X10 Community Forum
🔌General Home Automation => Automating Your House => Topic started by: RCaddict on August 18, 2007, 12:16:32 PM
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I have replaced most of my house lamps with energy saving lamps. Most X10 lamp modules and switches will not work with them. But CFLs are improving rapidly. Now they have very compact flicker free and some new models are actually dimable. Are dimable CFLs compatible with X10 lamp modules?
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Wall switches that use the load to get their power from. Will not work.
Lamp Modules may, depending on the brand. I have tried the one type dimable I do have and it dims about 50% then goes off or flickers.
Can't say about the new revision LM465 that has soft start as it ramps up slowly. In a test I have tried a dimable CFL on a Smarthome Lamp Module with soft start and it was not too happy.
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Does anyone know about the ones sold by Smart Home ? Says they are dimmable to about 20%, but pricey, in about the $17 range....
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WalMart has them for $9
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WalMart has them for $9
Do those actually claim to be dimmable? :o
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Do dimmable CFL require the use of a special dimmer? Or can any of the various types of dimmers designed for incandescent bulbs work?
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Bill; My power company has a energy saving plan and sells dimable CFLs to customers for around $6.00
Walt2; I have dimmed one with a Lamp Module to about maybe 40-50% then it flickered and went out. Modules that can do a soft start didn't work well for me unless I set the ramp rate to the fastest it could be. So maybe the new lamp module from X10 could have a problem. I don't have any to test with.
Wall switches that steal power through the load didn't work for me and others have also indicated the same.
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Bill; My power company has a energy saving plan and sells dimable CFLs to customers for around $6.00
Interesting. I guess economics of scale are finally kicking in and driving the price down! 8)
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For the Summer they are also doing a Summer savers reward. Basically if you reduce your consumption by 10% ;15% or 20% from 07/01/07 through 09/30/07 over last years period with weather adjustments as needed. The 11/2007 bills power generation part of the bill is reduced by that percetage.
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For the Summer they are also doing a Summer savers reward. Basically if you reduce your consumption by 10% ;15% or 20% from 07/01/07 through 09/30/07 over last years period with weather adjustments as needed. The 11/2007 bills power generation part of the bill is reduced by that percetage.
Silly me, I jumped too soon again! I changed to all CFL's about 2 years ago. Now I wouldn't qualify if my power company did something like that. :'(
Did the same when I bought my car. No more than a month later they started offering those 0% interest deals and I was stuck with 8%. Somebody up there is laughing at me I think! ;) ;D
Guess I'll just have to be happy with the savings the CFL's have already generated on my power bill. 8)
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Same for me. Lowered mine a few years ago. Only way I could save more would be maybe pull the main breaker for a few hours a day ::)
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I am in the same boat, with having already reduced lighting costs and electrical power consumed by the lights.
But have been thinking.....
I also reduced the electricity used by replacing the computers old "tube" monitor with a LCD monitor. I wonder if replacing that old 36 inch tubed TV with a 40-42 inch LCD TV might represent significant electric savings. Hey .... if would help the environment!
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For the Summer they are also doing a Summer savers reward. Basically if you reduce your consumption by 10% ;15% or 20% from 07/01/07 through 09/30/07 over last years period with weather adjustments as needed. The 11/2007 bills power generation part of the bill is reduced by that percetage.
So, if you reduced your electric usage by 10%, 15%, or 20%, your power company will be nice and reduced your bill by 10%, 15%, or 20% too? ???
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I am in the same boat, with having already reduced lighting costs and electrical power consumed by the lights.
But have been thinking.....
I also reduced the electricity used by replacing the computers old "tube" monitor with a LCD monitor. I wonder if replacing that old 36 inch tubed TV with a 40-42 inch LCD TV might represent significant electric savings. Hey .... if would help the environment!
I went "hog wild" in my first house, using X10 and my CP290 to control electricity usage throughout my house, including heat and hot water. With that, also came a lot of inconvenience, especially on days that I didn't follow my normal routine/schedule. For example, try to take a shower at 10am instead of 6am, and I found there was no hot water.
Then my refrigerator died, and I replaced it with a new energy efficient model.
You know, my electric bill dropped more because of the new refrigerator, than for all the electricity reduction I did by cutting back on my electric heat and hot water.
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Do those actually claim to be dimable? :o
They do not work. :(
I tried Wal-mart bulb made by Light-of-America. It flicker when connected to electronic dimmer. Goes off if tried to dim. They supposed to be compatible some type of dimmer but they seems to be keeping that info top secret. :D
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Do those actually claim to be dimable? :o
They do not work. :(
I tried Wal-mart bulb made by Light-of-America. It flicker when connected to electronic dimmer. Goes off if tried to dim. They supposed to be compatible some type of dimmer but they seems to be keeping that info top secret. :D
Drat! Back to the drawing board! (That "manufactured in China" "Atomic Monster Kit" didn't pan out very well either!) ??? >:(
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They do not work. :(
I tried Wal-mart bulb made by Light-of-America. It flicker when connected to electronic dimmer. Goes off if tried to dim. ...................
I think dimming is over-rated! Although I do use dimmed lights as part of my theater setup (regular indoor floodlights). Those lights are used so seldom and for such a short period of time, any saving by switching to CFL's would be measured in fractions of cents (not even whole pennys).
And lets face it, CFL's suck for reading light. A 20 watt high-intensity halogen is much better than a 14 watt CFL, and at a cost (electricity use) of 6 watts. I'd rather save my eyes.
Achieving the comtemporary home lighting scenes we all want, takes more than "dimming the lights".
In a room with widows on only one wall, a single bright table lamp (with a CFL bulb) on the windowless wall could be just whats needed to remove the shadows on a bright sunny day. That night, in the same room, a couple up-lighting lamps (also CFL's) on the windowed wall and a raised (dimable) floorlamp near the center of room could make the room look warm and cozy.
Fortunately, creating these room scenes, at the push of a button (or a voice command (http://www.x10community.com/forums/index.php?topic=12834.msg73448#msg73448)), is where X10 really shines (pun intended).
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I use CFL's to provide indirect lighting using hidden fixtures and use dimable normal lights to create room setting. That way I can shift the most of the energy consuming general lighting part to CFls and low energy mood setting part to incandescent lamps saving energy while preserving the ambient.
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And X10 is perfect for automating that.... so you don't need to run around the room(s) to get the lighting right.