Light my way home
Luminaires
A light fixture or luminaire is an electrical device that contains an electric bulb that provides illumination. In common usage, lamp, light and luminaire are referred to as one object: a kitchen luminaire would be a kitchen lamp or light with a halogen or LED bulb screwed into it. These are the entire device which can be connected to an electrical outlet (have a cable and plug), may also include other elements (e.g. reflectors) or cooling systems (e.g. ballasts for fluorescent bulbs).
There are a wide rang of luminaires
which serve diverse purposes: we need different lighting in a living room and bedroom, than in a kitchen or cellar; factory work station lighting is not the same as that in a conference room, large public buildings need other lighting systems than small private spaces, museums and theaters have distinctive lighting requirements, city roads require other lighting than country roads, and so on.
On the one hand, lights must therefore be suitable for the particular use and must be adapted to the appropriate bulb.
Household lamps usually have E14 or E27 sockets for both (halogen) incandescent lamps such as compact fluorescent lamps, and LEDs with a retrofit socket can be screwed in. Since the LED chips are very small and have a relatively long life, they are often a permanent part of a lamp. These integrated lamps offer many creative possibilities like special effects (see LED).
In addition to the large selection of common luminaires (e.g. ceiling, floor, wall, clamp and table lamps, outdoor, indoor, dimmable, timers, etc.), there are many more options such as low-voltage or high-voltage halogen cable systems, rail systems, LED strips, combined lighting systems and soon area lighting with OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diodes) will be available for household use.
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