Bright from the Start: GE's CFL with an incandescent trick up its sleeve 

I've worked at GE on the development of this bulb. Dimming of the halogen capsule instead of a sharp turn-off was actually patented by a competitor who never released a product like this. Also, this lamp has just about the smallest room for the driver electronics of all CFLs, so an actual temperature compensation simply did not fit. There existed a different version with heater wire wrapped around the CFL tube instead of the halogen capsule, providing ca. 10-second runup without the light intensity and color changes.

Yo dawg, I heard you like lightbulbs. So I put a lightbulb in your lightbulb, so you can light while you light.

love how so much R&D was poured into fluorescent lighting only for LEDs to just immediately become the singular best lighting technology, and for old style halogens to probably stay way more common due to cars

2:30 UGLY? Slander. The twisty bulbs had character and charm. Their real weakness was that I always felt like I was going to snap the things when I went to screw them in tightly.

Referring to Wikipedia as "this website I found" gets me _every single time._ It's just perfect.

>15 years ago >2009 What are you talking about, 2009 was like 3 years ag... oh my god

The cold starts were great for a light on a wake-up timer... nice dim light that brightened over time to wake you up gently.

I just want to point out that "fix[ing] the sometimes" is one of the most fundamentally satisfying things in life to me, and I wish we would focus on it more as a species

As a child I believed the slow turning on was the reason energy-saving lamps saved energy. We still have a lot CFLs in the house, because they won’t die. I was so happy, when one of the CFLs in the ceiling light in the bathroom died. I could finally install a LED bulb so the light actually turns on when pressing the switch and not five minutes later.

I'm convinced that Alec could make a 30 minute video about paint drying so interesting that I'd sit glued to my screen the entire time. Best channel on RU-vid.

One of the good things about this channel is there's no huge over-sized microphone taking up 1/3 the image, and the sound is recorded with just the right amount of natural souding room reverberation to sweeten the audio.

In the early 2000s, I swipped a CFL from a house I was leaving with 5 other tenants. It had a "globe" envelope, started very dim, and had a long warmup. The temperature was nice and low (I too am sensitive to clinically white interior illumination.) I used it as my bedside lamp for about 12 years, during which it came on in the morning when I woke up and burned all day until I went to bed. I still miss that bulb.

Alec, have you considered covering ventilation as a topic? ERVs, bathroom and utility room fans vs in line duct fans, hood vents, etc? Air quality is on a lot of people's minds, and it would be cool if you covered all of the HVAC acronym!

I did the conversion of the 5°F for y'all: It's -15°C, 464° Rankine, 215.15 Kelvin, about -3°Rømer, -6.7°Newton, 180°Delisle, and -16°Réaumur Edit: Whoopsie - 0x8badf00d caught me in a mistake; it's not 215,15 Kelvin, but 258,15 Kelvin!

My dad was an energy saving nerd. We still have some early CFLs in use, but everything was replaced with LEDs when they burned out. My dad used the very blue LEDs at first, but they have all since been replaced with soft white LEDs. Much better. I won't use anything but soft white LEDs in my own apartment.

I have been a lighting consultant and owned my lighting supply for over 43 years and it’s been the energy laws that my state, California caused the country to eventually have to follow. In the beginning of the mandatory use of CFLs, dimming as not an option and one color temperature was how we got them. Slowly they added the colors but, as usual, each manufacturer had a different idea of what a 3000 Kelvin or a 2700 Kelvin so you could not mix manufacturer’s as you could see a color shift. We also had a lot of issues with screw in units when the socket had to be in the up position and then there were life expectancy issues when the lamp was used in an enclosed fixture and bad light output when used in exterior fixtures in cold environments. I, for 1 am glad we have moved on and we do sell an interesting LED replacement bulbs that fit the existing PL type fixtures but if you can, replace the fixture with a dedicated LED light source given that you can get more light, higher lumens per watt in a safer package and will last 35 to 50,000 hours compared to 20,000 hours and should be disposed of as hazardous waste. My 2 cents.

As a seventy-one year old, I consider myself fairly technologically intelligent. I am a retired broadcast radio engineer which had to be a jack of all trades. But I always learn something new from your videos. Keep up the good work.

CFLs starting out dim was a huge bonus for me, when I was a teenager my mom would wake me up in the morning by just opening the door and flipping the light switch on. Great way to start your day getting blinded as someone says "time for school". After replacing the lights in my room with CFLs I no longer got blinded first thing in the morning.

I wanted to take a moment of your time and say Thank You for all the years of informing and educating us. I have spent countless hours viewing your videos and it has impacted my life, "positively". THANK YOU.

