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How Many

Karl Hofmann on Mon March 21, 2005 8:35 AM User is offlineView users profile

Q: How many forum members does it takes to change a light bulb?

- 1 to change the light bulb and to post that the light bulb has been changed
- 14 to share similar experiences of changing light bulbs and how the light bulb could have been changed differently
- 7 to caution about the dangers of changing light bulbs
- 1 to move it to the Lighting section
- 2 to argue then move it to the Electricals section
- 7 to point out spelling/grammar errors in posts about changing light bulbs
- 5 to flame the spell checkers
- 3 to correct spelling/grammar flames
- 6 to argue over whether it's "lightbulb" or "light bulb" ... another 6 to condemn those 6 as stupid
- 3 standards zealots to point out that light bulbs have been deprecated in the LB 2.1 spec
- 1 to call upon everybody to ignore this deprecation
- 2 industry professionals to inform the group that the proper term is "lamp"
- 15 know-it-alls who claim they were in the industry, and that "light bulb" is perfectly correct
- 19 to post that this forum is not about light bulbs and to please take this discussion to a lightbulb forum
- 11 to defend the posting to this forum saying that we all use light bulbs and therefore the posts are relevant to this forum
- 36 to debate which method of changing light bulbs is superior, where to buy the best light bulbs, what brand of light bulbs work best for this technique and what brands are faulty
- 7 to post URL's where one can see examples of different light bulbs
- 4 to post that the URL's were posted incorrectly and then post the corrected URL's
- 3 to post about links they found from the URL's that are relevant to this group which makes light bulbs relevant to this group
- 13 to link all posts to date, quote them in their entirety including all headers and signatures, and add "Me too"
- 5 to post to the group that they will no longer post because they cannot handle the light bulb controversy
- 4 to say "didn't we go through this already a short time ago?"
- 13 to say "do a Google search on light bulbs before posting questions about light bulbs"
- 1 forum lurker to respond to the original post 6 months from now and start it all over again.


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Never knock on deaths door... Ring the doorbell and run away, death really hates that!

NickD on Mon March 21, 2005 9:56 AM User is offline

The discussions would be much shorter on changing light bulbs if the year, make, and model was specified along the the operating EMF pressures while stating the rpm of the generating source.

Safety is always an issue, and never change a light bulb unless you are on approved jack stands. There is always a temptation to stick your finger in the removed light bulb socket so you should either cut the circuit breaker or remove the negative battery cable first. Further precautions are necessary if changing a light bulb that is still operational, those suckers get hot.

Ha, they must call those bulbs light because they are not very heavy, an incandescent bulb only uses about 2% of the input energy for generating light, the other 98% is heat that if left on can really run up your electric bill. Maybe not too bad in the winter months as the cost of natural gas is approaching that of electricity, but extra expensive in the summer months as the AC is also using extra electricity to compensate for the heat of the bulb.

The cheapest solution is not to change a burnt out light bulb period, not only do you have to pay for a new light bulb but have to pay about 20 times its cost to ignite it over the life of the average bulb. Ha, but not so in a vehicle, a failed brake lamp can cost a guy big bucks in traffic fines.

Ha, lots of guys ask about changing head lamp bulbs, real simple, just remove the engine first and there is all kinds of room. You thought vehicles were built around the evaporator, but somehow the head lamp bulb is taking the center stage.

You forgot to state that some posters just ramble, LOL, I am guilty.

Karl Hofmann on Mon March 21, 2005 3:36 PM User is offlineView users profile

Nick,

Your reply is pure class

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Never knock on deaths door... Ring the doorbell and run away, death really hates that!

Kaps on Mon March 21, 2005 7:44 PM User is offlineView users profile

I am speechless with admiration at your wit- both of you.

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A. C. Doyle said "Eliminate all other factors, and the one which remains must be the truth."

Karl Hofmann on Tue March 22, 2005 4:02 AM User is offlineView users profile

LOL I managed to get 50% in my last wit exam, the examiner said that he was not surprised

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Never knock on deaths door... Ring the doorbell and run away, death really hates that!

meaux on Tue March 22, 2005 8:40 AM User is offlineView users profile

Well, this LightBulb thing is more interesting than the current "News Shows".........

That was good Nick, "remove the motor", LMAO!!!!!!

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Lazy bum who lives off his wife.

01 BMW 530i Sport, 92 Porsche 968, 85 F150, 72 911, 08 GM SUV, 01' Ford Lightnin'

NickD on Thu March 24, 2005 8:27 AM User is offline

I like lamp dimmers in my home, saves on light bulb replacement, operating a bulb at 90% voltage will double it's life. On my night stand lamp a 25 watt fixed bulb is nice for reading, but a 25 watt bulb costs about two bucks where a 100 watt bulb costs only a quarter. So with that lamp I wired in a 1N4007 diode that cuts both the voltage and current half to give 25 watts output with a much cheaper 100 watt bulb. Ha some twenty odd years, that bulb finally burnt out, figure I got about 15,000 hours life out of that bulb.

My hall lamp dimmer went out last night, uses an alternate action switch mounted in a potentiometer. That pot mounts to the front panel with a plastic bushing where the tabs on the pot bend over to that bushing. The bushing is rather thick, about 3/32", but for whatever reason, that bushing thins out to under a 1/32" under where the tabs are. That part of the bushing broke when that thin piece of plastic dried up and cracked. It doesn't make a bit of sense to me why they had to thin out that plastic, but I put the pot back on, tested the contact resistance and decided it's time to buy a new dimmer. Didn't feel like taking that switch apart to clean the contacts and it is 20 years old now.

So I ran to the store last night and purchased a toggle type three way dimmer. The toggles last much longer, this one was lighted and guaranteed for life, whatever that means. I didn't fool with the instructions and just wired it in. it didn't work so I broke down and read the instructions. It said to reverse the traveler wires, I did, and it worked. But then I realized I have three switches with a four way switch in the center, so when I clicked that switch to the opposite position, the dimmer didn't work. But would work with just one more three way switch.

Not wanting to take that dimmer apart, just analyzed that on this dimmer they were combining the power switch function with the dimmer pot where on the old switch, the dimmer is completely independent of the power switch and worked fine. So I have to run back and get the old style switch. I normally take these switches apart anyway and add a resistor in series with the pot so that when on full, only getting 90% of the voltage. Can hardly tell the difference between 90 and 100% in lamp brightness, but the bulbs will last twice as long.

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