compact fluorescent bulbs?

P

piper spice

Folkie
Hey ho,

I'm thinking of switching to compact fluorescent bulbs in my recording room. Are these a bad idea, ie: do they "hum" or otherwise screw up the power for my DAW? (Apparently dimmer switches are A Bad Thing, but i haven't read anything about these CF bulbs other than they use less juice...)

Thanks,

piper.
 
Not really on topic, but I have a great use for compact florescent lamps. I stole it from Frank Ford, off his website Frets.com. Everyone in my shop loves these things, as they are cool enough to put in a guitar, but bright as hell.

We also use them in all the fixtures down in the basement (where all the heavy machinery is), and we like them a lot down there. The light is pleasant (not nearly as harsh as a standard florescent), and they last for ages, as long as no one whacks them with a ten foot piece of mahogany.


Light


"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
 
piper spice said:
Hey ho,

I'm thinking of switching to compact fluorescent bulbs in my recording room. Are these a bad idea, ie: do they "hum" or otherwise screw up the power for my DAW? (Apparently dimmer switches are A Bad Thing, but i haven't read anything about these CF bulbs other than they use less juice...)

Thanks,

piper.
Click to expand...

The screw-in flourescents are not dimmer compatible, at least with the dimmers consumers can buy at home depot, lowes, and other places.

I have one such bulb in my vocal booth, really just to avoid having lighting adding heat to the already small room. I had a dimmable 100W bulb in the fixture originally, left the door closed over night, and wow, was very hot in the morning heh-heh.

I don't get any hum from that bulb or the flourescent fixture in the ceiling, but then again, I have all the lighting, the window AC, phone system, space heater, air purifier et al. on a seperate circuit from the rest of my studio. In fact, I have seperate circuits for the computer stuff, and the audio stuff.
 
Heat is another reason i'm thinking of switching, with summer coming up. My room is sort of a cave, and it needs lots of light. Unfortunately it's all on a single circuit. (No dimmers or anything.)

But i wondered if there was any likelihood of the CF bulbs causing any noise in the room or in the electrical supply.

So far it sounds like they're safe enough. Anybody else use them in their studios?

Be seeing you,

piper.
 
Yes, they hum.

Compact fluorescents are just a modified configuration of regular fluorescents, and if they're on the same circuit, they will cause hum just like regular ones. You might try one, just to see if you get lucky. Also, it seems to me that the farther away in the circuit it is, the less the effect, but it's still there. Sorry to rain on your parade.
 
yeah he's right

he's right (cardio, that is) They do hum, and also, if you attempt to use them on a line with a dimmer, their response rate is high, meaning it takes a certain amount of juice for them to come on. The end result; my church has them in their wall sconces, and when we bring the lights up from blackout, everything else dims up as normal, but the fluor's kinda "pop" on. Kinda like they have to have a certain amount of power to wake up. Kinda like me. hmmm. anyone know why this is (the fluor's, not me :) )
 
On a related issue....has anyone tried the new LED light bulbs? I think they are still rather expensive, but have incredible lifetime and efficiency...much better than even fluorescent. I think they can tune/mix different color LEDs to get a very natural light as well. They are already being used for traffic lights, etc. but I have yet to actually see one for room lighting.
 
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