Lamp fittings

Probably unwise to switch from a 12V regime to a 230V one. I would think more about sticking with 12V and replacing the electronics.

When you say "repair", what is wrong with it? How old is it? Any chance of some photos? If it's old, it probably doesn't have any electronics but just a potentiomer with a switch - similar to on/off/volume control devices which old radios had. If that is the case, you may be able to get a replacement pot if you carefully check the spec of the old one. Having said that, if sticking with 12v, it may be a good idea to switch to an LED bulb - in which case the potentiometer spec would need to be different, and you would need to make sure that the bulb was dimmable.

Where does the 12v currently come from - is there an external power supply, or does it have a built-in transformer? If there's an external supply so that the lamp itself only has to handle 12v, as jkn has suggested, its insulation standards may not be suitable for mains.

What size is the current bulbholder? If you *do* convert to mains, the smallest size you could use would probably be ES14.

Hmm. The lamp holder is ceramic (heat) and the supply wires rather precariously gripped by a piece of sprung metal. I doubt my ability to reassemble it properly. The owner, my eldest daughter, is happy to dispense with the adjustment feature.

Photos you say! The free photo sharing sites have all morphed into variations of cloud storage. I have signed up and been dumped by proton drive most recently.

The combined switch and potentiometer is probably *noisy*. I have tried a dose of switch cleaner without improvement. There is ample space for a

Struggling through endless ES14 sockets, I have yet to find one with adequate cable securing.

You could try

Please ignore the above nonsense. Really. FFS.

The switch/pot is likely to have 3 contacts - 12v in, switched 12v to the pot, and 12v or less to the lamp. Simply bridge the 2nd and third of those so that you just left with an on/off switch.

Only two wires.

The supply dropper is electronic with a pair of transistors/triacs mounted on a heat sink. Two sets of copper windings that look like chokes rather than transformers.

If I can't modify it safely, it is going in the bin!

My experience with table lamps 'too good to throw away' is to dismantle and throw away everything that isn't and then rebuild the rest with modern electrically safe components...

I am sure there are 12v LED dimmer rubbish kirs out there as featured by big clive etc.

This is the table lamp Wasberg Studioilse W084t

Space available 20 deep x 50 wide x 80mm long! Metal casting so converter would need to be insulated.

Personally I'd throw it away, but chacun à son goût as they say... :-)

You can get nice cob style LED bulbs to fit something like that

is it a two prong fitting? Ah yes - halogen bulb, There are direct replacements in LED for that,

And you may be able to get a module to replace existing electrics. What has broken?

Is the 12V fed into the lamp base or is that 230V?

Its all doable, it depends on how much time you want to spend

Amazon have my order! 240/12DC converter (1.2 Watts) pack of 2 pin LEDs arriving tomorrow! Now I have to reassemble the lamp holder. 2mm socket head screws inside the reflector!

My initial reaction to repairing any sort of lamp is to ask just what type of LED I should fit.

That lamp takes a 35W halogen bulb so something like a 5W 12V LED could be a drop-in replacement if the electronics is capable of driving it and still has its magic smoke. It depends on whether the controller supplies AC or DC.

A better alternatives is a low-voltage LED fed from a 5/12/19V power-brick. There are low-voltage LED controller modules that can vary brightness too.

If you wanted to be more adventurous there are various circuits for controlling RGB LEDs and she could have a choice of colour too. Extra brownie points if she can control it from her phone.

I'm just sketching out a lamp design for myself that has a shape like a shower-head with individual 0.1" LEDs.

I would only consider 240V circuits as a last resort.

Here is what it looks like.

That's about 4 watts worth of LED lamp (100lm per watt or so). And you need a colour temperature to match halogen.

LEDs cannot be too tightly enclosed, or the operating life will be reduced.

And to use the socket that's in the lamp already, you'll need a LED lamp style with that same detail on its base. That should be do-able. Just a question of colour temperature.

And CRI is important, as I have a couple lamps here that are perfectly useless as light sources. Can't be used as fill lighting in photography and are of no usage anywhere near humans. A source of "white blah". That's what happens when the CRI isn't very good.

"All incandescent and halogen light bulbs, by definition, have a CRI close to 100. They are excellent at rendering color."

That will be one of the challenges for the substitute solution.

Paul

I may have been misled by the current owner. The lamp fitted was actually a 10 Watt halogen so I have ordered 2 Watt LEDs. The *power brick* on order is rated at 15W so there is spare.

My main struggle is going to be re-using the lamp holder. It seems to have suffered some user abuse:-( The manufacturer tinned the incoming flexible cable tails and they now don't seem to be gripped properly. I'll have a look with a magnifying lamp when the new bits arrive.

The lamp is now functioning. It remains to be seen if the owner (arriving Monday) finds the 2W LED output to be sufficient.

The electrical safety aspect is rather overshadowed by the lack of earth provision in the mains supply cable. I guess the requirement for flexibility and squashiness in the cotton covered twin core rubber insulated cable was more important.

two core is generally OK if everything is double insulated. Gratz on getting it working. IIRC brighter bulbs than 2W are available

Indeed. Sadly they come in packs so I have an investment! The driver is rated to 15W.

From their website -

Story Ilse Crawford chose honest materials that carry clear messages: iron for its feelings of stability, reliability, trust; wood with its warmth and life, and mineral plastic for its intimate glow, as well as its tactility.

So, Has your daughter tried demanding a 'reliable' replacement for this (£635 ?!?!) lamp ?