Hi all

Have I made a mistake in my choice of light fitting?

I wanted near instant fairly bright light for the hallway, so bought a
fitting with 4 halogen spots.
It has the usual 1/2in deep circular termination cover tight to the ceiling,
then a shaped rod along which the spots are mounted.
This thing goes through bulbs about one every 6 months.
Are halogens susceptible to vibration (i.e. foot fall on the landing above)?

If so what type/style of fitting would be more appropriate in this
application?

Thanks

Phil

On 04/10/2011 15:00, TheScullster wrote:
Hi all

Have I made a mistake in my choice of light fitting?

I wanted near instant fairly bright light for the hallway, so bought a
fitting with 4 halogen spots.
It has the usual 1/2in deep circular termination cover tight to the ceiling,
then a shaped rod along which the spots are mounted.
This thing goes through bulbs about one every 6 months.
Are halogens susceptible to vibration (i.e. foot fall on the landing above)?

If so what type/style of fitting would be more appropriate in this
application?

Thanks

Phil


I had that problem until I stopped using Ring bulbs. YMMV.

On 04/10/2011 15:00, TheScullster wrote:
Hi all

Have I made a mistake in my choice of light fitting?

I wanted near instant fairly bright light for the hallway, so bought a
fitting with 4 halogen spots.
It has the usual 1/2in deep circular termination cover tight to the ceiling,
then a shaped rod along which the spots are mounted.
This thing goes through bulbs about one every 6 months.

Are halogens susceptible to vibration (i.e. foot fall on the landing above)?

The mains ones, yes very much so. Having said that, choice of bulbs can
make a big difference - finding a supplier of quality bulbs that looks
after them prior to delivery also helps.

If so what type/style of fitting would be more appropriate in this
application?

If you are using halogen, then low voltage are preferable in just about
every way. The bulbs last much longer, the light is better, and they are
far less vulnerable to vibration:

http://wiki.diyfaq.org.uk/index.php?...a ins_Halogen

Spots can give limited area coverage, but that is probably not a problem
in a hallway.


--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

"John Rumm" wrote in message
o.uk...
On 04/10/2011 15:00, TheScullster wrote:
Hi all

Have I made a mistake in my choice of light fitting?

I wanted near instant fairly bright light for the hallway, so bought a
fitting with 4 halogen spots.
It has the usual 1/2in deep circular termination cover tight to the
ceiling,
then a shaped rod along which the spots are mounted.
This thing goes through bulbs about one every 6 months.

Are halogens susceptible to vibration (i.e. foot fall on the landing
above)?

The mains ones, yes very much so. Having said that, choice of bulbs can
make a big difference - finding a supplier of quality bulbs that looks
after them prior to delivery also helps.

If so what type/style of fitting would be more appropriate in this
application?

If you are using halogen, then low voltage are preferable in just about
every way. The bulbs last much longer, the light is better, and they are
far less vulnerable to vibration:

http://wiki.diyfaq.org.uk/index.php?...a ins_Halogen

Spots can give limited area coverage, but that is probably not a problem
in a hallway.


--
Cheers,

John.

Thanks guys

I *think* I bought the fitting from Hull Lighting.
They have a good range and tend to actually know something about light
fittings, regs, low energy stuff etc.
The replacement bulbs have been B&Q sourced from memory, so maybe I need to
be more selective on sourcing spares!

Phil

On Oct 4, 3:00*pm, "TheScullster" wrote:
Hi all

Have I made a mistake in my choice of light fitting?

I wanted near instant fairly bright light for the hallway, so bought a
fitting with 4 halogen spots.
It has the usual 1/2in deep circular termination cover tight to the ceiling,
then a shaped rod along which the spots are mounted.
This thing goes through bulbs about one every 6 months.
Are halogens susceptible to vibration (i.e. foot fall on the landing above)?

If so what type/style of fitting would be more appropriate in this
application?

Thanks

Phil

Check your voltage with a quality instrument. You may find it's way
over the top. Mine was. (I was going up to 258 volts sometimes.)
This will bugger up incandescent lamps of all descriptions but esp.
halogen ones.

On Oct 4, 3:00*pm, "TheScullster" wrote:
Hi all

Have I made a mistake in my choice of light fitting?

I wanted near instant fairly bright light for the hallway, so bought a
fitting with 4 halogen spots.
It has the usual 1/2in deep circular termination cover tight to the ceiling,
then a shaped rod along which the spots are mounted.
This thing goes through bulbs about one every 6 months.
Are halogens susceptible to vibration (i.e. foot fall on the landing above)?

If so what type/style of fitting would be more appropriate in this
application?

Thanks

Phil

If its mains halogen, then yes, imho you got the wrong fitting. If its
low voltage halogen, they should behave better.

If bulb life is 1500hrs, and there are 4 of them, you'd expect a
failure (ave) once per 375hrs. 375hrs/6months = 2hrs a day. So if you
run it 2 hrs a day, its working exactly as it should.


NT

On 04/10/2011 19:15, NT wrote:
On Oct 4, 3:00 pm, wrote:
Hi all

Have I made a mistake in my choice of light fitting?

I wanted near instant fairly bright light for the hallway, so bought a
fitting with 4 halogen spots.
It has the usual 1/2in deep circular termination cover tight to the ceiling,
then a shaped rod along which the spots are mounted.
This thing goes through bulbs about one every 6 months.
Are halogens susceptible to vibration (i.e. foot fall on the landing above)?

If so what type/style of fitting would be more appropriate in this
application?

Thanks

Phil

If its mains halogen, then yes, imho you got the wrong fitting. If its
low voltage halogen, they should behave better.

If bulb life is 1500hrs, and there are 4 of them, you'd expect a
failure (ave) once per 375hrs. 375hrs/6months = 2hrs a day. So if you
run it 2 hrs a day, its working exactly as it should.

