blog

We bought the Schlage Link starter kid and found this out after reading the manual as well. Until I find another light module that works with Link (I REALLY love the iPhone app and web interface) I might just put a low wattage IKEA lamp next to it. I wish that it worked with CFL/LED bulbs, though. But so far, we're very happy with the Schlage Link setup, the iPhone app, and the website. No more keys to worry about losing, which is nice. The alerts are also great so we know when the kid gets home from school. (He doesn't know that it sends us alerts..yet!) I really wish that the Ecobee was a Z-wave thermostat like the Trane one is. The Ecobee & TED are on the list of cool stuff that we want to buy for the house. http://www.stuffaboutlife.com - I'm going to add a photo review once I buy that incandescent IKEA lamp. :D

The real question is... Why on earth would anyone want to use CFL lighting? LED lighting offers all of the benefits of CFL without the health risks and mercury. LED turns on right away, no waiting for them to brighten. Not to mention they last longer, work in cold weather and don't create any noise. A cut out from Wikipedia: Special handling instructions for breakage are currently not printed on the packaging of household CFL bulbs in many countries. The amount of mercury released by one bulb can temporarily exceed U.S. federal guidelines for chronic exposure.[52][53] Chronic however, implies that the exposure continues constantly over a long period of time and the Maine DEP study noted that it remains unclear what the health risks are from short-term exposure to low levels of elemental mercury. The Maine DEP study also confirmed that, despite following EPA best-practice cleanup guidelines on broken CFLs, researchers were unable to remove mercury from carpet, and agitation of the carpet—such as by young children playing—created spikes as high as 25,000 ng/m3 in air close to the carpet, even weeks after the initial breakage. Conventional tubular fluorescent lamps have been in commercial and domestic use since the 1930s with little public concern about their handling; these and other domestic products such as thermometers contain far more mercury than modern CFLs.[54] Mercury poisoning of Chinese factory workers In the past decade, hundreds of Chinese factory workers who manufacture CFLs for export to first world countries were being poisoned and hospitalized because of mercury exposure. Examples include workers at the Nanhai Feiyang lighting factory in Foshan city where 68 out of 72 were so badly poisoned that they required hospitalization. At another CFL factory in Jinzhou, 121 out of 123 employees were found to have excessive mercury levels with one employee's mercury level 150 times the accepted standard.[57] Use with timers, motion sensors, and other electronic controls Electronic (but not mechanical) timers can interfere with the electronic ballast in CFLs and can shorten their lifespan.[76] Some timers rely on a connection to neutral through the bulb and so pass a tiny current through the bulb, charging the capacitors in the electronic ballast. They may not work with a CFL connected, unless an incandescent bulb is also connected. They may also cause the CFL to flash when off. This can also be true for illuminated wall switches and motion sensors. Cold cathode CFLs avoid many of these problems.