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UK diy (uk.d-i-y) For the discussion of all topics related to diy (do-it-yourself) in the UK. All levels of experience and proficency are welcome to join in to ask questions or offer solutions. |
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#1
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(S)ES lamps
Hi,
Just a little rant! Why do all table lamps now seem to come with SES or ES fittings? Don't the shops realise we use BC fittings here in the UK? I'm sure until a few years ago everything was BC and screw types were exotic and strange things. Now (in my experience at least, YMMV, etc) it seems impossible to find a bathroom light that does not have an ES fitting and many of the outdoor lamps seem to be ES too. Is it a ploy to make us buy three times as many light bulbs? I seem to need to keep BC bulbs for ceiling lights, SES bulbs for table lamps, and ES the bathroom and outdoor lights. TIA |
#2
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(S)ES lamps
Fred :
Just a little rant! Why do all table lamps now seem to come with SES or ES fittings? Don't the shops realise we use BC fittings here in the UK? I'm sure until a few years ago everything was BC and screw types were exotic and strange things. Now (in my experience at least, YMMV, etc) it seems impossible to find a bathroom light that does not have an ES fitting and many of the outdoor lamps seem to be ES too. Is it a ploy to make us buy three times as many light bulbs? I seem to need to keep BC bulbs for ceiling lights, SES bulbs for table lamps, and ES the bathroom and outdoor lights. For ES, I fit an adapter. Simple. The few SES I have are lower power bulbs than the ES/BC ones so there's no overlap. -- Mike Barnes |
#3
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(S)ES lamps
On Sat, 10 Mar 2012 08:51:06 -0000, Fred
wrote: Hi, Just a little rant! Why do all table lamps now seem to come with SES or ES fittings? Don't the shops realise we use BC fittings here in the UK? I'm sure until a few years ago everything was BC and screw types were exotic and strange things. Now (in my experience at least, YMMV, etc) it seems impossible to find a bathroom light that does not have an ES fitting and many of the outdoor lamps seem to be ES too. Is it a ploy to make us buy three times as many light bulbs? I seem to need to keep BC bulbs for ceiling lights, SES bulbs for table lamps, and ES the bathroom and outdoor lights. TIA Probably economics of scale so they can sell them across more countries with one fitting. I remember cheap bulkhead lights being sold with screw fittings a very long time ago. Not sure of safety of changing bulbs in permanently wired screw lights because of the possible risk of the outer being live because the neutral is switched. I see that convertors are available both ways between BC and ES. If you convert a BC socket to take an ES bulb there is a 50% chance of the outer being live when turned on. Seems slightly risky to me. |
#4
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(S)ES lamps
In article ,
Fred writes: Hi, Just a little rant! Why do all table lamps now seem to come with SES or ES fittings? Don't the shops realise we use BC fittings here in the UK? Shops realised that most people won't pay for things made in the UK, so you are stuck with what's made elsewhere in the world. I'm sure until a few years ago everything was BC and screw types were exotic and strange things. Now (in my experience at least, YMMV, etc) it seems impossible to find a bathroom light that does not have an ES fitting and many of the outdoor lamps seem to be ES too. My parent's house is pretty much all BC, because their lights are quite old and were good quality british ones in their day (excellent quality compared with what you can buy today). I bought them an outside light recently which had an ES holder, which I changed for a BC so they don't need another set of spares. OTOH, my brother's house is virtually all IKEA lighting, so he only uses ES/SES. I tend to make my own lights, and don't tend to use lamps which go in BC or ES holders, so I only have a very small number of each type of these in the house. Is it a ploy to make us buy three times as many light bulbs? I seem to No. It's a side effect we get by wanting to buy cheap, and having lost the industry which manufactured BC lights. need to keep BC bulbs for ceiling lights, SES bulbs for table lamps, and ES the bathroom and outdoor lights. -- Andrew Gabriel [email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup] |
#6
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(S)ES lamps
Andrew Gabriel wrote:
