Talk:A-series light bulb

Not all Edison screw base

Not ALL the "A series" bulbs are edison based. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.160.112.160 (talk) 07:45, 25 December 2012‎ (UTC)

That seems to contradict the information that I could find when looking for examples. Can you point to any reliable source that supports that assertion? —BarrelProof (talk) 02:42, 26 December 2012 (UTC)

Image and E27

The text says A19 equals more or less E26 (and the image caption says the image shows an A-series lightbulb. On the other hand, the article on the Edison screw uses the very same image of a light bulb and says it's an E27 one. Is A-series the same as E-series? 129.69.215.1 (talk) 09:17, 18 February 2014 (UTC)

Please note that the article does not actually say that the depicted bulb is an A19 bulb or that it has an E26 base – it just says it is an A-series bulb. As I understand it, an A series bulb has a particular overall bulb shape as well as a particular type of base, while the E number only describes the base. The "19" in "A19" refers to the width of the bulbous part of the bulb (i.e., 19 one-eighth-inch units, or 2+3⁄8 inches total) – although a particular A series bulb type also has a particular height and base type. The E26 or E27 refers only to what type of base it uses, and the number 26 or 27 refers to the width of the base in millimetres. The numbers 26 and 27 thus indicate very similar widths of approximately 1 inch, so it may be difficult to tell by sight which is which (and there are probably some mechanical tolerances involved, such that both may be acceptable). I wish we had a reference to the actual specifications. I suspect there is some technical standard that precisely specifies the characteristics of the A series (e.g., some document approved by ASTM, ANSI, UL, ISO, or IEC), and I wish we had a reference to it. —BarrelProof (talk) 16:20, 18 February 2014 (UTC)

American standard

This is a US standard for light bulbs, yes? If so, the article should say so. It reads like a typical "all the world's America" article at present. I won't add a globalize template though, as it already has two templates, and the templates risk becoming longer than the article. --Ef80 (talk) 13:53, 8 April 2015 (UTC)

Not necessarily. The bulb in the photo is from the German Wikipedia, and I've seen similar bulbs all over the world. All measurements are given in both metric system and English / imperial / US units. What is U.S.-specific about the article? —BarrelProof (talk) 18:30, 21 April 2015 (UTC)

That is his point. The article should state what US standard is explicitly (A19/E27?), and common standards elsewhere, because the article does read in a very US-centric way. And it should also explain that there are two numbers Axx and Exx, one for the bulb, one for the base. I came here looking for the US standard to confirm a web purchase. I have been overseas and accustomed to E27 bulbs, so was unfamiliar with the terminology for A19. Xalorous (talk) 15:41, 24 April 2015 (UTC)

Obviously, identical lightbulbs are used around the world, but they aren't known as 'A-series' bulbs outside the US, AFAIK anyway. --Ef80 (talk) 14:42, 5 May 2015 (UTC)

Yes, something in this article is not right. "most commonly used type .... It has .... an Edison screw base." - so what do you call it if it hasn't got an Edison screw base? Most commonly used type where? Not every country uses Edison screw bases. "the A19 bulb (or its metric equivalent, the A60 bulb), which is 2 3⁄8 inches (60 mm)" - if it is called "A60" surely it would be a 60/8 inch wide bulb! How do you tell if 1/8 inches or mm is meant?

Where this picture is used elsewhere it is described as an "incandescent light bulb with a E27 thread", not an A60 bulb.

This must be a US naming standard. TiffaF (talk) 20:58, 8 May 2015 (UTC)

I think it is generally understood that A60 refers to the metric-measured bulb, since a pear-shaped bulb that is 7.5 inches wide would seem absurdly large. (And there are sources cited in the article for just about everything it says – including the A60 issue in particular.) Anyhow, I guess there is now a consensus that the article is U.S.-centric. But what should we do about it? There are some incandescent bulbs with an E26/E27 thread that aren't A-series bulbs, because they aren't pear shaped (e.g., R20 and R30 floodlight bulbs, G25 globe-shaped bulbs, and candle-shaped bulbs), so that description is not adequate for the topic. I created the article partly because I saw bulbs advertised as A19 LED bulbs, and I was interested in knowing what it meant for a bulb to be called an A19 bulb, and I discovered that (at least in the U.S.) an A19 bulb is a bulb with the typical pear shape and a one-inch screw base, so that is the name of the most common type of household light bulb. I was surprised at how hard it was to find that information, curious to know what the number "19" meant, etc. —BarrelProof (talk) 00:35, 9 May 2015 (UTC)

The E26 base is not really one inch, it is 26 mm. Edison was pro-metric and made sure that the bulb bases he designed were whole millimetre numbers. Ametrica (talk) 14:14, 22 November 2020 (UTC)

There's nothing wrong with an article that describes a US standard for light bulbs so long as the subject is WP:NOTABLE. The problem with the article at present is that it implies that this is a global standard, which I don't think it is. --Ef80 (talk) 20:51, 18 May 2015 (UTC)

I have no idea who established the naming convention (A, B, E, G, R, etc.). It would be nice to know. That might support (or possibly even disprove) the notion that the naming convention is exclusive to U.S. usage. Presumably there must be some agreement that is officially documented somewhere by a trade association or standardization organization. —BarrelProof (talk) 08:20, 19 May 2015 (UTC)

IEC60064 defines the A-series as an international convention. but only recognises as legal the diameters in millimetres. Ametrica (talk) 14:14, 22 November 2020 (UTC)

It's annoying when a Wikipedia article puts American Customary units as primary for an article that is intended for world-wide viewing. No wonder someone would mistakenly think the standard is American when it really isn't. Wikipedia needs to incorporate software to either reverse the order of units so SI units always comes first as primary or better yet, to eliminate US units altogether as they are an annoying PIA. Ametrica (talk) 14:14, 22 November 2020 (UTC)

Illustration should be an LED bulb, frosted, closely resembling a frosted incandescent

Illustration should be an LED bulb, frosted, closely resembling a frosted incandescent. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Ocdcntx (talk • contribs) 23:00, 5 February 2017 (UTC)

Non-commercial footnotes would be preferable

Are there no public standards sites available for bulb descriptions? ASHRAE? Other standard? Building codes? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Ocdcntx (talk • contribs) 23:09, 5 February 2017 (UTC)

@Ocdcntx: I have added the Indian IS 14897:2000 as a citation. ANSI C79.1-2002 and JIS C 7710:198 (Japanese, Google translation kinda works) should include (similarly strict) definitions for the A-shape too. Energy Star 2.0 section 14.1 defines parts of the defition the certification (and everyone else, I guess) actually cares about, and mentions 2 additional ANSI standards that define the overall length and maximum diameter for all these shapes. I should probably find some time to backport the changes made to the zhwp version since the initial translation.--Artoria2e5 contrib 02:56, 21 March 2017 (UTC)

Hmm, these additional ANSI standards are interesting. From a shady version of C78.20-2003 on Baidu Wenku (like pirate bay, but over HTTPS and for documents), these ANSI diagrams of A19 (A60) bulbs actually include a bounding line with measured angles at e.g. bulb neck/base joints. And well, they have multiple definitions (8, 8A, 9, etc.) for A19 bulbs of different lengths and usages. (kidding:) With all these diagrams, this standard is much better than IETF RFCs for time-killing purposes… --Artoria2e5 contrib 03:14, 21 March 2017 (UTC)