V
Victor Roberts
- Jan 1, 1970
- 0
I apologize for the delay in posting the additional info
about Light Fair promised in my original notes, but I came
down with a bug the day after I returned from Las Vegas,
something I probably picked up there or on the plane flight
home, and am just about getting back to normal.
In 2006 we saw a cycle that apparently started at Lighting
Fair 2004 in Las Vegas. The "big three" seem to have
decided that they need a full-size Lighting Fair exhibit
only once every two years instead of every year. In 2004
Osram Sylvania had only the minimum-size booth, 10 feet by
10 feet I think, the booth didn't seem to be staffed on the
first day and it had almost no product information. I don't
remember the size of the Philips booth at LF 2004 but do
remember it was rather small and the GE booth at LF 2004 was
significantly smaller than usual.
This year Osram Sylvania seemed to have the minimum size
booth again, but at least it was staffed full time. They
also had some new products on display and were distributing
a CD with more product info - but more about that later. The
Philips booth looked to be twice the minimum size while the
GE booth was about half the size of their booth at Light
Fair 2005 in New York.
The products that seemed to dominate at LF 2006 included
CFLs, LED applications, though not many new LEDs, dimming
ballasts for compact and linear fluorescent lamps and
electronic HID ballasts.
CFLs continue to get smaller and will therefore fit into an
every increasing range of fixtures. One new CFL that got my
attention was a 9-watt flat folded 6-leg CFL from Feit. As
far as I can tell, this lamp is not yet listed on the Feit
web site, but they have packaged this lamp in two different
fixtures: an under counter lamp that looks like a hockey
puck, and desk lamp. Both fixtures have built-in ballasts
and operate from 120 volts. The lamps are listed on the
Feit brochure given out at Light Fair as 10,000 hour and
6000K, which should make all the high CCT folks here rather
happy
I was told that the under counter lamps are
available now at Home Depot and Lowes for about $30 for a
three-pack. The desk lamp is not yet shipping.
Sylvania was showing a 120-volt, halogen PAR38 with an
integral electronic voltage reducer. The voltage reducer
allows the filament to be operated at its optimum design
voltage and also should provide a smaller source size, both
of which will increase lamp efficacy. They call this the
CAPSYLITE® e-PRO(tm). The press release on the Sylvania CD
distributed at Light Fair states: "Using a 35W lamp in
place of a 50W lamp provides a 30% energy savings with
nearly the same lumen output." No detailed data is given in
the press release, but my notes indicate that Sylvania staff
stated the 35-watt e-Pro had a rated output of 475 lumens
and a rated life of 4500 hours. A standard GE 50-watt
halogen PAR38 has a rated output of 600 lumens but a rated
life of only 2000 hours. GE also lists a long life PAR38
that has a rated output 450 lumens, a rated life of 4000
hours and rated power consumption of 46 watts at 120 volts.
So, the Sylvania energy saving claims seem valid when
compared to standard halogen PAR38 lamps. However, there
are other halogen PAR38 lamps, including HIR versions, that
have higher efficacy than standard lamps. For example, the
GE 50-watt HIR & SILV-IR PAR38 lamp is rated at 800 lumens
and 4000 hours at 120 volts. This gives an efficacy of 16
lm/W vs. 12.9 lm/W for the Sylvania e-PRO. Perhaps in the
future Sylvania will add their low voltage technology to
halogen lamps with IR-reflecting coatings.
The Sylvania e-PRO is not the first halogen incandescent
lamp with a built-in low voltage converter. GE has been
selling a 120-volt screw-in MR-16 type lamp with an integral
120-volt to 12-volt converter for at least a year and
perhaps longer. This is their Diamond Precise Electronic
MR16
Many of you know of my long term interest in electrodeless
fluorescent and HID lamps. I was therefore disappointed
that I didn't find any electrodess lamps on display -
perhaps the first time since Philips introduced the QL in
the early 1990's. I suspect one reason for the absence of
the Philips QL, the Sylvania Icetron/Endura and GE Genura at
Light Fair was the much smaller display areas each company
had this year. However, I also didn't see Tungda or any of
the other Chinese companies that showed electrodeless
fluorescent lamps at Light Fair in prior years. However,
the CD distributed by Sylvania continues to list their
DURA-ONE electrodeless CFLs that I believe were introduced
at Light Fair 2005 in New York. The DURA-ONE family
includes both a 23-watt BR30 that Sylvania says can replace
a 65-watt BR30 incandescent reflector lamp, and a 20-watt
A19 lamp that Sylvania states can replace a 75-watt
incandescent A-line lamp. I don't know if either of these
are available for sale yet.
