Different Types Of Lamps

Lighting – the future of lamps

In preperation for some upcoming products we are going to launch we thought it would be helpful to go through the various types of light bulbs or lamps available in the average household. It is by no means a definitive list but it should cover the most popular and most regularly found lamps in the house.

With all the pressures from environmental lobbyists there have been changes to the types of lighting we buy. These have an effect on the uses we have for lighting sources.

Here is a summary of what is available and the advantages and disadvantages.

Tungsten General Lighting Service

The original bulb!

There is an attempt the phase this out, the 150W and 100W are already outlawed. However, it is difficult to see this progression going much further because firstly there are few plug in alternatives below 60W and the range of shaped lamps is quite substantial and hard to replace with similar size. This lamp offers a good light source although a little yellow but it is dimmable (which saves energy anyway) and available in many different shapes

Tungsten Halogen spotlights

This is available in mains voltage and low voltage, the low voltage ones in different sizes. The mains lamps, although giving a brighter light than conventional tungsten, are much less efficient than the low voltage ones. Mains TH lamps are not really very environmentally friendly, but there seems to be no move to ban these – yet. Both versions are dimmable so can save energy there. They give a whiter light output than ordinary tungsten lamps.

Compact Fluorescent

These are what is being pushed as the alternative to tungsten GLS. They are not popular because they take time to come to full brightness and can’t be fitted into every appliance. The also will not dim (except some specially designed to dim which are expensive and have other limitations). This information is not given to consumers when they are told to replace their old GLS lamps with CFLs, and if you have a dimmer in the circuit damage can result. The colour rendering is not constant and they vary as they age.

LED Lamps

These are available as replacements for some lighting but are expensive, the best versions are those incorporated in light fittings. These are extremely low wattage and are expected to be the future of lighting. They don’t have many of the drawbacks of other lighting and will be available in different colour temperatures to match requirements. They can be dimmed, but because of their low power may not work with some dimmers because the load is not high enough.

Conclusion

This is just a snapshot of what is available today – the scene is changing fast and there is no doubt that LEDs are the future. In fact, things may change so fast that CFLs may be redundant (because of their drawbacks) before they reach the end of their operating life!

Watch this space to see which of these will be making an appearence on Socket Store shevles soon!