where did the light bulbs all go!?

[madlabs]

I live off the grid so I love LED lights. I don't save money per se, but lighting is big part of evening power usage and depth of discharge every night is a big factor in battery bank life. With LEDs I can afford to have more lights on and above my work bench I have four strips of LEDs, so I can light it up like an operating room and still be using much less juice than a regular light bulb. The color difference used to bug me but the colors are getting warmer and I have gotten used to it.

[benman94]

I use frosted A and PS type halogen bulbs (standard E26 base). They use a little less energy, ~20 percent, and look damn near the same to me. I just loathe the LED and CFL bulbs. Nothing seems to match the color temperature and rendering index of a good old incandescent or halogen.

[ohohyodafarted]

That cover was done by a number of groups including

Peter Paul & Mary
Pete Seeger
Kingston Trio
and
The Brother's Four

[benman94]

Originally Posted by maxhifi

...It irritates me that those phoney Edison Mazda lamps (which are quite different from the originals), are everywhere, but a plain 60W bulb is nowhere to be found. Don't get me wrong, I think the old Mazda lamps are cool, I actually have an original one as a collectible. They just aren't that useful for actual illumination.

Except they aren't imitating Mazda lamps. The Mazda trademark specifically referred to more modern tungsten filament bulbs. They even advertised the bulbs as using 1/3 the current over a comparable carbon bulb, thus saving you money... sound familiar?

These "retro" bulbs are designed to mimic early carbon filament bulbs by either running a tungsten filament way under the rated voltage, or by actually using a carbon filament. Take one of the reproduction bulbs and put it on 220-240 volts, it'll look like a normal tungsten incandescent bulb... because it is. Try that with an authentic Edison bulb from that same era and you'll pop the filament.

[dieseljeep]

Originally Posted by Findm-Keepm

Some of the series-connected "old filament style" LED bulbs require the low voltage dimmer - is that what you have? The Lutron 300P is specified by the Amazon Seller for a dimmer.

My Banggood lamps work on my Leviton Futura (11 dollar) dimmer right down to about the 10% level.

That Lutron dimmer is $45...

Those Chinese can really think of some dandy names,"Banggood".

[Findm-Keepm]

Originally Posted by dieseljeep

Those Chinese can really think of some dandy names,"Banggood".

Pretty cool site, but you quickly realize it's limited in the tech stuff - I like DHGate and PandaCheck.com for comparing prices. There's a PandaCheck app that works well too - enter the search term and it shows who sells it and for how much - Banggood, DHGate, Aliexpress, and eBay.

Banggood also has a US warehouse for top-500 sellers, so some of the lower cost stuff can be in your mailbox in 2-3 days. I wait, and save on shipping.

[user181]

Originally Posted by dieseljeep

Those Chinese can really think of some dandy names,"Banggood".

"Meanwell" is another.....

[andy]

///

[slatton86]

Sylvania soft whites are at my local family dollar.

[benman94]

Originally Posted by andy

The ones with the zig zag cage style filament seem fairly authentic. I haven't done a side by side comparison to an original one to see if the modern ones are as bright, but I didn't notice any major problems with the one I bought several years ago. My original early Mazda lamps aren't as bright as a modern bulb with a coiled filament. They do usually tint the glass for a more yellow look. Also, when ever I see them in a restaurant or bar, they tend to be dimmed slightly.

The other designs that are meant to look like carbon filaments are much less authentic looking. I haven't seen any real carbon filament bulbs for sale locally.

If your original Mazda bulbs are used, they won't be nearly as bright as a modern coiled filament tungsten bulb due to evaporation of the filament. I have a new old stock Mazda bulb from the early 20s; on the rare occasions I turn it on, it is every bit as bright, and shows the same color temperature as a modern 60 watter.

That said, there will be some variability between early Mazda lamps, and some of them will doubtlessly be dimmer and show a lower color temperature. I've never seen an operational Mazda that's anywhere near as dim as a modern reproduction however, thus I still maintain that the manufacturers are more likely trying to imitate the carbon bulbs.

FWIW, bulbs with actual carbon filaments are available online. I have a few, and they look just like the real McCoy.

[jr_tech]

Do the new carbon bulbs exhibit the very low color temperature of this 115 year old bulb, or has this one perhaps increased resistance and dropped temperature over the years? Any radio noise observed from the new carbon bulbs?

http://www.centennialbulb.org/photos.htm

jr

[benman94]

The new carbon bulbs have a similar color temperature to that Shelby bulb. They're brighter though, if only because the filament in a new bulb hasn't been undergoing evaporation for 100+ years. They're also made in modern standard wattages (25, 40, 60, 75, 100, etc); not the oddball 30 watt rating of the Shelby bulb.
No radio noise whatsoever; a filament type bulb, be it halogen, or a standard incandescent with either a carbon or tungsten filament, shouldn't be putting out any RF...

[jr_tech]

Thanks! I have read in a few very old radio and TV repair books that nearby old carbon bulbs could be a source of RFI... I suspect that these bulbs were failing and acting like noisy carbon resistors. I tested the carbon filament Xmas bulbs that I have near an AM radio and did not detect any noise, however.

jr

[benman94]

I've never heard of a carbon type bulb putting out RFI, but your carbon resistor analogy does make sense. I'll have to be on the lookout with my carbon filament repro bulbs. Lately I've taken to testing new bulbs in a lamp near my Trans-Oceanic and running through the bands looking for any blatant RFI. You'd be amazed at the number of CFLs and LED bulbs from "reputable" companies (Phillips, GE, etc) that fail this test spectacularly...

[jr_tech]

Being an avid Dxer, I try to keep my "nest clean" and test new bulbs and appliances for RFI in the AM and shortwave bands. Embarrassingly, I totally missed finding RFI in the FM and low band TV channels caused by several LED floodlamps that I bought. Lesson learned... use the Icom 8500 for scans of these newer devices.

jr