Compact fluorescent,  and LED and other high-efficiency lamps in the emerging field of Solid State Lighting (SSL) promise dramatic advantages in energy use and control convenience in homes, businesses and industry. Although high-efficiency has been the primary focus in promotion of these lamps, all the new technologies also claim significantly longer lamp life, as well as a variety of other advantages not widely reported.

Long lamp life, and its implications

CFL manufacturers typically claim  a lamp life of 10,000 hours, which translates to almost five years for a lamp operating six hours/day year round. Compared to 1,500 hours for a basic incandescent or 2,500 hours for the highest-quality halogen incandescents, this is quite significant. LED’s typically claim a 50,000 hour life, which is more than five years of always on lamp life. In that six hour/day application, such a lamp might last twenty-two years!

The life of a lamp

Every lamp type has a different statistical failure profile and characteristic failure mode. Incandescents have a fairly steady lumen (light) output and color output for their entire life, which typically ends very suddenly, whether with a wimper or, occasionally, a bang. Typically the lamp’s filament burns out and breaks, opening the electric circuit and preventing the further flow of current and production of heat that normally causes the filament to ‘incandesce’. Sometimes, the broken filament falls loose in a way that re-connects the circuit through a fully-conductive portion of the filament assembly not designed to heat up and incandesce. The momentary unlimited current flow vaporizes the metal in a miniature arc flash that can be noisy, and may even shatter the bulb and/or burn out dimmers or switches controlling the circuit.

Fluorescent lamps’ failure mode is more progressive than filament-type lamps, but still relatively quick. It may involve a few days or months of erratic output at the end of life, and can be recognized by the scorched rings at the ends of tube type fluorescent lamps.

LED’s typically diminish in output slowly from the day you put them in service. ‘Failure’ for an LED lamp has been defined as the hour the output falls to 60% of the rated output (rated output may sometimes be lower than initial output, so that the manufacturer can claim longer life before the lamp reaches its 60%-of-rating moment. For the newest LED products (and the better ones are all new), no one has actually tested the lamp life claims being made; the lamp may have been prototyped a year ago and its lamp life is five years or more, so it’s actually impossible for anyone to test the expected lamp life before sale! Fortunately, the LED components used in the lamp have a long track-record under careful study and the slow degradation of output during the lamp’s first 1,000 hours can provide an accurate projection of its performance during the subsequent 49,000.

For very sensitive applications, you will also want to consider the color output and quality over the life of the lamp.

Lamp life and maintenance cost

One of the most important aspects of lamp life relates to the lamp application. For difficult lamp-change applications such as remote locations or high ceilings or difficult fixture or other lamp enclosures, the longer the life, the better the cost savings in re-lamping labor and/or security issues relating stemming from lamps being left unchanged due to technical difficulty, after failure.

See also:

• 2013 lamp replacement guide

Licensed Electrician Robert Monk Advantages of LED lamps and high-efficiency lamps Copyright Robert Monk, 2012

2FL Rear: ceiling fan in master bedroom

Replacing the ceiling fan your dad put up?

Some things have changed.

Pull-chain controls remain a classic and inexpensive option, but many people will expect more.

1. New technology allows individual fan speed and dimming control from any existing switch location.
2. Add-on remotes can provide the same controls from anywhere within 30′ of the fan/light being controlled.
3. Some available add-on remotes even provide automated thermostatic control, turning the fan on and off based on a user-set temperature like an HVAC thermostat.

Dimming for the lighting component of a ceiling fan has new pit-falls relating to use with CFL and LED lamps.

1. Existing dimmers may burn themselves out in a shorter lifetime, burn out the costlier lamps.
2. Dimmers may not work properly at all, when connected in the circuit with CFL and LED lamps.
3. Failure modes range from the simple elimination of dimming range with the new lamps (you have to use the dimmer at full brightness) to lamp failure or dimmer failure in a matter of days, or intolerable flicker. If your fixture has multiple lampholders and you don’t want to address these problems directly, yet, try installing a single old-fashioned incandescent along with the high-efficiency lamp. If you are purchasing new controls or a fan packaged with a control module, verify that it is approved for use with CFL and other high-efficiency lamp types, or that a compatible dimmable high-efficiency lamp will be available. Typically, on/off controls that have no dimming function will be a safe bet for all lamp types, while dimming controls may work satisfactorily with dimmable CFL’s or LED’s, whether the control is ‘CFL-rated’ or not (read reviews online).

