Bulbs

[F Murtz]

Daffodil or tulips? our tech teacher said lamps not bulbs!

[tabbypurr]

No good, it'll flicker heavily. You need thick filaments to do that, eg 110v 100w.

You could run 3 lamps on one diode, 3 on another so the flicker pretty much cancels.

NT

[tabbypurr]

The halogen cycle isn't needed if you dim it enough that it doesn't work.

NT

[Mike Tomlinson]

En el artículo , [e-mail] escribió:

Angle grinder, then a liqiuidiser.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

There's never been any noticeable flicker when I've done this with tungsten. I wouldn't have recommended it if there was. Although I've generally used it with larger than 35 watt lamps.

[Harry Bloomfield]

David pretended :

Dimmers are not a very efficient way to run ordinary lamps and especially halogen lamps. Light output drops markedly as a larger proportion of the power goes to producing heat. Halogen lamps can be blackened by the use of a dimmer.

You can get dimmers which fit inline and are operated by a remote control. LED's can be dimmed, but they have to be a variety designed to work with a dimmer.

[Harry Bloomfield]

Dave Plowman (News) submitted this idea :

You could replace a one gang switch with a two gang, using one for on/off, the second for bright /dim with a diode.

[Harry Bloomfield]

Dave Plowman (News) explained on 07/11/2016 :

They are more efficient, they produce a higher proportion of light than heat when compared to ordinary lamps, but they do run very hot indeed - the heat generated in a much smaller package less able to dispose of the heat.

My experience of them is that the heat can oxidise the pins, the oxide on the pins then damages the sockets.

I have around a dozen 10w halogen lamps in my caravan - all of them have suffered some degree of damage due oxidisation of the pins.

[Capitol]

I bought some led candle lamps from china for just above a pound each. To replace night light bulbs E11? They had leaf construction and have performed well.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

True. However, if a light is too bright it reduces that output. It may reduce the paper efficiency - but it doesn't cost you more in electricity. If you are concerned about the very best working light for your penny, change to a more efficient method of providing that light. But the problem is (as in the OP's case) some want the device producing the light to be attractive too.

I've read this many times and it simply doesn't happen here - with lots of assorted halogen on dimmers. Only time I've seen blackened halogen bulbs is in a car headlight. And I've no explanation as to why. Car headlights are near always run with the voltage at near the 'correct' value. Very few would run them for long with the engine stopped, so voltage below about

13.5v.

And the dimmer has to be trailing edge.

[charles]

There used to a function called "DimDip" which seriously reduced the voltage to headlights so that they could be used as running lights. As halogen lamps came in DimDip was dropped because of the blackening problem. In the theatre, lamps tended to die becasue, in general, from handling problems rather tha partial blackening due to lower voltage.

[David]

Strangely enough - our woodwork teacher: Pupil: Can I go to the toilet? Mr Sutton: I don't know, can you?

[Dave Plowman (News)]

I was talking about halogen GLS replacements. Look much the same as GLS - apart from the internals. The equivalent to an old 100w GLS is said to be a 70w halogen - so not really sure how that could produce more heat?

Yehbut that's just poor design. Nothing to do with being halogen or not. Cars have had very small high powered halogen lamps for years. But with a properly designed connector.

[Harry Bloomfield]

charles expressed precisely :

That is not what I read - I read that it was dropped because the EU would not accept it. One of my cars had it and it was perfect for use in built up areas, where dipped tended to blind both pedestrians and other drivers, to what was behind you/me.

[Harry Bloomfield]

Dave Plowman (News) explained on 08/11/2016 :

I agree, I have never had an issue with car halogen lamps.

[charles]

Inded years. My MkIII Cortina - bought new in 1971 - had halogen headlights. That's 45 years ago!

[Dave W]

Anyway, I have just put up a new six-bulb ceiling lamp on the landing (reasons of design - I am just the labourer). It has six ses halogen clear candle 18w bulbs. That's 108w or 138w equivalent. It's a bit too bright. Does anyone know if I can get an ses clear candle filament (pref halogen) bulb with a lower wattage than 18w? I don't want to go down the LED filament route at this point as I'm not rich enough.

In this case Google is not my friend, it is a Moroccan street market trader who ignores what I say and tries to sell me what it has. "Less than 18w? Yes my friend, I have! Look! Yes, is 42w. 42w is better! Look it is good bulb and very cheap!"

All advice welcome. Even the advice to travel back in time and get a lamp with fewer than six bulbs...

David

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I wonder if a 12V 5W car bulb could be put in series with the lot, hopefully dropping less than a safe 13V to run the 6 bulbs by that much less? The bulb could be mounted to look like it's part of the fixture.

Another idea would be to use a mains to 12V transformer (rated 6W or more), with its secondary connected in antiphase to the primary live, and your lamps connected between the free ends of primary and secondary so that they get 12V less than full mains.

[tabbypurr]

14v 6w = 0.43A. At 240v that's 103w, so your chandelier consumption needs to be 100w or less.

I've used that trick before to get 3 brightness settings, boost, cut, 240v. Use a 20v transformer. ISTR lamp life dropped to around 300hrs on boost, reducing TCO some, but lamps cost more now thanks to the government's meddling.

NT

[alan_m]

[alan_m]

The OP suggested this was a landing light. It may be switched from two or more positions making the use of a dimmer somewhat more complicated.