Lighting Direct Sales Customer Help Page
Our Frequently Asked Questions on Low Energy Products
This is our help page to answer most of the frequently asked questions we receive from our customers. It is intended as a guide to help our customers quickly and answer questions on our low energy products
Do you have a shop?
What are low energy or energy saving products?
Why should I use these products?
How do they save money?
What products do your bulbs fit?
What wattages do I need?
Are low voltage products the same as energy saving products?
I’m buying a light but can I fit an energy saving bulb in it?
How and where should I install an energy saving bulb in my home?
All energy saving bulbs are big and ugly, how can I hide them?
What are look-a-like bulbs?
Are your bulbs branded?
What colour light does your energy saving bulbs give off?
I want to purchase multiple bulbs, can I and how do I do this?
If you can not find an answer here please
contact us. We are happy to help and endeavour to answer all your queries as soon as we can.
Do you have a shop?
Unfortunately we do not have a shop or showroom that you can visit. All the items that we sell are available to view in our eBay Shop. If you have any questions about any of the items, please ask before purchasing your item.
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What are low energy or energy saving products?
Low energy and energy saving products do the same, save you money, saving you and household costs, as well as energy used within your home. As we specialise in lighting, we are keen to promote energy saving lights and bulbs to be used, so you can save energy within your home.
Lighting with Energy Saving Bulb included!
Energy saving bulbs are normally called Compact Fluorescent Lamps (or bulbs as most people call them) and CFL for short. They work in a similar way to commercial fluorescent strip lighting, the inside is coated with a phosphor that gives off the light and there is an electronic ballast to start the lamp operating.
Modernised from the commercial strip lighting technology, they are now small more compact and give off better illumination! They are called low energy as they use much less electricity than normal tungsten filament bulbs (incandescent bulbs) that they replace.
Why should I use these products?
The main benefit for using these products is that they use much less energy or electricity and give out a lot less heat without loss of light output. So you get much more light for your energy cost! Saving you money on your electricity bill! Per bulb, you will save up to 80% more energy and £35 by using a CFL compared to an incandescent bulb.
By using at least 6 in your home you are saving at least £210 during the lifetime of the bulbs!
They use a lot less energy they also are also much less likely to burn out as normal incandescent bulbs do every 1,000 hours!
This is why they last between 8,000 hours and 15,000 hours or 8 to 15 times more than normal incandescent bulbs. These bulbs also give off less heat, due to less energy used and therefore are safer where children are concerned, so you will find them more frequently used in children’s lighting, like our range of Nursery lamps!
Uses up to 80% less energy than normal light bulbs
Saves you money on your electricity bill
Lasts between 8 and 15 times longer than standard bulbs
No need to change bulbs regularly
Safer for children’s lighting and illuminating children’s rooms.
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How do they save money?
Quite simply they use less electricity, by using less electricity you are saving money. Although they do cost more than normal incandescent bulbs, economically they are much better, as they last much longer. Between 8 and 15 times longer!.
On the chart above, the blue line shows the running costs of an ordinary 100W light bulb. Every thousand hours or so it will burn out and need replacing as a cost of about 50p, but most of the expense of this bulb is in the energy.
The red line shows the cost of owning a 21W Compact Fluorescent Lamp. Although it costs about £5 to buy initially, after about 900 hours of use the electricity savings have offset the extra purchase cost. As the CFL will typically last for a total of 8,000 hours, the savings over its lifetime could reach £35!
What products do your bulbs fit?
The bulbs we have in stock will fit normal fittings;
B22 BC or Bayonet Cap
E27 ES or Large Edison Screw Cap
E14 SES or Small Edison Screw Cap
This means that a large percentage of our lighting will be able to use these bulbs!
In all our listings we have included the type of bulbs that is required for that lighting product. So you know which fitting you need to purchase. If you are unsure of which energy saving bulb would be suitable to use, please contact us.
As of yet we do not have any energy saving products for GU10 or R-50 spotlight products. We are looking into these and any developments on energy saving bulbs for spotlight we will keep you posted.
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What wattages do I need?
Energy saving products are sold in wattages as are normal incandescent bulbs. However the wattage on an energy saving bulb is much less than standard bulbs. Different manufacturers of bulbs do advise slightly different wattage conversions.
