Megaman Par 38 bulbs
For many years Megaman have made what we consider the best fluorescent low energy PAR 38 lamps, however they are stopping manufacture of most of their fluorescent range of lamps now as LEDs become more efficient and economical.
We still have stock of the fluorescent PAR 38 but once our stock has gone that will be it!
We have many old and discontinued lamps in stock, why not give us a try if you are looking a for an odd lamp
Incredible new paper thin LED lighting
American company Rohinni have come up with an amazing new paper thin LED light.
Ink and tiny little LEDs are mixed together and printed onto a conductive layer so it literally is paper that lights up when a current is run through it – amazing! It can be printed in high volumes and could have virtually unlimited uses. Hopefully we should start seeing it out about in products soon
There is no doubt that the way we light our homes and buildings is being changed by the rapid advances in LED technology.
However if you still like your traditional light bulbs there are plenty of them still available so the choice is yours!
Halogena Bulbs are no more
The forerunner to the now commonly seen Halosaver Lightbulbs is the humble Halogena
They are nice looking lamps so are fine in full view
Sadly they are no longer made so when our stock has run out they will be no more. They give off a really bright crisp light and look that little bit different. They are technically energy saving too!
Sometimes they are called Halolux or Halotone depending on who makes them!
The older style fat tubes are still popular
If you have an older fluorescent light fitting with a fat tube in it (by fat I mean over an inch in diameter) then fear not as we can still supply them
You can pick up your T12 Fat Tube here: T12 Old Style Tubes
If your fitting has a starter in the side then you can upgrade to the the slightly thinner, more efficient T8 tubes which are only an inch thick, just make sure the length is the same!
If you are confused about what you can and cant do with your fluorescent tubes please either give us a call or drop us an email and we will try and help get you lit up!
Christmas Opening Times
Its that time of year again!
We will be closed for Christmas and new year from the 20th December and will reopen on Monday 5th January
The last day we will be dispatching any (in stock) orders is Friday 19th December
The website will be up and running all over the holiday but we wont be dispatching any orders placed until we return on the 5th Jan.
Its been a busy year (which is good!) and even though it looks like snow is unlikely to show itself lets at least hope for a dry Christmas!
Merry Christmas to all our customers and we look forward to seeing you again in 2015!
Outdoor lighting types explained
These dark evenings often serve to remind you that you still haven’t got around to fixing that outdoor floodlight yet!
There are lots of different types of floodlight available depending on what you want them to do. The traditional tungsten halogen security light is great if you want instant, very intense, bright light. What they aren’t so brilliant at is saving energy as they tend to be at least 500 watts. However if it isn’t going to be on very much overnight then that might not be a problem for you. They are a cheap and effective option if you want to scare away potential thieves or just light the way for a few minutes. You can have them with or without a PIR, the PIR is a presence sensor that will switch the light on only if it senses a heat source nearby (such as a human or smaller animal). If you want the light to be on all night (and we wouldn’t recommend this for the tungsten halogen security light due to the high wattage) then you don’t need the PIR
The new kid on the block which is really impressing us is the LED security light. These have really improved in the last year or so and are what we would recommend for the vast majority of people. Their major drawback is the price! They are much more efficient than the filament floodlights by a huge margin – for example the 500 watt tungsten halogen can be replaced by a 30 watt led! They can be used with a PIR and they should last for 50,000 hours which is fifty times the life of your tungsten halogen bulb! They really are a good investment to make if you don’t mind the higher initial cost as they will pay for themselves in the long run, plus you wont be climbing a ladder regularly to change a blown bulb!
The big brother of the security light are the metal halide, son, sox and mercury floodlights. Sox lamps used to be used everywhere for road lighting but they are now pretty obsolete. The most common is the metal halide floodlight. These are used to light things like stadiums and horse arenas and anywhere where you have a large area that needs a lot of bright white light. They cant be used with a PIR as they don’t like to be switched on and off frequently.
Sodium or Son lights are great for lighting an area so you can see to walk but if you don’t want it bright. Sodium is an orange light and wont disturb the wildlife like a harsh white light will. Both Metal Halide and Son lights are quite efficient (not quite as good as LED) and have a long life so again they are a good alternative to LED
Time to think about lighting festoons
Its beginning to look a lot like Christmas (I feel a song coming on there…) and lots of people like to make the outside of their house look as pretty as the inside. An obvious way to do this is to use a light festoon!
