R63 Reflector bulbs

[Sparks]

I am after a quantity of R63 reflector light bulbs...

Easy you may reply

BUT

I am after some energy saving ones!

I currently have 13 of the power hungry 60W things around the house, and feel it would be far better if I replaced them all with an energy saving equivalent (6 of them are in the kitchen, and seem to be always on!)

I have googled and googled until I am sick of googling, but all I can seem to find is a 5w one (30w equivalent) which is way off the mark!

I need them to have at least 650 Lumens of light output, and have an ES/E27 cap

Is there such a thing out there!?

Sparks...

[John Laird]

This one ?

'd agree - 5W is going to be very feeble.

I've not seen any. You might get halogen equivalents. Or you could save some money on bulbs if not electricity and go for Screwfix's long-life variety (I have a stock and they do last significantly longer).

[Sparks]

Yup, that be one of them!

If all else fails, I may go for some of them - I always seem to be replacing the damn things!

Thanks for the suggestion!

Sparks...

[usenet]

Denmans Electrical sell them, they had them on offer a little while ago and I bought a couple. I'm pretty sure they're more than 5 watts but I'm not absolutely sure and I don't have a new catalogue here with me. The one's I have seem at least as bright as the incandescent versions.

[usenet]

Eek, did I do that! "ones".

[Mike Faithfull]

Not having trouble placing your apostrophe's are you Chris? ;o)

[Andrew Gabriel]

I had the same issue in commercial premises. A further issue was that even the existing R63's left the area rather gloomy. I replaced the lamps with GE's Genura, which is a 23W electrodeless compact fluorescent. This change was extremely effective. There are some issues here though...

o The Genura is an R80 replacement really, and so won't physically fit in all R63 fittings -- mine had a black ring which unclipped and allowed R80's to fit. (That wasn't what the ring was for or why it unclipped.) o Genura is a flood lamp, not a spotlamp -- in my case this was a good thing, but it might not be what you're after. o The Genura is expensive compared with other compact fluoresents, but if you do the calculations, it still saves you loads over filament lamps. However shop around, particularly from electrical wholesalers -- you'll probably do much better than buying 13 of them from B&Q. (Try a single one first, obviously.) o The Genura has a light output in excess of 100W lamp -- this will make the area much brighter. (AFAIK, the Genura is the only compact fluorescent which produces more light than the filament lamp it replaces of the same physical size.) o The Genura is only manufactured in 3000K and 3500K colour temperature. Compact fluorescents for home use are normally 2700K to match filament lamps, so there won't be a perfect match with other filament lamps and compact fluorescents you have. OTOH, the increase in light output, in many situations, will also make the increase in colour temperature look reasonable. o The Genura has a runup time of around 2 minutes. Initial light output is around half the output when warmed up. I would doubt that frequent switching would effect life (unlike normal compact fluorescents), but the longish runup means it would not be suitable in many cases where you might want to switch it frequently. o The life of individual lamps is much more variable than that of filament or regular compact fluorescents. They run until the electronics die. The cooler you run them, the longer they are likely to last. I've had many still running when the phosphor coating starts wearing out -- you never achieve that with standard fluorescent lamps as the electrodes die long before that happens. Hence, you may need to replace some before they completely die to get light output back up, but they will probably have done over 20,000 hours by then, so they owe you nothing.

[Sparks]

I knew what you meant!

Thanks for the lead, I have emailed them, and they have given me the email address of one of their local branches ...I will await a reply from them!

Thanks!

Sparks...

[Sparks]

Ok, the lights I have also have a black ring - I will buy an R80 normal bulb, and see if I can squeeze it in!

There are 6 of them in my kitchen, in eyeball spots, they are the only thing used to light the room, so I would think the flood's would be fine (if not better!)

I have seen an R80 energy saving in B&Q, not sure of the make, but it was well expensive! (well, compared with the price of IKEA CFL's anyway!!)

...here they are £19.98 ea

(Try a single one first, obviously.)

This is not a bad thing!

I will have to try one to see

Not a problem here, the lights get turned on in the kitchen, and seem to stay on!

This is also very good news, they are going to be installed in a ceiling with a large open loft space above - I can make sure there is no insulation covering them to keep them as cool as possible!

Thanks for the suggestion, I will pop out tomorrow to get an R80 to see if it will fit!

Sparks...

[John Watson]

Hi Sparks & the others, -- R63 5W lamp -- A rather different thread - my energy saving / cosy evening light tip.

I have ONE of the above lights in my kicthen, in the corner by the kettle,

5W from CPC, in an R63 size. Its on its own 2-w switch circuit. The one I have gives off quite a nice green-ish glow.

Its great for these darker nights & we often leave it on all evening, eg. making a cuppa after watching TV or letting the pooch out, or getting up in the night to let pooch out or "tell" him to shut up (!!)

I also have six normal R63 ones for cooking etc. You need your shades on when first turn these on! In another double R63 (it is a big kitchen/ dining rm area) I have fitted 50W halogen R63s to this which are nicer, but not a lot more £.

IMO it is nice to have different lights for different activities, esp. in a kitchen.

Andrew G's fancy ones look interesting.

[Andy Wade]

I've heard of these, but realise I don't know how they work. Does "electrodeless" imply RF-excited, like the Philips QL system, or something else completely? The 20,000 hr lifetime you quote is much less than for the Philips, so perhaps the latter...?