Good god! Here's a choice quote from the linked article:
"The Underwriters Laboratories, the organization responsible for the safety
and testing of the bulbs, said some manufacturers have changed the
circuitry to reduce the negative effects when the bulbs burn out. They say
people should not be alarmed if they see smoke or flames, however.
?The reality is in investigations of these incidents, we generally find
it?s just the end of life,? said the organization."
Not to be "alarmed" if they see smoke or flames, and "It's just the END
OF
LIFE"?! Wow, nice choice of words, there.. yeah, the end of life for the
children sleeping upstairs, I guess.
So I'm not really the conspiracy type - but either the UL has been
bought-off by the CFL mfrs, or that organization is a pale, hollow shell of
its former self. Since when in hell does the UL not consider +open flames+
from a small appliance to be a cause for alarm? There
was a time when they
freaked-out over excessively large or improperly placed cooling
slots, that
could allow a child (or idiot) to stick an object into the works of an
electrical device.. and yet today they brush-off light bulbs that
'commonly' emit smoke and flame?
On Fri, Nov 7, 2014 at 9:34 PM, Mike Stein <mhs.stein at gmail.com> wrote:
"Don't be alarmed if you see smoke or
fire" (coming out of your CFLs) -
"It's just the end of life"
http://winnipeg.ctvnews.ca/consumerwatch-cfl-bulb-safety-1.1210152
CFLs definitely do not like being enclosed or upside down; they can also
create substantial RF interference.And then there's the mercury content,
dim
light, especially when cold, etc. But they're a good source of parts...
I haven't had my LED lamps long enough yet to see how they fare in those
conditions.
m
----- Original Message ----- From: "Chuck Guzis" <cclist at sydex.com>
To: <General at classiccmp.org>; "Discussion at classiccmp.org:On-Topic and
Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at classiccmp.org>
Sent: Friday, November 07, 2014 10:09 PM
Subject: Re: Osborne Vixen - Zenith 7" display t-shooting issues
On 11/07/2014 06:59 PM, drlegendre . wrote:
Sales guy there once said that the local utility (here it's Xcel Energy)
subsidizes the prices for some reason.. must be
some idiot carbon-cutting
/
offsetting regulation crap, or something like that, I'd guess. But FWIW,
that's what we were told. Gotta keep those polar bears in seal blubber,
ya
know..
Oh, I think I pay less than $2 the each here, but a lot of those things
are really Chinese crap--and they seldom last their stated life. If all
my fixtures were base-down, they might last longer, but they're not--by an
large, they're IC recessed "cans". One of the reasons that I don't
invest
in LED Edison base replacements is that I suspect the electronics will
have its life considerably shortened by thermal issues.
Manufacturers hem and haw about this issue a lot.
--Chuck