Dimmable CFL, EBay and UPB

[hucker]

I have been looking on ebay and seeing stuff these ULA bulbs:

http://tinyurl.com/5m3j84

the cost is very low. My BS detector is pegged, but there are sellers with 100% ratings selling these things.

Do these bulbs work? What does mini mean when referring to CFL bulbs. Is the light OK -- for a garage, closet, playroom? Can UPB dim them? (I found a review on Amazon that says the dimming is granular, not smooth...) They are cheap enough that it is probably worth just buying them but I'm wondering if there is any dimmable CFL knowledge here that can help me break into dimmables on my UPB system.

Thanks!

 

[samgreco]

I'd be curious about color too.

 

[sky-chicken]

I have over 40 bulbs replaced in my house with this brand.
I bought them on eBay for $2 per bulb including shipping and last week I bought them at Saveway for 50 cent per bulb.

The color is clear white and change after a couple days to light yellow so you can not tell the difference between the original bulbs. Dimming works very well down to 30% but decrease the bulb life allot.

Great bulbs with 2 caveats

1) when dim down to 30% they "hum" (have 24 in my living room and it is noisy but if you have only 1-2 you will not notice)
2) because I have so many in the living room and we dim down to around 30% the bulb life is 6 month before they break. (HAD TO REPLACE 18 FROM 24 IN 6 MONTH) but my dimmer now has to take care of 400 watt and not 1200 anymore

-Sky

 

[jwilson56]

I have bought these and they work well with my Switchlinc X10

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...em=170275318276

I don't dim down to 30% much but they do still ramp up slow pretty well.

Can't beat the price

 

[MikeB]

John -

How's the color compared to standard incandescents?

I'd love to find these locally somewhere to give them a shot, but don't believe we have any Saveways in NE...

 

[BLH]

I believe [memory here] the color temperature for the ULA Dim-ables I got was 2700K.
Mine liked to be started at Full On and dimmed down.

 

[jwilson56]

These will ramp up from low to full on fine with my Switchlinc. As for color... they seem acceptable (not sure the specs) and my wife and I have not noticed any thing that would make them undesirable. We went from using 60W to these that are equiv to 75W.

 

[hucker]

Thanks all, I'm going to buy a bunch and see how it goes...

 

[tmbrown97]

Let us know. For whatever reason, I prefer CFL over Incandescent - for the low-load factor... but I miss dimming, I hate the slow warmup, and some of them have horrible color. I'd love a middle-ground, even if I can't dim below 30%.

 

[MikeB]

Ditto.

 

[programmergeek]

I bought a bunch of dimable floresents off ebay and they worked great. I wouldn't use them in a HT but around the hous it works well of course I am using regular dimmers, not sure how they will react with x10.

 

[jwilson56]

Let us know. For whatever reason, I prefer CFL over Incandescent - for the low-load factor... but I miss dimming, I hate the slow warmup, and some of them have horrible color. I'd love a middle-ground, even if I can't dim below 30%.

Well I vouch for the Ebay link I posted above. They work fine for my Switchlinc X10 with neutral wires and dim down pretty well

 

[nathansvt]

I bought some of these on ebay, I forget the seller. One of the 12 was DOA. I can confirm that they buzz at anything under 50% dim, and the color was inconsistent between bulbs, with a few casting a purplish hue. Mine were stickered with "Not For Resale" PG&E stickers, so I suspect they were purchased on a utility discount or rebate plan then resold online.

And they're not very "mini", being about the same size as a standard incandescent rather than the smaller size I've become accustomed to seeing in most off-the-shelf CFLs.

I suppose if you can buy them locally they're not a bad deal, but I won't be getting any more once these go.

 

[jwilson56]

I doubt they were from the same vendor as I bought from. Mine were not labeled and as far as I can tell they don't buzz unless you dim right at turn on point.

 

[hucker]

I doubt they were from the same vendor as I bought from. Mine were not labeled and as far as I can tell they don't buss unless you dim right at turn on point.

My lights came in and they are working pretty well. I put them in without telling the wife and there were no complaints. My neighbor told me not to put them in the playroom becuase the kids could break them. They do dim well to a low level but it wasn't really linear. I'm not totally happy with the color. I can tell it is flourescent but it isn't to bad. Worth the savings thus far...