Dim Lamps

[sherratts]

Dear all

I have a client who is complaining of all her lights being dim and asked me to have a look.

She has a mixture of standard lamps and MR16 downlighters, some on dimmers and some on switches.

I measured the voltage on a few of mains fittings and found them to be 235 - 241 Volts except for one which was at 223 - this one was on a dimmer but, to be honest doesn't look any dimmer than the others.

Most of the mains votage fittings are pendants with shades - they are all at 60 watt. Even taking the shades off does not fill the rooms with light - and they are not huge rooms.

The MR16s are all 50 watt.

I have suggested putting compact fluorescents in with the equivalent of 100 watt but of course these are not dimmable (unless you spend a lot of money and replace your dimmers) and she hates compact fluorescents.

Any ideas why all her lamps appear to be dim? Is it just her eyes (and mine)?

Many thanks in advance

Ken

 

[GLENNSPARK]

so you say theres a healthy voltage at the points then.......so,..did you check the neutral/s?....dead testing here....first do an R1 R2 to confirm both the line conductor and the cpc.....then do an R2 Rn....see what you get.....

 

[Wayne Watts]

Out of interest, what type of earthing system and overhead or underground supply? Is this a rurual property? Do you find it's load dependant? I.e. do the lamps appear to dim more when you turn more on?

 

[Guitarist]

TBH, 60 w lamps ARE dim, even without a shade.

 

[sherratts]

Thanks for the advice - In short no I didn't check anything other than stick my tester on the lighting points. No excuses but I was visiting to draft a quote so didn't want to do too much "for free". If I get the job will include for doing this.

Cheers

Ken

 

[sherratts]

Yes indeed they are a bit dim hence recommending brighter CFLs as the pendants are rated at 60 watt max .The downlighters probably look dim because there are not enough of them.

Cheers

Ken

 

[Guitarist]

I can understand most shades being 60w rated, but I'm surprised the pendant is too. Most are rated at 100w.

 

[telectrix]

my rule of thumb is 30watts/sq. yard of floor area for main room lighting. think you need to upgrade the centre lights somewhat, and maybe fit some extra downlights.

 

[sherratts]

Thanks - good rule of thumb, I must confess fitting more lights is where I was thinking of going with this.

Cheers

Ken

 

[sherratts]

You know I think you're correct and I may have misread the sticker, or maybe the only one that had a sticker was a smaller version.

Checked my normal pendants (BG) and they are rated at 150 watts - if you could get the lamps.

 

[telectrix]

try something like this. 5 x 60watt halogen candle lamps.

 

[Marvo]

I measured the voltage on a few of mains fittings and found them to be 235 - 241 Volts except for one which was at 223 - this one was on a dimmer but, to be honest doesn't look any dimmer than the others.

You can't measure the effect of a dimmer on a circuit using a voltmeter. A dimmer clips the width of waveform reducing its RMS value, the peak voltage of the wave wouldn't alter significantly so a voltmeter would give a similar reading on a dimmed circuit or an undimmed one.

The light output of the lamps would be proportional to the RMS current being drawn so I would use a clamp meter to get a better indication.

 

[sherratts]

Thanks Marvo - seems the general consencus is too few watts, have advised the client and we'll see what happens.

Cheers

Ken

 

[malcolmsanford]

Just adding to what others say, are those 60watt the old incandescent type ?

They are no longer available in the shops so I wonder where she got them. So it could either be off the market or boot fair and so imported poor quality, or imported not designed for our 50hz system and be 60hz