In article , Fred writes: Hi, Just a little rant! Why do all table lamps now seem to come with SES or ES fittings? Don't the shops realise we use BC fittings here in the UK? Shops realised that most people won't pay for things made in the UK, so you are stuck with what's made elsewhere in the world. I'm sure until a few years ago everything was BC and screw types were exotic and strange things. Now (in my experience at least, YMMV, etc) it seems impossible to find a bathroom light that does not have an ES fitting and many of the outdoor lamps seem to be ES too. My parent's house is pretty much all BC, because their lights are quite old and were good quality british ones in their day (excellent quality compared with what you can buy today). I bought them an outside light recently which had an ES holder, which I changed for a BC so they don't need another set of spares. OTOH, my brother's house is virtually all IKEA lighting, so he only uses ES/SES. I tend to make my own lights, and don't tend to use lamps which go in BC or ES holders, so I only have a very small number of each type of these in the house. Is it a ploy to make us buy three times as many light bulbs? I seem to No. It's a side effect we get by wanting to buy cheap, and having lost the industry which manufactured BC lights. need to keep BC bulbs for ceiling lights, SES bulbs for table lamps, and ES the bathroom and outdoor lights. My 30' long kitchen+office was fitted with recessed ES ceiling light fittings. It was only 18 months ago I discovered some decent lamps -I Philips Master 33W E27 WW 827. 'm hoping their life will prove as good as the illumination they provide - which is excellent. |
#7
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(S)ES lamps
On Sat, 10 Mar 2012 10:34:27 -0000
"Hugh - Was Invisible" wrote: Not sure of safety of changing bulbs in permanently wired screw lights because of the possible risk of the outer being live because the neutral is switched. All the recent ES lampholders I've seen have a non conducting thread with a small brass side contact near the bottom of the thread . By the time the cap becomes live it should be screwed in too far for your fingers to reach it. -- Mike Clarke |
#8
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(S)ES lamps
On Sat, 10 Mar 2012 12:00:33 -0000, Mike Clarke
wrote: On Sat, 10 Mar 2012 10:34:27 -0000 "Hugh - Was Invisible" wrote: Not sure of safety of changing bulbs in permanently wired screw lights because of the possible risk of the outer being live because the neutral is switched. All the recent ES lampholders I've seen have a non conducting thread with a small brass side contact near the bottom of the thread . By the time the cap becomes live it should be screwed in too far for your fingers to reach it. Thanks. Sounds a lot safer than the old ones I've met |
#9
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(S)ES lamps
On Sat, 10 Mar 2012 10:28:09 +0000, Mike Barnes
wrote: For ES, I fit an adapter. Simple. Thanks. The last time I saw these adaptors, you could only get BC to ES; the ES to BC had been discontinued. At that time I was looking at TLC and CPC. However, I have just looked and TLC lists both again: http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Main_Ind...ors/index.html Curiously the ES to BC, which is probably the more useful, costs twice the BC to ES one! That doesn't help with SES ones. However on another reply, it was mentioned touching the side of the screw and getting a shock, so I suppose the SES make that more difficult. |
#10
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(S)ES lamps
On Sat, 10 Mar 2012 10:34:27 -0000, "Hugh - Was Invisible"
wrote: I see that convertors are available both ways between BC and ES. I forgot to say, one possible disadvantage of an adaptor is that it will "lift" the bulb, so may not be suitable where space is limited or if it would make the bulb stick out of the lamp shade. |
#11
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(S)ES lamps
On Sat, 10 Mar 2012 11:38:01 -0000, "Brian Gaff"
wrote: What happened to those clever bc lights with three pins slightly offset so the connections could only go in one way around. Rad bulbs for fire effects tended to use them. Hi. I have seen those on car bulbs but never domestic ones. What was the advantage of that? Thanks. |
#12
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(S)ES lamps
On Sat, 10 Mar 2012 12:00:33 +0000, Mike Clarke
wrote: All the recent ES lampholders I've seen have a non conducting thread with a small brass side contact near the bottom of the thread . By the time the cap becomes live it should be screwed in too far for your fingers to reach it. Is that done for safety or is it to save brass and make them cheaper to produce I wonder? |
#13
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(S)ES lamps
I went into B&Q a while back looking for bulbs to go into a batten
