A halogen lamp also uses a tungsten filament, but it is
encased inside a much smaller quartz envelope. Because the
envelope is so close to the filament, it would melt if it
were made from glass. The gas inside the envelope is also
different -- it consists of a gas from the halogen group.
These gases have a very interesting property: They combine
with tungsten vapor! If the temperature is high enough, the
halogen gas will combine with tungsten atoms as they
evaporate and redeposit them on the filament. This recycling
process lets the filament last a lot longer. In addition, it
is now possible to run the filament hotter, meaning you get
more light per unit of energy. You still get a lot of heat,
though; and because the quartz envelope is so close to the
filament, it is EXTREMELY hot compared to a normal light
bulb.



"Joseph Meehan" wrote in
message .. .
glen wrote:
Yeah you were right. I went back and got a dimmer for
Incandescent and
Halogen. I didn't even notice the $10 dimmer I had
bought was only for
incandescents. The new $30 dimmer is marked "halogen" so
I it worked.
Yeah I bought the cheapest dimmer, cuz I thought the
other ones were
just more features, like night lights and stuff, so I
just bought the
least expensive one.

It worked immediately once I installed the new dimmer.

thanks for everyone's advice.

"Halogen" are a type of Incandescent lamp. Some are
low voltage and
maybe they marked it halogen in an attempt to convey the
idea they will work
with low voltage lamps, who knows. However I suspect the
$10. job you got
was just cheap and died an early death. Many cheap ones
do.

The price differences are a combination of features,
quality and name.
GE in particular likes to market products just a cheap as
the no-name junk
and put their name one it and charge extra.

--
Joseph E. Meehan

26 + 6 = 1 It's Irish Math