Shorter low energy BC than a Walnut whip?

Feb 22, 2006 23 Replies

Hi all,



I picked up a couple of those spiral shaped low energy lamps today in the hope they would fit the vertically challenged lampholders in the middle of the ceiling fans.



But they were too long ;-(



So, does anyone actually make a low energy lamp that is really the same size (or smaller) than a std 60W filament jobby please?



Failing finding a suitable lamp I might have to either turn up an adaptor collar to lower the glass by 10mm or so or try to find a deeper glass lamp bowl .. ?



All the best ..



T i m


clever idea - you might be able to sell them too.

Screwfix's 15w spiral just barely fits in, but light output is way down at the elevated temp.

Another approach is to dump the glass bowl and use large globe lamps, which are available in CFL at any power. This is good because 60w is rarely enough anyway.

Toolstation sell a 51231 thats 12cm from top to tip, dont know if the others in that range might be of use.

Pretty dense design isnt it. I guess the idea is to sell people 2 fans not 1.

NT

I'm not sure how many variations these things come in .. ?

I was looking to fig a 100W CF in there if possible (as you say, you can never have too much light) ;-)

Hmmmm .. possible I suppose and although I'm no fan of the glass bowl type design (held up by three thumbscrews that give you the sense you are going to crack the bowl every time you fit it back on) it does do it's job and hides a bit of the guts of the fan unit (nothing I cant replace with a suitable disk etc though).

Ah, thanks .. I'll make some comparisons ..

Yup..

Spose. Mind you, at summat like £15 (or similar) for a 4 bladed, 3 spee, nearly silent (on speed 1) fan I think theye are very good VFM and don't mind having a bit of a 'play' to make it better.

All the best ..

T i m

Right. Maybe your sales would cover the cost of you buying all 50 makes and models so you get the right sizes :)

I think its really not possible. Even a normal sized GLS wont fit, and no way do you get a 100w CFL at smaller size than that. The one and only way to get 100w equiv is to lose the glass, or try your extender trick.

Not poss to put a flat square 2D in there either (with ballast mounted above ceiling), as the glass mouth isnt usually wide enough.

the only thing you see on the ones I've seen is the brass bulbholder. Its not quite as smooth without the bowl, but does look ok once the globe bulb is in. And you can see, which is more important.

NT

Right. Maybe your sales would cover the cost of you buying all 50 makes and models so you get the right sizes :)

I think its really not possible. Even a normal sized GLS wont fit, and no way do you get a 100w CFL at smaller size than that. The one and only way to get 100w equiv is to lose the glass, or try your extender trick.

Not poss to put a flat square 2D in there either (with ballast mounted above ceiling), as the glass mouth isnt usually wide enough.

the only thing you see on the ones I've seen is the brass bulbholder. Its not quite as smooth without the bowl, but does look ok once the globe bulb is in. And you can see, which is more important.

A thought: maybe the bulb socket could be recessed further?

NT

Hmm .. ok ...

Yeah, I think I looked at that .. hoping I could thread the thing in there .. ;-(

Yep, true .. and maybe the unused mounting 'ring' ?

Ok' I'll give it a go ..

That was a thought of mine .. the brass holder does look a bit 'long'?

All the best ..

T i m

I have just completed a nasty hack on an inspection light, which involved dissasembling 2 11W CF tubes, gluing the tubes together, and attaching the electronics to the inside of the tube.

Works.

22W tube (the glass part) was simply too long, even naked.

Ha - see

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that electrconic control gear for small compact fluorescents has become available, I tend to use purpose built units now, such as in
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On Wed, 22 Feb 2006 22:34:11 GMT someone who may be T i m wrote this:-

General Electric produce something called the mini-extra, or extra mini. This is the same length as a GLS bulb, but the control gear cover is bigger then the neck of a GLS bulb.

I have seen on-line shops that gave the dimensions of all bulbs.

Megaman do a "replacement" golfball light which although a bit bigger than a standard golfball is probably no bigger than a 60w tungsten. Only trouble is that the output is only 7w (said to equal 35w tungsten but closer to 25w IMO) which is probaly too low on its own to be worth anything.

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stock them. I've used the globe low energy bulbs with reasonable success in standard pendants with modern looking drum shades, so it might be worth getting one and trying it out without the shade if you could use it elsewhere if it was unsuitable for the fan fitting - quality ones aren't cheap.... Incidentally I've noticed that most glass globe type lights should not be used with >60w tungsten bulbs, presumably because the heat build up is too great?

Pen

I learnt that the hard way (CF sticking through the end of the fitting .. and how do they land when they slide off the edge of of somewhere with their leads trailing .. ) ;-(

Yup ;-)

All the best ..

T i m

I had a Google about but couldn't find anything that fitted the description ..?

All the best ..

T i m

Ok, the hole in tese fan globes isn't 'huge; but if it takes a std incandescent ..?

I wouldn't like to go less than =~ the 60W tungsten that's in there now.

I actually have one of the globes in the bathroon so it would be an easy swap / test ;-)

Yep, I believe so .. try taking a tungsten out even if it's only been on for 5 seconds (no don't try that) whereas you can generally take CF's out straight away, even if they have been on all day ...

All the best ..

T i m

p.s. A mate has just fited 20 recessed low energy lamps in the ceiling of his 6m x 6m office. Each fitting has 2 x 26W CF's and it's 'bright' in there! Turn a tunsten on in there and it looks positively yellow!

I did a hack on my wallet and paid £5 for an inspection lamp fitted with an

11W CF tube. It was bad but I think I will be OK. I just hope the profit doesn't go to the Lidl store managers head. ;-)

On Fri, 24 Feb 2006 21:05:48 GMT someone who may be T i m wrote this:-

Assuming that is a statement, rather than a question, I'll do a rare bit of spoon-feeding

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as the third result
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I have a 15W lamp in font of me that is 105 mm from end to end. It is a 'Pro-Lite Plus' if that is any help. The only place I could find them, at the time I needed them, was in Focus.

Dave

I searched for 'mini-extra' and was offered some 'ladies products' .. ;-(

I'll do some measuring and see if anything fits the bill but at first glance anything bright enough ( >60W equiv ) is too big?

All the best and thanks again ..

T i m

Thanks for that Dave, but I think 15W is not going to be bright enough, especially if behind the frosted glass dome. If I do away with that (an option) I wouldn't have any real restrictions.

Or .. maybe I could fabricate a new 'cover' to make use of a 2D style lamp (assuming they do them in 25 watters?)

All the best ..

T i m

21W and 28W would be the nearest ratings. 21W is physically same size as the 16W one but a bit harder to find. 28W is larger.

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