Light Bulb Question

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networkn

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Topic # 204891 21-Oct-2016 15:49

So after a long time a bulb in our bathroom blew.

The bulb I removed was a G9 240V 28w.

I couldn't find one easily available online but I had a G9 240v 40w bulb which I inserted and seems to work ok.

Is this a safe configuration?

Also there is what I think is discolouration in the fitting, should I be concerned?

networkn

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Reply # 1655812 21-Oct-2016 15:50

Heh interestingly when I clicked the picture to make it bigger, I see it mentions a 40w, so I assume that's ok.

I guess it's just about the discolouration now.

Dynamic

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Reply # 1655813 21-Oct-2016 15:52

Heat is your main enemy here and of course a 40w bulb generates a lot more heat than a 25w.

Does the fitting say max 40w or is that 40w label on the bulb?

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networkn

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Reply # 1655815 21-Oct-2016 15:53

Dynamic:

Heat is your main enemy here and of course a 40w bulb generates a lot more heat than a 25w.

Does the fitting say max 40w or is that 40w label on the bulb?

I think that's the fitting. There was a 28w bulb in previously.

Dynamic

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Reply # 1655816 21-Oct-2016 15:54

Ahhhh answered your own question.

Of course an LED replacement would let you go brighter with less heat if desired. If its only on for short periods, the bulb you have is worth keeping. In my case the little ones in the house like a light on at night, so a halogen was quickly replaced with LED.

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networkn

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Reply # 1655840 21-Oct-2016 16:06

Dynamic:

Ahhhh answered your own question.

Of course an LED replacement would let you go brighter with less heat if desired. If its only on for short periods, the bulb you have is worth keeping. In my case the little ones in the house like a light on at night, so a halogen was quickly replaced with LED.

Yeah I didnt realise I could go LED. I might look into that.

richms

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Reply # 1655856 21-Oct-2016 16:23

40w incandescent must be very dim indeed.

Things discolour with heat, there is a lot of that with incandesenet lamps. You could look at getting a different fitting to replace it. There are many cheap oyster LED lights at bunnings now as they are a favorite of developers to put in since they are easier than downlights and dont intrude into the room when on a low 2.4m cieling.

Richard rich.ms

MikeAqua

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Reply # 1655857 21-Oct-2016 16:23

In my experience discolouration is normal in those sorts of fittings with incandescent or compact fluorescent bulbs. In fact plenty of the CF bulbs themselves discolour.

Mike

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Reply # 1655861 21-Oct-2016 16:26

It's for a toilet with sink area, possibly 1 x 3M long.

Yoban

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Reply # 1655884 21-Oct-2016 16:56

If you can go led, then I would.

richms

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Reply # 1655894 21-Oct-2016 17:12

LED G9 replacements all suck. I have tried several both from aliexpress and brands at bunnings. flicker like crazy as they have no smoothing cap in them. Maybe ok for short exposure like in a toilet but perhaps when you are hung over might be a little much to bear? bare? Which one is it?

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neb

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Reply # 1655925 21-Oct-2016 18:30

networkn:
Heh interestingly when I clicked the picture to make it bigger, I see it mentions a 40w, so I assume that's ok.

Not necessarily. I once changed a bulb for someone in an awkwardly-designed desktop lamp and found that, if you peeled the XXX watt sticker off, the original XXX + 20 or 40W printed label was revealed underneath it. Obviously they'd discovered at some point that it wasn't safe to operate at its original rating. In fact it wasn't safe at the stickered XXX watt either, the plastic above where the bulb was was warped and cracked. So: A little discoloration = normal, a lot, or anything blackened, or warped/melted plastic = use a lower-powered bulb and consider replacing the fitting.

In my place, which I've mentioned before was stapled and duct-taped together by cowboys, someone had put in some R7 fittings where the contacts had carbonised and the insulation was burned off the wire for several cm back. Needless to say there are now zero original light fittings left in the house.

Rikkitic

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Reply # 1655930 21-Oct-2016 18:53

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I thought you were going to ask how many programmers it takes to screw in a light bulb (answer: none, it's hardware problem).

40 watts is fairly standard and generally considered safe for most fixtures, but even 40 watts can generate a lot of heat (and discolouration) in an enclosed fitting. There is no good reason not to replace with a lower power energy saving bulb or led if possible. I have done that all through our old farmhouse.

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networkn

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Reply # 1656017 22-Oct-2016 00:15

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I bought a couple of 7W LED's. One thing that annoys the crap out of me, is that despite lumens being a universally used standard, people don't measure their items for sale in Lumens often, and this makes buying lightbulbs a royal PITA. I had a guy with a 3W G9 LED say his LED's were producing 700LM when 7W ones are producing 450-500LM. It's hell confusing.

richms

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Reply # 1656018 22-Oct-2016 00:17

In addition to that, people that think lumen is like lux, and goes up if you have a reflector. Kinda makes those places that spend craploads on an integrating sphere to measure them suckers if they could just BS it from the brightest part of its beam.

Richard rich.ms

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Reply # 1657287 25-Oct-2016 10:50

richms:

LED G9 replacements all suck. I have tried several both from aliexpress and brands at bunnings. flicker like crazy as they have no smoothing cap in them. Maybe ok for short exposure like in a toilet but perhaps when you are hung over might be a little much to bear? bare? Which one is it?

Can confirm. They are balls. And they're quite a lot larger so many fittings won't have enough clearance to fit them in.