> I think I want
> low-voltage Xenon lighting, but what are the pros and cons. The websites seem
> to indicate that Xenon runs cooler, a real drawback of halogen units that's
> been worrying me.
I've no direct experience, Karl, but that statement worries me. "Xenon" bulbs
are still incandescent halogen bulbs, and like all incandescent bulbs, nearly
all the power input comes back out as heat. Halogen bulbs in general run much
hotter at the surface of the quartz envelope, but they make up for this by
having smaller envelopes than an equivalent conventional incandescent : the heat
output per watt input is about the same.
> What about dimming?
Xenon bulbs are dimmable similar to other halogen bulbs.
> Then there's plain old fluorescent - are there credible low-voltage
> fluorescents, or are they all just toys?
There are very credible low voltage fluorescents, have been for a long time.
Cost more than their high voltage counterparts though, since they basically have
an internal inverter to get the 90 volts or so needed to run the bulb.
> And you can dim fluorescents too,
I don't know of any low-voltage fluorescents that are designed to be dimmed.
Perhaps there are some, though.
> What else should I look at?
Wonder if LEDs have made it into the home lighting market yet ? They sure seem
to be all over new cars. Kind of expensive I would guess, but very efficient
which means lower electricity bills and a lot less heat (which might mean lower
cooling bills). And you should basically never have to replace the bulbs.
Should be dimmable, too, although since they run on DC, you'll need a special DC
dimmer.
http://www.ledtronics.com/ds/stp527/
Randall
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