Why does the marking on all packaging of lighting products changing?
From September 1st 2010, a new EU directive was implemented.
According to its requirements, all lighting products must be marked first and foremost according to their lumen output, and the previous requirement for a comparison in watts to the ordinary incandescent light bulbs (which made light by heating a metal filament wire to a high temperature until it glows) remains a secondary requirement.
This measure became necessary, to avoid the confusion of customers, when choosing the lamps and lighting products for their needs. With the introduction of new types of lighting products, produced by different technologies, it has become more difficult for the customers to their informed choice of the necessary power of the lighting products for their particular needs.
As a result of the new directive, all lighting products on the market must be marked mainly according to the Lumen output (their light flow intensity). It must be clearly marked on the packaging, with a larger font than the one for the comparison to the older incandescent light bulbs in Watts.
This new measure also has a goal to eliminate the speculative manner of the marking made by certain producers under the older requirements. For example, many of them abused the fact that the older light bulb of 100 watts, depending on the producer or the technology used for their production, had an output of about 1,000-1,450 lumens, and for comparison, they marked the lower figure of 1,000 lm, which usually is the same as that of the energy saving 20w lamps.
With the adoption of the new rule, now the upper boundary figure of the lumen output will be used (about 4,000 lm), and as a result, the energy saving 20w lamps of 1,200 lm, which used to be marked as: 20w=100w now need to be marked as 20w=88w for example.
With these changes, comes the new requirement to mark the content of Mercury (if there is such), as well as the time necessary for the lighting products to reach 60% of their maximum power (which usually is marked from 5 to 30 seconds) . Also, the number of times the lighting product can be switched on and off has to be clearly marked (it is usually somewhere between 5,000 and 10,000).
Here are several examples, which will help you quickly get acquainted with their characteristics when you are buying lighting products in the future.
The old 100w light bulbs have: 1,100-1,450 lm output and can be substituted with 20-23w energy saving lamps with about 1,200-1,400 lm or with 10-15w LED lighting products with a 1,000-1,500 lm output.
The lighting products with old marking will be available at the market until all quantities are sold, so do not be worried if you see the same products marked with the same lumen, but with different watts .
