Rather than sit in the dark, I attempted the fix of bending the contact back, but unfortunately I performed it ineptly and was hit by flying glass when the new bulb fell out – though not causing any injury. I of course do not blame this website for this as it was my own fault.

Now I am in the ridiculous situation of having to swap an existing bulb around my flat as I move between rooms, until I can get a BC3 bulb, while 7 bulbs sit in my cupboard unused.

As more of these bulbs reach the ends of their lives (only about 1 year in this case), more people will be in this situation. I worry that people more vulnerable than me will be injured, or even possibly electrocuted, choosing to attempt this bodge rather than sit in the dark.

Now I don’t know for sure, but is it possible that Memolux are made by MEM? Reading the above does make me wonder.

There is another point re CFL’s.My understanding is that they contain Mercury whilst incandescent do not. Perhaps someone more knowledgeable could comment.

Regards

Not sure of the facts, but Ethical Products also appears to have gone out of business, meaning typical prices on the web are reaching £15 a bulb.

Am changing my sockets to 2-pin.

you are very lucky there was a previous use of BC3 for mercury discharge lamps that required the use of a separate choke upstream, one of the variants was a Blacklight Blue MBU/W 125 if this found its way to a direct socket like everyone reading this is troubled with then the bulb would take a very high current and eventually melt, and thats a fire risk plus should the outer envelope crack first you would see a very bright blue light but would not see the UV A + B, and would know nothing until you see the skin cancer or eye damage doctor when the inner part a quartz tube cracked there would be a significant release of Mercury and thats a beastly poison, for this reason alone even if it happened only once BC 3 should have never been reused

for completeness there was also a BC3 fireglow non standard lamp an orange tinted ordinary light bulb who’s power was the maximum that could be used under the plastic “coals” in flame effect electric heaters 1960s to 1990s ? but that would not be dangerous

and yes EATON are greedy grasping ….

They bought up MEM an old established electrical manufacturer from Birmingham UK and they always had good relations with architects and specifiers so only had to distribute leaflets saying this is the solution to part I

and I would question if the lamps are made in UK most probable they buy in regular CFLs in a part finished state and just fit the cap, perfectly justifiable to badge this as made in UK as the greater part 95% of the value is added at assembly.

Eaton / MEM website has some PDFs you can reach from

http://www.eaton.com/EatonCom/ProductsServices/MEM/Products/WiringAccessories/CIRCA/CT_141063

or just go to the main ETON.com website or the 2008 report

http://www1.eaton.com/eatonar08/01_00.htm

and see all the other things EATON is involved in, then boycott or blacklist the wretched lot of them

please take the time because they have taken the time to rob each of us every time we have to buy one of these damnable things

The legislation should have considered what would happen in the slow transition to BC3. It didn’t and the result is much consumer inconvenience. To what benefit? The CLF tube shapes are also better than they used to be and CLFs are now cheap enough that when consumers consider their longevity they may well buy them anyway. So I still think the legislation/regulation unhelpful/unnecessary and worse, nannying.

What it has clearly achieved is to line the pockets of Eaton/MEM. One would have thought the regulation very problematic due to the likely emergence of competing proprietory standards. But the fact that BC3 emerged as such a quick response to the legislation, becoming the only new standard, with MEM the only manufacturer – I actually almost find that suspicious. It certainly isn’t good competition policy.

I agree with previous posters. The legislation is badly thought through. They’ve given a company a loophole so that they can have anti-competitive practice enshrined in regulation under a green smoke screen. A legislative cock-up, I think. I’m also of the opinion that Eaton/MEM are most likely in bed with developers, due to their prevalence in newly built properties (even those finished in 2008 when MEM no longer makes the best CFLs).

I shall probably replace all my light fittings. Not because its cheap, but on principle. I’m not going to co-operate with something that reduces market choice (within the CFL sector it reduces choice).

I also agree with the point that these regulations are not forward looking from a technical progress perspective. Idiots in governemnt thought they’d suceeded in locking us in to the green future. Actually they’ve locked us in to MEM. As MEM settles into their cosy monopolistic position their product performance gets overtaken by the more competitive 2 pin market eg Philips Genie mentioned by Duncan, Dan & Jon D above, or new technologies like LED bulbs mentioned by David. 2 pin is competitive precisely because it is standardised.

So the government have allowed consumers to be locked in to MEM and a particular point in the development process. That was the future then, but is the past now. NOT VERY BRIGHT!

I’d be really interested to find more about what the independent shopkeeper said, Paul. I wonder if there’s any merit in it? I might email Eaton to ask for some stats.