The 60W bulb: A luminary love affair

[Maggy J]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-14715301

The once ubiquitous 60W light bulb is about to plop off the production line for the last time across Europe. But while its light may be dimming, it is still illuminating many of our homes.
It is at once a thing of delicate beauty and robust science.

RIP.

[heero_yuy]

The main bulbs in our house are all on dimmers so CFLs are not an option without changing all the switches. Personally the demise of the filament bulb of all ratings is bad news. I can only get the 221mm 30W tubes for the kitchen cabinets on-line now. The only good news is that the CFLs will also become obsolete soon as LEDs take over. Then you'll all be told how inefficient CFLs are and envronmentally bad (mercury) and that you'll have to replace all the bulbs in your house, again!



These have the output of a 50W GU10 halogen and are dimmable but take only 3 watts. Pricey at £12 a piece but they are new and will outlast a CFL many times over.

[denphone]

Yes l for one prefered these bulbs instead of these new environmental fandango friendly bulbs in which you are struggling to read things at night like a book or newspaper because these new bulbs are not as strong light wise.

[Hugh]

Originally Posted by denphone

Yes l for one prefered these bulbs instead of these new environmental fandango friendly bulbs in which you are struggling to read things at night like a book or newspaper because these new bulbs are not as strong light wise.

Those are the old type of energy-saver - you want to try the new ones, which brighten very quickly, and give equivalent light (and save you money).

btw, as you get older, your sight gets worse, so it may be a combination of factors....

[denphone]

Originally Posted by Hugh

Those are the old type of energy-saver - you want to try the new ones, which brighten very quickly, and give equivalent light (and save you money).

btw, as you get older, your sight gets worse, so it may be a combination of factors....

I have got some of these new ones and to be perfectly honest l am not that impressed but l do take your point of worsening eyesight as since my illness my sight has got worse year by year.

[Chris]

Originally Posted by heero_yuy

The main bulbs in our house are all on dimmers so CFLs are not an option without changing all the switches. Personally the demise of the filament bulb of all ratings is bad news. I can only get the 221mm 30W tubes for the kitchen cabinets on-line now. The only good news is that the CFLs will also become obsolete soon as LEDs take over. Then you'll all be told how inefficient CFLs are and envronmentally bad (mercury) and that you'll have to replace all the bulbs in your house, again!



These have the output of a 50W GU10 halogen and are dimmable but take only 3 watts. Pricey at £12 a piece but they are new and will outlast a CFL many times over.

CFL bulbs were £10 or more each when they were first available. As the market for them has increased so economies of scale have reduced their cost. The same will eventually happen with LEDs.

However I disagree that LEDs will render the CFL obsolete any time soon. In most applications, in most homes, replacing a filament bulb with a CFL bulb is as simple as swapping them over. At worst it means buying a new lampshade where an existing one is too small.

But putting recessed LEDs in with transformers and all that palaver will ensure they remain purely for feature lighting only - unless and until someone designs a practical LED bulb that can directly replace a filament or CFL bulb in a standard ceiling mounted edison or bayonet fitting.

[dilligaf1701]

I much prefer a filament bulb. I find the light from energy saving bulbsnmuch harder to cope with.

Mind you it's not going to be an issue for much longer

[looselipsuk]

I wonder what I will have to do with my two bedside cabinet lamps as they are touch control with three settings. Off, dim, brighter and then full light till touched again to turn off.
Guess when the lamps go in those I will have to buy new table lamps and throw the old ones out.

Also, just to stir things up, you put a lamp in a table lamp and you plant a bulb in the garden.

[danielf]

Originally Posted by looselipsuk

I wonder what I will have to do with my two bedside cabinet lamps as they are touch control with three settings. Off, dim, brighter and then full light till touched again to turn off.
Guess when the lamps go in those I will have to buy new table lamps and throw the old ones out.

Just buy a couple in reserve.

[TheDon]

Originally Posted by Chris

But putting recessed LEDs in with transformers and all that palaver will ensure they remain purely for feature lighting only - unless and until someone designs a practical LED bulb that can directly replace a filament or CFL bulb in a standard ceiling mounted edison or bayonet fitting.

You mean like these?

[Pauls9]

I've got a box full, so my dimmers will keep going until fully dimmable CFLs or plug compatible LEDs appear on tesco's shelves.

[Chris]

Originally Posted by TheDon

You mean like these?

An excellent link ... Though I would argue that £15 per bulb is stretching the definition of practicality just a little bit.

Anyone know what the expected lifespan of one of those is likely to be? If it exceeds a good quality CFL by 3x or more I would be tempted to buy a couple to try out, as I live in a house with a wife and three kids that are pathologically incapable of switching anything off, least of all light switches ...

---------- Post added at 18:29 ---------- Previous post was at 17:51 ----------

On further reading I think I'm firmly convinced that the time for LED bulbs as replacement for CFL or incandescent main room lighting has not yet come.

The devil is always in the detail; those selling these bayonet cap LEDs are making extravagant claims about their 5 and 6w bulbs being broadly equivalent to a 60w incandescent bulb, when the only really accurate measure - the brightness in lumens - says otherwise. A 60w incandescent bulb gives 700-800 lumen. A 6w LED bulb gives about 350 lumen. That's half as much. Some of the websites selling these things claim this is ok because the light is more directional, but that's precisely what you don't want from a main room light.

After some searching, I found a web shop selling 8w LED bulbs with 600 lumen output - for about £50 each. Definitely stretching the definition of 'practical' too far.

Maybe in a year or so the prices will have come down a bit but as of right now we're barely even in early adopter territory.

[Maggy J]

I'm just ticked off by the fact that the Energy saving lamps I buy are supposed to last for years but don't last more than 6 months in some cases.

Otherwise I have no issues with them.They provide a good light and I can see fairly well to read,sew or draw.Even my V+ plus box has no issues while I make sure it's pushed well back under the TV..

[techguyone]

I changed mine to the CFL ones back in 07 and guess what, no issues, no failures, no worries (I don't use dimmers) in fact I believe these were light bulbs the council or one of the energy companies gave to us for FREE.

Oh yes I can light my entire HOUSE for the equivalent cost of just under 2 60w incandescent lights...

So for this player we're at roughly 4.5 years and counting.

[dragon]

I have seen CFL's that claim to work with a dimmer but they were about £7 each if I remember rightly