LED /Halogen /CFL please help I'm going mad

[intexasatthe moment]

Looking for a desk lamp for an elderly person to read by .

Light on table near easy chair positioned adjacent to table ,elderly person not sitting at table .

I started off thinking CFL as looking for a daylight type light ,but all the table lamp ones seem not to be very bright .

( yes I know " bright " = minefield of luxes ,lumens ,candlesomethings etc etc . which I struggle to get my head round )

Thinking low temperature and ease of positioning .

Maybe this Anglepoise LED http://www.anglepoise.com/Type75LED.aspx.

Can people give me their views ( subjective I suppose ) on how halogen v LED work for them as a targeted /focused light to read by ?

Please help ,soooo many hours of my life being spent on this .

[red devil]

I would definitely recommend an Anglepoise for ease of positioning, however make sure whatever lamp you choose it is in scale with the table it sits on.

At my work desk I have a 1227 with a CFL which provides a 'warm' light, as I'm not a fan of the 'white' light a lot of LED's give off; it's fine for working at laptop, reading and writing etc...

[intexasatthe moment]

thank you red devil ,would you be able to tell me what watt the cfl you're using is ?

By which I mean in terms of equivalent to the old incandescent 60watt ,100 watt range ?

[red devil]

The lamp has an E27 socket (screw-in) and came supplied with a 15w CFL...

7-9watt Equivalent to 40watt incandescent bulb

11-15watt Equivalent to 60watt incandescent bulb

18-20watt Equivalent to 75watt incandescent bulb

23-25watt Equivalent to 100watt incandescent bulb

The maximum rating for the lamp is 60w, so a 15w CFL is tops for this particular model.

[*Bob*]

60w is 60w.

If the maximum rating is 60w - then a 60w CFL would be tops, not a 15w (if you could buy one.. 30w is the most you'll find, I think)

One of the few advantages of the CFL, a dismal innovation in most respects - is that you can fit a brighter CFL bulb than an incandescent without exceeding the rated wattage.

[red devil]

From the GE Lighting website...

What compact fluorescent light bulb do I buy to replace an incandescent (regular) bulb?

While a regular (incandescent) light bulb uses heat to produce light, a fluorescent bulb creates light using an entirely different method that is far more energy-efficient ? in fact, 4-6 times more efficient. This means that you can buy a 15-watt compact fluorescent bulb that produces the same amount of light as a 60-watt regular incandescent bulb.

Don't worry about the math, though ? we make it easy for you to figure out which compact fluorescent bulb to buy by displaying the equivalent regular watts you're used to prominently on the package. Just look for the wattage you would normally buy in a regular bulb.

In case you're curious, here are the watts needed by regular incandescent bulbs and compact fluorescent bulbs to produce the same amount of light.

Standard Bulb - CFL Bulb

40w = 10w

60w = 13w-15w

75w = 20w

100w = 26w-29w

150w = 38w-42w

250w-300w = 55w

Because the wattage of a CFL bulb is much lower than that of an incandescent, you can use higher wattage CFL giving you the equivalent light of a higher wattage incandescent. For example: If your fixture says not to exceed 60 watts, you can use a 15 watt CFL to get the same amount of light as an incandescent bulb or use up to a 42 watt CFL and increase the amount of light.

[*Bob*]

Indeed.. just as I said. You can put much higher than a 15w CFL in it!

[red devil]

Indeed...up to 42w...Whoopee! :)

[intexasatthe moment]

Thank you that's really helpful .

[red devil]

*Bob*, I was very busy earlier and forgot to say thx for correcting my error, my GE post was to to reinforce what you said and clarify the maximum CGL wattage...

[intexasatthe moment]

60w is 60w.

If the maximum rating is 60w - then a 60w CFL would be tops, not a 15w (if you could buy one.. 30w is the most you'll find, I think)

One of the few advantages of the CFL, a dismal innovation in most respects - is that you can fit a brighter CFL bulb than an incandescent without exceeding the rated wattage.

I thought I'd understood this .... the wattage relates to amount of energy consumed but ....presumably heat generated is another important factor if one is fitting a bulb other than manufacturer specified ?

Do CFL's run cool ?

I'm slightly unnerved because I've just bought a lampshade from Asda for a ceiling pendant fitting and the attached advice is

bulb rating : Max 60w ( some other intials which I've torn off ,possibly G or C E ) or 14 Watt low energy bulb .

Are low energy bulbs hot ?

And guess watt - I thought I'd ordered a CFL ,but now I'm not sure . ( what is the matter with me ! ) It's a spiral tube affair but it's description is "energy saving ".It's 25watt . But I suppose it's going to be no good to use in the anglepoise ?

Any advice gratefully received ,especially if it factors in my blind spot/inability to understand this subject .

[*Bob*]

Your hottest (ie brightest) CFL won't be any hotter than your coolest (ie least bright) incandescent. And seeing as you're unlikely to be replacing the latter with the former - in short - there's no need to worry about CFL heat.

A 25w CFL will be 'quite warm' to the touch - but you can still touch it - unlike most incandescents!

Your spiral will be fine for the anglepoise.. the spirals are just shaped that way to get more CFL into less space (as you would need to in order to get 25w). Unless it's a really small anglepoise head and a really long spiral, in which case it will look somewhat unsightly.

Whether or not you like the light it produces is a different matter.

(and.. no worries RD innit)

[intexasatthe moment]

mmm - I am planning to replace a 15watt CFL with a 25 watt "energy saving " spiral type bulb - because I thought the latter would be brighter .

[*Bob*]

Don't worry.. it will be brighter.

The spiral is a CFL. It's just a spiral-shaped CFL is all.

[intexasatthe moment]

Thank you Bob - you're very patient with me !