This is an older style light bulb which has been used in a number of more unusual lighting applications.  What makes it unusual is the side prong base that it has.  It looks like a standard two prong plug-in like you have in your home, but it connects to the bulb.  The most common wattage is the 200 watt PAR46 sometimes also called the 200PAR46 flood light, but they also come in 150 watt and 250 watt as well.  We used to see these sometimes used in track lighting, but most of those have been replaced with better low voltage or even line voltage track lighting systems.  The 250 watt is a special bulb which is 28 volt and is used in aircraft lighting whereas the others are all 120 or 130 volt.

For most installations, they are used in track lighting with a 6 inch opening and can be dimmed with a standard incandescent dimmer.  The places where the PAR46 flood light bulbs can be used are limited and have probably been used in ways it was never intended.  If you have track lighting, then it probably makes sense to upgrade to a halogen PAR30 which will give you more light with a greater variety of beam patterns.  The PAR46 flood light bulbs are a flood or spot.  The spot will provide a tighter beam for areas where you want a focused light.

The Sylvania PAR46 flood light bulbs are a large sized flood bulb with a medium side prong base. You can tell what kind of PAR lamp you have by measuring the distance across the widest point of the bulb. The number after 'PAR' represents the number of eighths of an inch the bulb diameter is. Therefore, PAR46 lamps are 5 3/4 inches across. PAR46 lamps are widely available from Sylvania and GE.  These are able to be used indoors or outdoors. This means they can be directly exposed to rain or snow and still function normally and they do not need to be covered by a light fixture. This makes the PAR46 lamps very versatile and quite handy to use many kinds of outdoor light fixtures.

Remember that there are many types of incandescent flood bulbs, we describe some of the most common used in track lighting here.  Be aware that we also stock all the larger incandescent and smaller types used in commercial lighting.  Whatever type you have, you will be getting a better incandescent than what you're used to, getting the most light you can for your money.  We have a large inventory of incandescent bulbs for nearly every type of light fixture in the field.  If you need help identifying an incandescent bulb, our customer service representatives can help you determine what you have.