# Change color of compact fluorescent bulbs **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 29, 2013, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/change-color-of-compact-fluorescent-bulbs/677387 "2013-12-29T03:11:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2013, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/change-color-of-compact-fluorescent-bulbs/677387/1 "2013-12-29T03:11:52Z")
As most of us probably did, I grew up with old-fashioned incandescent light bulbs. A year or so ago 6-packs of white, “daylight” compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) were on sale at Costco so I bought a shitload of them, like 12 boxes, practically a lifetime supply (they were _seriously_ dirt cheap, like $2.50 a box). Problem is, I find the white “daylight” color they emit just isn’t what I’m looking for in an artificial light source. The familiar amber/yellow-tinted incandescent bulb light is what I’m used to and what I like. The white CFL light is _okay_, I mean it performs its function perfectly well, but I want the old color back. Do they make CFLs that emit that old-school color? And is there anything I can do to make my white “daylight” CFLs more resemble that old color, like can I put gels around the bulbs or something? ---
**Author:** ![Francis\_Vaughan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/francis_vaughan/32/3093_2.png) [@Francis\_Vaughan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francis_Vaughan)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2013, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/change-color-of-compact-fluorescent-bulbs/677387/2 "2013-12-29T05:00:05Z")
The problem is that the CLFs are line emitters, like any other fluorescent light. This is in contrast to incandescent lights that are close to black body emitters. What this means is that there isn’t a broad swath of wavelengths lighting you, rather a small number of intense thin bands of light at different wavelengths. Filters don’t do what you want or expect with line emitters, so fixing what you have isn’t really feasible. As to creating lamps with better colour, there is no CFL that really gets close to black body. The tri-phospor ones are better than the really cheap ones, but still a long way to go. As while LEDs use a phosphor to get the light white, they are also line emitters, and have much the same problems. We still await broad spectrum and efficient light sources. They are coming, but not just yet. ---
**Author:** ![InternetLegend](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/internetlegend/32/13154_2.png) [@InternetLegend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InternetLegend)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2013, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/change-color-of-compact-fluorescent-bulbs/677387/3 "2013-12-29T05:08:45Z")
I also hate the “white” CFLs. The light they emit makes me want to hang myself. I’ve discovered that if I use the bulbs with a color temperature of around 2700K, they approximate the light of incandescent bulbs fairly well. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2013, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/change-color-of-compact-fluorescent-bulbs/677387/4 "2013-12-29T05:09:04Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > Do they make CFLs that emit that old-school color? yes, they do. Look for ‘color temperature’. Daylighgt ones are around 5000ºK,; you want 2700-3000ºK to match an incandescent bulb. See [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compact\_fluorescent\_lamp#Spectrum\_of\_light](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compact_fluorescent_lamp#Spectrum_of_light) for details. > [@DCnDC](#): > > And is there anything I can do to make my white “daylight” CFLs more resemble that old color, like can I put gels around the bulbs or something? Probably could do something with theatrical lighting gels – no worry about fire from them. But it’d be a lot of work and makeshift, I’d think. I would be inclined to sell them at a yard sale (or donate them to an organization) and use the cash to buy new ones – they’re probably even cheaper now. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2013, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/change-color-of-compact-fluorescent-bulbs/677387/5 "2013-12-29T05:24:06Z")
put a yellow tinted shade around the bulb. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2013, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/change-color-of-compact-fluorescent-bulbs/677387/6 "2013-12-29T06:39:42Z")
Just echoing, you want to look for bulbs with a 2700K temperature range. They will also usually say “soft white” on the package. I bought some GE bulbs awhile ago that are soft white and they do give off a pleasing yellowish glow similar to that of incandescent bulbs. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2013, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/change-color-of-compact-fluorescent-bulbs/677387/7 "2013-12-29T16:21:20Z")
