Sale of Incandescent Bulbs to End on Tuesday?

[Phil Stovell]

Yes.

[Bambleweeny57]

Yours must be special then ;)

UK voltage varies between around 220 to over 250. One of the commonest reasons for voltage to drop (deliberately at least) is for the power companies to reduce load slightly at peaks hours.

[Steve Terry]

So drug dealers will go over to the more lucrative business of smuggling bulbs

Steve Terry

[Ian Jackson]

specification is such that, in practice, no changes were required when the voltage was 'reduced' from the original 240V.

[Bob Eager]

Exactly. He said that the voltage was 230V. He *didn't* say the nominal voltage was 230V - which we all know is the case.

[Mike Scott]

...

No-one has said what those of us with dimmer systems are supposed to do. Or maybe they think the low-wattage replacements don't need them, being dim enough already?

(Errr, I meant the bulbs, but you can take that last either way :-)

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember Bambleweeny57 saying something like:

[Paul Hyett]

On Thu, 27 Aug 2009 at 12:15:59, Jeff wrote in uk.legal :

If I was a jury member when someone was being tried for that, I'd be pissing myself laughing!

[Paul Hyett]

On Thu, 27 Aug 2009 at 11:58:38, Fleetie wrote in uk.legal :

IMO energy-saving bulbs aren't all they're cracked up to be, anyway.

They might not actually *fail* for a long time, but they fade over time, shortening their useful life that way.

[Cynic]

As I have posted before, forget CFLs. Wait a short while and there will be plenty of LED room lighting options. LEDs are more energy efficient, provide a better quality of light (IMO), may be dimmed, and are less polluting both in manufacture and in disposal.

Unfortunately it is unlikely that we will see LED lights that are plug-in replacements for incandecent bulbs any time soon - except perhaps a type that compromises so greatly on efficiency that they are poor substitutes. There are some tricky technical problems that will need to be overcome first. So you'll need to replace the entire fitting.

[Andrew Gabriel]

article is correct, as far as it goes. If it had said the UK mains voltage is 230V, it would have been incorrect. You have to read it more carefully.

That's the _specification_ which was specifically designed to allow the UK mains voltage to remain 240V (and for former 220V countries to keep their 220V supplies if they want to).

[John Rumm]

And 240V actual - get your DVM out and see for yourself.

The actual UK voltage has not changed - only the nominal spec voltage and the limits. Hence the UK remains in spec at 240V

[Mr X]

232 when I last did it.

[Gordon Henderson]

As an experiment, I got a couple of the 3W ones of these:

time back to replace 2 x 50W GU10 halogen spots. TLC had them on offer at a fiver each at the time.

As an experiment, I deemed it a success and wished now I'd bought more at that price! They're not quite the same in terms of coverage and light - they only had one type at the time and I'm guessing it's the "cool white" version. I think the "warm white" might be better suited for my test

- kitchen to illuminate the cooker area. Curiously enough, there is a start-up delay too - fraction of a second (1/4 to 1/2?), but it's still there. I guess they have some sort of fancy PSU that needs to stabilise first.

I recon that I actually need 3 of these to fully illuminate the same area as 2 x GU10 50W halogens, so at some point soon I'll get another and a fitting, however 9W to replace 100W is good in my book.

Gordon

[John Rumm]

It will vary with location and load. Its usually about 237V here. The various suppliers will aim to deliver to the majority of properties at about 240V. Obviously that can mean in practice that the house nearest the substation is getting close to 250 and the one at the far end of a LV cable can be quite a bit lower.

[Steve Terry]

The ban is only on bulbs over 75w

Don't worry about the loss of incandescent bulbs, new LED technology is going to change the world

Steve Terry

[Frank Erskine]

On Thu, 27 Aug 2009 19:01:52 +0100, "Steve Terry" had this to say:

Apparently not - it's all _GLS_ pearl/frosted bulbs.

SES will probably not be classed as GLS, nor will ES, BICBW.

[Cynic]

some time back to replace 2 x 50W GU10 halogen spots. TLC had them on

LEDs are inherently more directional than other forms of lighting. That is in fact a good thing, because any light that is illuminating areas you don't *need* to be illuminated is wasted energy. Coverage angles are increased either by mounting several LEDs at different angles, or with suitable optics (usually diffuser/lens combination, which increases the price).

The PSU is a major part of the system. Some companies have brought out LED lighting without an adequate PSU design, and as a result they are either very dim, or will not last 5 minutes. LEDs are very particular about their current supply if you want to operate them at peak brightness, and also have a maximum operating temperature that must not be exceeded - so have to be adequately heatsinked or otherwise protected for all conceivable ambient temperatures. Some PSUs are suitable for connection to a dimmer-fed light, but most are not because they are essentially switch-mode power supplies. If you want dimmable lighting, it is best to get an LED fitting where the PSU has a dimmer input rather than using an existing dimmer that operates on the mains. Some PSUs are switch-mode (and so unaffected by input voltage), but have a separate sensing circuit that detects the fact that a dimmer is being used and applies the neccesary changes to the output to dim the LEDs (usually constant current PWM).

Yes - it is definitely the way forward, and I don't see much of a future for CFLs. OTOH I must declare a vested commercial interest in LED lighting (but not domestic lights - industrial and streetlighting only).

[Bob Eager]

Exactly.

[peterwn]

This would be sensible, since this takes account of OP's concern. In due course, compact fluorescent or LED versions of such specialty bulbs will probably become available. LED bulbs are currently damned expensive but are used for traffic and railway signals where high reliability is needed and the transport and labour costs of bulb changes are very high.

So you will have to get them from Australia (the only other 240v stronghold AFAIK) until their nanny state govt. bans them.