71   General / Off-Topic / Re: Aluminum Used For Electrical Applicatons Questions  on: April 17, 2026, 09:05:01 AM 
Started by Multisubject - Last post by dor123
It is true, the aluminum is more than double the conductivity of copper per conductor weight (not cross section, really weight), also way cheaper, but these aspects are not that significant on thinner wires. There the surrounding accessory (the insulation, restriction to the cable assembly materials to prevent corrosion, more care so more expense needed for termination,...) either cost the same or even is more expensive with aluminum, so if the material/weight savings are not substantial, it does not make much sense.

Regardless of the exact composition, aluminum are all more prone to oxidation and creep problems. The improved composition made them less severe, but compare to copper, they are still there. And some of the ways how to address these problems means more expensive terminal designs.
Now these problems affect mainly thinner conductors, the thicker the thing is, more resistant it becomes. So for relatively thin home installations they are way too much problem vs how much cost and weight savings it may offer vs copper, or the fixes for the aluminum problem become relatively expensive (big part of the extra termination cost to fix the aluminum problems does not depend on the size/rating of the connection, so for low current ones becomes pretty expensive). But for higher current, thicker conductors have inherently less problems to start with, plus the amount of material in question becomes so much it starts to make sense to invest into the more complex connection solutions.

And this is reflected in the standards - aluminum is allowed only 16mm^2 and above (AWG6 and thicker)

For normal home 16A circuit installation the 2.5mm^2 of copper is used (4mm^2 was used with Al),
that in the equivalent 4mm^2 Al, was and in older installations still is causing permanent headaches with connection resistance faults.

Only the main feed and distribution lines, generally significantly thicker than the 16mm^2, are still installed and used with aluminum without any problems. But the important differentiator is the conductor size.
If aluminum have more electrical conductivity than cooper, why most ballast wires are made from cooper and why most electrical cables are made from cooper?
 72   General / General Discussion / Re: Little bit of liquid inside the envelope of a filament LED  on: April 17, 2026, 08:49:28 AM 
Started by Multisubject - Last post by Multisubject
@RRK
Good to know, I'll look out for that from now on
 73   General / Off-Topic / Re: Aluminum Used For Electrical Applicatons Questions  on: April 17, 2026, 08:49:07 AM 
Started by Multisubject - Last post by Multisubject
@Laurens
That is true I suppose, wiring cost is relatively small

@Medved
I did not consider that those problems would be worse with smaller gauges that does make sense. Interesting how you have a minimum conductor size for aluminum use there.
 74   General / Off-Topic / Re: Severe weather never sleeps!  on: April 17, 2026, 07:56:48 AM 
Started by lightinglover8902 - Last post by dor123
We have strong eastern winds of 60km/h for several days ago, alongside with heat wave and now, the heat wave has been ended with moisture haze: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZjLty8lDfJ4
Edit: that so low visibility:
 75   Lanterns/Fixtures / Modern / Where do these fixtures originally Originate From?  on: April 17, 2026, 03:53:17 AM 
Started by bydgoszczanin13 - Last post by bydgoszczanin13
Hello,

Recently I've been finding out from Philips fixture from which Country they originally Originate from, for example, The HGS201 from Greece Philips, Philips Malaga 1 from France Philips, bla bla bla
...

I just wanted to know where do these fixtures originally come from, as I just cannot find out:

-Philips Sgs203 and Sgs204:

-Philips Trafficvision

-Philips Malaga 2 (Sgs103, Sgs104)

-Philips Iridium (it's either France Or Poland, but not sure)


Any answer would be helpful 👍
 76   Lamps / Modern / Eu:YPV in triphosphors fluorescents and CFLs instead of Eu:YOX  on: April 17, 2026, 02:33:26 AM 
Started by dor123 - Last post by dor123
Why Eu:YPV isn't used in CFLs and triphosphors fluorescents instead of the red Eu:YOX? Yttrium vanadate have better red emission than Eu:YOX.
 77   General / Off-Topic / Re: Micheal’s gone!?  on: April 17, 2026, 02:17:29 AM 
Started by SussexEuroSOX - Last post by SussexEuroSOX
Though, No one would probably miss me if I left, a unpopular guy who's interested in a part of lighting who no one really much cares about...

Nah don’t say that! You are one of the coolest on this site! I mean, more people like Polish than Belgian! Plus if you left I would be very sad, to be honest I would be sad if anyone left, one of the reasons why I created this post, but I’d be extra sad for you especially!  :love: 

If Micheal or I would be missed you would be missed that’s basically how I would put it.

TBH if I the shadow Rhombaloux with the Yellow background were to disappear from the site, I’m not going to be as missed Micheal because he’s been on here way more than a year!
 78   Lanterns/Fixtures / Modern / Re: Indal, the Spanish brand that dominated the street lighting market.  on: April 17, 2026, 01:35:57 AM 
Started by PabTheSpanish - Last post by SussexEuroSOX
What did you post?, haven’t been on LG for a while and this one was the first I came across? 😃
Aight so you go on to Modern in the Lanterns section of the Forum, then you look for Belgian Lighting Information Board, you know what I’ll just give you a link https://www.lighting-gallery.net/index.php?topic=18978.0 give it a good read! I spent hard work on it!
 79   Lamps / Modern / Re: Mercury vapor lamps are now RARE in the USA OVERNIGHT  on: April 16, 2026, 10:27:24 PM 
Started by WorldwideHIDCollectorUSA - Last post by wide-lite 1000
 I still say it has to do with the local of both the seller and buyer . I still see plenty of MV listings on eBay . Plus , as I thought , several sellers are listing their MV lamps using creative wording such as high intersity lamp , vapor lamp , large old bulb ,Incande$cent , etc .

 The USPS has toughened their rules for shipping mercury related items , my way around it is when asked "anything liquid , fragile ,flammable , glass or mercury ?" I answer "yes , fragile glass , it's an vintage lightbulb . Never had even a second look ! I've even shipped mercury lamps overseas to countries with strict mercury bans with no problems.by simply putting old light bulb on trhe customs form .

 There ARE ways around all of this if the sellers actually put some effort into it ! 
 80   Lamps / Modern / Re: When was this non-Alto made?  on: April 16, 2026, 09:13:59 PM 
Started by Emersyn - Last post by rapidstart_12
@Emersyn - I see the Hg symbol now. Though to me it almost looks like part of the H0 date code with the image compression making it appear as though there’s a circle around it. It is difficult to make out the smaller details in the current image, do you have a better quality one you could share by chance?

I did a search to see if I could find any other examples of this lamp online, couldn’t find any. Unfortunately, this is probably so rare that it isn’t documented anywhere online. You really have to wonder where this sort of stuff comes from. I don’t think this is the first time I’ve seen a lamp not listed in a company’s catalog (it doesn’t seem as though the catalogs are always all-encompassing, even though they really should be). Granted, I’ve never ordered anything professionally and I don’t entirely know how things work as far as that goes, but I’d think that if a product is not listed in the catalog, no one would know that it is available and thus won’t order it.

Assuming this lamp is some type of a foreign/export lamp, is there really anything stopping it being from 2020? The wear would certainly point more towards it being from 2010, but maybe it’s a really crap quality legacy lamp that was still being made for some random country using old machinery/manufacturing processes (so it still has an old etch even in 2020).
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