Cool. I’ll look into it. Thanks, all! ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2013, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/change-color-of-compact-fluorescent-bulbs/677387/8 "2013-12-29T16:51:55Z")
For that matter they now sell colored CFL bulbs. I bought some [yellow “bug”\* CFLs](http://www.amazon.com/COMPACT-FLUORESCENT-SPIRAL-REPLACES-INCANDESCENT/dp/B000XPYO5Y) for evening mood lights and like the result. \*Not bug _zapper_ lights which are blue; these are yellow (anti-blue) for use as outdoor lights that are minimally attractive to insects. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2013, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/change-color-of-compact-fluorescent-bulbs/677387/9 "2013-12-29T17:37:36Z")
As **Francis Vaughan** states, fluorescents emit strong wavelengths of light in narrow color bands, where an incandescent bulb emits light along the color spectrum like almost any other radiating black body (red-hot iron, the sun, fire), and offer a true, rich color temperature with a bias from deep crimson, to warm yellow, to blue and white-hot. So that the color of the glow depends on its temperature. it’s been my personal WAG, that CFLs are stuck in the “uncanny valley” of light. We can get close and approximate the “color” of an incandescent bulb glowing at about 2700K, but it’s a trick by mixing certain phosphors or what have you so the wavelengths of color they emit add up and mix to the same sort of “white balance” you might get from a typical 75 watt bulb. But it’s a hack. There’s nothing like the richness and innate warmth as to how an incandescent glow will light up a room, and after how many millions of years of primates and humans evolving toward the warm glow of fire and the sun, we can spot a fake like we can spot a CGI face. I continue to buy incandescents, besides I think it goes deeper than “it’s what you’re just used to”. It’s the light we evolved to. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2013, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/change-color-of-compact-fluorescent-bulbs/677387/10 "2013-12-29T18:11:30Z")
Particularly, some LEDs produce a pseudo-white light by mixing yellow and blue LEDs; it throws off the hues of objects in a room. ---
**Author:** ![SeaDragonTattoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@SeaDragonTattoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeaDragonTattoo)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2013, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/change-color-of-compact-fluorescent-bulbs/677387/11 "2013-12-29T18:40:04Z")
I bought a “daylight” bulb once, to replace in a torchiere floor lamp. I flipped it on and had to turn it right back off. It was awful, and made me feel - angry. I thought that feeling was a fluke, and tried for a couple of days to try it again. Every time I went to another part of the house and then came back to where I could see that blue-white light, I felt angry again. Couldn’t take it, and exchanged it for a regular CFL, which I think are fine and close enough to incandescent. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2013, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/change-color-of-compact-fluorescent-bulbs/677387/12 "2013-12-30T05:53:55Z")
Even CFLs make me feel the irrational, vague but acute hatred toward these impostors of natural light! It’s full-spectrum, incandescent light, or death for me. Okay, maybe not death-death, but a part of my soul dies when I walk into that cold, alien, soulless light… ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2013, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/change-color-of-compact-fluorescent-bulbs/677387/13 "2013-12-30T11:56:51Z")
> [@cmyk](#): > > Even CFLs make me feel the irrational, vague but acute hatred toward these impostors of natural light! > > It’s full-spectrum, incandescent light, or death for me. > > Okay, maybe not death-death, but a part of my soul dies when I walk into that cold, alien, soulless light… R’lyeh is lit with fluorescent bulbs. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2013, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/change-color-of-compact-fluorescent-bulbs/677387/14 "2013-12-30T14:01:16Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > Particularly, some LEDs produce a pseudo-white light by mixing yellow and blue LEDs; it throws off the hues of objects in a room. Indeed - I bought some really shitty (I should have known better) Chinese ‘corncob’ lights comprising about 100 white LEDs arranged around a cylindrical body (hence the name ‘corncob’). They must have had really narrow output bands - because the light units themselves were too bright to look at, but many non-white objects in the room hardly seemed illuminated at all - I guess because they weren’t the right colour to significantly reflect any of the output from the LEDs. I suspect that might be part of the reason they give people a bad vibe - the apparently-bright, familiar room suddenly contains many new pockets of darkness. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2013, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/change-color-of-compact-fluorescent-bulbs/677387/15 "2013-12-30T14:20:16Z")
