Author Topic: The RANT thread (often contains fruity language)  (Read 2930661 times)

Mrs Pingu

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Re: The RANT thread (often contains fruity language)
« Reply #21875 on: 27 October, 2019, 07:26:02 pm »
No.
Do not clench. It only makes it worse.

Kim

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Re: The RANT thread (often contains fruity language)
« Reply #21876 on: 27 October, 2019, 07:48:39 pm »
They're all evil.  ES loosens so you get a bad contact or gets stuck so you twist the envelope off the cap and have to dig out the mess of broken glass with long-nose pliers (I'm perpetually impressed that it manages to do both, seemingly at random).  Bayonet sockets get bent so one of the pins doesn't engage properly and the lamp wobbles and falls out.  The small bi-pin ones make intermittent contact, arc and corrode.  The larger bi-pin ones don't align the filament consistently.  The GU ones aren't actually that bad, until a cheap shitty LED lamp from china breaks a pin off in one.

And when they're not suffering from one of these myriad flaws, the great thing about standards applies.

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: The RANT thread (often contains fruity language)
« Reply #21877 on: 27 October, 2019, 08:09:03 pm »
That was the great thing about candles, any rush taper would light any candle. Of course the Rees-Moggs have standardised on 12" beeswax, except in the servants' quarters.
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

TheLurker

  • Goes well with magnolia.
Re: The RANT thread (often contains fruity language)
« Reply #21878 on: 27 October, 2019, 08:47:12 pm »
Bayonet fitting every time.  You can't cross-thread a bayonet fitting.
Τα πιο όμορφα ταξίδια γίνονται με τις δικές μας δυνάμεις - Φίλοι του Ποδήλατου

Cudzoziemiec

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Re: The RANT thread (often contains fruity language)
« Reply #21879 on: 27 October, 2019, 08:48:24 pm »
Bayonet for stabbing, threaded for a rifle. Hmmm.
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

hellymedic

  • Just do it!
Re: The RANT thread (often contains fruity language)
« Reply #21880 on: 27 October, 2019, 09:05:55 pm »
I prefer bayonet but they're not perfect either.

This place has ES fittings in the kitchen and bathroom, which (unsurprisingly) seem to be the worst for moisture and corrosion.

Jaded

  • The Codfather
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Re: The RANT thread (often contains fruity language)
« Reply #21881 on: 27 October, 2019, 09:33:15 pm »
I like both.

Generally I choose the lamp for the fitting.
It is simpler than it looks.

hellymedic

  • Just do it!
Re: The RANT thread (often contains fruity language)
« Reply #21882 on: 27 October, 2019, 11:12:00 pm »
I've not changed any light fittings since I moved here 20 years ago.

Some of the previous occupants' bulbs have not yet blown.

T42

  • Apprentice geezer
Re: The RANT thread (often contains fruity language)
« Reply #21883 on: 28 October, 2019, 08:29:26 am »
Screwing in a bulb takes less force than the push & turn of a bayonet.  OTOH since all the components of a screw socket have the thread in the same sense you can often find yourself holding shade & shade-ring when you remove a dud bulb.

I discovered screw sockets the first time I travelled outside the UK with an electric razor. Also discovered that designer stubble wasn't a thing in 1971 Eindhoven.

BTW, do Transpondian lamps still have those horrible brass sockets with tiny built-in switches, so that you get your fingers burnt every time you turn the light out?
I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight

Giraffe

  • I brake for Giraffes
Re: The RANT thread (often contains fruity language)
« Reply #21884 on: 28 October, 2019, 09:00:53 am »
I prefer bayonet but they're not perfect either.

This place has ES fittings in the kitchen and bathroom, which (unsurprisingly) seem to be the worst for moisture and corrosion.
Tiny spot of WD40 or similar on the thread and end will help, then tighten it adequately  - not 'till it groans. Never had an E-thread stick or loosen.
With the B22 etc. sockets, also WD40 into each sprung contact, operate a few times, decreases the axial force needed.
E27 corded lamp holders: Ikea sell them in 'clusters, easy to remove one and wire it into the ceiling rose. Seems impossible to get E batten holders with full 'junction box' terminals. When I replaced all the fittings I had to non-maintained JBs tucked into the ceiling.
2x4: thick plank; 4x4: 2 of 'em.

ian

Re: The RANT thread (often contains fruity language)
« Reply #21885 on: 28 October, 2019, 09:26:56 am »
You lot think about light fittings too much. I just subscribe to the universal truth that when a bulb goes, the fitting will be the opposite of the spare you have. It doesn't matter how many spare bulbs you have, you'll never have one of the right wattage, white colour (when did that become a thing?) and fitting for the one that's blown.

