E11 Mini-Candelabra socket adapters?

[zxcvbob]

The lights in our church are incandescents on dimmers. 150W light bulbs cost $3 apiece and only last 750 hours (weren't they $2 just a couple of months ago?) and these lights are in enclosed fixtures and *really* hard to reach. Little screw-in halogen capsule lights are slightly more efficient, cost $6, and last 2000 hours. I also suspect traditional

150W lamps will get expensive and/or hard to find soon.

So I'm looking for bushings to screw into medium-base Edison light sockets to adapt them to single-ended halogen lamps. I've seen medium-base to candelabra adapters, but this is a "mini candelabra" thread, not normal candelabra base -- also it needs to be temperature rated for at least 150W lamps. Any idea?

-Bob

[The Daring Dufas]

The only problem might be the heat produced by the halogen lamp. If you have a Light Bulb Depot store in your area, the stores are usually staffed by nice knowledgeable people and they can really help you out. The adapters sold by LBD appear to be ceramic so heat may not be a problem for the adapter but I would be concerned about the existing socket and wiring. If the socket is ceramic, the wiring may also be of the high temperature resistant type.

TDD

[Evan]

@Bob:

Those little halogen capsules aren't going to last you any longer than the normal lamps if you dim them below 75% of full-on as the Halogen cycle won't happen if the lamp temp is too low...

So you would be buying lamps twice as expensive boasting a potential of lasting twice as long which won't perform to that expectation...

Your problem sounds to me like one of control of why and how long the lights remain on and budgeting for lamp replacements on a more regular basis...

Standard method of lamp replacement is you wait until 25% of the lamps are out and then you bring out the ladders or man-lifts and re-lamp all fixtures...

Perhaps it is time to think about a capital replacement of the fixtures to more modern ones...

Is dimming really that important to the operation of the lights ? They will last longer if burned at full output and not cycled on and off rapidly...

~~ Evan

[zxcvbob]

Those are good points. The lamps are used at full brightness 99% of the time, but that 1% that they are dimmed way down is important too. And the soft start the dimmers provide is kind of nice.

The biggest problem here is the E26 lamp base that the .gov hates so much.

I have found porcelain E26 to E11 adapter bushings online, but they come in large lots (minimum order 50), and I don't know if they are UL approved... It's still a start. I also don't know if the mini-can quartz lamps are position sensitive, like some HID lamps. (horizontal vs base-up vs base-down)

-Bob

[Nono]

The reason that the halogen lamps have that "mini" base is so they can't be put into the standard candelabra base. The critical part of a halogen lamp is the seal where the wires come out of the filament tube and into the base. The seal is temperature sensitive. With single-ended halogen screw lamps, the base metal acts as a heat sink to keep the seals from cracking.

Additionally, your lighting fixture is not rated for a socket adapter or halogen lamp of the type you want to use. That would be very bad news in case a fire resulted.

It's strange that the chandelier bulbs are not lasting longer than their rated life if the lamps are indeed operating dimmed most of the time. It doesn't take much dimming to substantially lengthen life. 150 watt bulbs are available in 130 volt ratings. Give some of those a try.

Tomsic

[clare]

Better yet, convert to GU10 and install either 85 watt halogen or 9 watt LED dimmable reflector floods.

The 30 watt LEDS are roughly equivalent in light output to 80 watt halogens. And they are available dimmable (they don't dim much before they go out, but won't burn up if dimmed) and they are available for about ht cost of the 150 watt bulb. All the light goes down - so more effective than a globe too. The ones I bought are "universal" - good from 85 to 260 volts.

[Evan]

@Bob:

Pictures are worth thousands of words...

Show us a picture of one of the lamps currently in use from your supply storeroom... Show us a picture of one of the fixtures...

Post the pictures on a photohosting site and reply with the links here...

~~ Evan

[zxcvbob]

I'll see what I can do re: pictures. There are no lamps in the store room. Last time I climbed up there, the fixture had a cheap 200W bulb in it. (there are 4 fixtures on one dimmer, and the dimmer is rated

600W or maybe 660W) Then there are 2 more on a different dimmer.

The fixtures are probably 60 years old. Pendants with a large flattened round glass globes. It's a small country church built over 120 years ago, so even as we modernize, I am trying to keep the original glass and fixtures and pews and stuff.

I bought four 150W clear lamps today, that should keep us going for a while. I don't like the 750 hour lamp life, but I've been going to this church for over 5 years and we haven't replaced all the lamps in that time; we've probably replaced less then half. I did find some sockets if I ever have to retrofit to a different type of bulb. Replace the existing sockets rather than adapt them, and a 1/8 IP nipple will mount the new sockets:

...but I still haven't found whether minican lamps can be mounted base-up.

-Bob