ES versus BC light bulbs

I found that with Edison Screw traditional filament bulbs that ran hot the bulbs often seemed to jam in the fitting, possibly due to temperature cycling screwing them in harder to the fitting. When attempting to unscrew them the bulb holder was more likely to turn rather than the bulb unscrewing from its mating half.

With cooler running LED bulbs this is less likely to happen.

Pamela formulated the question :

All you saw at one time, in the home environment was BC and SBC, but the ES and SES have gradually crept in. I just bought what ever type was needed, without worrying about the type of lamp socket. The only lamp dumping problems I have had, is 230v tungston lamps, sold for use in the UK, which lasted a very short amount of time on our 240v mains. It is much less of an issue now, because we are mostly LED lit which seem to last forever anyway.

That was my experience with them too. ES were used on the lights on several of my lathes and other machine tools, possibly because they were

True, but I've never had a problem with ES bulbs. I just screw them in tight and then back off by 1/8 turn.

You can get BC/ES and ES/BC converters, but they do extend the length by around 2 - 3 cm.

I always thought that ES was an EC trend. I don't believe that there was ever much interest in BC in mainland Europe, and ES was to become the standard.

Think BC was near unique to the UK.

Isn't that out-of-date in the use of "...is the standard light bulb fitting in the UK..."? If you look through lighting shelves in shops you'll find mainly ES and MES bulbs. Screwfix, for example, list 46 BC,

Mind you, I *still* prefer BC to ES!

That probably depends upon whether you are looking at what is being sold today or what is installed in the majority of housing.

If you look through lighting shelves in shops

Jeff Layman explained on 17/12/2021 :

In part that is due to most table, wall and etc. fittings (once made in the UK) being now mostly imports, where as pendant lights are locally manufactured.

Happy with either, but a major issue with ES is that the outer of the ES socket is metal, so care needs to be taken to ensure it is never connected to the live pole.

ES originated from the US, Edison. BC originated from the UK, Swan I think.

It has always seemed to me that there is a lack of any standard for bulbs. I had a table lamp some years ago, it was bayonet, but it had three little pins instead of two so only the very special bulbs could be used on it. These same sort of fitting were also used on the Fireglow electric coal effect heaters, but of course these were dipped in a red glaze.

I'd have thought that when a bulb was in any bayonet was electronically safer, but with no bulb in, there is little to chose between les and bayonet

Then there are those ones used by the psu of compact call bulbs and other similar call types. I guess at least CFLs do not cook the sockets as filament ones did, either welding in the bulb or making it break when you try to get the bulb out of the socket.

Brian

The original light bulbs used to run for ever until the manufacturers got togeter to reduce their life....bastards

Yes but the problem has always been one of safety with both types, especially with no bulb in it. I'd have thought the safety police would have had something along the lines of the electric jug kettle connector for bulbs by now so no connection is on the two pins until the bulb is fully home. Brian

I am not sure whether it is mandated or not, but bayonet lampholders have been available for decades, where the pins are not live until they are depressed by the bulb, preventing accidental live contact with a finger.

- Arguably, it 'electrically', not 'electronically'!

- LES is probably safe, as you couldn't fit your finger in, but ES isn't good.

- there are safe BC fittings. I have fitted them exclusively for years. Some of them have contacts that have to be pushed down by the bulb before they become live. Others have a switch operated by the rotation of the bulb.

See my other commenet about readily available BC sockets.

Indeed. There are also (MK for a start) lampholders where rotation of the bulb operates a switch.

We?ve several ES ones in fittings from a well known store. I don?t recall one ever getting jammed. ES is used widely in Europe and the US, I don?t think it is inferior as a bulb fitting.

That said, some of the fittings seem lower quality or at least less serviceable- push in connectors for the wires rather than screw down terminals for example. If the wire gets damaged somehow, replacing it can be at best a fiddle.

?Our? three pin plug is used more widely than you might think.

Getting ES pendant sockets isn't a problem - Ikea's multi-socket pendant set is v. good value and the soket's prewired - just disconnect/cut the other end to go into your fitting. Ceiling roses are another matter. 2-terminal ones are on Ebay (I bought some that had, for some 'reason', a metal link between the terminals! I've never seen the full 'junction box' type of rose in ES or SES, so in paces there's a no-maintained Hager box in the ceiling.