electricity ? is it true that it burns more current to take off and then put back on a light rather than just?

Question

leave it on for a minute or 2???

Answer 1

yes when you turn it on,

(especially) for a fluorescent lamp, it needs to draw more current when you start it up.

Answer 2

This is entirely a myth for incandescent lights - but widely believed, and somewhat true fluorescent lights, but not really a significant factor. Its true that fluorescent lights have an large initial draw of electricity, but this spike only lasts 1-2 seconds, which is roughly equal to burning the light for an additional 10-45 seconds, depending on the wattage. So, it takes less electricity to turn a fluorescent off if it will not be used again for more than 45 seconds. However, there is one additional consideration with fluorescent lights besides the amount of electricity burned while leaving them on or turning them off: the lifespan of a fluorescent light can be significantly reduced by rapidly turning the lights on and off, so leaving a fluorescent light on for 1-2 minutes is probably most efficient when you factor in the cost of wearing out the light bulb, manufacturing a new light bulb, shipping the new bulb, and driving to the store to buy the bulb.

Answer 3

For an incandescent bulb this a fact. The resistance of of the tungsten filament is near zero when it it cold, this cause a large rush of current when you close the switch but the filament quickly heats up and the resistance increases, evening out the current flow.

Answer 4

Not significantly. The power surge is small and only lasts a fraction of a second. Otherwise it would blow the circuit breaker or fuse.

It does shorten the lifespan of fluorescent lights to keep turning them on and off very rapidly.

Answer 5

pulse like changes are signals rich with higher harmonics
which might harm electric devices

Answer 6

NO