3 Pin Low Energy Bulbs BC3 Fittings

ipfreely

My bedroom BC3 light's on the blink so I looked for a solution (after buying wrong type of bulb) and came across this - replacing socket and bending BC3 socket are both seem dangerous, so I tried swapping with my hall light and having a dark hallway. Turns out the light fitting itself is faulty, not the bulb :mad:

matchmade

I'm a builder and developer and *I've* been caught out by an electrician installing these blasted, hopeless 3-pin bayonet fittings and their expensive hard-to-obtain lamps. I thought he was going to install standard 2-pin CFL fittings to get through the stupid "75% of all light fittings must be low-energy" rule imposed on new houses, but he's gone and used 3-pin instead and now the new owners of my houses are blaming me because the lamps only last 6 months and are so expensive and hard to find.

Avoid them like the plague! The Government has been experimenting with the market and allowing different light fitting formats to flourish, despite the fact that the 2-pin bayonet has been around for decades and all the free CFLs doled out by energy companies (albeit at pathetic 60W-equivalent ratings instead of proper 100W lamps, which are increasingly hard to find now) are 2-pin.

Somewhere

qualityguy wrote: »

This is a classic case of the EU coming up with a hairbrained idea and rushing it through with no forward planning.

The 3 pin bayonet bulbs (BC-3) are UK specific.

jdrav

Hi my flat has the same 3 pin bulbs

I read on here that you can simply cut one of the pins off a normal 2 pin bulb and thought it couldn't be that simple.....

Yes it was!! haha nice one, I now have an illuminated flat with inexpensive bulbs :j

barmonkey

jdrav wrote: »

Hi my flat has the same 3 pin bulbs

I read on here that you can simply cut one of the pins off a normal 2 pin bulb and thought it couldn't be that simple.....

Yes it was!! haha nice one, I now have an illuminated flat with inexpensive bulbs :j

that was my tip,

i bought loads of 2 pin ones before i moved and when i moved in none would fit, so i had nothing to loose in cutting of a pin.

sje_111

Dan_Lockton wrote: »

Hi everyone,

I wrote the '[link removed]How to fit a normal bulb in a BC3 fitting[/URL]' article and also a couple of others investigating the MEMLITE BC3 - [link removed] might also be of interest.

As an occasional lurker on here, I had actually been meaning to bring the whole thing to Martin's attention at some point as a major potential consumer rip-off going on under our collective noses in the name of the environment - my job involves researching ways to help people use products more efficiently, and this sort of strategy, forcing people (often in social housing) to pay over the odds for a strange type of bulb which is no better than any other compact fluorescent but costs ten times the price seems to be just about the worst idea for influencing more sustainable behaviour that I've come across in the UK. All it is going to do is make people resent the 'eco-lobby': it is extracting extra money from hard-pressed consumers while giving us absolutely zero benefit.

The disingenuous propaganda from the manufacturers and suppliers, including the leaflet that is supposed to be left in any new-build home/flat explaining the BC3 system, is very careful to compare the energy costs of the BC3 only to a filament bulb rather than a (much cheaper) standard 2-pin bayonet compact fluorescent, presenting a false dilemma and (by omission) almost implying that the BC3 is the only type of 'low-energy' bulb out there. Certainly, as CFL technology and design improves, the limited range available in the BC3 format makes it even less desirable, yet householders are locked in to what is, fundamentally, a dead-end format. Some of the comments I've received when I've [link removed]blogged[link removed] [link removed]about[link removed] [link removed]this[link removed] show just how frustrated and incredulous people are at being faced with this very odd system in their homes.

Anyway - I'm glad petshopgirlemma brought the subject up here, as it's almost inevitably bound to become a big issue in the next few years...

Cheers
Dan Lockton
([link removed] blog)

Working in the electrical industry I can see how pointless this 3 pin lamp idea is - it's nearly impossible to buy a traditional incandescent lamp now anyway (except of course for the "halogen lamp in a bulb" style).

However, this idea of showing people how to modify electrical equipment (the 3 pin lamp holder) to use normal 2 pin lamps is irresponsible and potentially dangerous.

The safest way to achieve the desired end result is to replace the lamp holders with the 2 pin version that is readily and cheaply available from most electrical retailers.

freerein

Does it not bother anyone that most of these flats have been advertised or sold as "Affordable Housing" - yet they builders put in light fittings that either need completely replacing or £12 bulbs?! This seems to date back over 6 or 7 years! Shocking


How can this ever pass for "affordable housing"?