On the negative side there were far too many displays that
made claims that were incomplete or not backed up with any
data. These ranged from a CFL dimmer system that was said
to be able to dim any screw-in CFL. However, the "ANY" was
qualified with a asterisk that was not explained on the
display. I had to ask more than once before the rep would
tell me that if their system was used to dim CFLs made by
companies other then their own they would have very short
life due to the lack of proper electrode heating while
dimmed. So, can this system really be used to dim "any"
CFL?
There was also an electronic HID ballast display that
promised 40% energy savings, but it was unclear what lamps
and operating conditions were being compared to obtain this
energy savings. Unlike fluorescent lamps, there is no known
increase in initial efficacy when HID lamps are operated on
high frequency. EM ballasts do not have 40% loss, so even
if this new electronic ballast had no loss, that is, if it
had an efficiency of 100%, this would not explain a 40%
energy savings for straight-up test of equal light output
from the same lamp using the new ballast vs. a conventional
EM ballast. Perhaps there were some special operating
conditions involved. However, since no data was given other
than the amazing energy savings, I could not tell. When I
tried to probe further with the staff at the booth, I didn't
get much more information, other than perhaps a 320-watt
metal halide lamp on the electronic ballast was compared to
a 400-watt metal halide on the EM ballast, but that was
contradicted by other staff at the same booth at other
times. This kind of stuff drives me nuts.
On the plus side I saw some interesting daylighting systems,
including one called Nature'sLighting,
http://www.natures-lighting.com/ and a virtual ceiling from
a place called The Sky Factory:
http://www.theskyfactory.com/ The virtual ceiling is
certainly not a high tech device, but something I really
liked and I think does have application in health care
facilities or any where else that people are confined
indoors for extended periods of time.
Well, there's more, but this note is long enough as it is.
--
Vic Roberts
http://www.RobertsResearchInc.com
To reply via e-mail:
replace xxx with vdr in the Reply to: address
or use e-mail address listed at the Web site.
This information is provided for educational purposes only.
It may not be used in any publication or posted on any Web
site without written permission.
about Light Fair promised in my original notes, but I came
down with a bug the day after I returned from Las Vegas,
something I probably picked up there or on the plane flight
home, and am just about getting back to normal.
In 2006 we saw a cycle that apparently started at Lighting
Fair 2004 in Las Vegas. The "big three" seem to have
decided that they need a full-size Lighting Fair exhibit
only once every two years instead of every year. In 2004
Osram Sylvania had only the minimum-size booth, 10 feet by
10 feet I think, the booth didn't seem to be staffed on the
first day and it had almost no product information. I don't
remember the size of the Philips booth at LF 2004 but do
remember it was rather small and the GE booth at LF 2004 was
significantly smaller than usual.
This year Osram Sylvania seemed to have the minimum size
booth again, but at least it was staffed full time. They
also had some new products on display and were distributing
a CD with more product info - but more about that later. The
Philips booth looked to be twice the minimum size while the
GE booth was about half the size of their booth at Light
Fair 2005 in New York.
The products that seemed to dominate at LF 2006 included
CFLs, LED applications, though not many new LEDs, dimming
ballasts for compact and linear fluorescent lamps and
electronic HID ballasts.
CFLs continue to get smaller and will therefore fit into an
every increasing range of fixtures. One new CFL that got my
attention was a 9-watt flat folded 6-leg CFL from Feit. As
far as I can tell, this lamp is not yet listed on the Feit
web site, but they have packaged this lamp in two different
fixtures: an under counter lamp that looks like a hockey
puck, and desk lamp. Both fixtures have built-in ballasts
and operate from 120 volts. The lamps are listed on the
Feit brochure given out at Light Fair as 10,000 hour and
6000K, which should make all the high CCT folks here rather
happy
I was told that the under counter lamps areavailable now at Home Depot and Lowes for about $30 for a
three-pack. The desk lamp is not yet shipping.
