Timetable set to phase out high-energy light bulbs

[vtsnowedin]

Meanwhile in America, the government reveres earlier plans to increase the efficiency of lighting.
https://www.npr.org/2019/09/04/75762382 ... ight-bulbs

A splendid victory for energy waste, and sod the environment.

And whilst the lower mains voltage in the USA SLIGHTLY reduces the savings from use of low energy lamps, the difference is very minor.

Not to worry. If LEDs are indeed cheaper in the long run considering all costs (initial cost, life expectancy, and KWHs used) the public will move to them without a government mandate.

[adam2]

I disagree. Most consumers in the UK are quite unable to grasp the long term consequences of small hourly costs.
The saving of a penny an hour is regarded as utterly insignificant if indeed it is considered at all.

The average consumer hates buying light bulbs and tends to choose the cheapest available without any consideration of the running costs.

I presume that circumstances are similar in the USA.

[vtsnowedin]

I disagree. Most consumers in the UK are quite unable to grasp the long term consequences of small hourly costs.
The saving of a penny an hour is regarded as utterly insignificant if indeed it is considered at all.

The average consumer hates buying light bulbs and tends to choose the cheapest available without any consideration of the running costs.

I presume that circumstances are similar in the USA.

While electric bills are a small part of a US family budget (My last months bill was $77.22) heads of household do look for savings when selecting appliances and bulbs. Store displays are pushing LED bulbs and indeed you have to actively shop for an old style wasteful bulb.
As an aside I just ordered three 12 volt 7 watt LED bulbs for use in my off grid "high hide" deer stand. They presently will be fed off a deep cycle marine lead acid battery having 650 cold cranking amps storage.Final plan is to roof mount a solar panel of 100 watts or larger to run both the lights and electric exclusion fences around food plots surrounding the high hide.

[adam2]

"cold cranking amps" is not a measure of energy storage.
It is an indication of how many amps the battery can supply for a very short and specified time, at a low and specified temperature, and without the voltage dropping too low.
It is a useful guide as to the engine starting capabilities of a battery, esp. in low temperatures when starting is problematic.

To determine the energy storage capacity of a battery, you need to know the capacity in AH or ampere hours.
A small and lightweight 12 volt car battery will have a capacity as low as 30 AH, a larger and heavy duty car battery up to about 45 H.
Deep cycle batteries range from about 60 AH up to about 200 AH in 12 volt batteries.
60 AH is somewhat portable. 200AH is about the sensible limit for manual handling.

A 60 AH battery will supply 3 amps for 20 hours if fully discharged. Except in an emergency, full discharge should be avoided as it drastically reduces battery life.
A car battery should withstand up to a dozen full discharges.
A deep cycle leisure battery should withstand 100 deep discharges, or many hundreds of 50% discharges.

[adam2]

Coloured incandescent lamps are hugely wasteful of energy, much worse than white incandescent lamps, because most of the light is wasted in the colour filter.

Several suppliers now offer coloured LED filament lamps, these are highly efficient because the LEDs are selected to emit light of the desired colour, with no loss in a filter.

Red, blue, green and yellow lamps are readily available, whilst pink, magenta, and violet can be found.

With the festive season approaching these lamps are well worth considering for decorative uses.

https://www.lightbulbworld.co.uk/bell-b ... 3564-p.asp

This is a very rare case of a supplier actually UNDERSTATING the performance of a product. The light output of a 4 watt lamp is stated to be equivalent to a 40 watt incandescent.
This might be true of white lamps, but for a 4 watt blue LED lamp as is illustrated, the light is much brighter than a 100 watt blue incandescent.
And probably brighter than 400 watts of blue incandescent.

[adam2]

The ban is to be extended to many types of halogen lamp.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-57407233

As with previous bans, it is manufacture or import that is to be prohibited, existing stocks may be used without concerns.

I expect that there will be a number of exemptions and loopholes and that sales will continue for some time.

[adam2]

Reading the actual government press release.https://www.gov.uk/government/news/end- ... ner-future

Adds little hard information. It does however say that SALES of halogen lamps are to be banned from September this year. I wonder if they mean it ? Previous bans have only related to manufacture or import, with existing stocks being sold lawfully.
Politicians might not know the difference between the two options of banning sales, or of banning manufacture and imports.

Also the government press release contains no detail as to which halogen lamps are to be banned. An exemption for stage, filming, or TV production is noted, but which types ?
What about vehicle headlight lamps ?

