1 00:00:00,410 --> 00:00:03,210 This video will be a little… different. 2 00:00:03,210 --> 00:00:07,319 This is a wonderfully earnest device made by General Electric, and I use the word earnest 3 00:00:07,319 --> 00:00:12,400 because it’s clearly a neat idea, but a far from perfect, and to be honest, weird 4 00:00:12,400 --> 00:00:13,420 idea. 5 00:00:13,420 --> 00:00:18,050 This is the GE Circlite energy saving lamp from 1991. 6 00:00:18,050 --> 00:00:21,439 Many of this product’s details seem lost to history, probably because these weren’t 7 00:00:21,439 --> 00:00:22,439 so popular. 8 00:00:22,439 --> 00:00:24,270 I mean, this box shows you right here. 9 00:00:24,270 --> 00:00:32,320 Started at 10.96, went on clearance for $7, annnnd ended up at Goodwill for $1.99 many years later. 10 00:00:32,320 --> 00:00:35,129 Quick note--yes this isn’t what I said my next video was going to be, I’m working 11 00:00:35,129 --> 00:00:37,800 on it--I promise!--but I wanted to show you this thing. 12 00:00:37,800 --> 00:00:42,010 I had originally planned to showcase this in my last video and had it in the first draft 13 00:00:42,010 --> 00:00:46,149 of the script, but it got lost in the basement of my parent’s house, and only recently 14 00:00:46,149 --> 00:00:48,199 could I visit them and find it. 15 00:00:48,199 --> 00:00:49,899 So, what is this? 16 00:00:49,899 --> 00:00:54,710 Well, it’s a not-so-compact fluorescent lamp, or an NSCFL if you will. 17 00:00:54,710 --> 00:01:00,059 It looks as though GE may have been making these since the sixties in various forms. 18 00:01:00,059 --> 00:01:04,280 Really this is a magnetic ballast and starter plug concealed in this, and I hesitate to 19 00:01:04,280 --> 00:01:07,010 call it such but, attractive adapter. 20 00:01:07,010 --> 00:01:11,690 You can tell it’s a plain-ol magnetic ballast because it’s 1) Old, and 2) surprisingly 21 00:01:11,690 --> 00:01:12,700 heavy. 22 00:01:12,700 --> 00:01:17,390 It drives a 22 watt T9 circline tube, and it’s meant as an energy saving alternative 23 00:01:17,390 --> 00:01:19,150 to incandescent lamps. 24 00:01:19,150 --> 00:01:22,830 Really forward thinking, and the box has some compelling data on the back. 25 00:01:22,830 --> 00:01:26,560 This unit appears to have never been put to use, as the lamp ends aren’t darkened at 26 00:01:26,560 --> 00:01:28,140 all, and it’s in the original carton. 27 00:01:28,140 --> 00:01:30,340 So, how does one use this thing? 28 00:01:30,340 --> 00:01:34,470 Well, a large part I’m sure of why these never took off was the fact that installing 29 00:01:34,470 --> 00:01:36,750 them in a lamp could be fairly annoying. 30 00:01:36,750 --> 00:01:41,440 You’d need to remove the shade and harp, install the assembled lamp, though the instructions 31 00:01:41,440 --> 00:01:44,840 say you should put the tube in after you’ve screwed the adapter in, which is nothing short 32 00:01:44,840 --> 00:01:48,890 of asinine, and then the harp would go through the space between the tube and ballast, and 33 00:01:48,890 --> 00:01:50,650 you’d put the shade back on. 34 00:01:50,650 --> 00:01:51,650 Cool. 35 00:01:51,650 --> 00:01:56,190 But it won’t work in a lamp like this, a ceiling fixture like that, or really in a 36 00:01:56,190 --> 00:01:58,050 whole bunch of applications. 37 00:01:58,050 --> 00:02:00,500 Not exactly universal. 38 00:02:00,500 --> 00:02:04,410 Assembling it is somewhat terrifying because this clip is is rather tight, and I know fluorescent 39 00:02:04,410 --> 00:02:07,720 tubes are stronger than they look, but it still seems like it’s gonna shatter in my 40 00:02:07,720 --> 00:02:09,190 hands when clipping it in. 41 00:02:09,190 --> 00:02:12,450 Then you put the little plug in and you’re ready to run it. 42 00:02:12,450 --> 00:02:16,260 Because it uses a preheat starter, it starts erratically and differently each time you 43 00:02:16,260 --> 00:02:17,260 turn it on! 44 00:02:17,260 --> 00:02:18,330 So that’s fun. 45 00:02:18,330 --> 00:02:22,400 And after it fires up, you’ll see the second reason these probably weren’t that popular. 46 00:02:22,400 --> 00:02:25,730 The phosphor formulation in this tube is AWFUL. 47 00:02:25,730 --> 00:02:27,930 Really, really bad. 48 00:02:27,930 --> 00:02:32,350 White balance is, weird, with it producing a sickly purplish grey light--even though 49 00:02:32,350 --> 00:02:35,580 the box assures us it has a warm, pleasing color. 