G24Q-3

Our nightmare is over! No, Donald Trump is still president. What I’m talking about is that I am finally  successful in changing the upstairs hall lightbulbs after three months.

The family unit was cleaning the upstairs hallway and it reminded me that I still needed to get bulbs for those ceiling fixtures. And as you’ve surely read, the LED bulbs didn’t work with the ballast. I couldn’t remove the ballast myself, so the LED bulbs went back the manufacturer. The replacement CFL’s I followed up with had the wrong base, G24Q-1, so they wouldn’t connect to my light fixture. Back those went.

Well today I ran out to my favorite light bulb retailer, Home Depot, and purchased G24Q-3 CFLs from my favorite lighting manufacturer Philips. They are 2,700K and use 26W (which is high) and are 1,800 lumens (also high).

The packaging opened easy enough, and is fully recyclable. I popped the new bulbs in and “voila!”

Light!

One thing off of my “to do” list.

 

Back of the packaging for the G24Q-3 CFL Bulbs.

Let there be light, again.

Front of the packaging for the G24Q-3 CFL Bulbs

The subtle difference that requires a G24Q-3 bulb instead of the opposite G24Q-1 bulb

G24Q-1

We’ve been without proper lighting in the second floor hallway for like three months now due to the ongoing light bulb saga. As it turns out, raising the white flag on the LED bulbs by switching back to fluorescent bulbs still didn’t shield me from problems.

Apparently there are three types of G24Q bulbs – type 1, type 2 and type 3. Each has it’s own subtle little differences in the base (look at the little nibs on the diagram below from LightSearch.com) – and if you get the wrong one you’re screwed (although they are a “push in” and not a “screw” base).

image from LightSearch.com

The ones I ordered from Amazon were a “type 1” and apparently my light fixture is anything but a type 1. Somewhere out there are product designers smarter than me who felt it necessary to not land on a universal standard.

I think the LED bulbs I had were universal though, fitting any type of socket, and that is why the readily fit the light fixture.

Now I have to figure out which type bulb socket I have and then order new ones.

Here’s a handy guide from LightSearch.com

http://www.lightsearch.com/resources/lightguides/cfllampid.html