Philips - Genie Range |
11 watt |
60 watt soft light |
18 watt |
100 watt soft light |
Philips - Softone Range |
12 watt |
60 watt soft light |
16 watt |
75 watt soft light |
20 watt |
100 watt soft light |
GE – Energy Saving Tech & Elegance Ranges |
9 watt |
40 watt |
11 watt |
60 watt |
15 watt |
75 watt |
20 watt |
100 watt |
.Are low voltage products and bulbs the same as energy saving products?
No. Low voltage is the amount of current that is being used by the product. Energy saving products use less wattages, which is the energy being used.
You can tell the items that are low voltage, these products use small bright halogen bulbs and all our low voltage products have transformers included inside the products. Halogen bulbs do used less power than incandescent bulbs but each lighting fitting requires the use of more bulbs to give the same light output compared to a CFL.
However, both low voltage and energy saving products can NOT be used with a dimmer switch. This is due to the transformer in the low voltage product and ballast in the energy saving product. Use of a dimmer switch on these products will cause circuit failure and the product will stop functioning.
I’m buying a light, but can I fit an energy saving bulb in it?
The bulbs we have in stock will fit normal fittings;
B22 BC or Bayonet Cap
E27 ES or Large Edison Screw Cap
E14 SES or Small Edison Screw CapThis means that a large percentage of our lighting will be able to use these bulbs!
In all our listings we have included the type of bulbs that is required for that lighting product so you know which fitting you need to purchase.
If you are unsure of which energy saving bulb would be suitable to use, please contact us.
As of yet we do not have any energy saving products for G4, G9, GU10 or R-50 spotlight products. We are looking into these and any developments on energy saving bulbs for spotlight we will keep you posted.
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How and where should I install an energy saving bulb in my home?
We recommend fitting energy saving bulbs everywhere in your home to save you the most amount of money! Hallways, lounge, dining room, kitchens and bedrooms are all ideal locations for these bulbs. Energy saving bulbs are great for outdoor use as well, as they last so long!
Lighting with Energy Saving Bulb included!
When installing energy saving bulbs, careful handling is required for these bulbs. We recommend fitting them into light sockets using the ballast near the actual fitting. As always make sure electrics are off when installing new bulbs and light fittings.
If you are unsure of installing your lights, please consult your local electrician.
All energy saving bulbs are ugly, how can I hide them?
We now have two types of energy saving bulbs on the market. Economy sticks which are the ‘ugly’ bulbs some people talk about, and the look-a-like CFL. The economy sticks are ideal in bathroom IP44 rated fitting and outdoor IP44 rated lighting, so they are hidden behind frosted or opaque glass, but still used in the best way.
The look-a-like bulbs are great in all other products. They look like normal GLS and candle incandescent bulbs but work the same way as all other CFLs.
All ideal in our chandeliers, floor lamps and table lamps! Lighting with Energy Saving Bulb included!
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What are look-a-like bulbs?
Look-a-like bulbs are CFL energy saving bulbs, but instead of having the looped tubes, like the economy stick versions, they look like normal frosted bulbs.
The bulbs are slightly bigger than normal incandescent GLS and Candle bulbs, but are still coated in phosphor on the inside of the bulb. They operate in the same way as other CFL bulbs, but look more aesthetically appealing!
We have GLS look-a-like bulbs in 12, 16 or 20 watt, B22 and E27 fittings.
We also have Candle look-a-like bulbs in 9 watt in B22 and E14 fittings.
Are your bulbs branded?
Yes. All our bulbs have been approved by the Energy Saving Trust and are able to have this approval logo on them. This is a good mark of a quality CFL bulb. The brands that we stock are Philips and GE. Cheaper bulbs made in the far east have not been test very rigorously and therefore do not perform to the high standards set by the Energy Saving Trust.
You can therefore buy with confidence from us!
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What colour does your energy saving bulbs give off?
Our bulbs give off a soft warm colour light. The proper code for this colour is 827. Therefore your home will be illuminated with soft warm light, not harsh bright white light
I want to purchase multiple bulbs, can I and how do I do this?
You are able to purchase a maximum of 6 bulbs per order. We have to limit the amount of bulbs that can be purchased due to these bulbs being subsided by Powergen to encourage the use of energy saving bulbs in domestic usage.
We are therefore not allow to supply you will more than 6 bulbs per invoice.
We supply our supply our bulbs in packs of 1, 4 and 6, so you get more value for money!
To add these bulbs to your existing order please see our Shop listings for these bulbs.
If the bulb you require is not listed, please let us know and we will gladly list it for you if we have more in stock
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