Seeing the "ground breaking light bulb from Phillips" brought back some serious memories, my father was an architectural advisor for a very wealthy neighborhood near me and these were all the rave. He would quite frequently take me on trips to see job sites and those boxes were everywhere! His passion turned me into an architect and I very much so remember these and feeling like they were foreign damn near alien lightbulbs when I was a kid!

Alec, I recently replaced the taillights on my MK6 VW Jetta, and you'll be tickled to know I specifically bought new fixtures that have amber colored rear turn signals; thus righting a decade-long wrong.

Glad you changed the thumbnail to say it wasn't an april fools, genuinely wouldn't have clicked on it otherwise.

Thank you for captioning your videos!! It allows me to enjoy your content much easier :)

Ah - growing up in central Queensland it was rare to notice the low light output at the start for CFL's due to the ambient temps for most of the year. The lower heat output coming from the desk lamp next to you was always appreciated though. My Dad was an early adopter of these when they appeared on this side of the world. Pity LEDs took so long, it was years after I saw their power consumption comparisons on a Mythbusters episode before I could even buy one LED bulb in a specialty lighting shop over here! Oh, and I'm with you on the "thumbs down" to red turn signals cancelling the brake light. "I'm slowing down so I can turn" is clearly understandable with separate brake lights and turn signal light.

“According to this web site I found”

I absolutely loved the CFL for a bathroom lamp, it didn't blow your eyeballs out at 2am in the bathroom.

And you know what gives consistent output? This channel. It's consistently amazing.

Am i the only one that likes the look of curly cfl bulbs? I wish they would make led bulbs that looked like curly cfl bulbs.

Your descriptions are always on a new level of meta-commentary.

Aggressive Amalgam is my favorite Math Metal band

It's great fun when you rant! Greetings from Sweden, the country with snow half the year, and we never have problems with snow or ice on our street lights or car headlights...

Loved the episode. As far as Farenheit and Celcius goes: it's not really easy or convenient to search this stuff on mobile. When I watch your video on a computer - sure. it doesn't take much time, but on mobile device it's a chore. Thx for the great video! PS. My favorite episode is still a video about color brown :D

As a kid I enjoyed the slow startup of the CFLs, especially in the winter mornings. My eyes had a chance to "wake up" and adjust to a brighter room more slowly.

I still use CFLs in my bathroom for the very reason you mentioned. When you first turn on the light you're not blinded by bright light. It gives time for your eyes to adjust.

Very interesting and informative. The effort in making those time lapse recordings (of lamps starting in the cold) so succinct and clear to show a point is great! Alec, your deep dives are like relaxing nerd meditation to me. ❤

This is one of those channels one stumble upon and oh, boy, I wasn't ready for how much I would love him.

1:18 Not only do I remember that Philips bulb, I have one in service to this day. Sure it was a bit pricey, but it's in a location that is hard to get at. It's longevity and 'instant on' have made it's initial cost absolutely worthwhile.

Speaking of General Electric, did you know that they sometimes rebranded their fuses for a client? I've been volunteering on a 117 year old museum ship, and I found a bunch of fuses in the ship's ancient fuse panel. A lot of them are General Electric branded, but I found a few which were of the exact same model, but had one of two other types of alternate branding; one was a pair of diamonds with s's inside the diamonds, while the others were branded with a simple "C.P.R." - or Canadian Pacific Railway, the ships' original owner. Neat! I don't know if it would be worth covering for an episode, but I thought it was neat to share.

I’m glad you have a lot of time for this stuff . You give me answers I may not find on my own , you may be…..different , but all the science / electrical, and engineering types are . And I say thank you !

Wow, a RU-vidr posted a not prank video on April fools, you sir get a gold star 🌟

"Unenclosed CFLs work great at room temperature" "Oh, don't tell me you're dead. Well hold on then, I gotta get a different bulb"

I appreciate your onslaught and fight against red rear turn signals. As a European transplant living in the US, the amber turn signal reigns supreme and is way less confusing. I say that as an owner of a Mustang, whose sequential turn signals are some of the cooler out there. (Get it? They're LED. So cooler.)

feels like a long time since I have been that enthusiastic for a TC video ! This one's brilliant and inspiring. Great recipe overall.

The effort you put into making complicated topics like thermodynamics approachable and clear does not go unnoticed. Some of the best scicomm out there, this channel.

I received one of those “groundbreaking” yellow Phillips LED bulbs for free from a college recruiter event back in 2012. I still use it in my reading lamp and it’s still my favorite reading light. I’ve probably gotten much more than $60 worth of use out of it! Awesome product, and outlasted a few other led bulbs I’ve bought since then.

Lol its wild to me to hear that dope looking spiral-shaped bulb being called "ugly." Never even occurred to me that someone could have preferred the look/shape of an incandescent lightbulb. Nor did the ~1 minute to full brightness ever bother me at all.

