Hi folks,
Today, I tried to resolve some of my lighting issues.
An acquaintance has a 55 watt CFL bulb, which is equivalent to a 200 watt incandescent bulb. He let me try it. It is huge. I mean, it is monstrous. It is about 5 times the size of a 23 watt CFL bulb. It wouldn't fit in the socket of my "
work light" because the base (which contains the ballast) is too wide. Also, the threads looked different too. So, we couldn't even test it. Are all high wattage CFL bulbs that huge? Or is this bulb intended for a specific application?
I tried a brand new 23 watt CFL bulb in my
work light. It wouldn't
work. I thought that maybe it was defective. So, I took the 23 watt CFL bulb out my kitchen light fixture and put it in my
work light. That bulb wouldn't
work either. Then, it got stuck and wouldn't unscrew or come out. It took me about 10 agonizing minutes to get it out of the socket. I put the incandescent bulb back in it, and it worked. So, I
had a mystery on my
hands. The incandescent bulb worked, but the CFL bulbs wouldn't. I spoke to a relative. He told me to pry up the metal contact at the base of the socket, which I did. Sure enough, it worked. The CFL bulbs worked after I bent it up.
I also brought up from my cellar my
goose neck desk
lamp which I used when I was a graduate student back in 1989-1990. It has two 15 watt fluorescent bulbs in it. They are not CFL bulbs. They are the old
style fluorescent bulbs. I don't know how the wattage translates.
So, now my lighting set-up (my fourth different version) consists of 4 different light sources:
Sunlight, which
comes in from my kitchen window.
My kitchen light fixture, which hangs from the ceiling. It contains one 23 watt CFL bulb, which is equivalent to a 100 watt incandescent bulb.
My "
work light", which I clamp onto the bottom of my kitchen light fixture. It contains one 23 watt CFL bulb.
My
goose neck desk
lamp, which contains two 15 watt fluorescent bulbs.
I tested this set-up at night. It appears to be bright. I didn't take any photos using it yet.
One idea I am toying with is putting some sort of (Y-shaped?) "splitter" in my
work light. That way, I'll be able to put two 23 watt CFL bulbs in it. That would produce the equivalent of a 200 watt incandescent bulb.
So, that's where I am at now.
Meepzorp