This idea came to me while I was testing a 6LB6 this evening after admiring how nice they look when they glow. You can only see them when you're servicing the TV. Then it occured to me, why not make a string of vacuum tube christmas lights. This way, the tubes can be see seen all the time and they look great on the tree in a dim lit room.

I used all tubes that would be commonly found inside zenith color TV's. I used miniature tubes to limit power consumption. My first string uses 14 miniatures, tubes like the 6KT8, 6EJ7, 6HA5, 6GJ7. The typical zenith TV tubes. All the tubes are 6 volt, wired in parallel of course. I had the perfect wire, red and green striped telephone wire (christmas colors...). I wire wrapped the leads around the tube pins then touched solder on them. All the tubes I used were in my box of known bad tubes. The only reason I kept them was to see how many tubes I changed in the period of one year of TV servicing. The tubes are lit up at about 10 volts through my variac.

All the tree needs now are some ornaments, like resistors, capacitors and coils etc.

Just a wierd idea I had that I thought I'd share with fellow electronics enthusiasts.

Don't forget, the 6LB6 is the "Star" at the top of the tree!

Enjoy the Holidays-
Doug

HA! Thats great!:thmbsp: Something I have never seen before. Very cool looking. Have you showed your family yet!? I'd bet they'll get a hell of a kick out of it! My tree is a boring 'ol Solid State:thumbsdn:

A few years ago, I made a funny Hallowe'en character using radio tubes and pilot lamps, with a green SX-42 dial for the face and a blue globe Arcturus tube for the nose. The "hair" was mini glass tubes alternating with lit pilot lamps. Resistors and bumblebee capacitors formed the mouth & whatnot. It was mostly stuck together with hot glue, so it eventually sagged, but I think the whole thing is still in a box somewhere.

Phil Nelsosn

That Christmas tree brings back a forgotten memory. In the late '80's and early '90's, various organizations around town were allowed to set up Christmas trees at the local shopping mall. The electronics class from the local high school decorated a Christmas tree using old vacuum tubes. To say the least, I thought the idea was neat and tried to get my Mother to go along; but, no luck! A few years later, I was in the same electronics class and they didn't even teach tubes. In fact, most everyone (including the instructor) thought I was weird for showing interest in such "outdated technology".

a real cathode Christmas tree. Be careful to burn it because the tubes are very warm!

But what about the sound? I bet those carols are to die for!:D
Happy Holidays,
Jim

Kewl !!

A few years later, I was in the same electronics class and they didn't even teach tubes. In fact, most everyone (including the instructor) thought I was weird for showing interest in such "outdated technology".


I had the same problem. They wanted me to learn logic circuits. I just wanted to learn tubes :(

:thmbsp:

That is one of the coolest things I have seen in a long time!!

Hmmm, I still have a few weeks to get mine going.

Hey that's an awesome idea for Xmas tree lights, it looks so cool! Anyone who collects old electronics should have a go at making Xmas lights out of valves if they have any in their collection they could spare.

I too did a certificate 3 and 4 electronics course over a 4 year period and the teacher I had for television/VCR servicing thought I was weird taking interest in early technology. I brought in my 1972 Philips N1500 VCR and demonstrated its operation in class, the teacher was amazed it was still working.

:) I love it!

thats Great ! now all you need playing in the background is tubular bells

I should take a hand at this on my tree, along with that, make some ornaments from tubes too. :D

Maybe you could string out a complete AA5 radio circuit. Put a speaker at the top of the tree and listen to Holiday music while the tubes glow (good insulation and an isolation transformer would be key accessories) :-)

or a simple mono SET using space charge tubes. no shocky there ;)

Just don't let your homeowners insurance company see theose pics...:scratch2:

That is too cool.. but I have to ask, how hot are those tubes? The smaller tubes I have in my gear get WAY too hot for me to even consider putting them on a tree... I'v had one place of mine burn, I plan to never have another fire if I can help it...

Another thought too.. have you coverd up the pins? One short of the pins to the wire in the branches and POOF... It might only be 10 volts, but if they sit there long enough, seems like a short would start melting things.. Even a 9 volt battery can start a fire..