What should I buy?

I recently answered this question basically, for no-frills ceiling fan/light kits to be installed on new, un-switched circuits I will be running where the customer is renting and on a tight budget set by the landlord. The availability of remote control modules compatible with almost all fan types means that I can save the customer the cost of retrofitting a switch circuit into a wall that is remote from the power source and cable/circuit path to the ceiling fan. Here is what I said on fan/light and remote controls selection:

Fan/light kits

For the fans, I recommend something like:

Hampton Bay Brookhurst 52 in. Ceiling Fan

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Note that all drop-tube mounted fans may also mount semi-snug with no drop tube at all, by screwing the cowling on top of the fan to the canopy at the ceiling box. I prefer the drop-tube type fan because of this flexibility AND because the drop-tube hanger bracket inside the decorative ceiling canopy creates a nice holder for remote control receiver units, and its presence guarantees that I can fit the receiver into the canopy, whereas some snug-mount fans sold with no drop-tube option may not be compatible with 3rd-party remote receivers.

Remote Control Modules

Hampton Bay Portable Ceiling Fan Remote Control

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Please pick up a 9V battery for each remote, if one is, typically, not included. Note that this particular remote will not function properly with CFL lamps (possibly not even with expensive and so-called ‘dimmable’ CFL lamps). It may work with new high-efficiency dimmable LED lamps, such as the $10 Utilitech Pro model from Lowe’s I have reviewed at:  http://www.phillylicensedelectrician.com/have-led-lamps-come-of-age/. I have a remote dimming module that only works if  at least 1 of the 3 lamps installed is a standard incandescent. It seems the LED lamps by themselves are so efficient that some older dimmer modules don’t properly recognize their presence in the circuit. Unfortunately, it seems like Lowe’s ceiling fan prices are 10-20% higher than Home Depot’s, and Home Depot doesn’t sell an inexpensive LED lamp.

If you are set on using CFL’s and/or don’t trust that compatible dimmable LED’s are going to turn up sooner than later, then an on/off only (non-dimming) remote is your best choice.

Something like:

Hunter Basic On and Off Ceiling Fan Remote Control

(3)

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A careful ceiling-fan installation avoids bent blade brackets (a source of wobble) and ensures that the electrical enclosure/mechanical support box above the fan is rated and UL listed for fan support.

Note, though, that reviews posted on the Home Depot website suggest there may be issues with this particular example of a CFL-compatible, non-dimming on/off dimmer. You can go the other way on price and spend ~$50/remote for dimming remotes that claim compatibility with CFL’s.

See also:

• Lutron: FAQ on dimming controls for compatible CFL and LED lamps

Licensed Electrician Robert Monk New ceiling fans for summer (and winter) Copyright Robert Monk, 2012

The NEC-required GFCI receptacle at the vanity features GFCI protection from a remote device in the utility room behind the shower enclosure (glass walls not yet installed), avoiding unnecessary button clutter on the devices located in this finished area.

3-gang lighting and fan controls includes a logic-controlled fan timer to conserve energy.

A damp location recessed fixture lamped with new LED technology will not need a lamp change for up to 50,000 hours of lamp on-time. The LED performs particularly well in this application, where the luminaire uses its focused downward beam to the maximum, the diffuser adds a bit of warmth to the otherwise slightly cool 3000K color temperature, and the difficult lamp-change procedure behind a gasketed damp location recess trim could be a nuisance using shorter-life lamps (even CFL's have a rated life less than half as long).

Robert Monk Electric delivered the electrical installation as quoted during coordination on a tight schedule with other trades. A $50 additional charge applied to relocate the heater timer from beside the entrance doorway to beside the vanity GFCI (requested during construction), and the customer approved a $10 charge (cost) for the upgrade to LED lamp for the recessed damp location ceiling light.

See also:

• Utilitech Pro 7.5W LED A19 Lamp Review
• Utilitech Pro 7.5W LED A19 Lamp at Lowe’s
• Lighting controls products

Licensed Electrician Robert Monk Basement bath renovations electrical Copyright Robert Monk, 2012

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Licensed Electrician Robert Monk PennFuture announces new Keystone HELP money available Copyright Robert Monk, 2012

Licensed Electrician Robert Monk Energy Conservation for Qualifying Low/Moderate Income Copyright Robert Monk, 2012