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Volt Lights et al > Light
Bulbs Overview |
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For your convenience,
SailorSams.com carries replacement light bulbs for the ABI,
ICM, Imtra and other light fixtures that we carry. We also
carry some other light bulbs from these same distributors:
ABI
Marine / Precision Lighting
IMTRA
ICM / Gator Lights
Unsure of what bulb you
need? If you purchased the light fixture from us, you can
refer to the respective light
fixture for a link to the replacement bulb.
We now offer "LED
bulbs" as replacements for certain light bulbs.
LEDS reduce energy
consumption and heat, and have an estimated life span of many,
many thousands of hours.
Halogen bulbs became popular
because they are more efficient than
incandescent bulbs. Halogen
bulbs must not be touched by the human hand, as the oils from
our skin will cause them to deteriorate. Also, running halogen
bulbs on a dimmer switch can shorten their life - pure halogen
bulbs operate best at high temperatures (attained by operating
at full rated voltage).
Xenon
(pronounced Zee-non) bulbs have very different
characteristics. Xenon bulbs were halogen bulbs, but with
Xenon gas added. The Xenon gas changes a lot of
characteristics. First, Xenon bulbs are about 15% less
efficient than pure halogen bulbs - that seems to be the only
disadvantage. Otherwise, there are many great advantages to
using Xenon. Xenon bulbs have now become the industry
standard, as their many advantages over pure halogen include:
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Xenon bulbs operate better than
pure halogen at lower voltages (i.e. using a dimmer
control). Occasionally running a Xenon bulb at full power
can help keep it "tuned-up" by re-depositing filament
material onto the filament.
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Xenon bulbs can be handled with
your bare hands.
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Xenon bulbs produce a higher
intensity, higher color light.
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Xenon bulbs have up to 3 times
longer life expectancy.
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Xenon bulbs are 15% cooler.
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Xenon bulbs do not emit UV rays
(pure halogen bulbs emit UV, which can fade fabrics)
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Xenon bulbs are less vulnerable
to voltage fluctuations commonly found on boats and RV's.
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