Kim

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Re: The RANT thread (often contains fruity language)
« Reply #21886 on: 28 October, 2019, 11:51:10 am »
You lot think about light fittings too much.

I have stage lighting experience.  You know the sort of thing:  "It's not a bulb, it's a lamp and don't touch that.", "8 64s at 38 on 4", using gaffer tape the way audaxers use cable ties, using coils of cable the way audaxers use bus shelters, wobbling around at the top of ladders in the dark, washing your hands before you use the toilet and so on.  I lost interest in it shortly after getting to work in a proper theatre with decent equipment that worked properly.  Make of that what you will.


Quote
I just subscribe to the universal truth that when a bulb goes, the fitting will be the opposite of the spare you have. It doesn't matter how many spare bulbs you have, you'll never have one of the right wattage, white colour (when did that become a thing?) and fitting for the one that's blown.

This truth is indeed universal.

The colour temperature problem cropped up at around the time the gas mantle was invented.  Fortunately I have a roll of 223 ⅛ CT Orange and I'm not afraid to use it.

hellymedic

  • Just do it!
Re: The RANT thread (often contains fruity language)
« Reply #21887 on: 28 October, 2019, 02:03:57 pm »
I prefer bayonet but they're not perfect either.

This place has ES fittings in the kitchen and bathroom, which (unsurprisingly) seem to be the worst for moisture and corrosion.
Tiny spot of WD40 or similar on the thread and end will help, then tighten it adequately  - not 'till it groans. Never had an E-thread stick or loosen.
With the B22 etc. sockets, also WD40 into each sprung contact, operate a few times, decreases the axial force needed.
E27 corded lamp holders: Ikea sell them in 'clusters, easy to remove one and wire it into the ceiling rose. Seems impossible to get E batten holders with full 'junction box' terminals. When I replaced all the fittings I had to non-maintained JBs tucked into the ceiling.

Kitchen E27 get WD40d whenever they're replaced. Still stick but I don't change the bulbs.

andytheflyer

  • Andytheex-flyer.....
Re: The RANT thread (often contains fruity language)
« Reply #21888 on: 28 October, 2019, 05:06:18 pm »
Never mind the thread argument (trivial if you have 2 classic Triumph motorcycles of a certain age: BSW/CEI/AF threads and maybe even the odd metric lurking somewhere).

I'd be ranting about the alleged 25,000 hours LED lamps at the top of our stairwell that last about a year, so maybe 2,000 hours tops.  'Cos depending on which one that's gone, yet again, it's either a wobbly full-stretch reach from the stepladder out over the void while my wife has to look the other way whilst checking my life insurance exclusions, or a full sized ladder brought indoors.  Bah!

Kim

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Re: The RANT thread (often contains fruity language)
« Reply #21889 on: 28 October, 2019, 05:13:12 pm »
Take a 25000 hour rated LED.
Wire it to a lowest-BOM-cost driver made with Shenzhen's finest no-name capacitors, for maximum flicker.
Put it in a case that just about dissipates enough heat to keep the components within thermal spec when used in a particular orientation, in free space, with cool air.
Print "25000 hour" on the box.
Sell it to someone who inevitably installs it the other way up in some kind of real-world air-circulation-restricting fixture.

Then sell another one 12 months later.

Profit!


(The worst thing is that the 'reputable' manufacturers don't seem to be consistently any better at this, and that dedicated fixtures with non-replaceable LEDs are almost as bad.)

hellymedic

  • Just do it!
Re: The RANT thread (often contains fruity language)
« Reply #21890 on: 28 October, 2019, 05:16:27 pm »
I have grumbled, if not ranted, about the VERY short life of some '25,000 hour' lamps in the 'LED lighting' thread elsewhere on yacf.

Changing some of these lamps is a pain; throwing them away in a responsible and approved manner is fucking impossible.

I ordered a couple of '40W equivalent' BC lamps allegedly on Special Offer with my Sainsbury's order today.

Out of Stock if they ever had them. I think the offer ends tomorrow.

