For nearly all of my 76 years there was no way to screw-up buying a lightbulb. Now I have a lot of lightbulbs that don't fit. Question: can I purchase a set of gages to identify what configuration lightbulb I need to order.......??? Do I need a complete set of "adapters"......??
"EXACTLY" when and why did lightbulbs get complex to purchase correctly...???
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Are you referring to auto or home bulbs?
Home lightbulbs. I am interested in the history and what brought about this condition.......the "WHY" and the "When".....???
Don't forget, you now also need to worry about buying a dimmable or non-dimmable bulb. To be on the safe side, always just buy dimmable bulbs and fixtures. But wait! There are different dimming technologies for incandescent/fluorescent/LED bulbs. So you have to buy the correct type of dimmer switch for the bulbs you are using. And even when you buy the correct type of dimmer, you still might get flicker in your lighting. Possibly the load of the bulb is too low for the dimmer, or the dimmer and bulb are not the same brand and not exactly 100% compatible.
Yes, light bulbs have definitely gotten more complex. But as far as screw thread and socket types - I've never had any issues with that. All my stuff are the standard light bulb (E26) or Candelabra (E12) sockets. You sometimes run into different and unusual socket types in specialty lighting, like some desk lamps that use halogen bulbs.
Making things even more complex for the technology-loving folks are the remote control bulbs. These have built-in WiFi or other radio communication. But many lamps, ceiling fans, and other places you might be tempted to install one of these "smart bulbs" have metal guards around the bulbs. Which it just so happens to turn out, make great radio shields. Making it sometimes tough to get radio communication to your new smart bulb. Which was the whole point of buying the smart bulb in the first place.
The old joke, "How many people does it take to change a light bulb?" now has a new answer. And it's not just the number of people in the changing group, it's what advanced engineering degrees then need to have. You may also need to get your neighborhood HAM radio operator involved, because they can help you with tracking down radio interference that your new bulbs may create.
Yes, light bulbs have definitely gotten more complex. But as far as screw thread and socket types - I've never had any issues with that. All my stuff are the standard light bulb (E26) or Candelabra (E12) sockets. You sometimes run into different and unusual socket types in specialty lighting, like some desk lamps that use halogen bulbs.
Making things even more complex for the technology-loving folks are the remote control bulbs. These have built-in WiFi or other radio communication. But many lamps, ceiling fans, and other places you might be tempted to install one of these "smart bulbs" have metal guards around the bulbs. Which it just so happens to turn out, make great radio shields. Making it sometimes tough to get radio communication to your new smart bulb. Which was the whole point of buying the smart bulb in the first place.
The old joke, "How many people does it take to change a light bulb?" now has a new answer. And it's not just the number of people in the changing group, it's what advanced engineering degrees then need to have. You may also need to get your neighborhood HAM radio operator involved, because they can help you with tracking down radio interference that your new bulbs may create.
These are the only ones I routinely run into in a home situation. Do you have others?
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Just to add insult to injury, many new light fixtures have LED bulbs that can't be replaced. If/when the LED's go bad, you have to replace the entire fixture. 
When the automobile owning public finds out how much those LED headlights and tail lights are to replace they will go into shock.Just to add insult to injury, many new light fixtures have LED bulbs that can't be replaced. If/when the LED's go bad, you have to replace the entire fixture.
Lady with a Cadillac came to the parts store i worked at 3 years ago because her right rear LED tail light had burned out.
The entire unit had to be replaced - $500.
I never figured why people didn't convulse at the cost of new headlights. Back in the old days, they were implemented with a bulb behind a lens - separate parts. Then they came out with the "sealed beam" units. As I recall, the only thing you had to worry about there was if you needed the rectangular ones or the round ones. I think the round ones came in two different diameters maybe. And they were like $4.95 per unit. Now we're back to separate bulbs and lens. The bulbs are maybe $20-$30 now (at least the cheap ones my older cars use), but the lens - different for each car model - are ludicrously expensive. Hundreds of dollars. We took a real step backwards switching back to separate model-specific headlight components, IMHO.
0bama administration, about the 2nd year. when all this green crap got into full swing!
I see from Haertig's chart, the word standard is no longer used on home bulbs, wonder why?
Sounds about right, time-wise... I remember walking into the Home Depot in Imperial Beach one day and asking myself, "What the heck happened with light bulbs?" All of a sudden, I was faced with WAY TOO MANY CHOICES, lol. First time I spent over half an hour in the light bulb aisle, trying to figure out which bulb was best suited to my purpose. Since then, it hasn't gotten any easier...
And if @Sourdough ain't pulling his hair out yet
:https://www.homesteadingforum.org/threads/led-bulbs-that-dont-need-electricity-to-work-oh-yeah.13959/
A part of my problem is that everything is shipped to me, and nearly 100% impossible for me to return. This largely, but not totally because there is no post office.