Or perhaps most types will still be allowed if marked as being "only for theatre or motor vehicle use"

[adam2]

It would appear that the government press release contained a number of factual errors.

The lighting industry have now published a correction and clarification which makes the position clearer.
Sales of existing stocks is permitted, as I suspected, based on earlier bans.
Self ballasted compact fluorescents are banned. As are the lower quality LEDs.

https://www.thelia.org.uk/news/569044/L ... tions.htm#

I appreciate that this is a trade organisation, but they have a good reputation and would not, I hope, publish factually incorrect information

[adam2]

A new type of LED filament lamp is now available in the USA, and I expect that this product or something very similar will soon be available in the UK.

High wattage, by LED standards and intended to replace metal halide lamps for significant fuel savings.
Comes in three sizes to replace different size metal halide lamps.
Multi voltage, 120 to 277 volt. not dimmable.
170 lumens per watt.

Probably too bright for most domestic applications, but worthy of consideration if unusually high lighting levels are required.
The 42-5 watt version gives a claimed 7,500 lumens, significantly more than a 300 watt incandescent, which would not normally be used domestically.

https://api.icentera.com/v2/getfile.asp ... 1AFDC5026C

[adam2]

Most of the common types of fluorescent lamp are to be banned. As with other bans, it is manufacture or import that will be prohibited, existing stocks will be lawful to use or sell.

ALREADY BANNED are most types of T12 florescent lamp. 2 foot 20 watt, 4 foot 40 watt, 5 foot 65 watt, 6 foot 75 watt, and all 8 foot lamps.
AFAIK, 2 foot 40 watt, 5 foot 80 watt, and 6 foot 85 watt lamps are also banned, but production had already ceased.

TO BE BANNED, most types of T 8 lamp such as 2 foot 18 watt, 4 foot 36 watt, 5 foot 58 watt and 6 foot 70 watt.
Still to be permitted are lamps of 13 watts or less, ultra violet lamps for special effects, sun tanning, insect killing, printing lamps, and germicidal lamps.
Coloured lamps are also to be permitted.

I suspect however that production may cease, even of lamp types that are still to be permitted.

Availability of the less common types of fluorescent lamp has been declining for years. I can remember coloured fluorescent tubes that were a different colour each end ! Now extinct.
"cool green" lamps now extinct, never much used in the UK more of a USA thing.

[BritDownUnder]

I bought one of those kits where you can put a LED "fluorescent" tube in an existing fluorescent lamp holder but for some reason it did not work. There was a replacement for the starting choke but it did not work even with this thing put in. I just bought an old style fluorescent tube and was done with it. From then on I just bought LED battens (as they are called in Australia).

[kenneal - lagger]

I bought a replacement LED tube and took all the bits out until the mains was wired direct to the new tube. It's worked for the last four or five years and is still going strong so I presume I did the right thing!!

[BritDownUnder]

I will have to do some research on that.

[adam2]

Many vendors offer linear LED lamps intended to replace fluorescent lamps in existing fittings.
These are generally intended to have mains voltage applied from one end to the other.
In a fitting with a series choke, this can often be left connected as the voltage drop across the choke will be relatively small and not impair operation of the LED drop in unit.
The standard glow starter will need replacing with the "special starter" supplied. This component usually contains nothing whatsoever ! it is a simple plastic case with two unconnected metal pins. The sole purpose of the "special" starter is to stop people worrying about the empty starter socket.

In fluorescent fittings with circuits other than a simple series choke, the existing control gear will normally need removing to utilise an LED retrofit.

[adam2]

Philips have recently introduced an LED lamp with a claimed efficiency to 210 lumens per watt to the UK market.
So far as I know this is the first mass produced and readily available IN THE UK lamp with 200 lumens per watt.
Similar to the Dubai lamp mentioned up thread, but they are not easy to find outside of Dubai.

https://www.lighting.philips.co.uk/cons ... 9514343788

4 Watts stated input power. 840 claimed lumens. 210 lumens per watt.

Compared to the 3 watt Dubai lamp, 600 lumens, 200 lumens per watt.

The claimed 4 watts input is almost certainly approximately true as this can be independently measured. It might be be up to 4.49 watts though as rounding to the nearest whole watt is commonly accepted.
The claimed light output is almost certainly true as this also can be measured.

840 lumens is a true replacement for a 60 watt incandescent lamp. These vary a bit according to voltage, design and actual wattage, but 840 lumens is a fair average.