People wrote:
all the BC versions were sold out so I got some ES versions. Then I
realised the adapters I got off ebay are all the other way round.
You can get adaptors, but they're not really legal or altogether safe. It's 50/50 whether the outer screw thread is live or not, and I wouldn't want to put 100w in one.
The big question. Are ES bulbs becoming more common than BC ?
no
Any reason not to change my fittings ?
BC are safer, more reliable and more common
My guess would be that, as lighting becomes increasingly globalised, bayonet
is going to occupy more of a backwater and there will be a shift towards ES
in the UK.
It's been globalised for many decades. That hasn't happened.
(is there
any relevant regulations relating to BC v ES?).
not
afaik
Presumably ES pendant lampholders are common on the Continent? In which
case, is it contrary to wiring regs to import and fit them?
it depends if they meet our legal requirements. From what I saw of foreign electrics years ago, very little did. That might have changed since.
(One advantage of ES is you can be sure of polarity,
which has no effect on lightbulbs. In fact ES has a downside, namely that if polarity isn't right you've got an exposed live outer screw thread. The outer base of BC lamps is insulated.
Going back to that type of plug in the UK would be a retrograde step -
and how. We are fairly unique in having only the one plug which covers
pretty well all domestic requirements. We used to have multiple standards
of plugs. Thank gawd those days have gone.
Really? Are the European and US plugs not rated up to 13 A (or similar)? Are
IIRC euro are 16A, US 10A 110v = 1.1kW.
there heavier-duty plugs/sockets in those countries for big appliances like
electric fires, kettles, tumble driers etc.
In US, those run on 220v. I think TDs tend to be 5kW.
Are US and European plugs capable of having a fuse fitted in them,
not as is. Redesigning them to would leave lots of unfused plugs about
or do
their appliances always blow the circuit (eg downstairs ring main) fuse in
the event of an appliance fault?
yes
I wonder whether RCDs and MCBs will ever
become so cheap that they are fitted to each appliance plug so a faulty
appliance disrupts only that appliance rather than taking out the whole
house.
For now fuses are cheap & good enough. In the distant future I expect we'll see little load characterisation computers that will pick up on a whole range of abnormalities.
no. Do 240V and 120V bulbs have identical-sized screw threads,
no
or are they
deliberately incompatible sizes to avoid putting a 120V bulb in a 240V
fitting?
yes - but it doesn't work. You can still put a 120v in the slightly bigger 240v socket. Edison screw standards are as ancient as the name suggests.
I wish someone would outlaw light fittings which expose the bare bulb - the
Personally I'm tired of all the outlawing of perfectly good things. Can't we have some basic freedoms back?
glare from a frosted bulb is bad enough but the glare from the cheapo clear
bulbs, where you can see the filament, is even worse.
so don't buy them.
Agreed. However there is market pressure for 'one global SKU'.
But no satisfactory solution to that minor issue
I suggest that, if ES in table lamps isn't prohibited by code, globalised
supply will mean it'll become the de-facto standard.
it hasn't though. We were buying empire made electrics half a century ago.
We do not. We have one type of plug (shavers and mantel-clocks apart)
which must be used for all plug-in domestic purposes, and we generally
have too few wall-sockets. The 13A plug is too big for all ordinary
purposes except for heaters and domestic appliances.
Yes. We ought to have a 2 pin version of it for moulded plugs only. Then you can fit 2 or 3 where one 3 pin goes now. And full compatibility is retained.
For new-build, we should have another type of ring main, rated for half of
the current, and with plentiful 230V AC wall sockets similar to IEC C13/
C14 (cf. kettle and computer monitor leads). The plugs, when shrouded by
resilient plastic, are strong enough for being trodden on. They would, of
course, be fused.
Similar to? Not yet another standard! Just use IEC C13s. They need fusing at 10A. An easy way to achieve this is simply to make sockets with BS1362s and IEC C13s on. Or far better use 2 pin 13A plugs.
We should also have a smaller and even more plentiful type of socket,
different from any in current use for any different purpose, supplying say
12V 1A (AC xor DC), for small electronic equipment.
That should be done by way of a pan-European Standard.
But it will not happen in our time.
Actually it is. USB is now shifting from 5v only to 5-24v at at least 2A.
Do 240V and 120V bulbs have identical-sized screw threads, or are
snip
No idea, but I would guess from the name ("Edison") that they are identical.
E26 in US, E27 here
NT