Halogen Bulbs

How does the halogen bulb work?

A halogen bulb works much like an incandescent bulb, but halogen light sources convert more electricity into light than incandescent bulbs do. As a result, halogen actually produces more heat, which means that the bulb must have heat-resistant glass to prevent the glass from cracking. In addition, the glass of a halogen lamp contains gas (which the incandescent lamp does not) so that black spots do not form. Although there is a fire hazard in unattended halogen light bulbs, they also have strengths that made them popular in their day. What these light sources are best known for is their excellent color rendering index (CRI), which allows halogen light sources to illuminate colors in their true, natural colors without deviation.

Why are halogen lamps being phased out?

As of 1 September 2018, the manufacture and import of halogen lamps has been banned in the EU, the final step in the EU's phase-out of energy-saving lighting, which began in 2009 with the banning of incandescent lamps. Halogen lamps are being phased out because they use so much energy that it is not environmentally friendly. In addition, the lifespan of halogen is much shorter than that of the more energy-efficient alternative, LEDs. A halogen bulb lasts for about 2,000 hours while an LED bulb lasts from 15,000 hours to 40,000 hours, which is considerably longer. This means that light sources have to be recycled, thrown away, replaced, all much more infrequently. Both consumers and businesses benefit from this.  

For the environment, there are better alternatives than halogen. By switching to LEDs, we save about 10 terawatt hours of electricity per year, which is equivalent to the annual electricity consumption of Portugal or Estonia, for example. That's why we always recommend buying LED light sources, which are very energy efficient and don't heat up. If you want to see all our LED lights, you can visit our category page: LED lights.

Can I use a halogen bulb in the oven?

Some halogen light bulbs are designed to handle up to 300 degrees of heat, but not all. You should always make sure that your bulb can withstand such high temperatures before you buy or install it in the oven! Although LEDs are very suitable and also recommended as lighting in most applications, LED lights are not good for the oven. LEDs are not built (yet) to handle such high temperatures and would melt in the oven. See all our halogen oven bulbs here.

Ar halogen bulbs dimmable?

Yes, but like other light sources, not all. Always read the specifications of the bulb carefully to make sure you've chosen a dimmable light source. These lamps are good for fine mood lighting, because the light colour of the lamps is between extra warm white and warm white. Dimmable options can be controlled from, for example, cosy, relaxed restaurant lighting to very warm white movie night lighting. You can choose to tick "Yes" in the filter on the left under "Dimmable" or you can click on the following link to go to our category: Dimmable halogen bulbs.

What are the advantages of halogen?

• Halogen lamps contain no toxic substances. On the positive side, halogen does not contain toxic substances as, for example, incandescent and fluorescent lamps do. A broken halogen bulb should still be disposed of properly. They are sorted as electronic waste with other light sources such as incandescent bulbs and CFLs. Although they are thrown away in the same environmental station, with advanced sorting the particles can be collected and the useful particles can be picked out. Although halogen lamps are no longer produced, these lamps can still be used in households until the end and shops may still sell the last bulbs. From a business perspective, it is better to switch to LEDs now. Halogen lamps still need to be replaced after 2 years again, whereas with LEDs it can take 15-20 years before this becomes necessary.
  
  
• Best colour rendering. For halogen light sources, the CRI value is more often than not around 90-99 Ra, which means that the illuminated colours hardly deviate at all from their natural colours. Lamps with high colour rendering are suitable for fashion and art exhibitions, for example, where colours play a major role in the experience.
  
  
• Halogen light sources are at first glance cheaper than LEDs, but due to the longer lifetime and low power consumption of LEDs, it is actually cheaper to choose LEDs in the first place. LED lamps use 4-5 times less power than halogen lamps. In addition to the annual savings in electricity consumption, you can also save on the purchase of incandescent bulbs. For example, you will have to buy 7 halogen bulbs for each time you buy an equivalent LED bulb, as the life of halogen bulbs is shorter. Read more about this topic in our blog post: Goodbye halogen.

Replace halogen with LED: What should you think about?

The generation that has grown up with halogen light sources is used to many watts being the same thing as the brightness of the bulb. The number of watts in today's world only means how much power the lamp needs. With LED lights, you should always look at many Lumens (light flux) to know how bright the light source is. For example, a LED spotlight bulb can use less than 2 Watts, but have a luminous flux of 100-200 lumens. If you try to find an LED replacement with the help of Watt parts on an old halogen lamp, it quickly goes wrong, and the brightness can be far too high for its area of use. For example, if you had a GU5.3 halogen spotlight that worked at 30-39W and gave about 400 lumens, with this Watt number you would not find LED spots with us. However, if you search LED alternatives with Lumens (in this case 400 lumens) under GU5.3 LED lights, you will find almost 60 different options.