Of concern to many people; particularly those who haven't been brainwashed by the trendy eco nazis, is that incandescent lamps which have been such an important part of our civilisation are being banned by various governments. Because many people prefer incandescent lamps to other light sources, they have continued to be popular, even though CFL's are a huge proportion of the lighting market.  Here, we see the population deciding what kind of light bulbs are best for their use. But because what the population wants is not what the government, pressured by lobby groups, wants, incandescent lamps are now a restricted import. Despite the fact that the solar energy arriving on the face of the earth is far greater than any man made heat, we are made to feel guilty about using incandescent bulbs (but not about plasma displays or air conditioners). See here for more of my political comments on the subject.
In this article I describe methods to continue the use of incandescent lamps with what is still available at the time of writing (July 2009).

1. Problems with CFL's (Compact Fluorescent Lamps).

• Ugliness - no more need to be said here.
• Light quality is not the same as incandescent; in fact I find it nauseating to look at; especially the bright "daylight" types with a colour temperature of around 5000-6000K.
• Physical dimensions. Not the same as incandescent bulbs. This can be a problem where the light fitting relies on the shape and size of the envelope.
• Unable to be used in hot environments (e.g. enclosed light fittings) without shortening their life. The electrolytic capacitors dry out and other parts overheat.
• Unable to be used in damp environments. Moisture condensing on the PCB causes leakage and if the PCB doesn't carbonise first, the leakage current will cause a chain reaction of blown fragile semiconductors.
• Dim and slow startup in cold environments. Full brilliance is obtained after a few minutes operation. Not convenient where the lamp is only needed for a few seconds at a time.
• Cannot be rapidly turned on and off. No more flashing lights outside the pizza shop.
• Radio Frequency Interference. The inverter circuitry radiates harmonics into the Medium Wave band. Some lamps are worse than others in this regard. Of course, there are plans to shut down Medium Wave AM transmitters so that fixes that.
• Distortion of the mains supply. This is a serious problem, and is getting worse. Like other switchmode supplies, CFL's rectify and filter the mains supply thus providing 340V DC to run the high frequency inverter. Towards the peak of the mains voltage cycle is where the filter capacitor charges and draws current. As a result, the mains voltage is no longer sinusoidal. The resulting harmonics also cause losses in the transmission system.
• The lamps are not dimmable, unless you want to pay for a very expensive and not easily obtainable one.
• Running the lamps at reduced voltage destroys them. Unlike a filament lamp which is happy with 240V RMS (or less)  of any shaped waveform, the CFL needs a 240V sine wave to provide the 340V peak. If this is reduced, the switching transistors inside the lamp do not saturate due to reduced drive. Thus they overheat. This means CFL's shouldn't be run off a square wave inverter with only 240V peak output.
• Where a two wire sensor, touch switch etc., is used to switch the lamp, insufficient current  flows to power the sensor.
• Phantom flashing because of leakage current. The capacitance in the wiring between the switch on the wall and socket on the ceiling is often enough to cause the lamp's filter capacitor to slowly charge allowing the lamp to function as a relaxation oscillator. This could easily be fixed but is one of the common stories I hear about.
• Unable to deal with voltage spikes. Instant death to the fragile semiconductors is what happens if the mains voltage should be momentarily exceeded, whereas the incandescent carries on so long as the spike didn't have time to overheat the filament. Semiconductors die faster than a filament heats up.
• The waste of materials and electronic components. The nasty chemicals do not exist with incandescent bulbs.
• Ultra Violet light output. Mercury vapour when ionised such as in a fluorescent tube radiates UV light. Most is absorbed by the phosphor and glass, but not all. Have you noticed that light coloured plastic objects in a room lit by fluorescent light tend to become discoloured? For example, a white telephone becomes a sickly yellow colour after a while. Halogen lamps also produce UV light because their filament temperature is so high. Incandescent lamps do not radiate any damaging kind of light.

