The end of the 60 watt lightbulb.

BitterAndTwisted

gould300 wrote: »

Tell me about it... We just bought a new outdoor security light that required a 60w ES bulb. We ended up collaring one of the staff to help us look for a bulb and must have bought the last one in the shop. The chap agreed with us that an energy saving bulb wasn't much use in a security light given that it takes so long to warm up enough to shed any light.

Before anyone says "halogen" this light was one of the coach-lamp style so our options are limited

Let me know if you ever need any replacements. I once bought a whole bunch of ES when what I really needed were BCs.
They've been sitting in the cupboard under the sink for about five years now.

Wench

RHemmings wrote: »

I would like to try an LED bulb, but can't seem to find a "normal" white bayonet fitting LED bulb. Are they out there?

I've just bought a few from Home Bargains, least i think there LED - there not normal bulbs, and definatly not the new 'energy saving' ones.
Simple clear 60w bayonet bulb, cost about 1.49 I think. bargain imo, its so much brighter than a 'old style' 60w bayonet

Morglin

Oliver14 wrote: »

Come the end of the month the 60 watt incandescent bulb will go the same way as the 100 watt as manufacture will stop. For those of us who suffer from light sensitive Migraines this is a huge problem. All we can hope is before supplies totally dry up that the CF lightbulbs continue to improve and may stop causing the problems they do for some migraine sufferers.

Its a shame the Light bulb industry saw this ban as a way of increasing prices for CF lightbulbs.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/businessandecology/energyefficiency/8699771/Energy-saving-light-bulbs-leap-in-price.html

A year on since the ban of Manufacture of 100 watt bulbs (August last year) there is a large market in these bulbs. Just the other day I found one of my local shops selling them (so I bought some more stocks).

Migraines can be so debilitating. I can be totally out of it for a couple of days if I have a severe one that sufferers like myself will do anything to minimize possible triggers. So people will be stockpiling the 60 watt bulbs to go with the 100 watt ones. I also actually have some 150 watt ones.

Another problem with Compact fluorescents are that only a very few (I have only found one) will work in conjunction with dimmer switches. Being able to dim a light also aids me in controlling my migraines.

So should we really be stopping the manufacture of a product before we have an alternative that works as well? Before people bring it up I know the studies on CF bulbs and migraines is inconclusive. This though does not exclude them from being the cause of migraines in a lot of people.

Personally I tried to toatally change over to CF bulbs (happy to save a wee bit of money on electricity) I know that when I did this the frequency and intensity of my Migraines increased and it was impossible for me to read for more than a few minutes using CF bulbs. I now only have CF Bulbs in transit areas (hallway etc).

What I find interesting is the reason for changing to CF bulbs is supposedly the energy saving properties and how good they are environmentally.. I have read reports that changing your lightbulbs can save you anywhere between £10 and £80 a year (seems a wide range to me and it changes depending on who you talk to) with the energy and processes used to manufacture and dispose of the bulbs it is debatable that the savings for the environment are significant.

I know that as the technology for these bulbs gets better these few problems will be worked out but as I said above is it right to force a technology on us that doesn't totally meet the requirements of what it is to replace.

I hate the low energy lightbulbs - and I'm entirely hacked off that we al have to change because of ever dubious 'green' hysteria.:mad:

So, although it won't solve my problem forever, I have been bulk buying the 'old style' bulbs:

http://www.thelightbulb.co.uk/catalog-1/general-purpose-lamps-bulbs?gclid=CKOKur3c86oCFYkMtAodWiBOOA

Lin

I_luv_cats

gould300 wrote: »

Tell me about it... We just bought a new outdoor security light that required a 60w ES bulb. We ended up collaring one of the staff to help us look for a bulb and must have bought the last one in the shop. The chap agreed with us that an energy saving bulb wasn't much use in a security light given that it takes so long to warm up enough to shed any light.

Before anyone says "halogen" this light was one of the coach-lamp style so our options are limited

I use an 'energy saving bulb' (11w, short length) in my outside dusk to dawn light. It works great, using less electricity and I don't have to replace the bulb so often!!

I have a dimmer and timer light switch indoors that I use a 40w or 60w bc in, so I may have to get a few more bulb in.

Luckily I bough loads of L.E. when they were dirt cheap as now they are expensive. I have some of the L.E. globe type too that I prefer.

renegade

Would these be ok in the living room, are they better/equal to the new types we are being forced to use?

Dreamnine

I use LED bulbs that use around 7W. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LED_lamp#Household_LED_lamps

ProdigalScouser

I hate the CF bulbs, since they are never as bright as the older incandescent ones, but recently discovered halogens - these seem to do the job admirably and they can be found in all sizes and shapes from places like B&Q, Morrisons etc.

nokia1100

paddyrg wrote: »

This is correct. However it's when you turn your head and get the strobing that it makes you (well me at least) feel quite ill! It's quite noticible at 100Hz (although many LED lamps are actually at 50Hz as they are half-wave rectified by the very 'D = diode' nature of LEDs).

I actually prefer *good* modern fluorescent systems which use a decent electronic ballast as they up the flicker speed to well over 400Hz, upto some kHz.

We run a pair of 5ft 58W T8 fluorescent tubes in our kitchen. I wouldn't settle for less light output to be honest. What I have done DIY is rip out the old iron-cored magnetic ballasts in the fitting and fit a dual electronic ballast. No more waiting for the tubes to light, no more messing around with starters, no more humming (it operates at 30 kHz IIRC - beyond human hearing range), longer tube life, and lower electricity bills. All for around £12 delivered from ebay. Although it's Part P exempt (if you care about such things), you need to know what you're doing with the wiring, but it's not difficult.

I'm sensitive to flickering lights in my peripheral vision, but this fitting is now rock solid light output, and I would struggle to beat it for light output to power cost. Any CFLs which flicker aren't using a high frequency ballast.

Wench

Wench wrote: »

I've just bought a few from Home Bargains, least i think there LED - there not normal bulbs, and definatly not the new 'energy saving' ones.
Simple clear 60w bayonet bulb, cost about 1.49 I think. bargain imo, its so much brighter than a 'old style' 60w bayonet

Went back to have a look yesterday, There halogen, not LED. Still though, Good price for a bayonet bright bulb.

TheSaint_2

Azari wrote: »

You seem to be labouring under a misconception here.

A light source does not 'strobe' because of the frequency of the light. That is vastly higher than a frequency where anyone could detect strobing.

Lights 'strobe' at much lower frequencies - mains one at 100 Hz. You are unlikely to notice at this frequency (unless you are looking at a cyclically moving object) - people who complain about fluorescent lights are usually complaining about some flickering that is occurring at a much lower frequency.

That is the point I was trying to make - Hence my point that the LED bulb will not strobe as the frequency is far too high to be noticed.

You are quite right on the point about mercury - they do contain them. I must have mis-read some marketing gumpf on one of the packets last time i bought one