My wife noticed that the small sconce light in the dining room was out.
“Maybe you can take care of this today?” She asked, knowing that my days in retirement had resulted in a surplus of free time.
Not a problem. I vowed to take on the challenge while she was out for the day.
We maintain a variety of different bulbs for the various light fixtures around our house. I grabbed the shoebox dedicated to the smaller ones for the sconce fixtures and did a quick inventory check.
For some unknown reason (poor planning, maybe), we have different-sized and shaped lights populating the sconce lights in different rooms. As luck would have it, I was out of replacement lights for the dining room. Suddenly, this was turning into a project.
Before the advent of LED bulbs, purchasing replacement incandescent bulbs used to be easy. I’m not getting into a “good ole’ days” argument here; I’m just pointing out reality. You only needed to know the watts and the base type (regular or candelabra). Easy Peasy.
I guess saving the planet requires making things more complicated, as the discontinuance of incandescent lights proves. The last time I ventured into the light bulb aisle at a hardware store, I felt transported to another dimension.
Trying to be proactive, I previously made a list of the specific identifying details for the various LED lights I used to replace old incandescent bulbs after they burned out. The tried and true simplicity of 100W, 75W, or 60W was a thing of the past. I noted that the 5w LED mini-spiral S7264 had replaced the original 25w bulbs (candelabra base) for the dining room sconces. I was so proud of myself!
I jumped on the ACE Hardware website to see if they carried the bulb I needed. When I typed “S7264” in the search bar, it came up with a house key, so much for that valuable piece of information.
Besides being better for the planet, an advantage of LED bulbs is they last longer than your average incandescent bulb. The problem is that each time you need to replace one, there are more options than previously. For example, there are too many shades and intensities of white to choose from.
Amber White (not to be confused with plain amber or amber soft white), Soft, Warm, or Bright White, Cool White (as opposed to uncool white?), or Neutral White (What color is that?). Not enough for you? How about Daylight, Smoke Daylight, Natural light, or Sunlight?
Although I narrowed the search to the candelabra base, there were still many different styles to choose from. I knew I needed an equivalent to a 25-watt bulb, which apparently translates to the LED code E26. Why they would choose E26 instead of E25 to represent a 25W bulb is beyond me.
LED codes were also assigned for bulb shapes, like A15, A19, B11, E12, and CA 10, each slightly different from the others. Thank goodness ACE had pictures that helped narrow it down to the E12 (rounded tip) or the CA 10 (flame tip).
I wasn’t sure if I needed the flame tip, so I decided to check the bulb and bring it with me
to ACE.
Grabbing my trusty stepstool, I removed the sconce cover, revealing the bulb had a rounded tip, which would have been my first guess. As soon as I touched it, it miraculously came on! Problem solved.
I decided to spend the rest of my afternoon watching TV.
When my wife came home later, I couldn’t wait to show her I fixed our dead bulb problem. I proudly pointed to the previously dead light fixture and said, “Here we go!”
Switching on the sconce lights, I said, “Ta Da!” only to watch in horror as the bulb flashed on for a nanosecond, followed by an audible “bink,” and then went out again, this time for good.
I guess I’m headed to ACE tomorrow looking for an E12 E26 Candelabra base. I better write that down…