Possibly the most interesting video you've done. Had no clue about many of the things you explained, and I'm normally a very curious person. Been using mostly CFL lamps since the 1980's when the first good ones came out in Europe, which was a Philips with electronic starter, very small footprint and straight tubes, no more flickering starts as the first ones. Crazy expensive though. Was about $18 back then. Still got one from the late 80's, and it works. Have loads of Osrams from that era also from their best line, only one has died, despite being used a LOT, until LED got really good.

I used to work at a bank which had these extremely slow bulbs. It took about 5 minutes to get to full brightness. This video answers so many questions I had about them.

My parents used a standard CFL in the garage forever in a cold climate, I don't know if it was in any way useful how dim in started out but I definitely got used to it and expected it growing up. I was visiting over last christmas and flipped the light on one night and about fell down the steps it was so bright, like the view from the neighbors house in Christmas Vacation. Guess that old bulb finally bit the dust and got LED'd!

My oldest CFL is also my worst performing, and under the worst outdoor conditions! Takes several seconds to illuminate, takes a full minute to get bright, yet it survives -15°C to 40°C each year for at least the last fifteen years!! That's nuts.

I worked at Home Depot in the electrical department from 2005-2016. I remember every single bulb you showed, and the price point of the yellow Philips LED. Customers made fun of that Yellow Philips LED price and that bulb so much!

Thank you for your videos, Alec! They’re a real treat. I can’t help but wonder what odd collections you have built up, but I’m glad you have,.

I don't mind MPH to KM conversion, as it's a pretty easy *1.6. But F to C is hard man. Please keep it up for those that watch the entire video faithfully, thanks!

"And they did it by taking this already lightbulb in a light bulb looking light bulb and going full turducken on it by stuffing an incandescent light bulb in the middle of the fluorescent light bulb inside of the faux light bulb" THE WAY YOU SAY THIS IS EXACTLY WHY I WATCH YOU! (and maybe for the sciency stuff too lol).

Your videos are beyond brilliant, my friend... Capturing an audience, about topics that they never knew they cared about, is no easy feat.

Fluorescent light complexity is the result of decades of development where they were the only bulb technology that could save energy. I started to scratch the surface of this complexity when I had some T12 bulbs fail to light, bought some LED replacement tubes, turned out the old magnetic ballasts couldn't light the LEDs or the fluorescents anymore. Got new electronic ballasts and the old fluorescent bulbs worked again. In the process of reading spec sheets I came across instant start versus rapid start, and all kinds of other differences that I had never heard of before. I suspect some engineers spent their entire career refining fluorescent light bulbs.

Amalgam is a great word. Away back when if my dentist was doing a filling he would press an intercom button and say to his receptionist “prepare an amalgam please”.

I actually like the twirly bulbs, they always just seemed more fun to me for no reason.

I totally agree with the cold start in the bathroom in the middle of the night. The one use case that was a blessing for the cold CFL start.

I love your videos. I just enjoy listening to anything you talk about. And occasionally, I learn something or it makes me think! I like that!

I never got the "CFL is ugly" thing. Then again, the amount of time I spend looking at light bulbs can be measured in the seconds putting it into the fitting, and pulling it out and throwing it in the bin.

Props for the graceful and careful way you put the old bulb down at 1:40 such that it didn't make a noise. Here's hoping you got that with very few takes! 💡😁👍

Always loved the warm up of cfls.

I honestly always loved the "Reveal" light bulbs. For the price I really really enjoyed them and would purposefully replace the main lights in the house with them. Great video!! 😊🌎❤️🕺🏻🐶

Came for goofy light bulb, stayed for amazing science of cfl engineering! Really neat video!

My father bought a couple of the non-hybrid CFLs from a shockingly high quality infomercial product. It's been like 10+ years of using them in two lamps and they both still work, nice warm light, take about 5 min to warm up.

My parents built a large addition on to our house and there were about 11 of these globe cfl’s mounted in the ceiling of our new living room (about 13 feet tall and rectangular) All of these lights were on one switch with a few other incandescent dimmable accent bulbs on a separate switch and a ceiling fan with its own lights. I can very much remember coming home at night from school functions and turning on the main lights and it being such an odd light level and temperature. Then, about 5-10 mins later I’d go in the living room and it was hilariously bright and very stark, bouncing off cool tone nearly white walls. It felt like an operating theater once warmed up and was definitely only suitable for use when we, for some reason, needed to see every single thing everywhere all at once. I’d say that the main lighting in that room was used maybe 5% of the time.

So glad to hear the crusade against red rear turn signals is alive and well. It's why I started following you!

