We decided to replace the horrible old fittings in our bathroom with some old 2D fittings that we found in the warehouse – as you do!
When we first moved into the house the light fittings had 100 watt bulbs in them so they were removed pretty much straight away! We had replaced them with sample low energy lamps we had lying around (can you tell how tight we are) which were much lower wattage but gave enough light for what we needed.
After one of the fittings started to flash we decided it was time to get rid of the ugly things and put in the 2D bulkheads we had found.
Now these 2D lamps are only 16 watts each (and have a fantasticly long life of 15000hrs or around 3 1/2 years if they are on 12 hours a day). Im certain that the light level in the bathroom is a bright as it was with the original 100watt bulbs in the old fittings!
We will be putting some fittings on the site soon as we really think they are an amazingly sensible product. They give out much more light than the downlighters that everyone seems to use nowadays and the fittings dont have to be ugly. They can also be wall or ceiling mounted and come with High frequency gear which gives instant start, is more efficient than the old wire wound stuff and means the lamp should have a longer life and not flicker.
The poor old 2D is a bit of an unsung hero really
CommercialLamps
@CommercialLamps
Interesting but what on earth are “2D” lamps & fittings. What’s this all about?
2D lamps are usually used as emergency lights in commercial buildings or as outside lights and ever stairwell lights. They are called 2D’s because they look like two two D’s back to back. They are sometimes known as butterfly lamps too.
If you have a look in Fluorescent /shaped fluorescent then you can see a picture of the 2D lamp. The fittings they go in are usually round, are very low profile and easy to install. They throw light in all directions too so are much more efficient than the downlighters everyone seems to be fitting nowadays