Your light sockets--is the sky the limit on wattages, or are U governed by 60-w, or less?

[daveamkrayoguy]

Here are some where I think I can go just as Hi-Watt as I like:

(The one with no bulb flashes, arc's and flickers--and a new socket or I believe that one transplanted from where it's replaced with the plug/electrical outlet, in the first picture which was originally here, proved futile to easily do, so I strung a couple that go on simultaneously with the bulb socket; they are over the laundry room)

Oh, and the outside fixtures: the flood lights I used to get were rated at 150-watts, but now I can only find 90, though I think I still get the same amount of light, whereas I'm only governed by the size of the bulb I can keep in the glass fixture, is what I'd like to think, concerning the one by the door...

-- Dave

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

Now the not-so-consent, among the governed:

Do you have a place to test bulbs that are burned out, but need to be convinced, so you put in another base? That is what is shown in this initial pic, in that lamp:

The rest? That antique ceiling fixture has one-hundred... Which if I get the optimal amount of light, (though rarely or little do I really use/turn it on, occasionally for) from that single bulb, going anywhere above, I don't dare!

Ditto for those porch lights, as "risk of fire" I remember seeing when I was finally a lot more than knee-high to...

Then there is the kitchen one I use, in the 60-watt or less base, I have something giving me more than that via LED-something, or other, and it was hard to hang:

As for the chandelier, an antique store had a wide-base going for $60, that I wanted over the narrow-base there for the cheaper $40, so this came from the downtown Royal Oak Parking Garage garage sale for $20, as I would only go narrow, needing special bulbs if I could go cheaper! (A spotlight underneath, on this (yes, this one, as well as the candle-shaped are all as of (forgot how many years ago, it was shortly months after we'd moved in) all ORIGINAL!) as well as the other couple mentioned above...

I think I may go with a regular incandescent there, rather than buy any expensive "specialty" bulb, if I ever have to replace the small flood...

-- Dave

 

[turquoisedude]

I recall seeing the wattage rating of brass-shell sockets as 660 watts - no doubt a leftover from the days when toasters, waffle irons, or clothes irons were 'plugged' into the light fixture. I would venture a guess that this had more to do with the wiring used to supply the socket - usually an 18-gauge twisted-connector style of drop cord.

I know that so many fixtures now have dire '60 Watt maximum' warnings along with risk of fire. Overheating of less-than-solid-metal components would be my guess here.

I've always erred on the side of caution and stuck with that 660-watt limit myself. Most of my electrical fires came from my appliance repairs, not light fixtures... LOL

 

[lowefficiency]

For area lighting, you might consider adding more fixtures instead of using brighter bulbs. More fixtures with dimmer bulbs (or diffused LED surfaces) would give you less glare and fewer shadows for an equivalent amount of light, plus have less of an impact if one burns out. Even lighting is one of the best ways to make a workspace safe and pleasant, especially if that space is a basement.

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

So not necessarily a rant, I get optimal light from all my fixtures...

Regarding the "can" hanging in the kitchen, my mom strongly hated those designs and replaced them with boring white globe: The pic of it off so you can see what it looks like, in another thread I posted, a drum across from it, shows it dark like that in its incandescent obsolescence, so that's the only light I have on in my kitchen, until I can ever crawl up in the ceiling to find a way to put one single fixture in the middle...

Here are some pics I have a Tiffany that I was lucky to find at an antique exposition taking place in a parking garage one weekend, annually, in fact, in downtown Royal Oak, of which it must have been earlier in this decade I'd last gone...

I'd even thought that globe was burned out, as the native thumbwheel cordswitch had been turned off, while I was using an easier to use toggle switch that is actually at the end of a long cord attached to a plug that goes into the wall which is used in another lamp I'll show you next...

Yes, something was inspiring to make me lucky to find and utilize this lamp (as well as the other I will post next) to use as my only basement lighting, now that the ceiling fluorescent lights above in ceiling panels are still burning out...

(That is, click on the link to see such a fixture like that behind recording engineer Eric Prestige)

-- Dave

https://www.discogs.com/Focus-Mother-Focus/master/54748

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

Okay, as promised, and an antique store on 8-Mile Road towards the Warren/Eastpoint-area was where this came from...

Originally that toggle'd plug switch was a dimmer model, (which is now used on my 3-bulb brass boulliot table lamp) and that lamp was also over my stereo set in the basement, (before it quickly came upstairs when I got tired of listening and freezing down there, as I'd quickly wanted my man cave up here) as it was in my basement bedroom when I'd last lived with my parents...

