit in undetected. This could have been a minor fire hazard if left unchecked. Needless to say we quickly replaced these particular bulbs with LEDs when we could.

It didn't help that for a long time, CFLs were ungodly expensive, AND produced hideously-colored light. Eventually they came down in price to something much more reasonable, and the color got a lot better. But by that time most people had already come to the conclusion that they were expensive and ugly.

@randjan8592

3 жыл бұрын

idk, it's not really ugly, that spiral shape is kinda cool. But the rest still stands.

@Shendue

3 жыл бұрын

Light looks pretty nice to me, and they are cheaper than led bulbs, still, here in Italy. The brands that I have access too sell in two fashions. The first is cold white (which looks blue-ish), I personally don't love it because I find it too artificial and bright (I know it makes no difference in terms of sheer lumens, but the perceived brightness is stronger with a colder light, to me), but I guess it's nice for something like the kitchen where you want very clear lighting. The ones I use in my bedroom and bathroom are warm white ones, which have a softer, yellowish tone that I find more cozy and relaxing. Reminds me more of the classic incandescent bulbs.

@bogey780

3 жыл бұрын

I don't think he looked at it from the practical application to a normal person. There was no normalization on size, design, or most importantly color. So when someone's old incandescent popped, they'd go buy a new CFL. It would produce different color and be weird looking. So they'd have to change out all the bulbs. Or bring them back to the store and swap them. So what was a few seconds of thought with the hardest question being bulb style became an expensive back and forth to the store. Folks hate spending time on something they consider a minor issue.

@Tatsh2DX

3 жыл бұрын

I don't know what you mean by hideous. All my rooms use one 5500 CFL. I guess this is too bright for a lot of people but it's my preference since I was a kid and discovered CFLs over incandescent

@czdaniel1

3 жыл бұрын

@@Tatsh2DX Fuck what you get now...What color were you getting from 2007-2012 They were hideous! And the lamp fixtures they were going into were not designed for with their intensity of lighting...highly intense, hideous lighting

I love that every few minutes you added more bulbs to the table it went from 1 bulb to over 40 by the end

@ralynedin

2 жыл бұрын

I just now noticed this.

I remember using a CFL outside when I smoked and during winter in New England it would be sometimes 3 degrees and the lamp outside was useless, very glad I installed an LED fixture.

@RJARRRPCGP

Жыл бұрын

Yes, even if not that cold one night, I remember seeing CFLs in someone's garage in the 2010s, IIRC, where they only glowed at the ends!

The GE ring bulb thing is so nostalgic. I remember that shade of light from the mid 90s when older people like my grandparents and my mom's aunts/uncles would use them to save on the light bill

@Mainbusfail

Жыл бұрын

There is a warm spot in my heart for the glow of the round florescent ring above my memaws kitchen sink - which was the only light left on after the house turned in for bed. Great memories. Thanks for bringing that back up.

@tyttuut

Жыл бұрын

Gotta conserve those photons

As a percentage of total bloopers, how many would you say that long tube caused?!

@TechnologyConnections

3 жыл бұрын

More than 50%

@atamawaruidesuka

3 жыл бұрын

@@TechnologyConnections Seeing that, I was thinking a blanket of some kind could have been helpful maybe... soften the noise

@tomaszstaz6295

3 жыл бұрын

@@TechnologyConnections why don't You just move a bit backwards so the tube would not be above desk?

@skuzzyj

3 жыл бұрын

@@TechnologyConnections I'm surprised you didn't put a sock each end and just keep it out of frame so the tappy-taps were muffled

@TheAnkMan

3 жыл бұрын

​@@TechnologyConnections To save recording time when seeing that is getting annoying may be remove the noise in post production. Or just leave it, make an unscripted funny comment instead. :-)

"Some of them are even smart. I think they know algebra!" This caused my body to emit an involuntary chuckle

@Danny-gc5qb

3 жыл бұрын

they are glowing computer chips after all

@pierreuntel1970

3 жыл бұрын

You can say that they're very bright

@simeondermaats

3 жыл бұрын

@@pierreuntel1970 I'm genuinely surprised he didn't make that pun in the video.

@Hans-gb4mv

3 жыл бұрын

Does make me wonder if they can count past 1

I've had the same CFL in my standard Lamp for 15 years and used daily... it's very efficient. And it's great to hear a shout out to Big Clive, one of my favourite YT'bers...

In the UK, most light fittings have a BC connector with the adjacent metal body connected to ground. When CFL lamps die, they often short neutral to ground causing the RCCB to trip and turn off half the lights and half the power outlets in the house. This problem is less common with ES lamps.

"Stop making so much noise!" Yup, that's definitely a fluorescent bulb.

@GameSack

3 жыл бұрын

ACKSHULLY (pushes up glasses) it's the ballast that makes the noise.

@jasonreed7522

3 жыл бұрын

I love how that one scene was basically the entire blooper reel.

I still like my big 85w CFL's for video lights. Very minimal flicker for high speed video recording. There are better LED's out there, but it's not cheap to get an equivalent setup that runs without flicker on wall power.

@EmeraldLavigne

3 жыл бұрын

What incandescent equivalent is an 85w CFL?