GLS light bulbs of the standard tungsten filament type operating in a a vacuum or argon atmosphere are the main item affected. These are the standard 240V household light bulbs that come in 25,40,60,75, and 100W. Interestingly, the ban applies to lamps of this type only with a voltage of 220 or more. The importation was stopped in February 2009, and a retail ban comes into force in November 2009. How this will be enforced will be interesting. In 2010, a greater range of bulbs will be banned, and year by year this continues until the government has eradicated any form of filament lighting. The determination for what gets banned is based on a graph displaying lumens per watt. There is a certain MEPS (Minimum Energy Performance Standard) which bulbs must conform to. This graph has been cleverly drawn so that ordinary incandescent lamps of all wattages are on the wrong side of the curve. Knowing that high wattage bulbs are much more efficient than lower wattage ones, they have deliberately drawn the curve to exclude these as well. The zeal and determination to eliminate incandescent lamps is unseen in any other government projects that would actually be useful.
On the customs website is a pictorial list of banned bulbs. Note that incandescent lamps are grouped alongside things like knives, daggers, hazardous waste, etc. I got no proper answer when I enquired to the associated email address with some detailed questions. I also could not get an answer as to what if someone from overseas brings in a couple of light bulbs in their luggage. Would they get the $110,000 fine?
This list shows the timetable of banning. Notice that one of the complying factors must be the acceptable lamps must have a 2000 hour life. Why? A cynical person would think that this is a way to ban GLS light bulbs even if they were more efficient. As we know, typical GLS bulbs have a life of 1000 hours, so even if we made them more efficient, the government is intent on banning them, no matter what, just because they are incandescent. Show a light bulb to a greenie and they'll act like they've just met the Devil. Then you'll get a speech about how you don't care about the Earth, etc. In fact there seems to be some kind of religious zealotry about this, like one would expect from one of those religious fanatics with deep set eyes and who froths at the mouth in a convulsing rage when presented with an alternative viewpoint.

3. Hoarding Bulbs.
Most important, and it seems many people have missed the boat, so to speak. I mean in a place like Australia you wouldn't really think they would take away light bulbs for sale would you? Sadly, it has happened, the import ban did come into force in February 2009, and people are now being met with empty shelves in the shops. I saw this coming some time ago and hoarded enough bulbs for my own use, but for others who have just become aware of the situation there is some hope and ways to deal with the situation.
The new law (note that like most new laws, this one is yet another freedom citizens have taken away) states that retailers have until November 2009 to sell off remaining stock. Some supermarkets (particularly smaller independent ones) still have bulbs which are being sold off at a reduced price. Mostly these are E27 (Edison Screw) base.

Blown light bulbs are worth keeping for their bases to make adaptors or to convert bulbs from one base to another. In their own right they are a beautiful object that those with an artistic talent could use to make decorations. Why not hang them from your Christmas tree? Burnt out coloured ones would be ideal for this.

Even though most light sockets in Australia are B22 (22mm Bayonet Cap), it is important to still buy up these bulbs as I will explain later. There are also a few internet based suppliers also selling stock cheap; again mostly E27. Whilst the bulbs might not always be of your favourite wattage, you still need to hoard them. There are ways to get the brightness you prefer, which again will be explained.
What is not yet banned, but will be towards the end of 2010 are Candle, Fancy Round, and Appliance Lamps of 40W or more. While these are more expensive than GLS bulbs, they are available in the same B22 and E27 base, and up to 60W. So, if you've missed out on GLS bulbs, you have a second chance to hoard these.
Oven lamps are available up to 25W but are only available in E27 base. These and other appliance lamps will be available beyond 2010. Having said that, there is still this insatiable drive to eliminate any kind of incandescent bulb no matter what, and you can be sure they will be eradicated.
However, where the shape and size of bulb is important (there were some old table lamps where the shade actually clipped onto the bulb) you still need GLS. There is a GLS halogen bulb which is permitted at present which seems an acceptable substitute and this is described later.

4. Changing the base.
So, you've got a carton of E27 bulbs because they were cheap (and that's all that was left), or you've decided to use screw base oven bulbs to light your house because they haven't been banned yet. Not a problem! There's several ways to deal with this:

The difference between the U.S.  Medium Screw (E26) base (left), and the Australian/European E27 (right). They are interchangeable but the U.S bulb may not always make contact in an E27 socket. Incidentally, the bulb shown here is 12V 50W,  as used on my solar/wind home lighting plant.

