France in Focus

Light bulb. When I was a kid and a light bulb popped, you ran to the shop and the choice was pretty simple. 40 or 60w.
Today It’s so complicated. Led is the obvious choice but hang on, they all say energy saving and then you start reading the blurb and realise that the energy efficiency ratings can vary between A+ and G. What does that relate to?
Then there’s the colour, the lumens, the frequency…. Aaargh.

I eventually found some A+ on the dreaded U.K. Amazon for a lot less than they cost in France. Let’s see if they arrive intact.

https://www.any-lamp.com/blog/the-energ ... light-bulb

My head hurts!

@ Headers, the warm white colour is around 2700K (Kelvin). A cooler colour - more blue, for the office, goes up in K. Candle light is about 1500 K. The cold white colours from 4000K to 5000K or even 7000K. Line up the usual suspects.

Some packages make it easy to understand:







Frequency: 50 Hz AC is mains 230 V, a nice sine wave, see two upper traces. There are also DC leds for 12 V or for the so called constant current power supplies.

+1 Headers!

And of course as @RobertArthur shows you missed off the fitting. It used to be bayonette fittings but now you have Edison (E27 or E14), GU4, G9 (wire loop or metal tag*) , G10 and so on. I have at least replaced all the fluorescent tubes.

* The tag ones work horizontally or vertically up but not vertically suspended in our light fittings.

Then there are the decorative ones that can be used without a shade - like a candle flame, or scrolled, or decorative "filament" inside the bulb.

I have two large boxes full of spare bulbs and the one thing I can guarantee is that when a bulb goes, the only type I won't have is the one I need to replace it.

RobertArthur wrote: ↑Mon Dec 19, 2022 11:41 am @ Headers, the warm white colour is around 2700K (Kelvin). A cooler colour - more blue, for the office, goes up in K. Candle light is about 1500 K. The cold white colours from 4000K to 5000K or even 7000K. Line up the usual suspects.

Some packages make it easy to understand:







Frequency: 50 Hz AC is mains 230 V, a nice sine wave, see two upper traces. There are also DC leds for 12 V or for the so called constant current power supplies.

We started off with warm white but OH finds the light depressing so we’re going hard white. We’ve also replaced all the fluorescent tubes in our atelier with led equivalents. They are easy to fit because they are very light(no pun intended) and the light is better. They seem to have contributed to us using 500 kWh less this year than we did last year!

exile wrote: ↑Mon Dec 19, 2022 1:01 pm
I have two large boxes full of spare bulbs and the one thing I can guarantee is that when a bulb goes, the only type I won't have is the one I need to replace it.

Oh yes!

MAD87 wrote: ↑Mon Dec 19, 2022 1:40 pm

exile wrote: ↑Mon Dec 19, 2022 1:01 pm I have two large boxes full of spare bulbs and the one thing I can guarantee is that when a bulb goes, the only type I won't have is the one I need to replace it.

Oh yes!

And an "Oh yes" here too ! We see to have collected them over the years and half the bulbs will probably never be used.

I have had calls from my daughter on the same - how many millennials does it take to change a lightbulb?

I usually go for 5000K - daylight - my desk lights are adjustable.

I understand that some leds do not have a complete spectrum of light frequencies so that some colours in your wallpaper cannot be seen. I have also a problem with led work lamps when checking the flatness of a new plastered wall as these lamps do not cast the shadows as do incandescent lamps.