holder I was about to fit and the only ones they had were ES. Fair enough, I thought, I'll get an ES batten holder. 'Oh no - we don't do them' was the response. Hmm....so you can get one kind of bulb and another kind of fitting. Being paranoid, of course, I'll put it down to a master plan to make everyone buy fittings they don't need to match the the bulbs available. Of course, the real answer is probably not to go to B&Q.....for anything (!) |
#14
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(S)ES lamps
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#15
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(S)ES lamps
On 10/03/2012 11:38, Brian Gaff wrote:
What happened to those clever bc lights with three pins slightly offset so the connections could only go in one way around. Rad bulbs for fire effects tended to use them. Brian MEM Eaton BC3? There were lots of unhappy people especially those in social housing who didn't take kindly to the cost of the replacement CFLs they were 'forced' to use. Anyone else would have just swapped the pendant holder for a normal one and used whatever lamp they liked. |
#16
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(S)ES lamps
On Mar 10, 10:35*am, (Andrew Gabriel)
wrote: I tend to make my own lights, and don't tend to use lamps which go care to tell us more? piccies? NT |
#17
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(S)ES lamps
GMM wrote
I went into B&Q a while back looking for bulbs to go into a batten holder I was about to fit and the only ones they had were ES. Fair enough, I thought, I'll get an ES batten holder. 'Oh no - we don't do them' was the response. Hmm....so you can get one kind of bulb and another kind of fitting. Being paranoid, of course, I'll put it down to a master plan to make everyone buy fittings they don't need to match the the bulbs available. Of course, the real answer is probably not to go to B&Q.....for anything (!) Its not just B&Q, you'll find a lot less choice with ES batten holders on ebay from china too. |
#18
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(S)ES lamps
On Sat, 10 Mar 2012 10:35:26 +0000 (UTC) Andrew Gabriel wrote :
Just a little rant! Why do all table lamps now seem to come with SES or ES fittings? Don't the shops realise we use BC fittings here in the UK? Shops realised that most people won't pay for things made in the UK, so you are stuck with what's made elsewhere in the world. Yes, save that they are making UK-specific gear because of the requirement for a factory-fitted plug. But that's non-optional, whilst substituting a BC holder would be. -- Tony Bryer, Greentram: 'Software to build on', Melbourne, Australia www.greentram.com |
#19
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(S)ES lamps
In message , Fred
writes On Sat, 10 Mar 2012 10:35:26 +0000 (UTC), (Andrew Gabriel) wrote: Shops realised that most people won't pay for things made in the UK, so you are stuck with what's made elsewhere in the world. I appreciate that it is better for the manufacturers to have one fitting to sell to all of the world, rather than different fittings for different countries, but don't they do that for plugs, so why not for light fittings? Well, they have to sell it with different plug, they don't for the different light fittings. -- Chris French |
#20
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(S)ES lamps
In message
, GMM writes I went into B&Q a while back looking for bulbs to go into a batten holder I was about to fit and the only ones they had were ES. Fair enough, I thought, I'll get an ES batten holder. 'Oh no - we don't do them' was the response. Hmm....so you can get one kind of bulb and another kind of fitting. Being paranoid, of course, I'll put it down to a master plan to make everyone buy fittings they don't need to match the the bulbs available. Of course, the real answer is probably not to go to B&Q.....for anything (!) Were they just out of stock? Never had any problem finding BC lamps for that sort of thing. -- Chris French |
#21
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(S)ES lamps
Andrew Gabriel wrote:
OTOH, my brother's house is virtually all IKEA lighting, so he only uses ES/SES. Much like that here, and I have to say that I find them a great improvement on BC. I've never had a holder fail, a bulb stuck, nor a shade ring cross-threaded. Chris -- Chris J Dixon Nottingham UK Have dancing shoes, will ceilidh. |
#22
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(S)ES lamps
Chris J Dixon wrote
Andrew Gabriel wrote OTOH, my brother's house is virtually all IKEA lighting, so he only uses ES/SES. Much like that here, Me too. and I have to say that I find them a great improvement on BC. Me too. I've never had a holder fail, a bulb stuck, Me too. nor a shade ring cross-threaded. Dont use those, I mostly have PAR38s in them. |
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