Tech Notes from the Field

Yes, I installed Debian Linux on an old laptop at home! Yeah, now I get to poke around and learn more about that OS. In the meantime we here in CA can’t purchase incandescent light bulbs any longer; well, at least the >40W jobs. Anyways, before this over regulation went into affect we installed LEDs in our track lighting for the studios. Power savings is awesome, but longevity is lacking.

Power savings: We cut back from 5 amps to 1 amp on circuits that had 10 halogen type bulbs. Very cool. We were “forced” into this situation due to our serve panel being overloaded. You thought you had an old facility? This lower current draw and the fact that we are not producing as much heat has helped on the bills and cooling. Great stuff.

Longevity has been hit and miss. These GUI10 type bulbs are VERY expensive in my opinion. We decided to hit up a less expensive source, China, and the results have been mixed. Many after about 6 months started to do the disco thing. Flashing. My guess is the cheap capacitors in the circuits drying up. One day I may try and “repair” one and see what happens. Some of these bulbs have lasted a year. A handful have lasted longer.
For the price, what are we to expect since going to a Home Depot or the like the bulbs run almost $20 a pop! Bend over, this is going to hurt. Here is the interesting fact. We tried a couple of these “better” bulb, where better = more expensive, and discovered they last the same amount of time! Seems like these things are not ready for prime time. Wonder if this is some sort of scam the state and manufacturers have. That’s the conspiracy theorist in me talking.

At home I decided to upgrade a ceiling lamp in my daughter’s room with 2 FEIT Electric bulbs, purchased from Costco, for about $20 for a 3-pack.  They work, but they are LOUD!  Buzz central.  These are supposedly dimmable.  Yeah, they dim, but they sure are LOUD.  Full power or not, they make noise.  I may try a different dimmer switch.  I do have an LED in our hallway lamp which is going on 2 years now.  Again, hit and miss with quality and longevity.

Bottom line is I like LED lights.  Bright and efficient.  I am disappointed in the cost and longevity for incandescent replacements.  Where LEDs excel are in flashlights!  They are best in flashlights, but quality of light varies greatly among the flashlights I own, and us broadcast engineers seem to like flashlights.  My favorite, by far, is the Mag-lite.  Strong and bright, the LED outlasts the batteries.  I could not remove the D-cells from a Mag-lite due to excessive corrosion.  Had to toss it, so check those batteries.  Now someone produce a good incandescent replacement that doesn’t cost an arm, a leg, and a liver!