Light bulb wattage

No, it means about 6 VA.

VAs are not watts and (in the UK) energy charges are based on watts and not VAs.

It has a power factor of 0.23 but the power consumed is still 1.4 watts and it will emit the same amount of light as you would get from any other 1.4 watt bulb of similar efficiency regardless of power factor.

The hint that I didn't want to get into W vs VA was the phrase "ignoring power factor"

I don't think I've seen Clive's HOPI meter show power factors that low even for really s***ty LEDs?

It's quite possible that the power factor for such low powered lamps is as low as the .25 that the current implies.

Yes I thought the power factor was very low but to feed such a low wattage through a capacitive dropper would need quite a big capacitor resulting in a low PF as in the very rough calculation below.

The voltage drop over the LEDs for a power of 1.4W at 26mA would be about 53V, with a corresponding resistance of about 2K ohms.

For a 230V supply this would require a voltage drop of 177V across the dropper capacitor with a reactance of about 6,800 ohms, requiring a capacitance of about 0.47 microfarad. Resorting to an online phase angle calculator [1] for a RC circuit with R = 2,000 and C = 0.47 microfarad at 50 Hz gives a phase angle of 73.5 degrees. The power factor is cos(73.5) = 0.28 which is in the same ballpark as that quoted for the lamp

Measure it with one of these.

Volt Amp W/VA Hz/PF KWH/Hour

By pushing the W/VA button once, you get one measurement type. By pressing the button a second time, the "other" number results.

Here is a measurement of a GU10 I happen to own. I have a lamp stand and cord, to make this measurement easily.

GU10 (Chinese no-name brand)

The "W" measurement is the one that is bill-able power for home consumers. And you can see the 4 watt estimate printed on the lamp base, is pretty close.

Paul

OK, I hadn't really noticed any mains LED lamps below about 3-4W

The lower the wattage the *lower* the capacitor value needed

Oops, yes. I got things back to front there and should have said 'a capacitor with a high reactance'. But I hope the arithmetic in my other post is correct.