• Buy or make an adaptor. B22 to E27 adaptors are commonly available in Europe, and available on the UK eBay. You can also make one up yourself although it won't be as compact. Simply connect an Edison Screw light socket to a bayonet plug via a short length of flex. E27 light sockets are available from electrical wholesalers under Clipsal part number 501ES. If you prefer a batten (surface mount) socket, use a Clipsal 530ES. To connect to your existing bayonet socket, you'll need the Clipsal 466 bayonet plug. You can also remove the base of a burnt out B22 bulb and use that instead. If the Clipsal E27 sockets are not to your liking, plenty of E26 sockets are available from the U.S on the internet. What's the difference between E26 and E27 you may ask? It's the length of the base. The European E27 base is slightly longer than the U.S E26. What this means is that an Aussie or European bulb screwed into a U.S socket will have more of the base exposed. If the possible shock hazard worries you simply wrap the exposed part of the base with insulating tape before screwing it in. Where U.S. bulbs are screwed into Australian/European E27 sockets there is a chance that the bottom of the base will not make contact. If so, simply bend the contact in the bottom of the socket up slightly. If this isn't possible then add a slight lump of solder to the bottom contact of the bulb base.

• Change the light sockets to E26 or E27. A difficulty that can arise here is where lampshades are used. The skirt size on the Clipsal sockets is larger than the standard B22 socket, so the hole in the centre of the lampshade has to be enlarged. U.S lamp sockets do not have skirts. If purchasing new light fittings, it's worth taking the Edison Screw alternative if you're only starting to hoard bulbs now. Most of the world uses ES, and the remaining stock in Australia is also largely also ES. It also allows ease of use with 25W oven bulbs.

• Actually change the base. If you're patient and careful this can be done. For this reason, do not throw away burnt out light bulbs...they are a source of donor bases! The first and easiest step is to get the base off a blown light bulb. After breaking away the glass you'll need to chip and break away at most of the cement inside the base. Also, remove the solder and remaining stem wires. Next, you need to prepare the E27 bulb. Incidentally, if you find any E27's with a loose base, don't glue it back on, convert it to B22. Getting the base off a bulb is somewhat difficult. I haven't found anything that just dissolves the cement. If you know of anything, please tell! The best option is to carefully cut it with a fine hacksaw a few mm away from the glass. Hold the base only when doing this, not the glass! Desolder the wires first so when it comes free they won't get broken. Now, you'll have to connect the wires to the bayonet base, possibly extending them. Glue the BC base to what's left of the ES base with epoxy. Then solder the wires to the BC contacts. If you've been lucky and had a bulb with a loose base to start with, attaching the new B22 base is easier, and the completed job makes it hard to tell anything was changed.

5. Getting the right brightness.
Your hoardings may not have have left you with your preferred wattage lamps. It seems that 60W BC is probably the most popular GLS lamp in Australia, probably followed by 100W. So, these are the hardest to come by. Not to worry; we can use others to obtain the required light output.

• You need more light but have only low wattage bulbs. Once upon a time you could get bayonet double adaptors. These were primarily intended for running appliances off light sockets before power points became commonplace in houses. They still turn up at swap meets, garage sales etc. By using one of these you can install two low wattage bulbs to bring up the light level. For example, a couple of 15W pilot lights could be used to replace one 25W bulb, and so on. Of course you can make your own double (or triple, etc.) adaptor with a bayonet plug and as many lamp sockets as required. This way, we can light a large room with candle, fancy round, or oven bulbs. The catch to this scheme is where the light fitting is enclosed and there isn't room for the extra bulbs and sockets. However, incandescent lamps are an object of artistic beauty and there is no shame in having them fully exposed.
• You've only got cartons of 100W bulbs or lots of 300W bulbs and don't want such brightness. This is easily dealt with by using a dimmer or other voltage dropping device. Alternatively, try connecting bulbs in series; not necessarily the same wattage either. See what combinations of brightness you can come up using this scheme. A quick and simple voltage reducer can be had by connecting an ordinary rectifier diode in series with the bulb; this will drop the RMS voltage down to 170V. However, flicker may be present dependent on the filament thickness due to the lamp flickering at 50 times a second instead of 100. A limitation with dimming bulbs is that the colour temperature of the lamp is reduced and becomes much more red. If this doesn't bother you, go for it.

