Has there been a decision taken to move over to screw-top bulbs in the UK and Ireland, at some time in the future? There seem to be a growing number of outlets (eg Ikea and Lidl) that only stock screw-top bulbs.
Also, is there any "converter" that allows a screw-top bulb to be put in a bayonet socket?
Imports of europe-wide products tend to be that way
Haven't seen those for sale in a very long time. Do historic ones turn up on ebay?
NT
possibly 'cos they are not UK-based groups? There are still plenty of BC in supermarkets and other shops in London and Suffolk
yes - use the search engine of your choice to search for (say) es27 bc adapter
they are also on eBay sometimes
Then they keep their stock because I am certainly not going to change my house over to ES sockets.
and the relevant fittings..
Don't piss around: Replace the actual pendants or the inner parts.
Don't get me started. Nearly every fitting in this house is different, there's BC, ES, SES, several GU10's and a couple of T8's.
Feels like there isn't much point keeping a few spares in the cupboard cos they are bound to have the wrong fitting (we are nearly 100% energy saving bulbs anyway).
Philip
I expect that you'll adapt to stumbling around in the dark quite quickly. :)
BTW, do you have anything in particular against ES sockets? Apart from the cost/inconvenience of changing over, that is.
Keeping two lots of bulbs in stock is a pain.
In Lidl on Saturday: lot of Philips Genie CFLs at 10p each and they were BC according to the picture on the boxen. I didn't check the wattage or caps as they were on the tills and the queue was moving too fast.
We have had the bulbs unscrewing over time and a bit of overheating in the socket, probably from the unscrewing. BC are bad but imo a tad better than ES. SES do not seem bad at all but we have few of them.
Yes. Repeated heating unscrews them, without a lamp inserted if it is switched on the centre contact is touchable and live, it's a polarised fitting! - if wired incorrectly and switched on the outer screw case is live! They're an abomination unto Nuggan.
JGH
I'm not so concerned about them unscrewing as becoming jammed in!
But couldn't agree more about the safety aspect (or lack of it). How these things passed a H & S review I don't understand. Wired incorrectly (and that wouldn't be too difficult), anything made of thin metal could be pushed down by a child and touch the live screw case - an impossibility with a bayonet fixing.
I wonder if they were foisted on us because it is not easy to push a spiral CFL into a bayonet fixing in a confined space without putting a lot of pressure on the fragile glass spiral. It is possible to gently screw an ES-based spiral CFL into a similar confined space without risking the glass breaking.
The OP hasn't encountered BC3 yet then!
You can stick a finger into a BC socket and touch the terminals. With a foot touching a good earth that could be quite nasty.
Many BC sockets are only 'live' when a bulb is inserted.
It would be a silly thing to do though.
The one I fitted to a standard lamp has that feature. Made continuity checking a bit difficult recently when it unaccountably stopped working even though the bulb checked out in another fitting.
I fitted nothing else in this house.
Over the years I've had several BC plastic holders disintegrate - presumably because of heat when using larger lamps. Not had this problem with ES. Although it could be the fittings I have with ES are of a higher quality - the holders seem all to be ceramic.
My gut feeling is ES is a better connector at the upper limits of current handling.
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