The wiring is probably very old, and my mom disliked it hanging partially on, with that dimmer switch, even at nearest its lowest setting when we'd just moved into this house, as it tends to arc and flicker, though very slightly, (fearing it would cause a fire) but it's even less used than the Tiffany, supplanting the yet to completely burn out florescent ceiling panels...

(I think the link is a "debate" over "chicken or egg--which came first?" As I don't remember if I had it before or after seeing Phil Ochs standing under a light like it)

-- Dave[this post was last edited: 1/19/2019-04:03]

https://www.discogs.com/Phil-Ochs-The-War-Is-Over-Best-Of-Phil-Ochs/release/2482357

 

[kb0nes]

I can't imagine ever again using a screw base bulb that uses over 20 watts.

 

[sfh074]

I bought bulbs just before big brother ......

nixed the larger wattage incandescent bulbs.

LightBulbEmporium.bom at the time had rough service bulbs rated at 135v with a life span rated @ 15K hours. They were 34 cents a piece for the 100w, 75w and 60w varieties, both in frosted and clear. They also had the tiny chandler 40w and 60w bulbs rated at 7K hours for 47 cents. Needless to say I bought a bunch of each and will never in my lifetime nor my children's lifetime have to buy bulbs again.

I put 2 of the 100w bulbs in a security light that comes on at dusk and off at dawn in 2009. They literally burn an average of 10+ hours a day and after 10 years still going strong. I can't imagine how long one of these bulbs would last if used just an hour or two a day.

I have upgraded my mom's place with all LED bulbs. GE brand to be exact. I still don't like the light they give off and don't think I could ever get used to them. Not for indoor use that is. Not to read by or any other area of the house. However 4' florescent fixtures for overhead task lighting is fine in the kitchen or workshop, which I have a lot of.

Maybe it's just me, but I seem to hold the same contention with light bulbs as I do with most things, that is old school continues to be my preference and will go to greater lengths to surround myself with it. Just like vinyl LP's and how they have come full circle, I wonder if the lowly incandescent bulb will eventually do the same?

 

[sudsmaster]

I'm done, mostly, with incandescent and even CFL light bulbs. LED's have gotten so good and affordable it makes little sense to try to heat up a room with light bulbs. Here in California the de facto rate for residential electricity is nearly $.30/KWh. Easily three times what people in the mid-west seem to pay. Only about 1/3 of my electricity bill is for actual power generation; the rest is for transmission, maintenance, overhead, fees, and taxes. It makes residential rooftop solar more and more of a viable alternative.

The remaining bulb concern is primarily with tight light enclosures - some LED designs seem to require an open fixture so they can quickly dissipate what little heat they produce. My alternative lately has been to replace such fixtures (usually ceiling) with new fixtures incorporating LED technology. It may even be, eventually, that screw type lighting fixtures do the way of the long playing vinyl record and its associated playback equipment. Collectors only.

 

[fan-of-fans]

I've always liked those porcelain pull chain bare bulb fixtures. I have some of those in the garage and attic, but they are wall controlled.

The issue I had with the CFL and LED bulbs is they don't fit in some fixtures.

I don't care for the fixtures with built in LED. Because the LEDs and boards can fail and it just shows what a throw away world we live in now. Oh the LED bulb failed, just replace the whole fixture.

I understand the energy savings of LED. I Just don't get why they are replacing everything known to man with them. Fluorescent light bulbs were more efficient than incandescent, but did they stop making incandescents? No. Then LEDs advanced to what they are now and suddenly they decided to make an all out war on everything else, as if it's the be all end all until the end of time. Well it's not, and one day there may well be something superior to LED.

 

[sfh074]

and another thing ......

I hate how the curly-q fluorescent bulbs are so dim on a cold day. I had some in my kitchen and we both hated them because it took a couple of minutes for them to warm up and get up to brightness. I also don't like the idea that the majority of people are not going to recycle them and all of the mercury is just going to end up in landfills, then leech through the ground and end up in groundwater at some point in the future. Did we not learn our lesson with mercury and all the fish in the world? And then there was the study by OSHA where they broke a lit curly q fluorescent bulb overhead in a 9 by 11 foot carpeted room. OSHA came in and took mercury samples and found that there was a n exorbitant amount of mercury after cleaning. The only way to return the room back to OSHA mercury limits was to completely remove the carpet from the room. Most people don't realize that the mercury is vaporized when the bulb is lit and if it breaks a mercury vapor is released then falls to the floor over a large area.

