HANDS OFF! While conventional incandescent lamps can be handled with bare hands, halogen light bulbs should not. Since the quartz envelope, or bulb, of the lamp reaches high temperatures, the oils and salts from skin will deteriorate and weaken the bulb. If your hands should come in contact with the bulb, use a small amount of rubbing alcohol and a soft cloth to clean the lamp. Allow time for the bulb to dry before using.
This item is the Satco S3171 - a 10 watt 12 volt G4 T3 clear halogen bulb (also called out as 10T3/CL). The overall length is 1 1/4", produces 120 lumens and has a 2000 hour average rated life. Halogen lamps deliver a crisp, white light. Since halogens are incandescent lamps, their CRI of 100 will render colors accurately and will match the color temperature of other light sources in the 3000K range. Halogen lamps can be dimmed using a conventional incandescent dimmer. However, using a dimmer actually has an adverse effect on the lamps.
Standard incandescent benefit from being used with a dimmer due to the reduced voltage being applied to the filament. Halogen lamp filaments need to be operated at higher temperatures (250 degrees Celsius or higher) for the lamp to function properly. When a halogen lamp is used on a dimmer, the filament will not reach this temperature and the halogen will not work. Halogen lamps that are dimmed to low levels for extended periods of time will begin to blacken on the inside wall of the bulb. This will reduce light output and life. It is possible to restore the bulb to a certain degree of its original state b running the lamp non-dimmed every so often. This allows the halogen to clean the inside of the bulb.
