LED wattage on lamp shade v bulb

[Clariman]

I've just bought a lampshade that says max 7W LED but the bulbs I have are all 9W LED. How big a risk is that?

The bulbs are traditional shape bayonet fitting.

[Lootman]

I've just bought a lampshade that says max 7W LED but the bulbs I have are all 9W LED. How big a risk is that?

The bulbs are traditional shape bayonet fitting.

Minimal since there is a margin of safety built into the cited maxima. I have often used bulbs above the max rating without a problem.

That said what is the lampshade made out of?

[BullDog]

If I did that and then had a fire in the room somewhere, I wouldn't want to be explaining to the loss adjuster why it was OK. In reality it's probably fine. But I wouldn’t do it.

[Dod101]

I would not do that. Just buy a 7W LED bulb. End of. Quite a big difference between 7W and 9W LED, maybe 30Watts in old money?

Dod

[doolally]

To me, 7W is close to nothing in terms of heat. Does the shade label specifically say 7W max LED, or does it say 60W which is typical for the old incandescent bulbs, and is more or less equivalent to 7W LED in terms of light output? If the shade can take a 60W incandescent, then it'll certainly take a 9W LED
Unless the shade is miniscule and very close to the bulb, I cannot imagine a 9W LED poses any risk whatsoever
doolally
edit.... my guess is that the shade was originally specified for 60W incandescent bulbs, then someone updated the label for LEDs without realising that 7W LED is equivalent for light output to a 60W incandescent but is a meaningless comparison in terms of heat

[Lootman]

I would not do that. Just buy a 7W LED bulb. End of. Quite a big difference between 7W and 9W LED, maybe 30Watts in old money?

Dod

Yes but that extra wattage does not translate into heat. LEDs produce almost no heat compared to incandescent bulbs. It is almost all light hence their efficiency and why those wattage ratings are so low.

But that said it is hard to recommend doing this and then discover that his house burns down and his insurance isn't valid.

[88V8]

I've just bought a lampshade that says max 7W LED but the bulbs I have are all 9W LED. How big a risk is that?

None.
LED = virtually no heat.

V8

[UncleEbenezer]

To me, 7W is close to nothing in terms of heat. Does the shade label specifically say 7W max LED, or does it say 60W which is typical for the old incandescent bulbs, and is more or less equivalent to 7W LED in terms of light output? If the shade can take a 60W incandescent, then it'll certainly take a 9W LED
Unless the shade is miniscule and very close to the bulb, I cannot imagine a 9W LED poses any risk whatsoever
doolally

The heat comes from the transformer. My older LED GU10 bulbs, which are considerably less than 7W, get quite warm.

edit.... my guess is that the shade was originally specified for 60W incandescent bulbs, then someone updated the label for LEDs without realising that 7W LED is equivalent for light output to a 60W incandescent but is a meaningless comparison in terms of heat

That seems entirely plausible.

Note that equivalences differ across bulb types. For spotlight-style bulbs, the equivalent brightness to 60W incandescent seems to be somewhere between 2W and 3W.

[Clariman]

I've just checked the spec online so I could answer the question about what it's made of, to find that it says maximum wattage is 10 online!

Fabric is polycotton with metal wire frame.

[Clariman]

Ah the plot thickens.

The packaging says,

GLS LED max 7 Watts
GLS Energy Saver max 10 Watts

What's the difference?

[jfgw]

Technically, a GLS (general lighting service) lamp is the now phased-out filament lamp like we used before CFLs and LEDs. It is the traditional "light bulb" . Some LED lamps are described as "GLS shape" or (incorrectly) just "GLS".

There are suggestions online that the maximum power difference for different lamp types is because a filament lamp radiates most of its energy as infra-red whereas the heat produced by an LED lamp just causes the lamp to get hotter. This does not seem right to me: A filament lamp is too hot to touch almost straight away after it has been switched on but an LED just gets warm.

I think a more likely explanation is that electronic devices don't last long at high temperatures.


Julian F. G. W.

[Clariman]

Even more confusing, another shade purchased from the same place shows 60 W filament max online. Label on packaging says GLS eco halogen 46W, spiral energy saver 14W, GLS LED 6W.

Surely a 46W halogen is going to generate way more heat than a 6W LED??

[swill453]

Even more confusing, another shade purchased from the same place shows 60 W filament max online. Label on packaging says GLS eco halogen 46W, spiral energy saver 14W, GLS LED 6W.

Surely a 46W halogen isn't going to generate way more heat than a 6W LED??

I would say yes, it's going to generate far more heat than the LED.

Roughly in line with the wattage really.

Scott.

[MrFoolish]

Feel the shade after the lamp has been on for a while (but try not electrocute yourself!) Common sense should tell you if it's getting warm enough to be a concern. At that wattage, I expect it will be barely warm.

[stevensfo]

I've just bought a lampshade that says max 7W LED but the bulbs I have are all 9W LED. How big a risk is that?

The bulbs are traditional shape bayonet fitting.

I've never heard of a max LED limit before. Different makes seem to vary, so I just bung in the strongest that I need. A 9W LED for a bedside lampshade does seem a bit too bright though.

Re. safety, well, when I was a nipper in the early 70s, my dad gave me a bit of the garden (well hidden) to grow stuff on and my grandfather gave a small old propagator that I put in my bedroom. It had an upper part for the soil and seeds and a lower part with an incandescent light bulb to provide the heat.

To this day, I don't know how I survived or how I never managed to trip all the fuses in the house.

Steve

[servodude]

I've just bought a lampshade that says max 7W LED but the bulbs I have are all 9W LED. How big a risk is that?

The bulbs are traditional shape bayonet fitting.

I've never heard of a max LED limit before. Different makes seem to vary, so I just bung in the strongest that I need. A 9W LED for a bedside lampshade does seem a bit too bright though.

Re. safety, well, when I was a nipper in the early 70s, my dad gave me a bit of the garden (well hidden) to grow stuff on and my grandfather gave a small old propagator that I put in my bedroom. It had an upper part for the soil and seeds and a lower part with an incandescent light bulb to provide the heat.

To this day, I don't know how I survived or how I never managed to trip all the fuses in the house.

Steve

I'm wondering if the "rating" isn't to get the desired/intended aesthetic effect from the shade?

[DrFfybes]

Even more confusing, another shade purchased from the same place shows 60 W filament max online. Label on packaging says GLS eco halogen 46W, spiral energy saver 14W, GLS LED 6W.

Surely a 46W halogen is going to generate way more heat than a 6W LED??

Probably due to the fact that they made it out of the thinnest possible material and so any brighter a bulb in there will be obviously visible when you look at the lamp and their pennypinching will be revealed

Paul

[jaizan]

I would not do that. Just buy a 7W LED bulb. End of. Quite a big difference between 7W and 9W LED, maybe 30Watts in old money?

Dod

The difference between 7W and 9W is 2W.

Ultimately whether it's from a filament bulb or LED, if both were 7W, the heat output would be approximately the same.

How big is the air gap from the 7W bulb to the shade ? I struggle to perceive any real risk with this.
If I wanted to design a lampshade that would catch fire when used with a 7W bulb, perhaps if I wrapped the bulb in polyester and soaked it with petrol I'd stand a chance. But I'm not sure.

[Clariman]

It is about 3 inches from the bulb.

[88V8]

It is about 3 inches from the bulb.

3 inches!! You'd have trouble setting light to that with a 100W bulb

V8