2 Jun
2010
2 Jun
'10
11:46 a.m.
Tony Duell [ard at p850ug1.demon.co.uk] wrote:
This is why I want to see the exact terms of the ban in the UK and rest
of the EU. If rough service bulbs are exempt, then there is no problem at
all.
It's not the dummy load, it's the
'series lightbulb trick'.
OK. A "rough service" bulb is what you want. That's a filament light bulb to you and me but you can drop it a few
more times
before it becomes a candidate for immediate landfill.
A quick check online suggests that instead of ~40p you'll end
up paying ~=A32 but if you only use it for servicing gear (and
you're not too clumsy) then I presume the slight increase in
cost probably isn't a big deal.
It's no problem at all. The bulb is going to last a long time used as a
series limiter, and aanyway it problaby saves its cost many times over
every time I use it.
I'd heard 'domestic _lightiing_
applications'. There is a significant
differnece, at least for what I do :-)
What they sell them for and what you do with them are different things.
AFAIK the legislation doesn't stop you buying a carpet and using it as
wallpaper (or buying a rough service bulb intended to light up the local
mechanic's workshop and then sticking it in a lampholder at home). Hopefully muy local electrical wholesaller will
keep them (it's the
sort of place that doens't ask questions, they just sell you what you
ask for).
I don't think it even matters if you walk in and say "I want a rough
service
bulb and I'm going to take it home, stick it in a domestic lampholder
and
read a schematic by it all night long". It's not even theoretically illegal
for them to sell it to you under those circumstances or for you to
purchase
it and use it under those circumstances. As long as the box holds no
more
than two bulbs and the box says "not for domestic use" (or some similar
And what on earth is the point of 'no more than 2 bulbs per box', other
than to ensure the use of excessive packaging which will need to be
recylced. I thought they were trying to cut down waste, not increase it...
Is it similar to that ridiculous law that you can only buy Aspirin
tablets in boxes of 16 (or 32 from a registers pharmacy)? The idea behind
that was you couldn't buy enough to fatally overdose on. But if I was
daft enough to want to commit suicide that way (and I will assure you I
am not), I would have the sense to visit several shops to get enough pills...
restrictions) they can sell them and you can buy them
all day long.
How long they'll be commercially available depends (I presume) on how
long
commercial premises keep needing them (which I presume depends on how
Well, considiering I saw new _carbon filament_ bulbs advertised on a web
site quite recently, I suspect that rough serve bulbs will be around for
quite some time..
long
it takes for a viable LED based lamp to appear at a sensible price).
At that point you'll need to design a suitable replacement; but I
wouldn't=20
worry just yet. (Hey, leaded solder is still easily available).
True, and I guess for much the same reasons. There are applications where
there is no alternative to lead/tin solder.
-tony