bulb is brighter on mains ring.

T

thatbloke

I got one of those candle flicker bulbs and for some reason its brighter when in a lamp plugged into the ring main than it is when its put in a light socket.
Is this normal then?
 
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Is it normal ? No. It seems ab-normal.

Brightness would depend on voltage and the voltage variation between sockets and lighting circuits in the same house from the same domestic consumer unit ( fuse box ) would be the same unless the lighting circuit is heavily overloaded or wired with cable that is too thin.

There may be some explanation. The flicker mechanism may work slightly differently depending which way up the bulb is fitted.

Or it might be an illusion depending on many variables such as ambient light, different colours of wall paper or paint in locations where the lamp is viewed.

I assume there is no dimmer in the light circuit as most of these at full brightness do reduce the brightness by a small amount
 
No dimmer , but come to think of it the old wall sconce I tried it in is wired with thin bell wire to a junction box , that may have been why? The only other thing is bulb positioning. The bulb is only 3 watts or so , so its easy to see the difference in brightness.
 
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If it really is bell wire then either DISCONNECT IT or remove the fuse supplying it and get an electrician to replace it and check out the whole installation. If someone has used bell wire where it can be seen heaven knows what they have bodged out of sight.

Using bell wire at mains voltage is one of the reasons for "fire due to an electrical fault" Bell wire can get red hot before a 6 amp MCB operates. If it is connected to a power circuit ( sockets ) then bell then it is VERY SERIOUS FIRE RISK. The insulation on some bell wire is inflammable and will ignite when the wire becomes red hot.

Sorry if that frightens you but what you have described is a serious hazard.
 
That must be some resistance of wire if the voltage drop is noticeable on a 3W load...
 

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