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  • 11W(ish) E27 golf ball dimmable LED?

    From David@21:1/5 to All on Mon Jan 6 18:27:15 2025
    I have a 70W halogen bulb - E27 golf ball shape - which has just blown
    (well, when I finally replaced the faulty dimmer it didn't work, but it
    could have failed some time ago).

    Replacement would be 11W(ish) E27 golf ball dimmable LED?
    However the replacement (for the moment) is from TCP and labelled 12W 1055 lumen.
    This is close, but it is a full sized bulb, not golf ball.
    I suspect the golf ball size was to place the bulb in the centre of the
    light fitting as far away from the plastic half dome cover as possible.
    Because heat.
    However the LED shouldn't be chucking out anywhere near the same amount of heat.

    So far I am unable to find an equivalent lamp in the golf ball size.
    There are lower wattages but nothing up above about 5W.
    Is this a design constraint?
    Are my search terms not working (as usual)?

    Cheers



    Dave R


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  • From The Natural Philosopher@21:1/5 to David on Mon Jan 6 19:16:52 2025
    On 06/01/2025 18:27, David wrote:
    70W halogen bulb
    1/. I seriously doubt you can fit a reliable 70W halogen into golf ball size 2/. Something in the 6W white LED rather than cold white, will suffice.

    I have loads of 12v 50W halogens spots and the LED equivalent that is identically bright is 5W.

    Simply go on amazon and get the highest daylight white dimmable E27 golf
    ball LED you can find.


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  • From David@21:1/5 to The Natural Philosopher on Tue Jan 7 15:42:32 2025
    On Mon, 06 Jan 2025 19:16:52 +0000, The Natural Philosopher wrote:

    On 06/01/2025 18:27, David wrote:
    70W halogen bulb
    1/. I seriously doubt you can fit a reliable 70W halogen into golf ball
    size 2/. Something in the 6W white LED rather than cold white, will
    suffice.

    I have loads of 12v 50W halogens spots and the LED equivalent that is identically bright is 5W.

    Simply go on amazon and get the highest daylight white dimmable E27 golf
    ball LED you can find.

    "I seriously doubt you can fit a reliable 70W halogen into golf ball size "

    Noting that the outside lights (a pair) in question have worked fine over
    the last 12+ years with, as far as I can tell, the original Homebase 70W
    golf ball halogens.

    This seems to be reliable enough to me, despite your doubts.



    Additional notes: the failing bulb had the globe detached from the base.
    The base had what looked like an everyday halogen light with two prongs
    fixed into the base.
    It makes me wonder how long the globe has been detached, and if it served
    any function apart from diffusing the light and keeping fingers away from
    the halogen bulb.

    Cheers



    Dave R

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  • From Harry Bloomfield Esq@21:1/5 to David on Tue Jan 7 16:28:42 2025
    On 07/01/2025 15:42, David wrote:
    Noting that the outside lights (a pair) in question have worked fine over
    the last 12+ years with, as far as I can tell, the original Homebase 70W
    golf ball halogens.

    There are two factors to consider...

    1. The light fittings ability to withstand heat from the lamp.
    2. The lamps ability the satisfactorily cool itself, if an LED.

    LED's are very susceptable to heat damage. Just a little heat, can
    dramatically reduce their working life, unlike halogen, or tungsten.

    I swapped some 50w halogen lamps, in walllights, with their shades open
    at the bottom, closed base uppermost, for 5w LED's. They ran much
    cooler, but still only survived 12 months. I recently replaced them, but
    only after turning the fittings 180, so they were open at the top,
    hopefully allowing heat to rise and escape, so they run with a cooler
    base. The base is the important thing, where much of the heat is
    generated, and most susceptable to heat due to the components therin.

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  • From David@21:1/5 to Harry Bloomfield Esq on Tue Jan 7 17:10:05 2025
    On Tue, 07 Jan 2025 16:28:42 +0000, Harry Bloomfield Esq wrote:

    On 07/01/2025 15:42, David wrote:
    Noting that the outside lights (a pair) in question have worked fine
    over the last 12+ years with, as far as I can tell, the original
    Homebase 70W golf ball halogens.

    There are two factors to consider...

    1. The light fittings ability to withstand heat from the lamp.
    2. The lamps ability the satisfactorily cool itself, if an LED.

    LED's are very susceptable to heat damage. Just a little heat, can dramatically reduce their working life, unlike halogen, or tungsten.

    I swapped some 50w halogen lamps, in walllights, with their shades open
    at the bottom, closed base uppermost, for 5w LED's. They ran much
    cooler, but still only survived 12 months. I recently replaced them, but
    only after turning the fittings 180, so they were open at the top,
    hopefully allowing heat to rise and escape, so they run with a cooler
    base. The base is the important thing, where much of the heat is
    generated, and most susceptable to heat due to the components therin.

    Thanks.
    This may explain why they don't seem to make high wattages in small form factors.
    These outside lights don't get a massive amount of use, virtually none in summer, but they are very useful in the winter for trips outside for
    various things.

    Being a sealed waterproof fitting this is unlikely to aid cooling.

    We shall see how we go!

    Cheers



    Dave R



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  • From Brian@21:1/5 to David on Wed Jan 8 20:27:09 2025
    David <wibble@btinternet.com> wrote:
    I have a 70W halogen bulb - E27 golf ball shape - which has just blown (well, when I finally replaced the faulty dimmer it didn't work, but it
    could have failed some time ago).

    Replacement would be 11W(ish) E27 golf ball dimmable LED?
    However the replacement (for the moment) is from TCP and labelled 12W 1055 lumen.
    This is close, but it is a full sized bulb, not golf ball.
    I suspect the golf ball size was to place the bulb in the centre of the
    light fitting as far away from the plastic half dome cover as possible. Because heat.
    However the LED shouldn't be chucking out anywhere near the same amount of heat.

    So far I am unable to find an equivalent lamp in the golf ball size.
    There are lower wattages but nothing up above about 5W.
    Is this a design constraint?
    Are my search terms not working (as usual)?

    Cheers



    Dave R



    I think you will struggle.

    We have some wall lights 3 each in two rooms we especially like. They originally had 40W golf ball BC bulbs ( good, old fashioned ones).

    Senior Management decided we needed to go green so I started hunting for suitable, dimmable, LED equivalents. It took years to find some which were suitable. Even now, whereas before, we sometimes dimmed the old ones for ‘mood’, either we don’t need the mood these days ;-) or they are just dim at full whack.


    One positive, compared to higher power LED bulbs, they do seem to last
    longer.

    LED bulbs outside seem especially short lived - even in sealed fittings.

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