E11 Mini-Candelabra socket adapters?

[zxcvbob]

The lights in our church are incandescents on dimmers.  150W light bulbs cost $3 apiece and only last 750 hours (weren't they $2 just a couple of months ago?) and these lights are in enclosed fixtures and *really* hard to reach.  Little screw-in halogen capsule lights are slightly more efficient, cost $6, and last 2000 hours.  I also suspect traditional 150W lamps will get expensive and/or hard to find soon.

100W lamps aren't bright enough, even if I get the brightest ones available. (and they may be disappearing soon too)  I've stocked up on them anyway while I can, but that's not the direction I wanna go.

So I'm looking for bushings to screw into medium-base Edison light sockets to adapt them to single-ended halogen lamps.  I've seen medium-base to candelabra adapters, but this is a "mini candelabra" thread, not normal candelabra base -- also it needs to be temperature rated for at least 150W lamps.  Any idea?  This shouldn't be that hard, but I'm not sure anybody makes an adapter like this.  Maybe I should be looking for replacement sockets...

[zxcvbob]

I found the right phrase to search for, "E26 to E11 adapter", but all I've found is companies in China that sell them in lots of 50 or 100, etc.  And not necessarily UL listed.

[Brad Johnson]

UL listing? Pffft, who needs it.  Whaddaya concerned about safety or sumthin'?

Brad

[never_retreat]

No luck on the adapter here either.
How about something like this.
http://www.elightbulbs.com/Eiko-00251-150T10-H-F-Tubular-Halogen-Light-Bulb
2000 hours
http://www.elightbulbs.com/Eiko-81141-150BT15-H-W-BT15-Halogen-Light-Bulb
3000 hours
http://www.elightbulbs.com/Sylvania-15017-1950L-A23-8M-120V-Traffic-Signal-Light-Bulb
8000 hours. I've done signal work and they really do last.

Bearing in mind that using any of these bulbs (or doing what you wanted to do) in the fixture will most likely void the UL rating of the fixture.

[zxcvbob]

Thanks.  The fixtures are probably 60+ years old.  Pendants with large flattened glass globes.  The last time I changed one of the lamps, it had a 200W in there.  (I don't know what the fixtures are rated, but the dimmer controls 4 fixtures and it's rated only 600W, or maybe 660) The wires and the socket looked fine.

If 150W E26-base lamps disappear, this looks like it might be the way to go to retrofit the old fixtures to minicans.  Replace the existing sockets rather than adapt them, and a 1/8 IP nipple will mount the new sockets:


 http://www.harringtonlights.com/images/e11c12.jpg  

I still haven't found any info about whether the lamps need to be base down or base up.

[never_retreat]

The ban of regular light bulbs did get scraped. All of the ones I suggested were specialty bulbs and should be unaffected.
There are certain applications were any current energy efficient bulb will not work. Fluorescents don't work in the cold, can't be turned on and off, and high heat kills them. Led's work in the cold usually but heat kills them also.
There is still the problem of putting these green bulbs in most fixtures. The Fixture gets its UL or CSA approval with a certain type or types of bulbs. Anything else not listed is a code violation.

I saw this first hand on a house I added a bunch of recessed lights in. Did the job, arranged for the electrical inspector to come out when the home owner was home, get a call from a pissed home owner that we failed? Called the building dept to find out why? Inspector says incorrect bulbs in fixture. When we left they all had 65 watt reflector lamps. Home owner took them all out and replaced them with florescent reflector type bulbs. Told him to switch them back and call the inspector back. Here is the kicker the guy took out 20 some bulbs and chucked them. He had to go buy all new ones to pass the inspection. I'm sure he switched them back after words but not my problem.

I do like the idea of switching the socket. I did not know what type of fixture is was so I did not suggest that or even know if it was possible.

I would really look at the 8000 hour bulb, it might be cheaper in the long run.