Old Dimmer switch

[ericmark]

more of the wattage used goes to generating heat

Yes but unless the heat is unwanted, be it light or heat it does not matter.

A bulb can convert electrical energy into many other forms.
Radio transmission, heat, visible light, etc, etc.
If any of them are unwanted, be it ultra violet, radio, or any other then that is waste. But both heat and light are wanted, at least in winter, we also want to stop energy escaping, likely most of the energy which escapes is through the window, be in inferred or light both can pass through most glass.

There is a problem with light, as it seems we are not equally receptive to all colours, we were told years ago the orange light was better for human eye, that seems to have changed, now they say green followed by yellow and blue. However erlands syndrome and Irlen Syndrome has shown a range of colours and frequencies can effect different people in different ways, so it is unclear as to best colour.

However we have long realised fluorescent lights can cause some people problems, and using a HF ballast helped with many of these problems, with LED it is a lot harder as bulb manufacturers don't need to declare if output smoothed, or at 100 Hz or any other frequency.

So even when people do have problems, which could be alleviated by a certain type of driver, because no one seems to know what driver has been used, only option is tungsten.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Yes but unless the heat is unwanted, be it light or heat it does not matter.

A bulb can convert electrical energy into many other forms.
Radio transmission, heat, visible light, etc, etc.
If any of them are unwanted, be it ultra violet, radio, or any other then that is waste. But both heat and light are wanted, at least in winter, we also want to stop energy escaping, likely most of the energy which escapes is through the window, be in inferred or light both can pass through most glass.

Whilst in winter, it may not be entirely waste heat, in summer it will be, but even so there are better and cheaper ways to provide heating than wasted electrical consumption.

I once looked after a high class bank, which had chandeliers absolutely everywhere. The lease of the listed building, did not allow a/c to be installed and in just one room they had a two chandeliers each with upwards of 40 candle bulbs in. It was very expensive to use and very oppressive in the summer heat - I got them to change to LED candle lamps.

 

[ericmark]

The MANWEB building in Chester was claimed to be the latest thing in energy saving with all rooms heated by the fluorescent lights, today it has been demolished. Not sure what went wrong, but clearly what worked in the 1980's does not work today.

Next (Old Woolworths) in Chester had no heating, only air conditioning units to remove heat, with one exception a heat curtain at the doors. We were told no more that 18 inches between lights.

It does seem commercial premises do some times go OTT. The small down lighter was the problem with many a homes lighting, we in the 70's could light a whole house with 5 amp, we had one lighting circuit and since the ceiling roses which doubled as junction boxes were rated at 5 amp that was the limit.

Then we saw kitchens which could use the whole of the 5 amp on the kitchen alone, lighting circuits had to be split into two, often resulting in borrowed neutrals and people seemed to ignore the 5 amp rating of ceiling roses and were using two 10 amp circuits. And then used up lighters and standard lamps as the silly 50 mm lamps were so poor.

Nothing wrong with a 50 mm lamp aimed at a picture on the wall, or even a dark corner in the room, but a spot lights is to light a set spot, rather useless at illuminating a room, unless you want to live in a planetarium then at least arrange as the great bear or some thing.

There have been some silly lamps, I looked at one with G9 lamps, which as quartz halogen should have some thing to stop white hot bits reaching the floor, and stop damaging rays, but there were no covers, some one not realising how important the covers are clearly thought it looked better without them.

But common sense does not seem to exist with the fairer sex, and she must be obeyed, so we have some really silly systems around.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

The MANWEB building in Chester was claimed to be the latest thing in energy saving with all rooms heated by the fluorescent lights, today it has been demolished. Not sure what went wrong, but clearly what worked in the 1980's does not work today.

My guess is that the move to greater efficiency of lighting - more light/ less heat waste, so there was simply not enough wasted heat from the lighting.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Nothing wrong with a 50 mm lamp aimed at a picture on the wall, or even a dark corner in the room, but a spot lights is to light a set spot, rather useless at illuminating a room, unless you want to live in a planetarium then at least arrange as the great bear or some thing.

I nearly went down that route, I bought the down lighters, 20, enough to do most of the house, along with transformers and lamps, but just never got around to it. I quire glad I didn't go ahead with it now. It looks stylish, but never that practical. One place it did work rather was in a banking hall, which had a 60 foot ceiling, using LED's, but last time I was in after it was newly refurbed, one of the LED's had failed.

 

[ericmark]

I think people walk into likes of B&Q and see a set up where the ceiling has been set to 12 foot above floor, and simply don't realised when only 8 foot from floor going to be very different.

 

[dan2002]

I received my dimmer switch that you lot recommended me to get from screwfix. I have fitted it on, looks good so far! If it does flicker will I have to purchase a different bulb? It talks about flickering on the manual.

Hopefully stays like this! How come I can’t adjust the brightness? When I turn it down it still stays bright.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Hopefully stays like this! How come I can’t adjust the brightness? When I turn it down it still stays bright.

Either the lamp, dimmer is faulty, or the two are simply not compatible.

 

[dan2002]

Either the lamp, dimmer is faulty, or the two are simply not compatible.

I think most likely the bulb and switch are not compatible. Which LED bulb would you recommend me to get for this new light dimmer switch which I installed from screwfix?

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

I think most likely the bulb and switch are not compatible. Which LED bulb would you recommend me to get for this new light dimmer switch which I installed from screwfix?

Did you buy one of the recommended switches by me, Flameport, or something else?

 

[dan2002]

Did you buy one of the recommended switches by me, Flameport, or something else?

Flameport. The screwfix one. The one you provided from screwfix is it the same?

 

[dan2002]

Should I just purchase a new LeD bulb. Do you think the wiring is faulty? Is it because I don’t have a neutral wire aswell?

 

[dan2002]

The max dimmable load is 120W. My bulb is 7W= 60W

 

[dan2002]

Would this LED bulb be better than the Sylvania bulb? Its from Amazon

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Flameport. The screwfix one. The one you provided from screwfix is it the same?

We both provided you with suggested switches which we had found worked, both I think available from SF, but not the same model of switch. SF do sell a number of different dimmer switches, I chose and gave you the link to the one I bought, which works fine and which was able to automatically decide whether to use + or - triggering.

As I explained - finding lamps and switches which play nicely together is a bit of a nightmare, that is why I provided a link to the switch and details of the lamps, via the thread I linked to.