How many aspies does it take to...

[Grumpy Cat]

An NT asking a million questions because they didn't know anything about light bulbs except how to change them.


What does eating fish from the polluted harbor have to do with light bulbs?

What is a bayonet?

Are there more pros to leaving my florescent bulbs on rather than turning them off all the time?

What about modern electronic ballasts? I had to throw my whole kitchen light away twice because of a faulty ballast. The damn electrician tried to get me to have a new ballast put in for over $200 which I didn't - I just ended up getting a whole new light. Later, I found out from a neighbor that used to be an electrician that a ballast only costs about $8. Why do they always try to take advantage of women's ignorance in matters such as these (and with cars too!) Makes me wonder how much more of my hard earned money I've had to spend on stupid stuff like that.

 

[Judge]

What about modern electronic ballasts? I had to throw my whole kitchen light away twice because of a faulty ballast. The damn electrician tried to get me to have a new ballast put in for over $200 which I didn't - I just ended up getting a whole new light. Later, I found out from a neighbor that used to be an electrician that a ballast only costs about $8. Why do they always try to take advantage of women's ignorance in matters such as these (and with cars too!) Makes me wonder how much more of my hard earned money I've had to spend on stupid stuff like that.

My experience with kitchen fluorescent lights whether as an owner or renter has always been pretty simple. In almost every case it was simply a matter of the bulb losing sufficient contact within the fixture itself. After that, just a bad bulb that needed to be replaced. Never an actual ballast problem.

 

[Grumpy Cat]

My experience with kitchen fluorescent lights whether as an owner or renter has always been pretty simple. In almost every case it was simply a matter of the bulb losing sufficient contact within the fixture itself. After that, just a bad bulb that needed to be replaced. Never an actual ballast problem.

On this last one my neighbor also said it was the ballast and offered just to put a new one in and save the light. However, me being a girl, I had already bought the next light that I was excited about and wanted that one put up instead. (Yes the light came from Amazon, of course).

 

[Nitro]

My experience with flourescent lighting after very well documented and thorough studies of cradle to grave overall costs were improved by leaving them on...it reduced tube,ballast and mechanical damage from changing them and overall amounts of electricity to restart them...the study went on for a decade with hundreds of fixtures in the plant,so I figure it to be fairly accurate.
I have seen many ballasts fail during the times the lamps were started daily.

Satco S3159 120V 75-Watt T4 DC Bayonet Base Light Bulb, Clear - Halogen Bulbs - Amazon.com bayonet based bulb in your mecca

My automotive service years were quite prosperous with a penchant for honesty.
If you perform a service well and do it a reasonable price,your customer will tell a few...if you do it poorly and crank up the cash register,you won't need to advertise that you are a high priced hack...they will tell everyone for you.

I made a lot of money selling preventative maintenance and offering related services while the work was still opened up to save future costs for related labor. Instead of hitting your ears with technical terminology,I would take it to the level the customer would understand...more simply put,half of a job usually costs twice as much in the end

My customer base was very tilted towards female customers in a male dominated industry

 

[Grumpy Cat]

I can't exactly keep my fluorescent lights on 24/7 (which I take that you are implying), but I should just turn them on once a day then turn off when I go to bed is an a cep table practice? Will keeping them on increase my electrical bill by much?

 

[Nitro]

I can't exactly keep my fluorescent lights on 24/7 (which I take that you are implying), but I should just turn them on once a day then turn off when I go to bed is an a cep table practice? Will keeping them on increase my electrical bill by much?

it requires more energy to start one that to let it burn...thermal shock on restart is part of what does in any type of lighting...I have seen flourescent tubes last for over ten years when left on constantly...I have seen tubes go bad in under one year at times when they were started daily...Case quantities were purchased and it could get quite expensive to have failures with parts and labor costs on scores of fixtures...I did my homework
A flickering tube trashes a ballast and black hands will appear on an end when the tube starts to go bad...I have never had a CFL bulb failure in three years since I switched to them at home...need about two dozen incandescent bulbs I refuse to throw away but know I will never use again?
I really like the LED units available now,but do not trust the internal electronics that support the home bulbs yet...The huge heat sinks that are on those bulbs are to get rid of heat,the enemy of electricity created by the circuitry that is used to modulate higher current (rapidly switched on and off) to make them brighter.
Now I have to study those too dammit

 

[stanmgk]

At the school, they call me "that stupid box of curiosities which you can't close".