22:40 Approximately 150,000 people would be interested in the celsius notation. By not doing the conversion yourself (0.2g CO2 for one google search) you just caused 30kg of CO2 emissions. (This is 66 lbs in silly numbers (see what I did there)). But I have to admit, it was an interesting video 😂

Ah yes... mention of the LED Traffic Light "but sometimes".... takes me back to the first time we met parasocially, first Technology Connections video I ever saw. I keep returning for the snarky entertainment but have accidentially learned a lot from these videos since then. :-)

6:37 I have a real life example of this at home. I have a 13w CFL light in an outdoor barn light fixture that runs in a dusk til dawn light. When the outside temperature would drop to about -15°F outside in winter, the light output would drop to about 20% of the normal brightness. Normally not a problem since the snow will reflect the light, but neat from a science perspective.

Damn dude, I know a lot but I learn something every time I watch one of your videos. Nice job.

I love the lighting episodes! So much deadpan humor.

Heyyyy, I like the twisty boi look. Also there is something to be said about the engineering skill going into a device that had to twist molten glass into that spiral. Glass blowing of that level was probably incredibly expensive a few hundred years ago.

One of my favorite nerds. Thanks for the CFL history.

love your vids , always fascinated in lamps as they changed over the the many years now still have a collection from small to an old 2kw new bi pin for studio ect

22:50 it's -15C your welcome

Growing up we had a large energy efficient bulb in our ceiling fan in our living room and one of my favorite details about Christmas was waking up having the light turn on and not being able to see the entire living room but after 5 or 10 minutes and drinking some hot chocolate, the room was bright enough to see all of the presents that were under the tree and i got more hyped.

It's just so good to see the right amount of snark again. I've missed it. More snark please! Seriously, it really does make us chuckle :)

Wonderful classic Technology Connections video!

I always knew it was due to vapor pressure but never knew the technical background. Thank you for explaining that.

My elementary school had something similar in the HID fixtures in our Gym. When the lights were first switched on, there were these really bright halogens that would come on for about a minute while the HID lamps warmed up, and then they turned off.

No joke, I love those Phillips ones with the yellow trefoil design. I''ve still got one left in service and it looks way better than many of the newer ones that I've bought since.

This reminds me a lot of Nernst lamps, an old type of lamp which worked in almost the same way - heater and glower - using a ceramic incandescent glower that needed to be hot to work.

I personally had extreme light sensitivity as a child. Those CFL lights that started very dim were amazing for me, as it allowed my eyes to slowly adjust to the light increasing and drastically reduced the amount of paid I was in.

22:55 YOU UNDERESTIMATE MY COMPLAINING SKILLS !!!

I bought 3 of those Philips external phosphor LED "bulbs" when they came out, they really are overengineered works of art and I'm glad I have them.

Thanks! I'd noticed those bumps on the CFLs but never knew what they were for, just guessed it was some artifact of the manufacturing process.

24:18 That "But Sometimes" video is the one I found your channel through. Been hooked ever since.

22:46 Snark has reached critical levels. Love it!

Really interesting take on the evolution of the humble light bulb! Efficiency meets aesthetic design in remarkable ways.

You are like the halogen capsule in a Bright From the Start bulb. No matter the pressure you may be under, your light always shines bright.

5°F = -15°C for reference

Your "but sometimes" traffic light video was the first one I saw. I've been happily subscribed since.

I also really enjoyed the slow brightening of CFLs in bathrooms, though I also liked it in my bedroom for those early mornings when you just can't handle any sort of lighting; it let you start the day just a tad more graciously.

CFLs were great for hard to reach places that needed a light fixture, but boy am I glad we have LED bulbs now. Those are getting better too. I never really needed this “instant bright” stopgap solution.

mixed lamps where common in other gas-discharge lamps. The incandescent part was not only used as a heater element but also to correct the light spectrum giving more warm light and red frequencies.

For future topics if you are running low, Sulfur Lamps are an interesting concept. Almost like electrodeless fluorescent lights, but with either pure sulfur or sometimes a little bit of “dopants” to get to near perfect sunlight reproduction! I’m personally a nerd for them from an appropriate materials perspective, but I’d love to see you do a deep dive on them sometime! Granted you probably have plenty in your que as is, either way this video was great and i look forward to whatever your next one is!

That's one of the things I love about LED shop lights, they work in a freezing cold garage unlike CFL's.

1:17 "If anybody remembers this ground-breaking LED bulb from Philips" Why yes in fact I do, because I still have a half-dozen of these installed in fixtures in my place _today,_ working just as well as the day I bought them. So, to anybody complaining about LED life, 15 years for even early-technology quality bulbs is a good real-world starting point. Admittedly a few have failed due to issues with the special soldering technique used to bond wires to the strange ceramic circuit boards used inside, but the actual LED and driver boards are still working great, and most of the bulbs are still fully ok.