I have a couple of 40-Watt bulbs in a lamp to illuminate my sheet music. (Each bulb is tubular in shape, and about 4.5- 5 inches long, which really doesn’t matter, but I mention it for the sake of completeness.) Anyway, I tend to practice all day long, taking breaks as I go. In daylight or dark, I turn on the lamps the moment I sit down.
The question is, when should I turn them off? I bought the light stand a couple of months ago and have had to change the bulbs already.
Is it cost effective to leave the lamp once I start practicing, and to turn them off only when I’m done for the day? I think the bulbs cost about $5 each.
Your question doesn’t make much sense. There is no reason to leave the light on when you’re not using it, is there? Every hour the light is on costs you money for electricity and bulb life. I don’t get it.
If these lamps are the ones I’m thinking of, they don’t last very long, but they are very bright. As far as efficiency, I would say leaving them on all day is going to be more expensive than any potential shortening of their life by turning them on and off. 80 watts per hour adds up fairly quickly at 12 to 15 cents per kWh. As I said, they don’t last very long whether you leave them on continuously or not.
I would second jnglmassiv’s suggestion to find a low energy replacement. I doubt that an LED bulb would provide enough light, but a compact fluorescent should do the trick for less than 1/4 the energy and last for a few years. It would also produce a lot less heat.
CFs to fit that fixture may be difficult to find, but they are out there.
That burnout time seems fast. Perhaps the fixture came with cheap bulbs installed, or you’re getting vibration transfered to the filaments. Those 40 watt tubular bulbs are used in EXIT signs and such, and they sure don’t burn out every 3 months.
A 130 volt bulb like this should give you a better lifetime in your 110v fixture.
