"Dave W" wrote in message
...

"David" wrote in message
...
Y'know, when I was little, we had 60w bayonets and that was it, unless you
decided to go mad and get a 100w bayonet. Now I actually need to have a
written bulb inventory with which
cap/type/wattage/clear/pearl/candle/halogen/cfl/led etc for each room.
Jesus.

Anyway, I have just put up a new six-bulb ceiling lamp on the landing
(reasons of design - I am just the labourer). It has six ses halogen
clear candle 18w bulbs. That's 108w or 138w equivalent. It's a bit too
bright. Does anyone know if I can get an ses clear candle filament (pref
halogen) bulb with a lower wattage than 18w? I don't want to go down the
LED filament route at this point as I'm not rich enough.

In this case Google is not my friend, it is a Moroccan street market
trader who ignores what I say and tries to sell me what it has. "Less than
18w? Yes my friend, I have! Look! Yes, is 42w. 42w is better! Look it is
good bulb and very cheap!"

All advice welcome. Even the advice to travel back in time and get a lamp
with fewer than six bulbs...
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I wonder if a 12V 5W car bulb could be put in series with the lot,
hopefully dropping less than a safe 13V to run the 6 bulbs by that much
less? The bulb could be mounted to look like it's part of the fixture.

Unlikely to ever look the same tho.

Another idea would be to use a mains to 12V transformer (rated 6W or
more), with its secondary connected in antiphase to the primary live, and
your lamps connected between the free ends of primary and secondary so
that they get 12V less than full mains.