# Is it safe to use 23w CFL bulb on walmart clip light?



## Kan (Nov 12, 2011)

Hello everyone,

Does anyone use the clip light from Walmart with 23w daylight CFL bulb? There's a sticker stating maximum wattage for CFL on this lamp should be 13w. I currently have two of these light on my 10 gallon tank with 23w CFL in each of them. So far it's been good, but I'm bit concerned if it will catch fire all sudden one day  I want to see if anyone had any problem with this setup thanks! 

Also, does anyone know similar lamp that can support up to 23w? I looked around quite a bit and looks like 23w is too high for most of the desktop lamps out there.


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## rubadub (Sep 12, 2010)

u can always get the work clip on light from rona
its 20 bux and supports up2 150watts


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## Kan (Nov 12, 2011)

rubadub said:


> u can always get the work clip on light from rona
> its 20 bux and supports up2 150watts


Thanks for the suggestion. I actually did think about those clamp on workshop lights, but my gf doesn't really like them. She thinks the light makes it look like you are doing some kind of experiment on the fish (maybe creating a man eating guppy ). Also I heard it's hard to adjust the neck of those light to the right degree so it's lighting straight down the aquarium.

The desktop lamp from Walmart looked the most elegant from all the light I've seen and you can actually bend the neck to light straight down


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## rubadub (Sep 12, 2010)

yes but if it cant handel the wattage u need then isnt it useless?

my 2 cents

u can always invest in a hood to cover ur tank lol


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## Kan (Nov 12, 2011)

rubadub said:


> yes but if it cant handel the wattage u need then isnt it useless?
> 
> my 2 cents
> 
> u can always invest in a hood to cover ur tank lol


You are right, putting the shop lights on the lid would work and I've seen such set up and it looks pretty good. I'm a low budget type of guy and trying to figure out the cheapest solution lol. If anyone had problem with it before i might just buy another lamp and use 3 13w bulb  Other than the concern of fire anything is working great light now. I'm now able to grow plants that I couldn't before when I was using the stock light that came with the tank (T8 15w)


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## rubadub (Sep 12, 2010)

lol i thought ur gf was worried about cosmetics?? lol having 3 lamps pointing at a tank to me isnt appealing lol

what size tank is it???


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## Kan (Nov 12, 2011)

You are probably right haha. It's standard 10G so I believe the width is 20''. It just makes your life extra hard when you have to deal with your gf's picky personality and try to save at the same time lol. I do have a extra clip lamp sitting around so maybe I will try tonight to see how bad it looks


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## rubadub (Sep 12, 2010)

or just buy a lamp that houses a higher wattage bulb
http://www.homedepot.ca/product/1-light-clamp-lamp-black-finish/913640

smack a 24 watter in there u should be good
16 bux and it should light ur whole tank


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## Kan (Nov 12, 2011)

rubadub said:


> or just buy a lamp that houses a higher wattage bulb
> http://www.homedepot.ca/product/1-light-clamp-lamp-black-finish/913640
> 
> smack a 24 watter in there u should be good
> 16 bux and it should light ur whole tank


That lamp looks pretty good. When it say 60w max I think it's referring to max incandescent bulb rating though. The Walmart lamp have incandescent rating of around 40w and CFL rating of 13w if I remember correctly.

I hear people say since CFL bulbs emit much less heat than incandescent bulbs, it's safe to put lets say 40w CFL into lamp with incandescent rating of 40w even though it emits much more light (Lets say 40w CFL might emit same amout of light as 200w incandescent). I thought this was true until I saw the label on the Walmart lamp stating it can safely handle 40w incandescent bulb but only 13w CFL bulb. This makes me think does it mean 40w incandescent emits around the same amount of heat as 13w CFL??  I notcied most of the lamp out there does not even include CFL bulb rating only the incandescent rating.


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## rubadub (Sep 12, 2010)

cfl's emit less heat
read this http://askville.amazon.com/CFL-output-100-watts-lamp-max-60/AnswerViewer.do?requestId=5426412


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## Kan (Nov 12, 2011)

rubadub said:


> cfl's emit less heat
> read this http://askville.amazon.com/CFL-output-100-watts-lamp-max-60/AnswerViewer.do?requestId=5426412


Thanks for the link. I've seen similar answers before and it makes perfect sense. But then I got confused when the Walmart lamp stated different rating for CFL bulb and Incandescent. According to the logic in the link the Walmart lamp should also be able to handle up to 40w CFL bulb not 13w so using 23w bulbs are perfectly fine. I'm not sure how they came up with 13w max for CFL but so far it's been fine. I'm just little paranoid lol


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## rubadub (Sep 12, 2010)

as long as there is openings at the end of ur lamp u should be fine
if not
just drill a few
simple


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## rubadub (Sep 12, 2010)

well its there because a cfl needs to be vented
so if where the bulb goes is totally closed then yea it isnt the best idea to use a cfl
but as i said above it is an easy fix with a dill and a few bits


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## Kan (Nov 12, 2011)

rubadub said:


> well its there because a cfl needs to be vented
> so if where the bulb goes is totally closed then yea it isnt the best idea to use a cfl
> but as i said above it is an easy fix with a dill and a few bits


The lamp actual does come with some openning for hot air to escape already  I guess I'll keep using current setup unless someone post their horrible fire experience


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