Specialty and Architectural Lighting — Halogen

At some point it will become necessary to change out old light bulbs, and for many lighting situations this does not pose a problem. Where a problem does occur is when bulbs in directional lighting, such as track lights, require replacement. While homes may have a few MR or PAR bulbs in various rooms, businesses like museums, art galleries, restaurants, and retail stores may have hundreds of bulbs with varying beam angles. Making sure these...

Learn what the American National Standards Institute has to do with the funny codes on older light bulbs. ANSI standards for light bulbs determine the technical specifications of lamps, and both help and mystify consumers trying to find the right light bulb to replace one that's burned out.

We've written here before about one of the toughest problems for manufacturers of LED replacement lamps: achieving light intensity comparable to halogen in the MR16 form factor - particularly for narrow beam distribution. The initial blog post was written in 2014, then updated in late 2016. The update concluded by stating that new breakthroughs in GaN on GaN technology had allowed the manufacturing of single point source LED MR16's – an important step toward replicating...

LED light is inherently directional. Most traditional light sources - incandescent, halogen, compact fluorescent and HID - emit light in all directions. For these light sources to have specific directional characteristics, the lamp is made with a reflector and sometimes a lens to modify the illumination so it becomes more focused, or directional. For example, PAR halogen lamps are available in a range of beam angles from 60°, a wide flood, to 8° a narrow...

Over two years ago, when we wrote this original post, there was general angst from lighting designers, contractors and owners about the usefulness of LED MR16 bulbs as viable replacements for halogen MR16 in commercial display lighting applications. At the time, we cited a USDOE report from 2014 that showed "very few of the LED MR16 lamps listed in the LED Lighting Facts program are comparable replacements for the popular 12V 50W halogen MR16". Only...

"I just replaced that bulb. It's already burnt out? The previous one lasted two years!" Yes, we've all had that feeling, as a light bulb we screwed into a socket a few months ago unexpectedly burns out. The usual response is a little annoyance, paranoia about the fixture or electrical wiring, and resignation to putting in a new bulb. If it's used in a special application like for a car or indicator light, this might...

Learn the difference between halogen and incandescent light bulbs. While halogen bulbs basically are incandescent, see how they've improved on the old incandescent light source, resulting in more efficiency.

Have you ever wondered why some light bulbs are coated while others are clear? The majority of light bulbs that are sold in the market nowadays, rather than being completely clear like the original Edison bulbs, have different coatings. Clear bulbs are often used in situations where abrupt and extreme light is needed. To achieve this effect, this setup allows us to directly see the illuminated tungsten filament of an incandescent or halogen bulb. These...

It is often assumed that incandescent and halogen light bulbs are completely different technologies. In fact, halogen is just a hybrid incandescent. Both types of light bulbs use a tungsten filament. Both burn out when the filament breaks. Both use line and low voltage the same way. Also, both incandescent and halogen bulbs can be dimmed. But here is the interesting twist: the more a halogen bulb is dimmed, the more it becomes an incandescent...

With the phase-out of the 60 watt incandescent light bulb, finding these classic bulbs will get more and more difficult over time. Even now, just a few months after the ban came into effect in January 2014, home improvement stores are doing everything they can to shift consumers into alternative, more energy-efficient light sources. The big box stores are pushing LED bulbs, and hard. The reason? LED is getting all the media hype and is...