Rewire a table lamp - any help appreciated!

[dmxtothemax]

[Do I just need to replace the lamp holder with a new one and can I use the existing cable or do cables have wattages of their own?]

Well yes cables do have ratings, but unless yours is damaged by heat, it is unlikely to need replacing.
Just use CFL or LED and all these heat damage problems go away !
If the bulb socket is dodgy then just replace it.
Since your not doing it anyway, why worry ?
Let the trained people worry about that.

 

[NDG Elecs]

I would imagine 100w incandescent lamps are far less planet wrecking to manufacture than LED lamps....nobody seems to take into account that much of the 'planet saving' energy efficiency of LED lamps is offset by the less than planet saving manufacturing process.

That is like the ceramic mug vs the paper cup (you get from cafes) argument. You can make loads of papercups for the same overall energy input as one ceramic mug.

To the OP; if and when you buy the new lamp holder (the bit that is wobbly and has the dodgy switch), I would probably buy 2 or 3 slightly different types, as from past experience it can be a pain to ensure you are getting the right one. And at least you will only pay one lot of postage for them that way (and they are cheap). It may be a straight forward swap over but it may not..

 

[1Justin]

I would imagine 100w incandescent lamps are far less planet wrecking to manufacture than LED lamps....nobody seems to take into account that much of the 'planet saving' energy efficiency of LED lamps is offset by the less than planet saving manufacturing process.

Figures are hard to find, so let's make them up.. Just one 100W bulb will "emit" about 60KG of CO2 during it's 1200 Hr lifetime (UK typical power generation mix at 0.5 KG/KWh ) and cost £18 (~ 120 KWH) to run. Since the LED should last at least ten times as long, in it's entire 12000 Hr lifetime the LED "emits" a total similar amount, whereas lighting with ten new 100W bulbs changed as they fail, would have "emitted" in that time 0.6 tonne of CO2 and cost £180 to run.
Now I don't believe the "inbuilt" carbon footprint of LED is even remotely close to 0.6 tonne CO2, and if the manufacturers were spending £180 in power just to make it, then we wouldn't be buying them in the shops for £4.

 

[NDG Elecs]

I am an advocate of LED lamps, and have been since their emergence, and will continue to do so.

But they are a fair bit more complicated than a standard traditional incandescent lamp. They will likely have a much broader spectrum of 'ingredients' to make them. And when you factor in mining to get various ores and minerals out of the ground and subsequent processing, I can understand where Wirepuller is coming from.

I have no idea either way whether LEDs are greener than incandescents when ALL factors are considered.

 

[1Justin]

I am an advocate of LED lamps, and have been since their emergence, and will continue to do so.

But they are a fair bit more complicated than a standard traditional incandescent lamp. They will likely have a much broader spectrum of 'ingredients' to make them. And when you factor in mining to get various ores and minerals out of the ground and subsequent processing, I can understand where Wirepuller is coming from.

I have no idea either way whether LEDs are greener than incandescents when ALL factors are considered.

That's valid, and I'd like to see some complete cradle-to-grave figures. I can't find any, but if you do, let's see some
All we can easily get are energy as I outlined, and this is of course only part of the picture. But the figures are so persuasive it's hard to not to argue the benefit.
Anyone directly heating with raw electricity will need to dilute any of those with another guesstimate based on heating season. Ideally, the future is heat-pumps and massive reduction in all forms of heating (entirely possible and absolutely necessary) which add validity back into the basic energy argument though.

 

[Octopus]

Re the "green" credentials of LED lamps - if they are made in China then they have the "footprint" of the manufacturing and we have the benefit of the lower power requirement.

Gordon Brown used to refer to this as "importing deflation" when he lauded importing cheaper goods...

 

[Deleted member 9648]

My post regarding the alleged planet saving LED lamps was slightly tongue in cheek TBH, I have no more idea than anyone else as to how much impact manufacturing these lamps really has. I do suspect though that the benefits are not as great as we are 'LED' to believe....(see what I did there!)

 

[freddo]

It's a shame many of them are lasting nowhere near their rated life.

 

[telectrix]

nobody seems to have considered the heat output of a 100watt filament lamp. it apears on gthe face of it to be wasted energy, but the heat is not exactly a waste. it warms the ambient air, thus making less energy requirement from the centaral heating.

 

[1Justin]

It's a shame many of them are lasting nowhere near their rated life.

I think that's where brand quality comes in, and I agree, I have had failures.
The differences are quite clear with the approach taken by the more commercially orientated downlight and spotlight manufacturers compared with "domestic" brands.
But for light bulbs, which are still seen as consumables even in LED world, the brand/quality effect might be less clear cut, since there just isn't as effective a heatsink, and there is hardly any space for the driver. All manufacturers just have to live with that fact.
LED lifetime is inferred from statistics taken at elevated temperatures with the products running in ovens, crunching the statistics up to get a predicted lifetime is bound to result in some adventurous claims for those manufacturers who are in a hurry to get cheap and cheerful products onto the shelves.

 

[freddo]

There are quite a number of LED floodlights lasting about as long as a halogen tube, OK these have been from a number of cheaper suppliers, but it's a shocking waste of raw materials having to replace entire fittings every 12 months. I've had a number of expensive brand name fittings fail as well. All were installed in a way that was ideal as far as ventilation was concerned.

I must say I'm starting to hate LED lighting a bit, some of the products are so awful and are designed in such a way that installing the luminaire is almost impossible to do. I now outright refuse to fit Wickes branded LED floodlights as they are literally impossible to install, the designers need a good smack. As do all the other manufacturers that provide a silly little bit of flex out of the fitting or power supply, instead of providing proper terminals. And the less said about LED floods with built in PIRs the better!

 

[1Justin]

Built in PIR's. Yep I've had those problems too many times.