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... they used to be so simple.  Bayonet fitting or Edison screw 40w, 60w, 100w      Now - you need a physics degree to buy the right thing.   Low energy, halgen, 8w, 9w, 12w, CFLs, LEDs, lumen ratings.    I have no clue what to buy now!   

 

I just bought a lamp at Argos - reserved it online and it said 'you may want to buy these bulbs'  Great - ordered two.   Got them home, the lamp says 8w low energy - the bulbs are 12w (or 51w?) - and a fiver each btw.      Once I'd found out what I needed in old money (40w SES candle) I went to a local hardware shop and cleared them out of the old bulbs they had at 55p each.    

 

Does anyone understand the new ratings?

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The low energy bulbs I have seen all give an equivalent value in 'old' wattage.

There's no single equivalence because the 'style' and manufacture of the different types of 'low energy' bulbs will use different amounts of energy to replicate the performance of an 'old style' bulb.

 

e.g. low energy bulbs that LOOK like the old style incandescent bulbsare generally around 70 watts = 100 watts

around 40 watts = 60 watts

around 25 watts = 40 watts.

 

However 'stick' bulbs are generally much lower in consumption:-

20-25 = 100 watts

around 11 = 60 watts

around 8 = 40 watts

around 5 = 25 watts.

Extremely Fluffy Fluffy Thing
Originally Posted by moonie:
Originally Posted by Sprout:
Originally Posted by Aimee:

The old style light bulbs are so hard to find, I went into Wilkos and they only had 2 packs of the old standard push in 60w bulb

They're phasing them out Aims, eventually everyone will have to use energy saving ones 

Was just about to say that 

FM
Originally Posted by Pengy:

anyone else get headaches from these new fangled energy saving bulbs?  I do ever since I put them in my living room 


Have you tried different types? Apparently some types are better than others.

 

BTW, Lumens is just a measure of brightness, thus the higher the lumens are the brighter the bulb will glow.

Extremely Fluffy Fluffy Thing
Originally Posted by ~Sweet Winter Wonderland~:
I don't get it, they have so many different ones now I usually just take the old bulb with me and ask the shop assistant to help me find one the same

when I took the bulbs back to Argos, Sweet - the girl said 'Do you have the catalog number for the right ones - or have you got them somewhere else now'   When I said I'd got them she visibly slumped and said 'Oh thank God - I was dreading you asking me what ones to get'       It wouldn't be so bad if, as Fluffs said, the had equivalents on the boxes - but they don't all have that now (trust me, Fluffs - they don't all have it - I've spent an hour in the bulk aisle at B&Q and just got more and more confused!)

Kaffs
Originally Posted by Rexi:

Hubby bought up all the old analogue (!) light bulbs that our local Woolworths had before they closed.

 

we have about 300 in the loft apparently

you could have a nice wee business going there Rexi - I admit if I see any 'real' bulbs in corner shops and stuff I buy them.   They're getting pretty scarce though.

Kaffs

The newer, energy saving ones usually give the equivalent wattage to incandescent bulbs and often where they are on the light spectrum.  A while ago I bought some daylight ones for the home office.  Much more expensive and produce a stark light that doesn't necessarily suit living rooms or bedrooms but much better to read under without getting eye strain than under the traditional 'warmer' incandescent bulbs.  It's quite surprising just how yellow-tinted traditional bulbs are when compared side to side.

 

Carnelian
Last edited by Carnelian
Originally Posted by Carnelian:

The newer, energy saving ones usually give the equivalent wattage to incandescent bulbs and often where they are on the light spectrum.  A while ago I bought some daylight ones for the home office.  Much more expensive and produce a stark light that doesn't necessarily suit living rooms or bedrooms but much better to read under without getting eye strain than under the traditional 'warmer' incandescent bulbs.  It's quite surprising just how yellow-tinted traditional bulbs are when compared side to side.

 

 

Yes, I noticed that too. Despite some of the confusion above, I am warming to the new bulbs, especially now I know what ratings to choose.

 

I am still going to go all LED once I know which type I want for which rooms.

Enthusiastic Contrafibularities
Originally Posted by KaffyBaffy:
Originally Posted by ~Cosmopolitan~:

We're mainly LED too EC and I prefer them; they last well too.

You two are just showing off now.   What are the led ones like then?  I've got led spotlights in my kitchen - do you get 'warm' ones?

 

You get different bulbs depending on the type of light you want.

 

A quick search on Interweb throws up lots of on-line shops.

 

Have a butchers Kaffy : http://www.simplyled.co.uk

 

Enthusiastic Contrafibularities
Originally Posted by KaffyBaffy:
Originally Posted by ~Cosmopolitan~:

We're mainly LED too EC and I prefer them; they last well too.

You two are just showing off now.   What are the led ones like then?  I've got led spotlights in my kitchen - do you get 'warm' ones?

Erm..... they're bright and I put them in my spotlight stylee fittings which are all dimmer switches. And I think they're in the downlighters too.  I'd have to ask 

 

Then again, I've got a rustic chandelier in the stairwell and the bulbs for that are dimmer than Jedward on a dim day.  They eventually brighten up a bit (unlike Jedward) but they're still pretty crap (like Jedward).  It's them, or the alternative is a bulb that makes Blackpool look like it's had a power cut.

Can't get a happy medium (so far) 

Cosmopolitan

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