71   General / General Discussion / Re: Are there any digital cameras that can capture a lamp’s color accurately?  on: February 07, 2026, 10:45:28 PM 
Started by WorldwideHIDCollectorUSA - Last post by rapidstart_12
At least for white light, I think any camera will do as long as the white balance is locked at a neutral color (I find that 4100-4200K works best usually). The problem is that cameras always try to “correct” the white balance, which causes the color of white light to become distorted. On a phone, there are apps that let you lock the white balance. Any digital camera worth its salt should have a way to do this as well.
 72   General / Off-Topic / Re: Spiel about the "best" socket in the world (maybe not UK...)  on: February 07, 2026, 05:54:32 PM 
Started by Multisubject - Last post by Multisubject
@Baked bagel 11
Almost all of our appliances have switches on the actual appliance, that we would typically turn off before unplugging. I think Technology Connections made a video arguing both sides of the topic of switched outlets, I don't really know where I stand on that issue. In my mind, switches gotta be somewhere, doesn't matter where you put them. Switched outlets do exist in the US and are cool, but not often. Oh well.
 73   General / Off-Topic / Re: Spiel about the "best" socket in the world (maybe not UK...)  on: February 07, 2026, 05:37:17 PM 
Started by Multisubject - Last post by Baked bagel 11
Aussie sockets have switches, so there isn't arcing! I never understood why the USA didn't do that.
 74   General / Off-Topic / Spiel about the "best" socket in the world (maybe not UK...)  on: February 07, 2026, 05:01:51 PM 
Started by Multisubject - Last post by Multisubject
It seems that the widely accepted "best" socket in the work is the UK BS-1363 (type G) socket. This is a pretty decent opinion, but I personally think it is the second best socket in the world. Here is why:
 - Ground prong is the same width as the live/neutral pins, just longer and unshrouded. This means that with a cruddy noncompliant socket that doesn't have a wide enough flange (common with international sockets), you can insert the ground prong into the live part of the socket, energizing the chassis of the appliance.
 - They are sharp, of course I haven't ever experienced this myself because I live in the US but apparently the rectangular beveled pins of the plug are very very painful to step on, especially since practically all of the plugs are of the right-angle style that can stick up when laying on the ground.
 - If you have a screwdriver then you can shove a Europlug in it, potentially damaging socket contacts

The plug that I think is the best (with conditions) is the type M plug (BS-546), most notably used in the UK before the late 1940s when they switched to type G, and currently used in countries like India and South Africa among others. Now the type M plug I believe is still made in unshrouded pin and unfused versions, and I believe the sockets are also made in unshuttered versions. But shrouded, fused, and shuttered versions exist, which maintain equal safety to type G with the following benefits:
 - Ground prong is too wide to fit in live/neutral parts of the socket
 - Rounded ends probably greatly reduce the pain associated with stepping on them
 - Completely incompatible with most cruddy international multi-fit sockets (a good thing, really)
 - Can handle up to 15A instead of just 13 (not as important for existing applications of course)
 - You can't shove other country's improper plugs inside them with just a screwdriver

Now obviously the UK switched away from this plug for a reason, because their ring mains could deliver up to 32A, and that required every plug to have a fuse. This could have been done with type M, but older plugs and sockets would still exist that remained unfused, unshrouded, and unshuttered. They made the right move in my mind. And all of the drawbacks of the current type G are really just nitpicking. But my viewpoint stands, type M is probably the best, assuming the sockets are shuttered and the plugs are fused and shrouded.

Also on a side note: Australian (type I) outlets are based on blades, like US plugs. New type I plugs have shrouded pins, proving that it is possible to make shrouded pins on a blade-style plug. Why doesn't the US do this? 120V can still really hurt you.

What do you think?
 75   General / General Discussion / Re: The Don't Mess With My Home Appliances Act  on: February 07, 2026, 01:15:41 PM 
Started by Lcubed3 - Last post by rapidstart_12
@joseph_125 - I believe GE, Sylvania, and Philips all switched their residential warm white lamps to triphosphor by the late 90s or early 2000s. GE had ‘Kitchen & Bath’ (AKA SP30/730, or SPX30/830 for the K&B Ultra version), Philips had ‘Soft White’ (AKA 30U/830), and Sylvania had ‘Designer 3000K’ (AKA 730). I believe they did this for the higher CRI as warm white lamps are typically used in indoor applications where you would want colors to look as natural as possible, and warm white halophosphate lamps are notorious for having an extremely low CRI of 52. They kept the cool white and daylight lamps halophosphate and they are still like that to this day as far as I know.

Ironically, it was the miniature T5 lamps where the warm whites largely stayed halophosphate all that time. I’m pretty sure Philips was the only one to make them triphosphor.
 76   General / General Discussion / Re: The Don't Mess With My Home Appliances Act  on: February 07, 2026, 11:44:02 AM 
Started by Lcubed3 - Last post by joseph_125
I wonder if reduced production volumes for those lamps starting in the mid-late 2010s meant it was more economical for the lamp manufacturers to standardize on triphosphors which were required for 4ft T12/T8 lamps instead of have a separate batch of halophosphors for the shorter lamps. I noticed for the Philis/Signify lamps that the Soft Whites got replaced by /830 instead, even the F8T5s but I think the cool white lamps shorter than 4ft were still halophosphate.

Not sure about Sylvania as all the hardware stores stopped selling Sylvania 3 years ago.   
 77   General / General Discussion / Re: The Don't Mess With My Home Appliances Act  on: February 07, 2026, 07:33:45 AM 
Started by Lcubed3 - Last post by rapidstart_12
@joseph_125 - I have noticed that as well. It is definitely a curious situation. Triphosphor miniature T5 lamps have been extremely rare throughout the entire course of those lamps’ existence, with only a handful of models being produced. Why they would start secretly using triphosphors without even making any notice of it is weird to me, especially since I’m not sure it’s universal on all of the GE miniature T5 lamps in production. Perhaps the triphosphors really are getting cheaper than halophosphates. The manufacturers have always been super stingy on specialty and residential-grade lamps, using halophosphates on nearly every lamp they can, and if not halophosphates then 700 series phosphors. I apologize if this is a ridiculous thought, but I wonder if those miniature lamps could have more of a connection to CFL manufacturing. CFLs are triphosphor with practically no exceptions, perhaps if the miniature T5 lamps are being made in the same factories as CFLs, maybe it just made more sense logistically to switch them to triphosphor.
 78   General / General Discussion / Re: Osram Sylvania Factory Location?  on: February 07, 2026, 03:14:23 AM 
Started by NeXe Lights - Last post by Maxim
@James - even back in 2008, Sylvania listed 13 factory locations! Also, it's nice to see that many of their plants were repurposed instead of demolished, ie, York PA, St Marys, Towanda, etc. I know Wellsboro was partially demolished for whatever reason. It's nice to see Phoenix Investors maintain/market their former facilities instead of letting them fall into disrepair or abandonment, as happened with some of Philips' plants (Bath, NY).

https://web.archive.org/web/20080209143252/http://www.sylvania.com/AboutUs/Careers/Locations/
 79   Lanterns/Fixtures / Vintage & Antique / Re: Can anyone identify this MV bulb and ballast?  on: February 07, 2026, 01:36:00 AM 
Started by jcs97 - Last post by jcs97
Update - here are some photos. I meant to get this done before.
 80   General / General Discussion / Re: What did you do today lighting wise?  on: February 07, 2026, 12:48:40 AM 
Started by RyanF40T12 - Last post by xmaslightguy
Replaced an EOL F20 plant/aquarium lamp (and the starter) in one of my aquarium lights.
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