> Buys a new lightbulb, realize it's from Philips.
> "Hey, do you know Philips is a Dutch company, located in Amsterdam, founded by Eindhoven in 1891 and Gerald Philips..."
> Insert the lightbulb in the socket, start taking pictures, looks obsessed to the logos.

 

[zurb]

I worked at an electronics company with a largish campus. All the engineers liked to debate about whether turning the lights on/off or leaving them on was better for costs. While it was certainly true in the past that leaving them on was best, the maintenance guys insisted it was outdated by the newer installations where there was no benefit by leaving them on. They even installed motion detectors and timers in meeting rooms where people tended to leave them on. The new electronic ballasts also solved the intermittent flickering we kept getting.

As for screw bulbs, I find usually a 'blown' bulb just hasn't been screwed in firm enough. Tightening it often fixes the problem. But then when it really is blown one tends to either screw out the fitting, or the glass comes off the base. I prefer bayonet mounts, except the fittings here are cheap and tend to break very fast. Electricians seem to like installing bayonet. The supermarket likes stocking screw.

Bayonet on the left, screw on the right

 

[Grumpy Cat]

I worked at an electronics company with a largish campus. All the engineers liked to debate about whether turning the lights on/off or leaving them on was better for costs. While it was certainly true in the past that leaving them on was best, the maintenance guys insisted it was outdated by the newer installations where there was no benefit by leaving them on. They even installed motion detectors and timers in meeting rooms where people tended to leave them on. The new electronic ballasts also solved the intermittent flickering we kept getting.

As for screw bulbs, I find usually a 'blown' bulb just hasn't been screwed in firm enough. Tightening it often fixes the problem. But then when it really is blown one tends to either screw out the fitting, or the glass comes off the base. I prefer bayonet mounts, except the fittings here are cheap and tend to break very fast. Electricians seem to like installing bayonet. The supermarket likes stocking screw.

Bayonet on the left, screw on the right

I've never seen that kind of bulb. Do you need a special lamp for that bayonet bulb?

(I must say, you guys are a wealth of information! I think that is just too cool!)

 

[zurb]

Do you need a special lamp for that bayonet bulb?

Bayonet and screw are not interchangeable. It depends on the socket which bulb you need.

 

[Grumpy Cat]

Bayonet and screw are not interchangeable. It depends on the socket which bulb you need.

This may be a really crazy question, but do we have them in the US?

 

[Randomperson]

Why does the light bulb have to change at all? Why can the world not just accept the light bulb as it is?

 

[zurb]

Why does the light bulb have to change at all? Why can the world not just accept the light bulb as it is?

If I asked about a dead horse, I would hope most aspies would agree it is better to stop flogging it and bury it instead. It's usually NTs that want to shoot me when I make such suggestions. While a light bulb might not smell the same as a dead horse, I think there may still be advantages in changing it.

 

[Randomperson]

If I asked about a dead horse, I would hope most aspies would agree it is better to stop flogging it and bury it instead. It's usually NTs that want to shoot me when I make such suggestions. While a light bulb might not smell the same as a dead horse, I think there may still be advantages in changing it.

How would swapping one dead horse for another dead horse help with dead horse smell?

 

[zurb]

If we pile the dead horses on top of each other, we might not need the ladder to change the bulb. That's one problem solved.

 

[Grumpy Cat]

I just found those bayonet bulbs at Amazon. Thank goodness.

What in the heck do dead horses have to do with this? Are you trying to make horseradish sauce now or worse - glue?!

 

[StephF]

One Bulb to rule them all, One Bulb to find them,
One Bulb to bring them all and in the darkness bind them

 

[zurb]

What in the heck do dead horses have to do with this?

The dead horses are actually red herrings, and if it's red herrings that do the bio-luminance thing then the whole problem is solved.

 

[Nitro]

zurb...the maintenance guys?...
one more aspie to question their methodology and timeframe of studies

 

[StephF]

The dead horses are actually red herrings

Wow, so is it just dead horses that transmogrify into aquatic lifeforms ? Presumably the cellular decay process starts off the transmogrification process ?

So I can take from this that deceased equines become bio-luminescent ? I expect that the odours would offset the values posed by the gains in lighting ?

Perhaps spraying the red herrings with deodarant would help ?