• Low voltage GLS lamps. In Australia it has been possible, and still is, to buy GLS bulbs in 12, 24,32, 50 and 120V with both B22 and E27 bases. These came about as a result of the prevalence of home lighting plants in rural areas until the 1950's. They've also been used in boats(12V), caravans(6 & 12V), trains (32V), telephone exchanges (50V) and more recently with solar and wind lighting plants (12&24V). With the closure of the ELMA factory in Newcastle, these lamps are now imported from China, mainly by Crompton. Unfortunately, they are not cheap. The 12V GLS lamps I use on my home lighting plant typically cost about $7.00 each. However, they last an extremely long time. E26 GLS lamps in 12V are less than half the price from the U.S, and I imported a large supply of them a few years ago when I set up my home lighting plant. The point of this is to say that you can still use your existing light fittings with these bulbs. Simply power the light fitting from a suitable transformer. An option if you're serious about using these bulbs is to run two light circuits in your house as I've done; one at the lower voltage and the original 240V circuit for fluorescent lamps.
• 120V bulbs. While you can buy them here through electrical wholesalers, they are not cheap as I've mentioned above. Much cheaper to buy from the U.S where they're common in supermarkets like they used to be here. Keep in mind that they won't be available forever but you'll have a bit longer to stock up on them. Use them in series pairs, or off a transformer. Of course, when using in series, you must use ones of the same wattage. Again, one could convert the house lighting circuit to 120V fed from a transformer and change the light sockets to E26 types.
• 12V car/boat/caravan bulbs. For the diehard incandescent lamp user, these are yet another option. Brake lights and indicator bulbs are typically 21W. The bayonet base of these(SBC or B15) is smaller(15mm) so it need not be removed if fitting a B22 base. Most would use a transformer, but connecting 20 in series is an option. Keep in mind that if doing this, the lamp sockets will need to be insulated for 240V. Also, remember if one burns out, 240V will be present at the socket terminals. The SBC double contact base used with caravan and boat lamps is the same as that used for their 240V counterparts. Most 240V SBC lamps are used in chandeliers and vanity lights (the lights around mirrors).

• Use a dimmer, or other voltage dropper. As an example, the two Australian made Crompton 40W bulbs in my living room reading lamp have been in use since 1987. This lamp is plugged into a dimmer which is never turned up past about 80%. The difference in brightness is only discernable when making a comparison; the colour temperature is not noticeably reduced. A diode used as a dimmer, described previously, is effective and simple, providing flicker is not bothersome. One way to remove flicker is to have two bulbs in the fitting; one fed on the positive part of the mains cycle and the other fed on the negative. Although the individual bulbs may still be seen to flicker, the combined light output won't.
• Look for higher voltage bulbs. When bulbs were still manufactured here, you could buy them in 260V, even from some hardware stores. I would get several years use of them with several hours use a day. In fact, the glass would blacken well before the filaments burnt out. Bunnings has been selling 255V bulbs made by Philips and there may be some left.
• Use higher wattage lamps with a dimmer/dropper to give the same brightness as a low wattage bulb. As mentioned previously, if you don't mind a reduction in colour temperature, this is a good way to get long life. For example,if you normally use a 40W bulb in a light fitting, change it to a 60W and reduce the supply voltage to get the same brightness. You'll get the same light but the bulb will last so much longer. If colour temperature is of concern, use the next highest wattage bulb to minimise the effect. A 300W bulb dimmed to give 40W of light will be much redder than a 60W bulb dimmed for the same amount of light.
• Surge suppression. Ring Grip used to sell various adaptors to fit between a light bulb and bayonet socket which would allow the bulb to be dimmed, used as an automatic night light, or as a timer. The "programming" of the adaptor is done by switching the light on and off in a certain pattern. Very convenient and they work well, despite creating very bad RFI. The one thing in common is that all these adaptors have a soft start feature; i.e. the RMS voltage to the bulb rises gradually after switch on. Prior to the adaptors, Ring Grip sold light bulbs with the circuitry inside the base. But, at a cost of $25 each they didn't sell. So, when Bunnings started offloading them for about 10 cents each, along with the adaptors, I bought a large quantity. I use one of the 30 minute timer adaptors for my 25W B22 laundry light. As the light is never needed for more than a few minutes, the timing function goes unnoticed, but the soft start is always there. It is also possible to build a soft start circuit, with several designs appearing in electronics magazines over the years. They were particularly popular with projector lamps. For the 300W GES base lamp in my garage, a resistor is in series with lamp which then is shorted out by means of a 555 and a relay after a few seconds. A suitable thermistor can be used for the same effect but these are much harder to obtain.
• Avoid vibration, especially when the bulb is on. Lamp sockets with switches on them are best not used; turn the lamp off with an in line switch or at the power point. Portable lead lamps will give very short life to bulbs used in them; this is one place I do recommend CFL's.