The different colors always give me questions.
Do I want daylight, cool white, which brightness level (3500,4500) and so on.
I don't buy anything but LED bulbs. Cost more to buy but last longer and cost way less to operate.
Do I want daylight, cool white, which brightness level (3500,4500) and so on.
I don't buy anything but LED bulbs. Cost more to buy but last longer and cost way less to operate.
I'll probably go ahead and switch over to LED bulbs as mine go dead... I still have a box of various incandescent bulbs, I'll work my way through those first, but I'd like to have all LEDs in the future, they do cost much less to operate.
I use the now outlawed by Obama incandescent bulbs to keep my well pumps from freezing on cold nights.
(Yes, it does freeze in N Florida)
Before they were banned in the US I bought enough to last my pumps many, many winters.
(Yes, it does freeze in N Florida)
Before they were banned in the US I bought enough to last my pumps many, many winters.
https://www.amazon.com/Dimmable-Cha...83886&sprefix=3-way+LAMP,aps,4391&sr=8-8&th=1
So, will this lamp "ONLY" take LED bulbs.......??? See I have a lot of bulbs that are 3-Way 50-200-250 watt. Can I use them in this set of lamps I want to order.....???
So, will this lamp "ONLY" take LED bulbs.......??? See I have a lot of bulbs that are 3-Way 50-200-250 watt. Can I use them in this set of lamps I want to order.....???
Ah, no. Under specifications it says:
- Supportive Wattage: 100W
. (got something to hide guys?)I hate not having enough light!
If you can't do open-heart surgery under it, it doesn't meet my spec.
Ah, no. Under specifications it says:
The only thing they won't tell you, is how many LUMENS of light their bulbs put out on 'high'
- Supportive Wattage: 100W
I hate not having enough light!
If you can't do open-heart surgery under it, it doesn't meet my spec.
What confuses me is in my search on Amazon I put, "3-Way LAMP", and that lamp came up as 3-way. It clearly refers to that lamp as 3-Way. I am assuming if I could even get one of my 50-200-250-watt lightbulbs into the receptacle that something would explode or start a fire.
I found this comparison chart last year... handy.
You do not want to put a 250 watt bulb into a socket that only supports a max of 100 watts. No way. Don't do it.
The bulbs that come with this lamp at 5000K in color temperature. You will not like that in your home. It is a terrible cold and harsh type of light. You will feel like you are in a sterile hospital operating room. Even a 4000K bulb is "too white" for most people in home lighting. 4000K is OK in a garage or a kitchen, but probably not in your den. You're mostly likely going to want 3000K or below, the most commonly found being 2700K, which is very similar to incandescent bulbs. But this is just the bulb that comes in the lamp, which you can change. Expect to want to do that immediately if they give you a 5000K bulb.
Note that traditional 3-way bulbs have multiple filaments on the inside. The different light levels are implemented by turning on one filament, or the other, or both. That's why you need a special 3-way lamp to use 3-way bulbs in. This is all technology from back in the incandescent days.
With LED bulbs (which is what are supplied with the lamp), you do not have distinct/discreet lighting levels like the old 3-way incandescent bulbs did. You have a continuously dimmable level of light. The lamp simply includes a dimmer built in. In the case of the specific lamp you are looking at, it indeed talks about "three light levels". If this is true, they would have intentionally designed this limitation into their dimmer circuit. Or maybe they're really stupid and indeed are simply decreasing the voltage like the old dimmers used to do. This would be stupid because in general, LED bulbs do not like this one bit. They don't function well. Maybe they found some LED bulbs that tolerate this better than others, and those are the LED bulbs that they include with the lamp. I can't believe any company would actually be dumb enough to do that. Did this lamp come from China by any chance?
The way old incandescent bulbs were dimmed is by reducing the voltage. The bulbs are fed the typical 120 volts that come from your home wiring for full brightness. The old incandescent dimmers would cut that voltage down to lower levels to give you the dimming feature. You could do that with a simple rheostat, but more modern dimmers did it electronically.
With LED bulbs, you do not dim them by lowering the voltage. You dim them by cutting off some of the sine wave cycle. So instead of being a nicely rounded waveform, part of it is abruptly cut off in a straight line. On top of this, many electronic dimmers worked by cutting off the leading edge of the sine wave, but LEDs like it better if you cut off the trailing edge. They might still work with a leading edge dimmer, but they work better with a trailing edge dimmer.
