France in Focus

There are torches all over the house, but where did I see them the last time? Drawers? What about a built-in rechargeable battery in a light bulb?

RobertArthur wrote: ↑Tue Feb 11, 2025 11:42 pm There are torches all over the house, but where did I see them the last time? Drawers? What about a built-in rechargeable battery in a light bulb?

Thanks Robert!
I had never heard of this... When I read the article, I had a little trouble understanding. It seemed to me that in the event of a power outage, you had to remove the bulb from the socket and put the cap provided on it to use it as a torch, which seemed of limited interest to me.
I found this on Amazon:
https://www.amazon.fr/gp/aw/d/B07B2D16B ... 3D&serial=
You can leave the bulb in its usual place and use the usual wall switch to turn it ON or OFF. Once the battery is charged, the bulb lights up if you connect its 2 poles with a low resistance. It is the presence of loads elsewhere on the home network that fulfills this function.
It seems interesting and I really want to order a set to test because we often have cuts here despite an underground power supply.

The American article mentions an E26 screw, is that normal America? or just a typo. In a power cut, I do prefer candles and oil lamps. It cheers up a miserable situation.

We have some of the lidl tourches that have plug in holders, they switch on automaticaly when you have a power cut.

Polarengineer wrote: ↑Wed Feb 12, 2025 7:14 am The American article mentions an E26 screw, is that normal America? or just a typo. In a power cut, I do prefer candles and oil lamps. It cheers up a miserable situation.

It must be the parity between the dollar and the euro:
E27 * 0.97 = E26

Polarengineer wrote: ↑Wed Feb 12, 2025 7:14 am The American article mentions an E26 screw, is that normal America? or just a typo. In a power cut, I do prefer candles and oil lamps. It cheers up a miserable situation.

Now, seriously... I asked ChatGPT (simple as that ):
Answer : "Aux États-Unis, les types de culots d'ampoules les plus courants sont :

1. Culots à vis (Edison Screw - "E")
Ces culots sont les plus répandus aux USA et suivent la norme Edison avec différentes tailles :

E26 – Standard pour la plupart des ampoules domestiques.
E12 – Utilisé pour les lampes décoratives, lustres et veilleuses (équivalent au culot "B22" en Europe).
E17 – Aussi appelé "intermédiaire", utilisé pour certaines lampes spécifiques.
E39 / E40 – Ampoules industrielles et commerciales (E39 en Amérique du Nord, E40 en Europe)."

Who knows, maybe the AI read the same article.

Standard voltage range in the USA and Canada for domestic appliances is 115/120 volts, just wait for Alibaba and the Forty Thieves to export E27/230 V models to the European markets.

Indoors this is still my preferred torch, easy to recharge, several functions, 4 AA NiMH batteries, 10 year old Varta's in perfect condition after all those years, surprise, surprise.

Outdoors: Honey, they shrunk the Maglite. Sturdy, aluminium, 3 AAA alkaline batteries and high-bright leds, incredible luminance for its small size.

The threads are interchangeable as far as fitting into sockets, but as pointed out above, the voltage is different.
https://zangra.com/en_US/faq/e26-versus-e27

We use these rechargeable torches from Amazon, in the car, around the house and for camping.
https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B003EZ2178?ref ... asin_title
You can leave them plugged in but we don't bother.

For emergency lighting we keep our rechargeable camping lanterns handy, they are also useful hung up in the courtyard for extra outside eating lights. This sort of thing:
https://www.amazon.fr/LETOUR-suspension ... 746&sr=8-3