9. Halogen GLS bulbs.

Philips and Woolworths Halogen GLS bulbs. While the Philips has a standard size envelope, the Woolworths is somewhat smaller. Its internal construction is different with what appears to be a ceramic mounting for the halogen bulb inside..

Of late these have reappeared for sale. I say "reappeared" because they came out around 2004 under the name of "Halolux Classic" and were made by Osram. The literature claimed that a 40W Halolux Classic bulb was equivalent to a 60W bulb of normal incandescent construction. Now, amongst much fan fare they have resurfaced again but this time with green/eco type logos on the packet and claims they use 30% less power. They are now available in a number of (strange) wattages with 28W and 42W being the easiest to get, and a pearl version is now available. I'm not sure if Osram has a patent on this design, but I have also seen this type of bulb marketed by Philips, Woolworths (under their "Essentials" brand), and Mirabella. So, it seems everyone has jumped on the bandwagon with this one. As well as GLS bulbs, there are candle and reflector types. Prices seem to be from around $2.70 to $3.50 each. That's tolerable given a 2000hr life, after all ordinary incadescent bulbs with a 1000hr life were being sold for as much as $1.50. And what of their performance? It's actually very good and in my opinion by far the best modern replacement. Although they are halogen, they don't give off that horrid intense white light like those 12V 50W downlights or car headlights. I've seen 2900K - 3000K quoted for colour temperatures. In fact, the light from the Philips 28W clear bulb appears to be exactly the same as an incandescent lamp. I suspect this is due to the larger length over which the filament is stretched in this lamp. Strangely, the 28W pearl bulb has the more conventional filament shape, but the pearl glass diffuses this so it is not significant. Being incandescent, these would not suffer from operating from 240V rms square waves or DC. My only concern is UV radiation. I would guess this is probably not worth worrying about as there's the quartz bulb enclosing the filament plus the normal glass bulb. Also the fact that the filament appears to operate at a lower temperature would help. So, these would be the best thing to use if you can't get any incandescent lamps. My observations indicate these are very popular bulbs and people are finally rebelling against the hideous CFL's by purchasing these instead.

Not exactly new technology, I bought this bulb ca. 2005. Note the absence of any greenie buzz words on the packaging; instead these bulbs were being promoted for their longer life..

For those not familiar with different kinds of light source, it is important to realise that halogen lamps are in fact incandescent lamps. The difference, in simple terms, is the filament can burn at a higher temperature because the halogen gas atmosphere causes evaporated filament particles to settle back on the filament and not on the glass. As a result the filament doesn't get thinner and weaker as quickly as an ordinary lamp, and the bulb doesn't blacken over time. Quartz is used for these bulbs because ordinary glass would melt at the higher operating temperature. The higher temperature operation is also a source of UV light which is not a good thing, but ordinary glass filters most of this out. If the outer shell of a halogen GLS bulb was broken it would continue to work, but the UV output would be higher. As a result of these bulbs being incandescent we shouldn't expect these bulbs to be around for long, due to the light coming from a politically incorrect filament, but there should be a few years to hoard them. Unfortunately, they appear to still fall short of future proposed MEPS. Words like "Eco" and "Energy Saver" and green coloured areas on the packaging of these bulbs should however subdue or delay the attacks from the eco fascists against this kind of bulb.

Sylvania's Halogen GLS bulbs. Interestingly only a 20% power saving is shown compared to Osram's claim of 30%.

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