12V or 230/240V Halogen Downlighters

[John Rumm]

I was not so much taking out stuff that was there as adding extra to start with. Although I agree there is some dubious stuff in there.

Yup I would agree, glare is a symptom of poor lighting design rather than just a problem with halogen lighting itself. Staring into a R80 spotlight is no less unpleasant.

Yup, I was thinking of adding something about that.

No harm in offering it as a suggestion though.

While I have yet to find a CFL with decent spectra (still waiting for that Hanson chap to make his recommendation!), some of the linear tubes are not bad when used as a concealed fitting with reflected light. These can work nicely in a kitchen with a bit of halogen task lighting, or display lighting for those that like to have posh crockery on display etc.

Yup, that was one of the less credible bits. At least one ought to point out the real risk of being struck by lightening while standing close to a halogen bulb! ;-)

agreed.

[Andrew Gabriel]

It was a real issue, but it's an obsolete concern now. Once identified, a couple of things happened. Luminaires were redesigned with glass shields, both to protect against UV and to contain an exploding lamp. The small low power exposed capsule lamps were mostly changed to a low pressure fill to prevent explosion and coated with UV absorbing coating to prevent UV exposure. You should check for the symbols for low pressure and UV filter where lamps are exposed. Looking through the ones I have in stock, I notice the IKEA ones are still high pressure and show they must be enclosed, but all the ones I have claim to have a UV filter.

[John Rumm]

Sounds like that section can become a "noting to be worried about now" - although perhaps be careful if buying old desk lamps at the car boot.

As an aside, I just did some experiments on the effects of dimmers on power consumption:

Mains voltage was 243V, and measuring RMS current draw (true RMS clamp meter) at the switch I got a reading of 0.40A at full brightness. Reducing to approx half brightness reduced the draw to 0.30A, and at minimum brightness the current draw was 0.17A, so 97W at full, 72W midway, and 41W at minimum. (this was feeding a track light with four fittings - each with a 25W bulb)

[John Rumm]

I have tried to make that section a bit simpler now...