Sylvania was showing a 120-volt, halogen PAR38 with an
integral electronic voltage reducer. The voltage reducer
allows the filament to be operated at its optimum design
voltage and also should provide a smaller source size, both
of which will increase lamp efficacy. They call this the
CAPSYLITE® e-PRO(tm). The press release on the Sylvania CD
distributed at Light Fair states: "Using a 35W lamp in
place of a 50W lamp provides a 30% energy savings with
nearly the same lumen output." No detailed data is given in
the press release, but my notes indicate that Sylvania staff
stated the 35-watt e-Pro had a rated output of 475 lumens
and a rated life of 4500 hours. A standard GE 50-watt
halogen PAR38 has a rated output of 600 lumens but a rated
life of only 2000 hours. GE also lists a long life PAR38
that has a rated output 450 lumens, a rated life of 4000
hours and rated power consumption of 46 watts at 120 volts.
So, the Sylvania energy saving claims seem valid when
compared to standard halogen PAR38 lamps. However, there
are other halogen PAR38 lamps, including HIR versions, that
have higher efficacy than standard lamps. For example, the
GE 50-watt HIR & SILV-IR PAR38 lamp is rated at 800 lumens
and 4000 hours at 120 volts. This gives an efficacy of 16
lm/W vs. 12.9 lm/W for the Sylvania e-PRO. Perhaps in the
future Sylvania will add their low voltage technology to
halogen lamps with IR-reflecting coatings.
The Sylvania e-PRO is not the first halogen incandescent
lamp with a built-in low voltage converter. GE has been
selling a 120-volt screw-in MR-16 type lamp with an integral
120-volt to 12-volt converter for at least a year and
perhaps longer. This is their Diamond Precise Electronic
MR16
Many of you know of my long term interest in electrodeless
fluorescent and HID lamps. I was therefore disappointed
that I didn't find any electrodess lamps on display -
perhaps the first time since Philips introduced the QL in
the early 1990's. I suspect one reason for the absence of
the Philips QL, the Sylvania Icetron/Endura and GE Genura at
Light Fair was the much smaller display areas each company
had this year. However, I also didn't see Tungda or any of
the other Chinese companies that showed electrodeless
fluorescent lamps at Light Fair in prior years. However,
the CD distributed by Sylvania continues to list their
DURA-ONE electrodeless CFLs that I believe were introduced
at Light Fair 2005 in New York. The DURA-ONE family
includes both a 23-watt BR30 that Sylvania says can replace
a 65-watt BR30 incandescent reflector lamp, and a 20-watt
A19 lamp that Sylvania states can replace a 75-watt
incandescent A-line lamp. I don't know if either of these
are available for sale yet.
On the negative side there were far too many displays that
made claims that were incomplete or not backed up with any
data. These ranged from a CFL dimmer system that was said
to be able to dim any screw-in CFL. However, the "ANY" was
qualified with a asterisk that was not explained on the
display. I had to ask more than once before the rep would
tell me that if their system was used to dim CFLs made by
companies other then their own they would have very short
life due to the lack of proper electrode heating while
dimmed. So, can this system really be used to dim "any"
CFL?
There was also an electronic HID ballast display that
promised 40% energy savings, but it was unclear what lamps
and operating conditions were being compared to obtain this
energy savings. Unlike fluorescent lamps, there is no known
increase in initial efficacy when HID lamps are operated on
high frequency. EM ballasts do not have 40% loss, so even
if this new electronic ballast had no loss, that is, if it
had an efficiency of 100%, this would not explain a 40%
energy savings for straight-up test of equal light output
from the same lamp using the new ballast vs. a conventional
EM ballast. Perhaps there were some special operating
conditions involved. However, since no data was given other
than the amazing energy savings, I could not tell. When I
tried to probe further with the staff at the booth, I didn't
get much more information, other than perhaps a 320-watt
metal halide lamp on the electronic ballast was compared to
a 400-watt metal halide on the EM ballast, but that was
contradicted by other staff at the same booth at other
times. This kind of stuff drives me nuts.
On the plus side I saw some interesting daylighting systems,
including one called Nature'sLighting,
http://www.natures-lighting.com/ and a virtual ceiling from
a place called The Sky Factory:
http://www.theskyfactory.com/ The virtual ceiling is
certainly not a high tech device, but something I really
liked and I think does have application in health care
facilities or any where else that people are confined
indoors for extended periods of time.
Well, there's more, but this note is long enough as it is.
--
Vic Roberts
http://www.RobertsResearchInc.com
To reply via e-mail:
replace xxx with vdr in the Reply to: address
or use e-mail address listed at the Web site.
This information is provided for educational purposes only.
It may not be used in any publication or posted on any Web
site without written permission.