These days bulb life expectancy tends to be pretty consistent (assuming
one does not fail prematurely). With GLS bulbs its not uncommon to have
all the bulbs fail within a few days of each other if replaced at the
same time. Hence you may get a failure every 375 statistically - but in
reality you should get much longer spells without failure. Mains
halogens are not as consistent.


--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

On 04/10/2011 15:00, TheScullster wrote:
Hi all

Have I made a mistake in my choice of light fitting?

I wanted near instant fairly bright light for the hallway, so bought a
fitting with 4 halogen spots.
It has the usual 1/2in deep circular termination cover tight to the ceiling,
then a shaped rod along which the spots are mounted.
This thing goes through bulbs about one every 6 months.
Are halogens susceptible to vibration (i.e. foot fall on the landing above)?

If so what type/style of fitting would be more appropriate in this
application?

Thanks

Phil



As others have said, low voltage halogens are far better than mains -
but you would then have to swap the fitting for one incorporating a
transformer.

The alternative is to replace the bulbs with LED-based ones. You can get
mains-powered LED bulbs with GU10-type fitting which should be a
straight swap, and will save you lots of electricity. I have a fitting
in my hallway which uses 3 x GU10 spots and, when one of the 50w bulbs
failed, I replaced it with a (6w?) LED bulb from Lidl - and it's hard to
see any difference in the brightness between that and the other two.
--
Cheers,
Roger
____________
Please reply to Newsgroup. Whilst email address is valid, it is seldom
checked.

"Roger Mills" wrote in message
...
On 04/10/2011 15:00, TheScullster wrote:
Hi all

Have I made a mistake in my choice of light fitting?

I wanted near instant fairly bright light for the hallway, so bought a
fitting with 4 halogen spots.
It has the usual 1/2in deep circular termination cover tight to the
ceiling,
then a shaped rod along which the spots are mounted.
This thing goes through bulbs about one every 6 months.
Are halogens susceptible to vibration (i.e. foot fall on the landing
above)?

If so what type/style of fitting would be more appropriate in this
application?

Thanks

Phil



As others have said, low voltage halogens are far better than mains - but
you would then have to swap the fitting for one incorporating a
transformer.

The alternative is to replace the bulbs with LED-based ones. You can get
mains-powered LED bulbs with GU10-type fitting which should be a straight
swap, and will save you lots of electricity. I have a fitting in my
hallway which uses 3 x GU10 spots and, when one of the 50w bulbs failed, I
replaced it with a (6w?) LED bulb from Lidl - and it's hard to see any
difference in the brightness between that and the other two.
--
Cheers,
Roger
____________
Please reply to Newsgroup. Whilst email address is valid, it is seldom
checked.

Thanks Roger

That sounds like a plan

Phil

On 05/10/2011 08:47, TheScullster wrote:
"Roger wrote in message
...
On 04/10/2011 15:00, TheScullster wrote:
Hi all

Have I made a mistake in my choice of light fitting?

I wanted near instant fairly bright light for the hallway, so bought a
fitting with 4 halogen spots.
It has the usual 1/2in deep circular termination cover tight to the
ceiling,
then a shaped rod along which the spots are mounted.
This thing goes through bulbs about one every 6 months.
Are halogens susceptible to vibration (i.e. foot fall on the landing
above)?

If so what type/style of fitting would be more appropriate in this
application?

Thanks

Phil



As others have said, low voltage halogens are far better than mains - but
you would then have to swap the fitting for one incorporating a
transformer.

The alternative is to replace the bulbs with LED-based ones. You can get
mains-powered LED bulbs with GU10-type fitting which should be a straight
swap, and will save you lots of electricity. I have a fitting in my
hallway which uses 3 x GU10 spots and, when one of the 50w bulbs failed, I
replaced it with a (6w?) LED bulb from Lidl - and it's hard to see any
difference in the brightness between that and the other two.
--


Thanks Roger

That sounds like a plan

Phil


I should perhaps have pointed out that LED bulbs are not cheap. I think
that when Lidl have them they're about £6 each - and some more exotic
brands are dearer still.
--
Cheers,
Roger
____________
Please reply to Newsgroup. Whilst email address is valid, it is seldom
checked.

Roger Mills wrote:
On 05/10/2011 08:47, TheScullster wrote:
"Roger wrote in message
...
On 04/10/2011 15:00, TheScullster wrote:
Hi all

Have I made a mistake in my choice of light fitting?

I wanted near instant fairly bright light for the hallway, so
bought a fitting with 4 halogen spots.
It has the usual 1/2in deep circular termination cover tight to the
ceiling,
then a shaped rod along which the spots are mounted.
This thing goes through bulbs about one every 6 months.
Are halogens susceptible to vibration (i.e. foot fall on the
landing above)?

If so what type/style of fitting would be more appropriate in this
application?

Thanks

Phil



As others have said, low voltage halogens are far better than mains
- but you would then have to swap the fitting for one incorporating
a transformer.

The alternative is to replace the bulbs with LED-based ones. You
can get mains-powered LED bulbs with GU10-type fitting which should
be a straight swap, and will save you lots of electricity. I have a
fitting in my hallway which uses 3 x GU10 spots and, when one of
the 50w bulbs failed, I replaced it with a (6w?) LED bulb from Lidl
- and it's hard to see any difference in the brightness between
that and the other two. --


Thanks Roger

That sounds like a plan

Phil


I should perhaps have pointed out that LED bulbs are not cheap. I
think that when Lidl have them they're about £6 each - and some more
exotic brands are dearer still.

Just make sure that you keep the receipt.

If they work they work, but they do have a very high early failure rate.


--
Adam