What lightbulbs do I need for these fixtures?

September 29, 2021 2:26 PM

What kind of lightbulbs do I need for these sconces? This seems so silly but I've spent a fair amount of time googling and come up empty.

The description says "Accommodates one 7W Type B bulb or Type E-15 candelabra bulb." You would think having two options would make this easier but from my hunting there are many different sizes/types of Type B bulbs and I can't even find any E-15 bulbs. Specific links would be extremely helpful if you have them.

In case you can't tell, we are in the midst of our first foray into homeownership and trying to figure out mysterious things like lighting design. Please wish us luck and thank you in advance for any guidance!

posted by wuzandfuzz to Home & Garden (6 answers total)

Best answer: Looks like they meant E-12. The instructions PDF has a picture.
posted by primethyme at 2:30 PM on September 29, 2021 [2 favorites]

Per the description:
Accommodates one 7W Type B bulb (not included) or Type E-15 candelabra bulb (not included)

Type B bulbs have tiny screw in bases, like old time Christmas lights
posted by The_Vegetables at 2:30 PM on September 29, 2021

Have you seen this webpage that breaks down the difference between different types of bulbs, bulb screw bases and bulb pin bases? E-15 refers to the lightbulb base diameter in millimeters, so it would be a 15mm bulb base.
posted by nightrecordings at 2:31 PM on September 29, 2021

7W E-12 as per the instructions. As my HS teacher used to say, "When all else fails, read the instructions."
posted by AugustWest at 2:41 PM on September 29, 2021 [3 favorites]

B refers to a bulb shape ("bulged"), E12 refers to a base style (Edison screw base, 12mm diameter). There is no E15 as far as I know, so that's a typo.
posted by bgrebs at 4:47 PM on September 29, 2021

Judging by the instructions, the bulb sits along the diagonal of the longest side, so unless it's a tight enclosure, this one is probably pretty forgiving on bulb geometry, and since the bulb is itself behind a frosted pane, the geometry won't matter much for aesthetics either. The base size (E12) is of paramount importance so that it screws in, but any bulb with that base size that's not extremely wide would probably fit the bill. The claimed 7W maximum seems overcautious, unless they're designing incredibly poorly heat-dispersing sockets these days — pretty much every bulb mount in the bad old incandescent-bulb days was rated for at least 40W, and that was because of risk of heat buildup, not power draw. An enclosed mount is bad for heat buildup, but not bad enough to risk fire at 7W (maybe bad enough to risk damaging the LED, though; running hot does reduce their life).
posted by jackbishop at 6:17 PM on September 29, 2021 [1 favorite]