Energy & Water Conservation Blog » Gu24 bulbs

Are the pin based bulb interchangeable from one manufacturer to another

Conservation Mart — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 02:53:00 +0000

This is a question that is posed to our customer service quite frequently.
Unfortunately there is no short yes or no answer.

For the most part, if you are matching up the pin-base and the wattage, bulbs should be interchangable regardless of manufacturer.

It’s straightforward with bulbs like four pin, G24q-3 base. If you match that information up exactly, they should be interchangeable.

It’s much harder with 2 C circular bulbs because different manufacturers will align the pins slightly differently.

Some manufacturers don’t publish a “base type”, which makes matching bulbs nearly impossible. It’s very difficult, for example, to match up Lights of America to other brands successfully.

The future of lighting is the GU24 base, which is completely interchangable regardless of manufacturer. A nice thing about this design is that if the fixture takes a 26w bulb, you can use any GU24 bulb with an wattage bulb equal to *or less than* 26w.

Why does this Pin Based Lamp not fit my fixture?

Conservation Mart — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 02:06:00 +0000

I’ve heard this twice last week. Friends and customers had purchased a pin based bulb and tried to replace their existing burned out bulb.
When they inserted the lamp into the fixture it wouldn’t go in. The fixture seemed the right size and shape but the pins were the wrong size and wouldn’t go in to the socket.

What’s going on they asked me? One had a 2D lamp and they other had a 4 pin quad lamp. Although different styles of bulbs, they were both pin based. The answer for both of them had to do with the lamp being the wrong wattage. Pin Based lamps have one disadvantage: they are wattage dependent. So you have to put a lamp of the same size wattage into the fixture. If you want a different wattage e.g. going from 55W to 38W, you will have to change out the fixture. So in the case of the friend with the 2D Lamp, she needed to put in a 55W 2D bulb not a 38W.

This is an issue you don’t face with GU24 fixtures. It’s easy to swap out a bulb of a different wattage. See last week’s post on the advantages of GU24 base bulbs.

What exactly is a GU24 base CFL bulb?

Conservation Mart — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 19:42:00 +0000

You may have heard of Compact Fluorescent Light (CFL) GU24 base bulbs and wondered what they are. These bulbs have a different base than the standard screw base CFL bulbs. GU24 bulbs have 2 pins protruding from the base instead of the usual screw in base. To install the bulb, you would insert the pins into the corresponding holes in the socket and twist the light bulb and lock it into place.

So why would you want to use a GU24 base bulb? What are the advantages of GU24 bulbs?

GU24 bulbs are self ballasted i.e. the ballast portion of the bulb is already attached to the bulb and is easy to replace.

The overall length of the bulb is shorter since the ballast and the bulb are in one unit

You can easily change the wattage of the bulb, unlike pin base bulbs which require the socket to be changed for different wattages of bulbs. This offer more flexibility

The size and shape of socket is similar to an incandescent socket so it’s great for homes.

Standard GU24 Bulbs are interchangeable between manufacturers

So next time you’re in the market for a lighting fixture, consider one that utilizes a GU24 base bulb