I also thought of them getting hot, I figure he's smart enough not to leave it unattended though. I can't imagine him leaving them on overnight or anything. I would figure he would only have them on while he's in the shop working or hanging out. If something happens I'm sure Doug would notice right away.

I also thought of them getting hot, I figure he's smart enough not to leave it unattended though. I can't imagine him leaving them on overnight or anything. I would figure he would only have them on while he's in the shop working or hanging out. If something happens I'm sure Doug would notice right away.


I'm sure of that too.. but have you ever seen a tree light up.. even if you are sitting there, you have almost no time before it's an inferno. I know fake trees have fire retardant built in, but believe me, after youv'e had a fire in your home, you don't trust much... Why take an unneeded chance?

Running it at low voltage on a variac like he is, I wouldn't think it would be too bad. I had thought about doing something like this but the idea of all those connections kept me away. Someone with way too much time on their hands could rig up sockets to C4 bulb bases, or even a standard Edison base. (I just picked up a small set of Christmas lights that use them) With the big base you would maybe have room enough for big base tubes.

Just the filaments won't get too hot. Even with HV on the plates, small signal tubes (e.g., 12AX7) really only get warm in use. Tubes with a lot of plate dissipation get hot (as in, you could cook on 'em hot).

That is so cool!

I've hung 6V6's from my tree but your idea is simple ingenious!

May just steal the idea...!

:thmbsp: Love it!
--Dave

Yall are challenging me to build an amplifier into my tree now. lol

I love it!!! Very cool!
Dan

LOL you are a SICK individual :-P

Now I gotta make one out of some tubes...:scratch2:

I put a tube on my tree, but did not think to wire it. You are ingenious!
You can see mine in the tube audio forum, under Merry Christmas tube heads.
John

That's awesome!

Doug,

Just wondering if you decorated the tree again with tubes....

Seeing this auction made me think of you.

http://tinyurl.com/yel87he

Cheers,

You know, I think that's a great idea. Not enough time this year, but I'll dig into those boxes of weak and bad tubes, and see what I can come up with for next year. Thanks for the idea, and Merry Christmas!

How about using metal tubes?

I guess it's the thought that counts.

A few years ago I made a series of these candle holders out of old tubes to give as Christmas gifts, which people seemed to like.
The tubes look nice with a flickering candle in the center.

As a CRT enthusiast, I am naturally attracted to glass bottles with phosphor and electrons inside, so the Sylvania fluorescent Christmas set has much appeal to me. This set was purchased by my parents in the late 40s.

Picture 1... The price is marked on the box, I am thinking that $6.85 was a lot to pay for a set of Christmas lights in the 40s. This set contains 1 blue, 1 green, 2 coral, 1 orchid and 2 maize colored bulbs .

Picture 2... Just round white globes on an electrical cord... not much going on...sorta look like snowballs on the tree.

Picture 3... Phosphor being excited by UV/ions/electrons...nice soft glow. Some of the bulbs are argon, some are neon, I am fairly certain that the green is P-1 phosphor, and perhaps the orange (coral) is just the color of the neon glowing diffused by a non-emitting white paint inside the bulb.

Picture 4... Close-up of the Sylvania fluorescent bulb, rated at 4 watts, it has a current limit resistor in the base.

jr

They still work!

Those are outstanding! I would never have guessed that such a thing would have existed back then.

I'm pretty sure our light sets were the Royal brand. They had the "Royal Klip." But we had plain bulbs and bulbs with the bubbles.

That would have been pretty pricey for so few bulbs in a string. They look pretty special.

John

A new one on me! Neat!

I had a few packs of GE 'snowball' bulbs. They were about that size, colored incandescent, sprayed with styrofoam. From the late 50s. Neat effect. I ended up selling them to make room for other jun...I mean, good stuff.

Finally, a use for all of those old TV knobs!

Happy holidays,

Phil Nelson

http://www.antiqueradio.org/art/TVKnobTree.gif

That is just too cool! :thmbsp:

How did you get the "blinking light" effect?

