(The first and last burned out within a few weeks. See log below.)
Summary:
Buy Commercial Electric (CE) ultra mini compact fluorescent (CF) lights. They are smaller and cheaper than ever, and seem to be reliable. Don’t buy Lights of America (LOA) CFs.
Just bought two six packs (a dozen) of Commercial Electric Ultra Mini Spiral Lamps. The CE bulbs I already have are holding up, including the one they mailed me after a good customer service experience.
These are very small. Smaller than a regular light bulb or the burned out LOA bulb seen in this photo. They seem to put out as much light as the larger bulbs. (In this case 60 watt equivalent.)
The ultra minis are replacing three LOA Model 2425 Bulbs that burned out very quickly. Unlike my good Commercial Electric experience, Lights of America wanted me to mail in forms with receipts etc. I just won’t buy from them anymore.
Commercial Electric puts a customer service number right on the bulbs: 800-378-6998. That’s a good sign. The sale price at Home Depot was $9.95 per six pack. Too good to pass up.
Specs:
Light Output (Lumens) 900
Energy Used (Watts) 14
Life (Hours) 10,000
SKU # 292-460
Model: EDXO-14
14W 200A
V#42836
Customer Service: 1-800-378-6998
Marketing:
Lasts 7 Years Guaranteed*
This Package Saves You $276.00
$46.00 in Energy Costs Per Bulb
Lasts 10 Times Longer Than Standard Bulbs
*based on 4 hours average use per day
*savings based on 10 cents per kilowatt hour
They are replacing larger Lights of America Model 2425.
The Light Log – a 7 Year Experiment
Last updated 11-23-2005
Installation Date / Fixture
- 1-3-2005 / Basement Hallway South. Died 1-23-2005
- 1-3-2005 / Basement Hallway North
- 1-3-2005 / Basement Office South
- 1-3-2005 / Basement Office South
- 1-3-2005 / Basement Office North
- 1-3-2005 / Basement Office North
- 1-3-2005 / Basement TV Room East
- 1-5-2005 / Piano
- 1-15-2005 / Upstairs hall East (Moved to basement hall south 3/6/06)
- 1-15-2005 / Master Bedroom Closet 1
- 7-10-2005 / Upstairs hall West (Moved to basement main west 3/6/06)
- 9-3-2005 / Master Bedroom Closet 2. Died 11-23-2005.
Now playing: You Sexy Thing by Hot Chocolate
That’s funny you should write this. I just had a Commercial Electric bulb go out on me. I do think it was one of their older ones which used a larger spiral than the newer ones. The one that burned out was a 20 watt bulb with 3 coils, but the one I replaced it with was 19 watts with 4 coils. I should really write the dates on them so I would know how long they actually last. My lamppost outside goes through regular bulbs like crazy but fluorescents would last a longer (still burn out before their time) until that lamppost stopped working altogether.
The thing is that now the bulbs are so cheap that what’s the point of returning them? Not that that would stop me. I only use the fluorescents in lights where they are on almost all the time or are set to come on by timer (I heard once that flipping them on and off shortens their life): kitchen, dining room, and 4 lamps on timer in the den and living room. No good for bathrooms or bedrooms.
I didn’t return my bulb. I sent a very polite and friendly e-mail, and they sent me a new bulb. I used this e-mail address: [email protected].
If you get no response, you may want to try Pamela.
We have one of those bulbs in the tv room that Ted installed years ago and it is still working. Only trouble is that it is so dim you can’t read by it.
Jeb, I wanted to add something to our login, but can’t remember what my login name is. I tried everything I could think of. Also, I’ll see if I can put another picture on, but doubt it. I’ve downloaded all my pictures to Patsy’s laptop, but they are huge. You can delete this comment after you read it.
Well, this page popped up in a Google search for Commercial
Electronics phone #, so I might as well add to it. My kitchen/dining
area has several recessed lamps meant for 75W R40 floods. As they’ve
been burning out, I’ve been replacing them with Home Depot’s
Commercial Electric’s 19W match (EDXR-40-19). I haven’t been too
terribly impressed, Internal paint (glue?) has been flaking off and
pooling on the shell. One lamp I think is gassy and is slowly dying,
and another had the interior bulb just break loose. I think it’s
hanging on by one wire and is dark. They also buzz moderately,
especially when cold.
Their light makes egg yolks look weird, but not as bad as other
compact fluorescents I’ve seen. That’s the only complaint I have
about light quatity/quality.
So, what the heck, I called 800-378-6998 and a pleasant woman volunteered
to send out replacements for the two lamps I reported. All she wanted
was SKU number, the lot(?) number near the threads, and assurance I hadn’t
done anything like put them on a dimmer control. She told me to
toss the old bulbs when the new ones arrive.
I have to replace another incandescent, so I bought a EDXR-40-19
and a couple halogens, one for the stove, and one for a spare.
The CF bulb was $9.97 ($2 rebate from power company I think) and
has a 6 year warranty, the halogen was $6.97 no rebate, and a 2 year
promise. Maybe I should just learn to like funny-colored yolks….
That’s funny about the yolks. I accidentally got a package of “natural light” bulbs, but really they are just bluish and more like a typical fluorescent. I put them in my bathroom (which has green and white tile) and when you see the light coming out of the door it does kind of look like daylight streaming out. But when I see myself in the mirror in there I look pretty ghastly. More than usual anyway. Be careful when you buy bulbs. Other bulbs I’ve gotten have a warmer incandescent light.
Prompted by Ric’s comment, I called the 800 # on the compact bulb that burned out within 2 weeks of install last January. It went to a voicemail box. I left my address, phone, and the model number of the bulb I wanted to have replaced. We’ll see what happens. (All other 11 bulbs are still functioning, including in “high on/off” locations like our bedroom closet.)
Seems like a lot of the above questions relate to the CRI (Color Rendering Index) of the lamps in question or how well they reproduce accurate or natural seeming colors with the light. This detail is what I am searching for at the moment, much less the website for the company. I’m thinking it’s something like http://www.tpcpi.com which there in the lamp specifications would tell you how close to 100 that CRI is. On a compact fluorescent something in the 80’s to mid 90’s is often possible and would be really good.
Quality control is as it is.
When choosing a compact fluorescent or any arc source lamp, it’s a question of luminous output, wattage, color temperature, life and CRI. Short of all the data available of specified in choosing you get green eggs it would seem.
No matter what color temperature – blue or yellowish white the lamp is shining at, it has no relation to actual color rendering.
Hope it’s of help.
As mentioned elsewhere*, our house is turning yellow. Kathy was not happy with the green tint the newly painted yellow hallway had because of #9 and #11 above. So I moved both bulbs to openings in the basement. Both mini CEs are living with their older, larger LOA cousins.
* See: Yellow House
My edxo-14 just burn out. I can’t remember the last time I replace it. Witch is a good thing.