What happens if you use the wrong kind of dimmer for your type of light bulb? Generally, the bulb will flicker annoyingly. Sometimes it won't dim, but just turns off when you try to dim it. Sometimes the bulb can overheat. Sometimes the bulb will develop an off-color cast over time. Sometimes it will lose brightness over time. Usually, the bulb will not last anywhere near as long as it should. The bulb will often give off spurious noise in the radio frequency spectrum. If someone in your house is a radio operator, they will probably hate you for that. Bottom line: using the wrong kind of dimmer for your bulb type is probably not going to blow up your house on the spot. But your results will most likely be far from pleasing. If you never use the dimmer and always leave it set for full brightness you're good to go with whatever bulb type you want to put in there. But then you have to wonder why you bought a dimmer in the first place. Note that if you use an incandescent bulb with an LED dimmer, it will most likely dim just fine. You'll probably even be happy with the result at first. Until you have to replace the dead bulb two weeks later. You may get some flicker during the bulbs shortened lifespan as well.
Putting a 250 watt bulb in a 100 watt socket is a fire hazard. A pretty big fire hazard. As I said above, don't do it. UNLESS you are talking about a "250 watt equivalent". And LED bulb of maybe 40 or 50 watts would be somewhere near a "250 watt incandescent equivalent". I can't say that I've ever seen a bulb like that at the Home Depot, but somebody, somewhere probably makes one. I doubt that's what you have on-hand though.
Back to your original question: Do I have to use LED bulbs? Technically no, realistically yes. Because of the dimming. And you will probably want to replace the high color temperature LED bulbs that come with the light very quickly after you turn the lamp on and see the cold, harsh light that comes from a 5000K bulb.
The bulbs that come with this lamp at 5000K in color temperature. You will not like that in your home. It is a terrible cold and harsh type of light. You will feel like you are in a sterile hospital operating room. Even a 4000K bulb is "too white" for most people in home lighting. 4000K is OK in a garage or a kitchen, but probably not in your den. You're mostly likely going to want 3000K or below, the most commonly found being 2700K, which is very similar to incandescent bulbs. But this is just the bulb that comes in the lamp, which you can change. Expect to want to do that immediately if they give you a 5000K bulb.
Note that traditional 3-way bulbs have multiple filaments on the inside. The different light levels are implemented by turning on one filament, or the other, or both. That's why you need a special 3-way lamp to use 3-way bulbs in. This is all technology from back in the incandescent days.
With LED bulbs (which is what are supplied with the lamp), you do not have distinct/discreet lighting levels like the old 3-way incandescent bulbs did. You have a continuously dimmable level of light. The lamp simply includes a dimmer built in. In the case of the specific lamp you are looking at, it indeed talks about "three light levels". If this is true, they would have intentionally designed this limitation into their dimmer circuit. Or maybe they're really stupid and indeed are simply decreasing the voltage like the old dimmers used to do. This would be stupid because in general, LED bulbs do not like this one bit. They don't function well. Maybe they found some LED bulbs that tolerate this better than others, and those are the LED bulbs that they include with the lamp. I can't believe any company would actually be dumb enough to do that. Did this lamp come from China by any chance?
The way old incandescent bulbs were dimmed is by reducing the voltage. The bulbs are fed the typical 120 volts that come from your home wiring for full brightness. The old incandescent dimmers would cut that voltage down to lower levels to give you the dimming feature. You could do that with a simple rheostat, but more modern dimmers did it electronically.
With LED bulbs, you do not dim them by lowering the voltage. You dim them by cutting off some of the sine wave cycle. So instead of being a nicely rounded waveform, part of it is abruptly cut off in a straight line. On top of this, many electronic dimmers worked by cutting off the leading edge of the sine wave, but LEDs like it better if you cut off the trailing edge. They might still work with a leading edge dimmer, but they work better with a trailing edge dimmer.
What happens if you use the wrong kind of dimmer for your type of light bulb? Generally, the bulb will flicker annoyingly. Sometimes it won't dim, but just turns off when you try to dim it. Sometimes the bulb can overheat. Sometimes the bulb will develop an off-color cast over time. Sometimes it will lose brightness over time. Usually, the bulb will not last anywhere near as long as it should. The bulb will often give off spurious noise in the radio frequency spectrum. If someone in your house is a radio operator, they will probably hate you for that. Bottom line: using the wrong kind of dimmer for your bulb type is probably not going to blow up your house on the spot. But your results will most likely be far from pleasing. If you never use the dimmer and always leave it set for full brightness you're good to go with whatever bulb type you want to put in there. But then you have to wonder why you bought a dimmer in the first place. Note that if you use an incandescent bulb with an LED dimmer, it will most likely dim just fine. You'll probably even be happy with the result at first. Until you have to replace the dead bulb two weeks later. You may get some flicker during the bulbs shortened lifespan as well.
Putting a 250 watt bulb in a 100 watt socket is a fire hazard. A pretty big fire hazard. As I said above, don't do it. UNLESS you are talking about a "250 watt equivalent". And LED bulb of maybe 40 or 50 watts would be somewhere near a "250 watt incandescent equivalent". I can't say that I've ever seen a bulb like that at the Home Depot, but somebody, somewhere probably makes one. I doubt that's what you have on-hand though.