 

[DADoES]

 
"Regular" fluorescent tubes don't contain mercury?

 

[sudsmaster]

Yes, standard fluorescent tubes contain mercury. It's essential for the fluorescence to work. Basically the mercury vaporizes when the ballast supplies a high voltage to the electrodes in the tube, and emits UV light. The UV light hits the phosphor on the inside of the tube glass and that phosphor fluoresces in visible light.

There is one thing about the health risks. Comparing it to mercury in fish is not entirely equivalent. The mercury in fish has been through the food chain and is in an organic compound. Organic mercury compounds are far more toxic than elemental mercury. Neither is good, but there are several orders of magnitude at play.

 

[mattl]

I'm happily living in and all LED lit home.  I might - might - have a regular bulb in a closet somewhere but I think not.  My two big chandeliers each had 16 60w candelabra base bulbs --do the math  16*60*2=1920 watts.  The are now all LED 160 watts total.  Only reason I converted was the bulbs were cheap.  My electricity rate is ~$0.08 KWH off peak so it wasn't terrible, but at the right price why not?  I can now keep my home well lit, as it used to be way back when for pennies.

 

I'm finding I am shifting to the 3000K bulbs, vs. the 2700K I have been using.  Just a bit crisper light.  You will never see those god awful 5000-6500K abominations in my home, hate is a mild word for how I feel about those things...

 

[dartman]

You can get led bulbs in any color range you like. 2500k or so is yellowish like the old incandescent bulbs we are used to. 5k is very bright white and is what I decided to use in most of our house. PGE here was giving out energy saver kits for free if you asked and eventually sent us about 8 3k led bulbs, water saving shower heads etc. I put the yellowish bulbs in sisters master bedroom as she likes them and 5k in the rest of the house. They come up to full brightness immediately and I can see in the dark hallway much better with the whiter light. One of the led bulbs finally died in the porch light outside after 2 or 3 years probably due to the humidity I'd guess but they are cheap enough now. I think as far as light sockets and fixtures it's more about how much heat they can take, then the wattage limit. The new bulbs don't draw any wattage and barely get warm overall so you can run whatever you want as long as it does not get hot enough to melt something.

 

[askolover]

I have mostly LED bulbs now except for the tube fluorescents in the bathroom, kitchen, and laundry.  I just recently installed recessed lighting in the bathroom with the new vent fan and put those new LED conversions in them...they are nice.  Planning to eventually install more recessed fixtures in the living room and kitchen for more directed lighting.

 

[sudsmaster]

I like the 3000 K "soft white" LED bulbs.

I only use the high temp lights in the kitchen and shop areas. Main reason is that the blue light from the high temp ones tends to keep one awake, and I was having trouble getting to sleep if I had bright white light on before bedtime in the office, bedroom, bath. Also have enable the "Night Light" option on my Windows 10 machine. About 1/2 hour before I *should* retire, the screen gets more yellow. Often that will induce drowsiness all on its own.

 

[cadman]

LEDs have their place, but then so do incandescents. I finally found some LEDs that work well at low temps and that I can't distinguish from their old incandescent counterparts. They're doing fine in my outdoor fixtures.

On the other hand, I haven't found a good 40w incandescent replacement for in the house. I've bought and returned all sorts...just too darn hash, even behind frosted glass.

Of course here in the midwest, every incandescent that gets replaced means one more increase I have to make on the thermostat. And when it comes to reliability, you can't beat the simplicity of an old fashioned bulb against a lowest-bidder Chinese power supply. I don't care what sort of guarantee the LED has; any trip to replace a failed bulb is too many.

 

[lowefficiency]

I too have tried a number of them, and there are three areas that are proving difficult for LED bulbs:

1) Being FULLY dimmable over the entire range. Some are "dimmer compatible", but have a minimum brightness that is far more light output than an equivalent incandescent. It's like they dim from 50-100% instead of 0-100%. So they aren't a like-for-like replacement.

2) Being DIM enough! If I had a 25W bulb in a lamp, it's because I didn't want it to be super bright. If I pick up a "25W equivalent" LED bulb, I don't care if it only uses 4 watts of light - I want it to actually look like a 25W bulb - not like a 40W! I think manufacturers are tuning their bulbs to be brighter than needed, so that they seem superior when installed (psychological tricks).

3) Flicker. So many LED bulbs still have a fast PWM strobing effect. Such a bummer.