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: The RANT thread (often contains fruity language)
« Reply #21891 on: 28 October, 2019, 05:44:54 pm »
Nevertheless, it's useful to get input from trusted real-world users. So what do the forum recommend, arachnocampa luminosa or lampyridae spp.?
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Re: The RANT thread (often contains fruity language)
« Reply #21892 on: 28 October, 2019, 05:51:37 pm »
Yes but with which fitting?
Get a bicycle. You will never regret it, if you live- Mark Twain

Giraffe

  • I brake for Giraffes
Re: The RANT thread (often contains fruity language)
« Reply #21893 on: 29 October, 2019, 09:20:06 am »
I have grumbled, if not ranted, about the VERY short life of some '25,000 hour' lamps in the 'LED lighting' thread elsewhere on yacf.

Changing some of these lamps is a pain; throwing them away in a responsible and approved manner is fucking impossible.

I ordered a couple of '40W equivalent' BC lamps allegedly on Special Offer with my Sainsbury's order today.

Out of Stock if they ever had them. I think the offer ends tomorrow.
Getting rid of old electronic items here is easy: transparent waterproof bag (I keep old placcy bags of suitable sizes), tie a knot in the end, trap under the hinge end of the recycling bin so that it's seen. For some stuffs I include the documentation and a note of any fault so that there's a chance of reuse.

As for BC lamps: Home Bargains has (had?) 12W, 1500lm at 2700 or 6500k CTE for about 3 squids - the latter is OTT for most applications. There are lower outputs available. Screwfix has these:
https://www.screwfix.com/c/electrical-lighting/light-bulbs/cat8350001#category=cat8350001&calclightbulbtechnology=led&capfittingtype=bc&lightbulbtype=gls
2x4: thick plank; 4x4: 2 of 'em.

ian

Re: The RANT thread (often contains fruity language)
« Reply #21894 on: 29 October, 2019, 10:04:23 am »
Our council offers the same kind of recycling facility, though I've seen them simply pick up the bag and fling it in the back of the lorry with the other rubbish. Our handyman loves going to the recycling centre though so he usually takes whatever we don't need.

We've had one full power LED go in the last five years. The only ones we've really had problems with are the low power ones in the bathroom, of which one has failed and two are flickery (and in the process of being replaced, which is one of those mission impossible tasks that involves clambering around the attic, extricating the fitting, dismantling it, removing the bulb, putting in a new bulb, finding out it's the wrong shade of white, repeating, putting everything back, taking it out to repaint the ceiling, and putting it back again, and then discovering it's probably not the bulb but the circuit, etc.)

I'm sure the bulb we have in the bedroom is twenty years old, it takes a week to reach sub-optimal brightness. I do periodically contemplate replacing that with something that dispatches feisty lumens with more alacrity, mostly when trying to figure out what colour trousers I'm holding and whether I'll go to work in a colour concoction that entails me free entrance to Fashion Week's parade of mistakes. That said, neither of us are getting any younger, so perpetual bedroom twilight is perhaps not such a bad thing.

Kim

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Re: The RANT thread (often contains fruity language)
« Reply #21895 on: 29 October, 2019, 11:36:02 am »
While we're ranting about LED lighting, can I put in a word for drivers that automatically reset after an overload?

One of the LEDs in an inadequately heat-sunk COB inevitably fails short-circuit, overloading the driver.  Which dutifully cuts the output to prevent further magic smoke release.  The driver resets a fraction of a second later.  Rinse, repeat.

Usually observed in floodlights on the outside of unattended buildings, strobing at about 3Hz all night long.  It's like the dun run, or something.

All it needs to do is latch off until power-cycled, ffs.

Re: The RANT thread (often contains fruity language)
« Reply #21896 on: 29 October, 2019, 11:49:12 am »
I would like a small number of new external LED lights alongside a path as the Missus cannot see very well. Ground or spike I am not sure yet. Should I go mains or low voltage given the foregoing?
Get a bicycle. You will never regret it, if you live- Mark Twain

Kim

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Re: The RANT thread (often contains fruity language)
« Reply #21897 on: 29 October, 2019, 12:02:00 pm »
That's a bit of a hobson's choice.  I'd probably go low-voltage, on the basis that a regulated DC supply means there's a better chance the drivers won't flicker, but the advantage of mains is that you can easily replace them when they inevitably fail...

T42

  • Apprentice geezer
Re: The RANT thread (often contains fruity language)
« Reply #21898 on: 29 October, 2019, 02:34:46 pm »
Solar with a motion sensor?
I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight

Mrs Pingu

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Re: The RANT thread (often contains fruity language)
« Reply #21899 on: 29 October, 2019, 07:12:31 pm »
Has anyone got any LED's that aren't shit? I've taken to writing the date on my Lumilife ones as I'm sure they're not lasting v long.
Do not clench. It only makes it worse.