Back to your original question: Do I have to use LED bulbs? Technically no, realistically yes. Because of the dimming. And you will probably want to replace the high color temperature LED bulbs that come with the light very quickly after you turn the lamp on and see the cold, harsh light that comes from a 5000K bulb.
For standard home lights they used the "Edison" base as a default but now some of the LED bulbs come with the "Tesla" base - two pins with heads on them that snap and twist in place.
Actually, that sound like exactly what I want. This cabin is "ALWAYS" dark. The electric comes to the cabin by an extension cord. There is only one light, a table lamp with a 3-way receptacle, it is on top of the refrigerator so as to light the greatest area of this one room cabin. Even with the 3-way bulb turned up to 250 watts, I need a flashlight for most of the cabin.
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Reading that I may have an option for you.
The Princess's kitchen was lit for dining purposes, subtle lighting.
But was lame when it was needed ad a work kitchen. She found on Amazon a led screw in for the light of the ceiling fan.
Much brighter. I did have to toss the globe but who looks at a light anyway ? The led light looks like this.
Dissipates less power (watts) than the original bulb but make a big difference.
That may be a viable option if you want more light with less power.
Ben
And that is why I would never own a Caddy. I swear, a new lug nut is a hundred bucks.
A friend of mine had a CTS, midsized Caddy sedan. Her dashboard went out - nothing worked, it was all electronic. If I'm remembering right, it was over 2 grand to fix it...
A question came up on a test I took for Limited Maintenance Electrical License when I was working for the local school district about how much maximum wattage will a Medium base light socket accept? only the question had a misprint, it said Admedium, I figured it out and the answer was 660 watts. The medium base is the most common of bases, then there is the Candelabra base, often used in chandeliers to make them look like they are using candles, this sometimes creates a bit of a problem, at least for us, when we want to use candle like bulbs on our ceiling fan, candle like LED bulbs can be hard to find that have medium bases, this is why we are still using CFL bulbs on the fan and I'm surprised they that they are still working after many years of use, in the past they often go bad rather quickly. When all this getting rid of incandescent bulbs came about, none of those idiots even considered us folks that use those bulbs for heating a small pumphouse, we figured that that would be a problem and set aside some incandescents just for that purpose, we don't need them now because I built a gravity feed water system and no longer us the well we have.
I will not use LED fixtures that don't have a medium bulb base as it's not always easy to find odd sized base bulbs around our area.
I will not use LED fixtures that don't have a medium bulb base as it's not always easy to find odd sized base bulbs around our area.
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Here here now.
Let's not forget the Easybake ovens that used incandescent bulbs as the heating element.
If you have incandescent bulbs stockpile 5hem.
Ben
Glen Beck did, he said he had twenty cases crammed into his attic.
I myself have found love for the LED whites. just as bright, half the cost, no heat.
I myself have found love for the LED whites. just as bright, half the cost, no heat.
It sounds like you are probably more interested in illumination levels than aesthetics. If that is true, I would go for some LED "shop lights" that hang from the ceiling. Space them out to cover the entire room. They come with standard 3-prong plugs so you could connect them directly to your extension cord (you would need a cube tap if your extension cord only has one connection). Three LED shop lights will use less power than one 250 watt incandescent bulb. Many LED shop lights come as 5000K, but you can find some 4000K ones if you look. I can't say I've ever seen a 2700K shop light though.
If you put three 5000K shop lights in your cabin, you won't need a flashlight anymore. You'll need sunglasses, if not a welder's helmet face shield. LED shop lights that I have seen are not dimmable. Maybe start out with ONE shop light...
Or, add some flair to your cabin by hanging strings of those patio lights inside. You could run the strings through the middle of the room and up along the edges to put the light exactly where you need it. You can get these string lights in dimmable varieties too. Different color temperatures. Even ones where you can manually change the color - white, red, blue, green - whatever you want to set the mood.
We installed some of the LED strip lights (see below) up under the eves of our house out by the hot tub. They're great. White light, whatever color light you want. Animations. Remote control. They work great for our under-eve installation. You can't see the LEDs directly, what you see is the light from them reflected off the walls of the house. They probably wouldn't work as well for your indoor application, unless you have some way of hiding the LEDs themselves so you only see their indirect light (under counters maybe - but then they might be too low). They are fairly bright, but still probably not bright enough for "normal indoor lighting". Great mood lights or party lights though.
Good and helpful suggestion. I will look into those. I have to be very-very-very- careful of amps and watts consumption, as this cabin is on one extension cord.
As to aesthetics this one room 11'X 23'plywood shack has a bare plywood floor, zero furniture other than one decomposing office chair. Zero tables, and only a Coleman Camp stove for a kitchen, zero counters. Water is hauled from a different location.