@oO_ox_O

3 жыл бұрын

Why is that...? Is preventing flicker that hard? 🤔

@kaitlyn__L

3 жыл бұрын

@@oO_ox_O AC power. The high persistence phosphor while LEDs have lower persistence. It’s all explained in the video already

@oO_ox_O

3 жыл бұрын

@@kaitlyn__L Thanks.

@barretprivateer8768

3 жыл бұрын

@@oO_ox_O Filtering AC to DC is actually pretty easy.

As someone who uses a lot of clip on style desk lamps to point light just where i want it, I really appreciated these. I prefer the cold white light while sewing, drawing, any kind of fine detail work really. The home I grew up in was quite old and the light fixtures in the bedroom were really not safe for anything over 65 watts. That is a pitiful amount of light only suitable for allowing you to safely navigate a room. I got some 45 watt CFLs marketed as "daylight"/ 150 watt equivalent ... loved them. If memory serves, they were over $12 each from HOME depot and the bulb was comically oversized with a very chunky ballast but produced beautiful bright light that reached into every corner of the room mounted from the center of the ceiling. The tube itself naturally provides some light in every direction if you are able to mount it in a simple naked housing. My only complaint with them was they could be rather fragile and you'd get a "dud" every now and that would inexplicably die after a month. Some of them I've had for more than ten years and moved them around multiple places. In my experience, fastest way to kill any cfl bulb that otherwise may have last years- put it in a lamp with a reflector hood that traps too much heat or try to unscrew a bulb that is still warm from the last time it was on... tube distorts, gas escapes and it's done.

thank you for explaining why I had to replace the cfls in my college apartment's boob lamps constantly. I also feel heartbroken to know that all the work I put into remembering to turn off lights I wasn't using was probably killing my lights faster.

i love how after every jump cut, theres more bulbs on the table. it just keeps building

Back in the late 90’s I worked for a major lighting company and specialized in CFL lighting for Consumer Markets. That whole colour temperature thing was a major part of my job. Educating people that the CFL colour was almost the same as an incandescent was challenging. I remember some of our colleagues from Germany came in and showed us these bulky LED things. Fast forward 20 years and here we are This was a great trip down memory lane

i love the start of these videos where the camera pans around the object of question with narration in the background. Reminds me of How It's Made.

I always found it interesting how gas discharge lighting (fluorescent, metal halide, HID and neon) was basically the Windows Vista of lighting. Something that attained reasonable market share, but never fully replaced its predecessor (Incandescent; Windows XP), yet was itself rapidly abandoned when its own successor (LED; Windows 7) came around.

@jasonhaynes2952

2 жыл бұрын

Love the analogy, but CFL's were more like Windows 8. As in, was a bad idea from the start, and completely sucked. We were all saved when something better came out (windows 10). The manufacturer (Microsoft) had to admit they made a horrible product.

@splewy

2 жыл бұрын

@@jasonhaynes2952 Yeah true, CFLs always sucked. Other forms of gas discharge lighting were pretty good. HID for example offered lighting performance in car headlights that couldn’t even be matched by LEDs until around 3-4 years ago.

@specialopsdave

2 жыл бұрын

@@jasonhaynes2952 The problem with that analogy is that there were 2 valid advantages of CFL over Incandescent; there is no advantage to Windows 8 over 7

@electrictroy2010

2 жыл бұрын

I’d rather replace all my bulbs with CFLs than Windows 8. CFLs reduce energy use 75% and last a really long time (some of mine date to 1995). Windows 8 has nothing positive about it. Not one damn thing. The original XP/vista/7 analogy was better.

@mikevcampbell

2 жыл бұрын

That's a great comparison. Microsoft replaced XP with Vista and tried forcing everyone to adopt the new tech. I hate them so hard, if they weren't banned I would have gladly continued with incadensent until LED's came out. I would have gladly paid more in energy costs to avoid those stupid twisty pieces of garbage.

When I was little, I actually liked the ability to turn on my bedroom light and not be instantly blinded, because it came on dim and it'd be off by the time it would get bright.

@russellhltn1396

3 жыл бұрын

Yes, there were places where that was most certainly valued a feature, not a bug!

@danielthechskid

3 жыл бұрын

Yep, gave your dilated pupils from being asleep time to constrict.

@kuebbisch

3 жыл бұрын

I always had a 25 watt bulb at my bedside for that reason. Now a 2 watt LED is plenty bright to find the way out after waking up.

@bf584

3 жыл бұрын

I would like if I could find an LED light for my bathroom at night that did this.

@cherrysdiy5005

3 жыл бұрын

@@bf584 Perhaps a GE 0.5W LED night light? It emits about 5 lumens.

After watching your video, I remembered buying the first readily available CFLs (Philips SL18), way back in the early 1980s. There followed a quick search through my storage cupboards, and I was delighted to find that I still had it. Powering it up, after over 30 years of inactivity, I was expecting a bang, and a puff of smoke. Instead, it made a couple of soft "tink, tink" noises and staggered back into life.

@RJARRRPCGP

Жыл бұрын

That's quality right there!

i love how there's more of them on the table over time