We did have a big load of festoons but since our supplier stopped making them it has dwindled rather – but that is good news for you because we have dropped the price on the ones we have left so you can grab a bargain!
Click here to go and see our range of festoons
The light rope kits come with bulbs so that is all you need to get lit up and pretty but the festoon light ropes don’t come with any so you can choose your own.
They can take golfball or ordinary GLS bulb shape bulbs but the maximum wattage you can use is 25 watts. Of course you can go super modern and use Golf Ball LEDs! They are amazing as they use only a tiny wattage, last ages but look brilliant – in fact if you are sad like us and actually notice these things you will see that most councils are using them now in preference to filament bulbs.
We also have big stocks of coloured bulbs if you are looking for them
Finally, if you are ever confused or worried about lighting or what bulbs to use we are always happy to offer advice – there are no stupid questions! So please call or email us if you have a question
Replacing fluorescent with LED
So you sensibly replaced all your filament bulbs with fluorescent ones and now you are being told (by people like me… oops) that you should change to LED. You’d be forgiven for being a tiny bit miffed about that!
Our advice is to replace with LED as the fluorescent lamps fail, the only downside to this is you will get a bit of mismatching for a while but to be honest you will get a similar thing when replacing a new fluorescent bulb and it is right next to an old one as fluorescent bulbs do lose a bit of colour over time (they become more yellowy)
If you group the new LED bulbs together, if you are replacing spotlights for example then you can lessen the impact. You can also try and match the colour temperature as closely as possible. For example if your fluorescent spotlight has 2700K written on it then you want to look for an LED downlight with the same number or at the very least one that says warm white on it. (for a more thorough discussion of light colour temperature have a look at our earlier blog about the different types of white light
Appliance lamp LEDs now available
Just when you thought there could be no more additions to the LED arsenal along comes another!
Most if not all of us have little bulbs in our Fridge and cooker hoods that we give no thought to until they pop and it all goes dark. The fridge lamp in particular is essential for midnight snacking! They are usually only 10 to 25 watts so not too bad on the old electricity meter but these replacement bulbs are only 1.5 and 2 watts. That’s not the best thing about them though!
The cooker hood lamp in particular can be a real pain for failing early, this is because it is often situated near the extractor fan so is subjected to an amount of vibration. Filament lamps don’t like vibrations at all so they tend to fail prematurely because of it. LED lamps are solid state and they don’t mind the vibrations at all so you shouldn’t have to replace them for years and years.
The one thing LEDs will not be able to replace is the oven lamp as there would be a slight issue with melting! So please don’t try using an LED in your oven…. Use a proper Oven Lamp that is tough enough for the job
Switching to LED couldn’t be simpler, just take out the old incandescent bulb and replace with a shiny new LED one, congratulations you have just saved yourself time and money!
Find the complete Wonderful World of Appliance Lamps on our website
If you have any questions (about light bulbs though we are quite good on sport) please get in touch with us
Old school lamps are still around
You will hear me constantly go on about how good LEDs and fluorescent low energy bulbs are (because they are good and you should definitely use them!) but there is still a demand and indeed a need for filament bulbs
Despite new legislation we can still supply the vast majority of old style filament lamps so if we don’t list what you are looking for please do give us a call or drop us and email and we will try and find it for you. There are old stocks lurking in our and our suppliers warehouses so you may still be able to have that oddly shaped incandescent bulb you love after all.
Of course you should really be changing to LED lamps as they are fantastic things and will save you money but who am I to tell you to do that!
If you like really old school lamps there is the increasingly popular Antique squirrel cage type lamp range that will whisk you back in time to when bulbs had whopping great filaments that looked pretty…
In the end it is up to you what you light your home or business with but please don’t be put off by new lighting technology, it really does have the capacity to reduce the amount of energy we use with little to no compromise.
If your last experience of a low energy bulb was one of the free ones the power companies gave a away a few years ago then I can assure you things have moved on quite a way since then!