This looks very interesting. Will certainly read it carefully.
Maybe "significantly" might be a better word?
I certainly get the feeling that dimming any sort of lamp has its problems (one way or the other).
To a first approximation, think of the dimmer as a knob to reduce the efficiency. It does that to a very much larger extent than it reduces the power consumption. [That is with incandescent lamps]
I bought a box of these from CPC for my parents, who have a 5 lamp dimming fitting in their dining room. It had 25W painted candles in it, but as the lamps are not visible in the fitting, being painted was just a waste, and the room could do with being a little lighter. The replacements are 28W, and that's made a noticable difference, and made the room light enough.
I had a similar situation, with 5 x 60W (mixture of clear candles and painted golf balls) in a room with lighting on an X10 DIN rail dimmer. I wanted to keep the X10 dimming.
I decided to convert all the fittings to use 12V capsule bulbs, with a couple of dimmable 12V lighting transformers supplying them. I took pictures of the conversion and plan on putting together a web page when I get a chance. I did already post a picture of the adaptors I made:
The capsule bulbs are 12V 35W, and the room is noticably brighter than it was with mains 60W lamps. I was very pleased with the results.
I like that. Calibrate 0 to 4% for an incandescent!
In message , Lobster writes
QVS still list them. Tho my locals tore didn't have stock, but they show online.
Megaman make dimmable CFL's, not cheap though,
They seem to go for a bout a tenner online. Though I'm sure I saw some in the B&Q the other day for about 6-7
I've never understood that. Why did they ban pearl before clear? They said it was about energy saving, surely 60w is 60w no matter what glass it is in?
It's to do with the lack of a suitable alternative to clear bulbs (which are usually used in more decorative applications).
Tim
No. If you go to buy a bulb now with the same light output as an old 60W you will get a bulb containing a halogen capsule rated at
48W thus saving 20% electricity and getting a brighter and whiter light than before.
at 4 times the price that lasts half as long.
The argument was that if you were using a pearl lamp, then you didn't need a point light source and can use a CFL instead. CFL's can't replace some uses of clear lamps.
Also, you lose light in the non-clear finish. For original pearl lamps, it was about 2-3%. These were etched with hydrofluoric acid, which has become regarded as too dangerous to use now, so this has been phased out over last 5+ years. The replacement is a dust coating (not sure what), but this is significantly worse for light loss than the original etched pearl lamps.
There are also painted coatings, which are used in golf ball, candle, mushroom, and other lamps where you want a surface which is evenly illuminated with no bright area in line of sight of the filament. These coatings are much more inefficient (IIRC,
20% light loss).
These do not claim to have the same light output as the lamps they replace (and indeed they don't). They merely claim that if you use a 48W lamp to replace a 60W lamp, you will save 20% energy. The wattages are chosen to be the max allowed at each stage as the EU phases out incandescent lamps.
Actually, that's exactly what they claim...
"Same familiar light bulb shape, same light output... yet less expense Simply replacing the standard bulb for a HALOGEN Energy Saver with 30% lower wattage yields the same light with twice the product life. Minimising your lamp replacement and electricity costs.
These 42W halogen GLS bulbs are a direct replacement for a 60W incandescent GLS, yet they aren't as efficient as 9W energy saving gls light bulb. They are ideal for those who dislike the CFL."
Sorry if I wasn't clear. I didn't mean that 60w of any bulb is equivalent to 60w of a bulb of a different technology. What I meant was that 60w in a clear glass ought to be the same as 60w in pearl glass.
Thanks. I can see now how chandelier wouldn't look quite as sparkly if using pearl bulbs! OTOH isn't there a problem that if you look directly at a clear bulb you go round dazzled for a few minutes afterwards?
Yebbut they're not. The frosting on the glass absorbs some of the light. You can even tell by touching them - frosted feel warmer.
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