I've got this funny quirk: whenever I see a blown out light bulb, I'm driven by a near obsessive desire to replace it with a new bulb...even when I'm at someone else's home. It works out in the end: I get to scratch the itch and someone gets a new light bulb installed without lifting a finger. But I recently ran into a roadblock while trying to replace a couple of my mom's chandelier lights, which are much smaller than most CFLs and require a dimming option. Until now, I couldn't find dimmable chandelier light bulbs...
Earthmate Recessed and Candle CFL Bulbs
Earthmate Dimmable Bulbs use 80% less energy than standard bulbs, and they're notably better looking than the awkward swirl design that most CFL bulbs come in. These bulbs dim all the way down to 5% of their light output, so they should be a good replacement for the chandelier (each bulb also comes with a medium socket adapter so they can be used in other lamps/lighting). And there's also a recessed lighting version that replaces standard 45 watt-incandescents, producing a softer white light unlike fluorescent bulbs. These bulbs don't come cheap, but they should last a lot longer than standard bulbs and use a lot less energy. I should just keep a few in the car for emergency replacement situations (I'm joking...barely).
Comments (9)
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Have you tried them yet? The dimmable CFLs that I've come across don't dim very... smoothly (for lack of a better word.)
view Laura's profile
I want to believe that these will work nicely, but I have been so underwhelmed by CFLs as a whole, I find it hard to believe that there has been any real improvement. I have a total of six light sockets in my home and half of them are flourescent (kitchen and closet) so I can live with using three incandescents in the rest of my place.
view Devyn's profile
Really truly, I don't think CFL's are the ONLY answer and I do like them as I tend to like Flourescent bulbs and fixtures in general for the technology itself if nothing else.
That said, I like the idea that they save on electricity by a significant amount and last much longer but I agree that they do not always produce a pleasant color is one their biggest weakness in my eyes. The other weakness is that they are not terribly decorative, no matter how hard you try due to the ballast at the base of the bulb and there are times when one wants a CLEAR bulb in a fixture and CFL's can't be clear due to the nature of their design so there will ALWAYS be some need for incadescents, or other bulbs that can be clear and energy efficient too.
However, where they DO fit and are covered, they do a great job of lighting a room. Par lamps w/ CFL's in them are great but as had already been said, dimming is still iffy w/ CFL's even if they say they can be dimmed, it's not always smooth, nor do they dim as low without going out like an incadescent can.
view ciddyguy's profile
mentioned this before in another post, but I can now update to say I've tried the dimmable bulbs from their range, and it works superbly. Have not tried the chandelier type bulbs though, only the normal ones for table and floor lamps. One thing the insruction booklet mentions mentions though is that the bulbs work better with rotary dimmers than with digital or sensor dimmers, if you're using the bulb with wall mounted dimming switches.
http://www.us.megaman.cc/us/index.php
view onephatcow's profile
If you are going to dim your lights that take this type of bulb, then why not just use a reg, old incandescent
style bulb --- dimmed down they do not use that much energy. But of course, when time comes and you cannot even buy an incandescent bulb at the store you will not have a choice I guess!
view poptart's profile
Home Depot has had dimmable candelabra CFLs for at least a year. I bought mine about then.
Maybe they were always sold out when you went, hmm?
They have the tiny base and come with an adapter for the standard base.
view minpin's profile
I bought some when Costco had them years ago -- but they were not dimmable. Unfortunately, this is one product that can't replicate the look of a crystal candelabra bulb IMHO.
view spiffy's profile
We put CFLs in an antique chandelier we have and ugh. Like someone said, it's just going to work in every application. It's like the worst of mixing modern and antique and getting it all wrong.
We have dimmable CFLs in our bedroom and apparently we want a little more mood than CFLs can give. It's either full-on, medium-on with buzzing, or off. And it's also my husband saying "Is this better?" like the freaking eye doctor while I wonder if he's thinking there could possibly be a setting he missed in the last 12 times we've run through this!
view grlwprls's profile
Just *not* going to work.
*sigh*
view grlwprls's profile