[QUOTE=SeaDragonTattoo] I bought a “daylight” bulb once, to replace in a torchiere floor lamp. I flipped it on and had to turn it right back off. It was awful, and made me feel - angry. [/QUOTE] Ugh, “Daylight” fluorescents are **horrible**. Off the top of my head, I think they run at an ice-blue 9100K or so. The best stick fluorescents (eg: 48" tubes) I’ve seen are the “Spec 35” type. IIRC, they’re a fair attempt at full-spectrum light at 3500K. So far, nobody seems to be using those phosphors in CFLs. As for LEDs, a lot of them have an unpleasant shimmer to my eyes. I was driving along a boulevard where the trees had been draped with “white” LED lights, and the flicker as I drove past was a bit distracting. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2013, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/change-color-of-compact-fluorescent-bulbs/677387/16 "2013-12-30T14:32:46Z")
indirect lighting (reflected) can be much better for CFL and LED in many uses. also diffusers can help. details on how are going to change with each environment and light source. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2013, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/change-color-of-compact-fluorescent-bulbs/677387/17 "2013-12-30T16:18:03Z")
For CFLs, you really, really want to make sure you look for “Soft White” bulbs. They’re usually a reasonable approximation of incandescent light. “Cool White” or (God forbid) “Daylight” bulbs will make you feel like you’re waiting in line at the DMV. Or are in Hell. Or are waiting in line at the DMV in Hell. ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2013, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/change-color-of-compact-fluorescent-bulbs/677387/18 "2013-12-30T17:07:50Z")
> [@cmyk](#): > > We can get close and approximate the “color” of an incandescent bulb glowing at about 2700K, but it’s a trick by mixing certain phosphors or what have you so the wavelengths of color they emit add up and mix to the same sort of “white balance” you might get from a typical 75 watt bulb. > > But it’s a hack. There’s nothing like the richness and innate warmth as to how an incandescent glow will light up a room, and after how many millions of years of primates and humans evolving toward the warm glow of fire and the sun, we can spot a fake like we can spot a CGI face. I don’t buy it. Our eyes have only 3 types of color-sensitive receptors. The only way we perceive color is by the ratio of signals from those 3 types of receptors. There is no way we can distinguish between a true blackbody and an approximation made by mixing 3 colors. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2013, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/change-color-of-compact-fluorescent-bulbs/677387/19 "2013-12-30T17:33:51Z")
> [@scr4](#): > > I don’t buy it. Our eyes have only 3 types of color-sensitive receptors. The only way we perceive color is by the ratio of signals from those 3 types of receptors. There is no way we can distinguish between a true blackbody and an approximation made by mixing 3 colors. _Directly_, yes. But as mentioned many objects’ colors look off in limited-spectrum light. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2013, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/change-color-of-compact-fluorescent-bulbs/677387/20 "2013-12-30T20:27:58Z")
> [@scr4](#): > > I don’t buy it. Our eyes have only 3 types of color-sensitive receptors. The only way we perceive color is by the ratio of signals from those 3 types of receptors. There is no way we can distinguish between a true blackbody and an approximation made by mixing 3 colors. As **Lumpy** states, it’s all in how other objects absorb and consequently reflect any incoming light back. Color perception is already a very complex thing, but limiting the full color spectrum to get white light, can have drastic and subtle consequences in how objects reflect that light back. Just because the white-balance comes very close to 6500K by mixing only blue and orange phosphors at very narrow bands, an apple will reflect back this limited spectrum in an unnatural way as opposed to natural sunlight or a filament of tungsten heated up white-hot. And so forth.