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About two years ago we had some work done in our basement--which as you might imagine has little natural light--and the electrician and wife decided that track lighting and halogens would be the way to go for light from above.
Nice lights, but as I discovered the first time one burned out--expensive. We've been running GE Halogen 75s (50 watts) in them, and they burn out fairly often; there are big temperature differences down there and I think turning them on when it's 45-50 degrees doesn't help things.
At least four of them are burned out right now and I'm thinking about replacing them with something much more economical--perhaps a CFL--but do they make CFLs which are flood or track lighting? I can't tell from the web site of my local home supply store.
We've been buying the halogens on sale at Ace hardware for something like $7-8 each which is insane given how short a life that they offer.
So, any thoughts on a replacement light strategy?
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what type of base do they have? screw, bi-pin, what?
Lots of the MR-16 halogens are way cheaper on the internet in bulk.
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Screw in, yep.
Here is what I have now:
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I've seen CFL's for track lighting at my local home center (Lowe's). They are not cheap either, about 5 bucks each, though I imagine they should last longer.
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Do you really need that overhead and track lighting? I've pretty much eliminated using the overhead lights that were installed in this house years ago. I use a combination of lamps and task lighting that's actually much more efficient. I did turn them on in one room a couple of months ago when I was painting, but otherwise they stay off. I also find ceiling lights very harsh and unfriendly.
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i'd think the most expensive part of the halogen lamps would be the power they use. they give off great full spectrum white light but they usually use a couple of hundred watts unless you are using a less common bulb. (in which case the proportion of W to light is still not the best)
just be careful that cfls don't overhead in the fixtures.
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here is where I buy my photo bulbs. they should carry what you end up deciding on
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Don't think a CFL will mind being used in either track lighting or in ceiling cans. Just don't dim them unless specifically made for it (along with a special dimmer switch for CFLs.)
Lumens from CFLs probably won't equal a halogen's, but because CFLs run cooler you can put a higher "wattage" bulb in there, such as "100w equivalent."
Or you can get by with a lower wattage CFL by avoiding the typical soft white kelvin temp. and using "Sunshine" or "Daylight" CFLs.
A "60w equivalent" "Sunshine" CFL with a color temp of about 3500 will appear to be giving you about as much light as a "75w equivalent" soft white CFL because the light will be more useable --- less yellowy and better for reading or doing task. But if you use a "Daylight" CFL the light may appear too cold and harsh. Part of this is psychological, because we do not traditionally expect to see anything but yellowy light from incandescent or halogen fixtures.
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yeah, 3200-4100 at the highest. I have some 3200K bulbs that look pretty decent.