50 00:02:35,580 --> 00:02:36,680 Nope! 51 00:02:36,680 --> 00:02:38,970 And white balance isn’t the biggest issue. 52 00:02:38,970 --> 00:02:43,200 ANYTHING under it looks bizarre, with colors being reproduced very strangely. 53 00:02:43,200 --> 00:02:46,840 But, this was pretty much standard fare for fluorescent lighting of the time. 54 00:02:46,840 --> 00:02:49,020 Let’s do a quick comparison. 55 00:02:49,020 --> 00:02:53,350 I tend to buy all of my household items from IKEA because I’m cheap and boring, so I 56 00:02:53,350 --> 00:02:55,480 happen to have three identical lamps. 57 00:02:55,480 --> 00:03:00,260 Let’s load em’ up with a standard 75 watt incandescent (what this promises to replace), 58 00:03:00,260 --> 00:03:05,410 the ENERGY CHOICE miracle device in the middle, and a more modern 60 watt equivalent CFL. 59 00:03:05,410 --> 00:03:06,710 Ready, go! 60 00:03:06,710 --> 00:03:10,520 What a warm, pleasing color that middle one makes. 61 00:03:10,520 --> 00:03:12,560 Well, let’s give it a better chance, then. 62 00:03:12,560 --> 00:03:17,280 One of the real advantages this has over a modern CFL is that the ballast is separate 63 00:03:17,280 --> 00:03:21,410 from the tube, so we can replace the tube with something a little less terrible. 64 00:03:21,410 --> 00:03:23,030 Off to the hardware store. 65 00:03:23,030 --> 00:03:28,060 Here in the US, we describe our fluorescent tubes by their diameter in eighths of an inch. 66 00:03:28,060 --> 00:03:31,270 Not sure how the rest of the world does it, but true to American fashion, it’s a rather 67 00:03:31,270 --> 00:03:33,030 bizarre numbering scheme. 68 00:03:33,030 --> 00:03:37,900 The older T12 tube is 1 and a half inches in diameter, as it’s 12/8ths of an inch, 69 00:03:37,900 --> 00:03:41,620 and the now more standard T8 is one inch in diameter. 70 00:03:41,620 --> 00:03:43,740 But this thing is a T9. 71 00:03:43,740 --> 00:03:45,800 Nine eighths of an inch. 72 00:03:45,800 --> 00:03:49,990 Not sure why that’s a thing, but apparently it’s a standard size for circline tubes. 73 00:03:49,990 --> 00:03:50,990 Whatever. 74 00:03:50,990 --> 00:03:56,220 I’m truly sorry if this is standard convention for the rest of the world because it’s ridiculous. 75 00:03:56,220 --> 00:04:00,680 So, now that I’ve got a not-terrible tube installed, how does it look? 76 00:04:00,680 --> 00:04:01,680 MUCH better. 77 00:04:01,680 --> 00:04:06,030 It’s a little cooler than I’d like at 3000K, but at least colors look at least somewhat 78 00:04:06,030 --> 00:04:07,030 correct. 79 00:04:07,030 --> 00:04:10,350 I think I’ll leave this thing in one of my lamps here, as it is plenty bright and 80 00:04:10,350 --> 00:04:13,090 a neat novelty every time you switch it on. 81 00:04:13,090 --> 00:04:17,250 One thing I can’t help but wonder is what will happen when the starter fails. 82 00:04:17,250 --> 00:04:20,359 It doesn’t seem like you’re meant to replace it, and truthfully I don’t know if this 83 00:04:20,359 --> 00:04:24,610 center bit even comes apart, but I imagine it will last for a very long time. 84 00:04:24,610 --> 00:04:28,830 In fact the box suggests the adapter should last 20 years. 85 00:04:28,830 --> 00:04:32,350 If for some reason it won’t start a tube anymore, I’ll hack this open and see if 86 00:04:32,350 --> 00:04:35,660 it’s rocking a standard glow starter plug thing or what. 87 00:04:35,660 --> 00:04:39,100 Though you can see the starter glow at the bottom of the adapter, so we know for sure 88 00:04:39,100 --> 00:04:43,730 it at least has the guts of a standard neon starter plug inside. 89 00:04:43,730 --> 00:04:48,000 One interesting note is that because the tube is far away from the center of the adapter, 90 00:04:48,000 --> 00:04:52,570 in lamps that will accommodate it, it produces far more light downward than even an ordinary 91 00:04:52,570 --> 00:04:53,910 incandescent. 92 00:04:53,910 --> 00:04:57,500 This can be useful for lamps such as desk lamps, as it will illuminate the work surface 93 00:04:57,500 --> 00:04:58,940 quite well. 94 00:04:58,940 --> 00:05:02,240 Thanks for watching, and thank you especially to supporters on Patreon! 95 00:05:02,240 --> 00:05:05,540 You can support this channel with a totally voluntary contribution to help keep these 96 00:05:05,540 --> 00:05:06,590 videos coming. 97 00:05:06,590 --> 00:05:09,080 And with that, I’ll see you next time.