Comments on: Light Bulbs and Legislation

By: Gordon Wagner

Gordon Wagner — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 23:24:58 +0000

I ordered a three-way desk lamp for my daughter. It arrived today and I noticed that it wasn't a three-way switch. Hours on the phone got me to a manager who explained that some CA law meant they had to swap out the three-way socket for a regular socket. I'll have to replace the socket myself, or pay someone to do it, ON A BRAND-NEW LAMP. I am not happy. What is this, North Korea? Dumbest legislation I've ever heard of.

By: lqlarry

lqlarry — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 02:15:34 +0000

Thanks Aaron! Great comment!

By: lqlarry

lqlarry — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 02:14:37 +0000

I know that 3-way CFLs are made, I have three in my house right now, and I'm working under one of them right now. As for shortening the lamp life on a CFL by using them, I do not think it will hurt a standard CFL if you use it in a 3-way socket but I've never been told either way, good or bad. If you look at the base on a 3-way lamp you will see 2 pieces of metal (not including the screw in base part of the lamp) An incandescent would hit one of these for 25 watt, the other for 50 watt and then both for 75 watt.

By: lqlarry

lqlarry — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 02:01:50 +0000

While I'm not a real expert I would say from my personal use the using 42 watt CFL's in a 75 watt rated downlight can has never been a problem for me. It's never kicked the thermal protection on the can and turned it off. While a watt is a watt is a watt, you still have other electronics that can be kicking up a little wattage also, but not that much. You are still creating over 50% less heat with the CFL.

By: lqlarry

lqlarry — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 01:56:28 +0000

CFL's have to say dimmable on the lamp or carton, and some CFL makers will say a standard dimmer will work. LEDs are the same. They have to say that they are dimmable and some will say you can dim with any dimmer. Some dimmer manufacturers are making dimmers for LEDs and CFLs which have an adjustment wheel on the dimmer to 'fine tune' the dimmer. If you want to just dim your lights these will work but for now, neither dim as well as an incandescent.

By: Martha

Martha — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 20:36:09 +0000

I haven't looked lately: do they make three-way bulbs in either CFL or LED? I know that if you put a regular CFL bulb in a 3-way-switch lamp (e.g. the switch goes off-25W-50W-75W-off), it will generally come on after two clicks, and turn off after two more clicks, even though technically even the lowest wattage of the lamp way exceeds what the bulb theoretically needs. Does it shorten the life of a regular (one-way) CFL bulb to be used this way?

By: Aaron

Aaron — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 19:54:56 +0000

The power ratings on fixtures are for actual wattage (current/heat/etc flow), so yes, you can put in anything that takes less wattage. Of course, putting in something that just takes a little bit less wattage will negate a lot of the wattage savings of CFLs (as well as providing a whole lot more light)

By: Jim

Jim — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 18:09:10 +0000

If one is replacing a traditional 100w bulb with a CFL or LED, can I put in anything that fits and takes less power than the original fixture supports?

For example, replacing a 100w A19 incandescent bulb, claimed as 1260 lumens, can I put in a 42w CFL which claims 2600 lumens? Or must I go with a "100w replacement bulb," such as a 23w CFL (1600 lumens)?

By: auujay

auujay — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 17:24:44 +0000

Which type is better for dimmers? My understanding is that you can't use regular CFLs with a dimmer switch, and even CFLs specially designed for dimmer switches do not work great.