Halogen Light Bulbs:

Halogen Light Bulb Information:

Halogen Light Bulb Fact: Halogen lamps are 20 percent brighter and longer lasting than normal incandescent light bulbs.

What is a Halogen Bulb?

Halogen light bulbs are a special type of incandescent light bulb. They are filled with halogen gas, have a tungsten filament, and are enclosed in quartz glass.

What is a Halogen?

Halogens are five non-metallic elements found in group 7 of the periodic table. "Halogen" means "salt-former" and compounds containing halogens are identified as "salts". The five halogens are: Fluorine (F), Chlorine (Cl), Bromine (Br), Iodine (I), Astatine (At).

Benefits of Halogen Lamps:

Bright, White Light:

• Crisp, white light.
• Greater quantity of light than standard incandescent.
• Versatile - great for general, task, and accent lighting.

Color Temperature & Rendering:

• Halogens are incandescent lamps - CRI of 100 render colors accurately.
• Matches light sources in 3000K range.

Long Life:

• Uses tungsten filaments.
• Gasses inside halogen lamps allow the evaporated tungsten to redeposit to the filament.
• Long life - 2,000 hours or more.

Variety of Shapes:

• normally small and compact - good for accent lighting.
• also available in standard shapes to fit existing light fixtures.

How Halogen Light Bulbs Work:

The process of lighting a halogen light bulb is similar to a regular incandescent. Electricity heats up the tungsten filament until it glows. The difference begins with the "Halogen Cycle".

Halogen Cycle:

The halogen cycle allows halogen light bulbs, more specificaly the filaments, to last longer then regular incandescent lamps.

• Heat causes the tungsten particles from the filament to evaporate.
• This evaporated tungsten collides and chemically bonds with the halogen gas.
• Tungsten particles are redeposited to the filament.

The temperature is important for the halogen cycle to work. Interior wall of the light bulb needs to be between 250 C and 1100 C and the filament - at least 2000 C. The interior wall must be close to the tungsten filament to reach this temperature. Halogen light bulbs become hot because of the close proximity of the bulb wall to the hot filament. Halogen bulb walls are made of quartz because it can withstand the high heat. That is why they are sometimes called quartz halogen bulbs.

Halogen Light Bulb Shapes:

The letters designate the shape of the halogen light bulb. The number specifies the diameter by 1/8 of an inch.
90PAR36 - 90 watt, parabolic aluminized reflector, 36 1/8 of an inch (4 1/2") diameter.
Q50MR16 - 50 watt, mini reflector or mirrored reflector, 16 1/8 of an inch (2") diameter.

Different Types of Halogen Light Bulbs:

PAR16, PAR20, PAR30 (short & long neck), MR11 (D.C. Bayonet), PAR36 (Screw Terminal), MR11 (Bi-pin), MR16 (Bi-Pin), MR16 (G8 Wide Bi-Pin), MR16 (Intermediate & Medium Screw Base), MR16 (GU10 Twist Lock Base), JCGV (Ball Light Reg. & Long Neck), JD (D.C. Bayonet), JC (Bi-Pin), JD (Mini Can & European), JCD (G9 Double Loop).

Dimming Halogen Lamps:

Line voltage (120V) halogen bulbs can be dimmed by regular incandescent dimmers. Using a dimmer with halogen bulbs actually has negative effects. When dimmed, the halogen filaments do not reach the 250 C needed for the halogen cycle to take place. This could cause the inside wall of the bulb to blacken reducing light quantity and life. Running the lamp at full brightness will help restore and clean the bulb.

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