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Other Light Bulbs, where to buy?

Discussion in 'General' started by PhoenixTank, 5 Jun 2011.

  1. PhoenixTank

    PhoenixTank From The Ashes

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    So, I'm having a rather hard time trying to find a good place to buy good light bulbs online.
    Not specialist bulbs for cars or equipment, just the usual for various different light fittings in the home.
    Shamefully, we still have some incandescent bulbs in use here and need to at least find reliable Halogen replacements to save money & electricity.
    It won't hurt to have a look at suitable CFL and LED alternatives, but have not been impressed with either so far. Still open to it, of course.

    Can anyone recommend any UK or Europe based retailers? I live offshore, so ideally online.
    B&Q have somehow created a website that is as hard to find your way around as their shops :wallbash:
    Maplin seem to have a fairly small selection. Amazon is a jumble of sellers and bulbs. After that I don't know where to look.

    Any help much appreciated! :)

    Edit: Reworded the post a bit for clarity.
    I'm not trying to get my hands on the old incandescents - just looking for reliable lighting, after a spate of halogens dying well before they are supposed to. CFLs tend to last a good while, but the temperature of the light always seems to be off, and you can't dim them as standard. LEDs seem to be quite expensive, though more reliable, but not able to get up to the same lumen level as the other tech.

    Regardless of all this, I still need to find somewhere to browse through a solid selection of bulbs that could be used and figure out which type and tech would work where, then actually buy the damn things.
     
    Last edited: 5 Jun 2011
  2. Fishlock

    Fishlock .o0o.

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    Is there anyone reason why you can't just go to Tesco?
     
  3. Smilodon

    Smilodon The Antagonist

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    Does it have to be online? I'm sure some shops have some in stock still.

    As for online shops, I know there were some German company (I think) that sold "head globes" or something along that name. Try searching for that. It's the same thing, but under a different name to get around the ban.


    Normal incandescent bulbs (>60W IIRC) isn't produced anymore. Some stupid EU ban...
     
  4. kingred

    kingred Surfacing sucks!

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    Just FYI a decent LED bulb will last more than 10 years (it counts as dead when it reaches 70% of its original lumen output) and will emit a flatter colour spectrum in comparison to incandescant and CCFL bulbs. They emit light in uv and ir spikes.

    Don't get put off by the high price of a decent LED bulb, because it will save you money and look better.

    Remember, light not only frames the scene, it makes it.
     
  5. PhoenixTank

    PhoenixTank From The Ashes

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    I live in the Channel Islands - we don't have a Tesco here. We have a Waitrose, and they have some light bulbs, but not many, and less than the local B&Q, which is also less than great.

    Sorry, I hadn't worded this clearly enough. I'm not looking for incandescents, I'm hoping to replace some we still have with more eco and wallet friendly alternatives. Updated the OP. Thanks for the post, though!

    I'm definitely considering it given the poor reliability of the bulbs used lately... but LEDs don't seem to be able to match the brightness of other bulbs yet, going on lumens. Am I wrong there?
     
  6. Cerberus90

    Cerberus90 Car Spannerer

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    I bought three R50 LED lights off lustrumlights on ebay last year.

    Since then, I've had 3 go faulty. Half the LEDs start flickering, and the bulb gets hotter.
    I have gotten replacements straight away each time though, but they keep doing the same thing.

    First one happened about 6 months in, second one, about 9 months, and then one went the other week. Not sent the latest one back yet. Something tells me that when this many start going wrong, there's something properly wrong with the bulb design/construction.

    Not cheap either, they were £5.99 each.


    I much prefer the light they give off, much clearer.
    My LED ones seem just as bright as normal bulbs, if not brighter.
     
  7. Smilodon

    Smilodon The Antagonist

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    Most LED bulbs sold today have an absolutely horrible light quality and output, though. LED bulbs tend to be unevenly colored over the light opening. The center if often slightly blue, while the edges is slightly more yellow. Besides, the yellow they call "warm white" if far to yellow compared to incandescent bulbs. Incandescent bulbs give a more orange color with a more even color.

    At least CCFL based lightsources are able to give an even color and a proper light output. The quality of the light is still horrible, though.
     
  8. kingred

    kingred Surfacing sucks!

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    you are wrong, a good quality GE bulb or something with cree LED's it should perform similarly to a 60watt incandescent. Brightness of the bulb is dependant on the led's used.

    Here is a rough equivalent in colour brightness of LED's in general.

    4200k LEDS = 100watt incandescent
    3600k = 60watt
    3200k = 40watt
    2600k = 25watt

    I personally like 3200k, but for in/around a desk area where fine work is required 4200k. They will also assist in avoiding eye strain as the balanced output is closer to sunlight than other sources of light.
     
  9. Cerberus90

    Cerberus90 Car Spannerer

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    These are the bulbs I'm using
    Link

    And they are certainly a solid colour. And much brighter than normal 50W bulbs.
     
  10. longweight

    longweight Possibly Longbeard.

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    If you are dimming the light then do not buy LED as the colour temperature does not decrease as you dim (that is what creates a warm light with normal halogen bulbs)

    I work in lighting design and the best LED bulb is the Philips MasterLED range.
     
    Last edited: 5 Jun 2011
  11. longweight

    longweight Possibly Longbeard.

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    The Philips lamps are up to the output of normal incandescent / halogen lamps. Do not use compact fluorescent lamps as they are a nightmare to dispose of and contain high levels of mercury plus they take a few seconds to warm up and reach 100% light output.

    Either use the Osram IRC 42W energy saver lamp or the Philips MasterLED lamp.
     
  12. Smilodon

    Smilodon The Antagonist

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    What are you talking about here?

    Those numbers are color temperature, and have nothing to do with brightness. The color temperature only describe the color tint of white light. Sure, LEDs with higher color temperatures tend to be brighter due to production techniques, but the numbers themselves doesn't say anything about brightness. (White LEDs are actually UV LEDs with some phosphor in the die which convert the UV to visible, white light. The different concentration/composition of the phosphor alters color. Some compositions are more effective than others, hence the variation in brightness)


    As for that auction Cerberus90 linked to:

    I'm really curious about what they mean about this:


    Apparently the size of a LED have an influence on brightness or power consumption. :rolleyes:




    As for those of you that are trying to compare the brightness normal incandescent bulbs and LEDs:

    Remember that LEDs are measured differently than incandescent bulbs. Wattage doesn't really say anything at all about brightness. Think about it, a 40W halogen bulb will be much brighter than a normal 40W wolfram bulb.

    The most correct way of measuring brightness is Lumens, which tell you the actual brightness of a light source.
     
  13. kingred

    kingred Surfacing sucks!

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    Yes I know that, thats why I said comparable.

    Apologies, half hungover post and all that.
     
  14. VipersGratitude

    VipersGratitude Multimodder

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  15. Pookeyhead

    Pookeyhead It's big, and it's clever.

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    http://www.lyco.co.uk/

    http://www.lightbulbs-direct.com/

    Used them both quite a lot.

    I too go online, as I like daylight balanced lighting in most rooms of the house, and not everyone sells them.
     
  16. Cerberus90

    Cerberus90 Car Spannerer

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    I believe what they're saying about the 4mm LEDs = 50W and 3mm = 35W, is that the bulb with 4mm LEDs equates to a 50W equivalent normal bulb.

    The way I'm gauging the brightness is just by looking at it. I'm blinded for longer by looking at the LED bulb than a normal bulb, :D
     

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