Hope everybody had a great Holiday!

jr

It is an animated .GIF file. The moving "emoticons" that you see in this forum are examples of animated .GIFs.

Using a tripod, I took two photos of the same subject using different lighting. The animated .GIF flips back and forth between the two pics. You can create these with various graphics programs, or by going to a website that lets you upload source images and build them into the final .GIF.

Phil Nelson

As a CRT enthusiast, I am naturally attracted to glass bottles with phosphor and electrons inside, so the Sylvania fluorescent Christmas set has much appeal to me. This set was purchased by my parents in the late 40s.


jr

My parents had a set or two of these, nowadays buried in the back of an attic crawlspace closet. "Noma" I think was the brand they had. They are cool. :cool:

My parents had a set or two of these, nowadays buried in the back of an attic crawlspace closet. "Noma" I think was the brand they had. They are cool. :cool:

Nice! :banana::banana: These sets are getting hard to find and usually sell for $50-$100 on eBay. I have seen Royal, Sylvania, Miller, Polly and generic Sylvania (oem?) sets but never Noma ! I guess that would be a rare set of lights. :thmbsp:

jr

As a CRT enthusiast, I am naturally attracted to glass bottles with phosphor and electrons inside, so the Sylvania fluorescent Christmas set has much appeal to me. This set was purchased by my parents in the late 40s.jrA great peak into Christmas past.

I can't help but note how the package reflects the days before PC nonsense: The term Christmas is twice prevalent, a three-wise-men graphic is prominent, there's even a star of Bethlehem, plus usage is correct "...they color only when 'lighted'" and of course they did spell fluorescent correctly. My well-to-do aunt had two sets of these fluorescents in the late forties, but try as I would, couldn't get her to drop a string my way. So, I hounded my parents for a year till they bought me a seven-light set of bubble lights. :thmbsp: Treasured them for years. All, of course, before CT-100's...:D

That might be a good slogan for CT-100s as well.

"CT-100s.... They color only when lighted" :D

Mine has not been lighted for a long while.:tears:

jr

Nice! :banana::banana: These sets are getting hard to find and usually sell for $50-$100 on eBay. I have seen Royal, Sylvania, Miller, Polly and generic Sylvania (oem?) sets but never Noma ! I guess that would be a rare set of lights. :thmbsp:

jr

A set just sold on eBay for over $140. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=350299662464

I thought they'd go for less after Christmas. He didn't post photos of them working until just before the auction ended. They look great! I'm sure that influenced the price. It would have been a huge mistake for him to not post those working photos.

John

A set just sold on eBay for over $140. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=350299662464

I thought they'd go for less after Christmas. He didn't post photos of them working until just before the auction ended. They look great! I'm sure that influenced the price. It would have been a huge mistake for him to not post those working photos.

John

Wow! One thing about that set is that it has TWO blue bulbs that appear to be functioning well! The blue bulbs are getting pretty scarce, since they seem to fail first.

This Miller set does not have ANY blue bulbs (but it does have two green bulbs, which is a plus) ... It will be interesting to see what it sells for:

http://cgi.ebay.com/7-Vintage-Miller-Fluorescent-Christmas-Lights-lot-A_W0QQitemZ370315480190QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_Defau ltDomain_0?hash=item563885cc7e

Not affiliated,
jr

Update: looks like that set went for $91.

jr

Wow! One thing about that set is that it has TWO blue bulbs that appear to be functioning well! The blue bulbs are getting pretty scarce, since they seem to fail first.

This Miller set does not have ANY blue bulbs (but it does have two green bulbs, which is a plus) ... It will be interesting to see what it sells for:

http://cgi.ebay.com/7-Vintage-Miller-Fluorescent-Christmas-Lights-lot-A_W0QQitemZ370315480190QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_Defau ltDomain_0?hash=item563885cc7e

Not affiliated,
jr

Update: looks like that set went for $91.

jr

Well, it went for $91 so I missed it. I did get the 5 bulb one though. It doesn't have any blue bulbs.

John