|
Other Vintage Household Electrical or Electromechanical Items For discussions about other vintage (over 25 years old) electrical and electromechanical household items. See the sticky thread for details. |
|
Thread Tools |
7th Jan 2019, 3:29 pm | #41 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Aug 2016
Location: Colchester, Essex, UK.
Posts: 4,108
|
Re: What's this?
Causation will, I guess, either be yobs (some very strange things can seem sensible after a bottle of vodka) or a prelude to a cat burglary (no pun intended) or a targeted car theft.
As the fuses became airborne i suspect the former- if it was the latter I would think the fuse would be pocketed or dropped in the next street. There's a man in our local supermarket who moves consumables to the wrong shelves for no apparent reason- ketchup with the deodorant, etc etc. Motive more obvious in this case as I have heard him talking to himself while he does it. A shame really. Dave |
7th Jan 2019, 6:41 pm | #42 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Wiltshire, UK.
Posts: 14,010
|
Re: What's this?
Yes - and rightly so: the contracted lighting-utility will be waiting until they've been notified of enough defective luminaires on the log in your area to warrant sending a fix-team out.
Then they send a cherry-picker and a couple of guys to do the lot in a day. It helps them show they're doing-their-bit to minimise unnecessary vehicle journeys [and so helping them meet their contracted CO2-emission-reduction KPIs], and also helps keep the bills for us Council-Tax-payers down. One streetlamp being out is not a national emergency. Sending a team out to fix a single dead street-light makes no sense at all. |
7th Jan 2019, 7:53 pm | #43 | |
Nonode
Join Date: May 2007
Location: Redruth, Cornwall, UK.
Posts: 2,580
|
Re: What's this?
Quote:
It's often hopeless trying to get anywhere with these companies but I find you stand more chance if you write to them rather than phone. Regards Symon Last edited by Philips210; 7th Jan 2019 at 8:11 pm. |
|
7th Jan 2019, 10:14 pm | #44 |
Hexode
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Oswestry, Shropshire, UK.
Posts: 408
|
Re: What's this?
Peter, it's a council, so the usual delays apply.
Regards, Richard |
14th Jan 2019, 2:05 pm | #45 |
Heptode
Join Date: Oct 2018
Location: Blackburn, Lancashire, UK.
Posts: 729
|
Re: What's this?
Another week - still not fixed.
And I noticed last night that another one further down isn't working now. So, out of a stretch of four streetlamps, three are not working. It's getting very dark around here.....
__________________
Best Regards, Peter. |
19th Jan 2019, 6:38 pm | #46 |
Pentode
Join Date: Nov 2015
Location: Witney, Oxfordshire, UK.
Posts: 236
|
Re: What's this?
Just to note that the live terminal on these cutouts is fully shrouded and only accessible (without further dismantling) to the blade of the fuse carrier, or a similar 'tool'. The exposed long terminal is the neutral.
|
19th Jan 2019, 7:39 pm | #47 |
Heptode
Join Date: Oct 2018
Location: Blackburn, Lancashire, UK.
Posts: 729
|
Re: What's this?
Yes, I do understand it would be difficult for any inquisitive passer-by to touch anything actually 'live', but I do think it's very lax to leave all the electrical innards wide open to the weather - and any further 'tampering'!
Just to update you all, another column has stopped working now, about eight further along from mine. So that's four, now, that are dark! Do these new-fangled LEDs tend to fail after about four years? They were all changed to LED in September 2014.
__________________
Best Regards, Peter. Last edited by Lancs Lad; 19th Jan 2019 at 7:58 pm. |
20th Jan 2019, 12:38 am | #48 |
Heptode
Join Date: Oct 2018
Location: Blackburn, Lancashire, UK.
Posts: 729
|
Re: What's this?
This picture is exactly what we used to have on this road when I was growing up in the 1970s. With proper incandescent bulbs, and timeclocks in every column that made a very audible 'clunk' when they switched themselves on and off. I don't think photocells had even been invented back then.
Obviously not with the sodium lamp in the picture, just a very pleasing six-sided glass bowl (if that's the right word for it!) I miss those elegant lamp columns, and the gentle light they provided. I know modern lamps are terribly efficient, but they're a bit soulless, aren't they? I wonder what wattage the bulbs would have been? They looked pretty big bulbs when I used to watch them being replaced. 150s maybe? Or would they have been more powerful?
__________________
Best Regards, Peter. Last edited by Lancs Lad; 20th Jan 2019 at 12:53 am. |
20th Jan 2019, 3:15 am | #49 |
Heptode
Join Date: Oct 2018
Location: Blackburn, Lancashire, UK.
Posts: 729
|
Re: What's this?
I bet they must have been 200 or even 300 watt bulbs. They must have burned at very hot temperatures, mustn't they?
I remember watching them being replaced with new bulbs, and being intrigued by the fact of them being screwed in - they must have been Edison Screw bulbs, and I had only ever encountered Bayonet Cap lightbulbs in our house! I always wondered what they did with all the (perfectly good) bulbs they took out. I hope they didn't just throw them away - that would have been a terrible waste.
__________________
Best Regards, Peter. |
20th Jan 2019, 3:24 am | #50 |
Heptode
Join Date: Oct 2018
Location: Blackburn, Lancashire, UK.
Posts: 729
|
Re: What's this?
I wonder how much electricity was consumed to run every individual timeswitch clock motor in every individual lamp column in every town, 24 hours a day?
Can you imagine! It must have mounted up....! I'm amazed the 1970s National Grid coped with it! No wonder dusk/dawn photocells were adopted so readily
__________________
Best Regards, Peter. Last edited by Lancs Lad; 20th Jan 2019 at 3:35 am. Reason: Just to make it more funny! |
20th Jan 2019, 5:30 am | #51 |
Moderator
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Fife, Scotland, UK.
Posts: 22,903
|
Re: What's this?
Almost all the power of an incandescent bulb comes out as heat. So you can guess the wattage of a lantern by its physical size to be able to do the heat dissipation.
Edison screw holders are more robust than BC, and for councils, they thought it would reduce filching. For the same reason, Rolls-Royces had odd-size sparking plugs and David Brown tractors used unique size battery lugs. Farmers used to curse them! The tractor factory hadn't worked out that anyone who nicked a battery could also nick a pair of battery cables. I have a low pressure sodium tube from a town centre high-mounted street light, the soft yellow ones and that's marked 90W. For heat conservation, the sodium tube is mounted inside a vacuum tube and the vacuum tube has getters in it. A dramatic amount of light when fired up indoors with the right ballast. David
__________________
Can't afford the volcanic island yet, but the plans for my monorail and the goons' uniforms are done |
20th Jan 2019, 5:54 am | #52 |
Heptode
Join Date: Oct 2018
Location: Blackburn, Lancashire, UK.
Posts: 729
|
Re: What's this?
I thank you for your most enjoyable post, David, but I need to ask a question (at the risk of sounding really thick!) but, what's a getter?
__________________
Best Regards, Peter. |
20th Jan 2019, 2:39 pm | #53 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Worksop, Nottinghamshire, UK.
Posts: 5,554
|
Re: What's this?
Same gettering you see in a valve.
|
20th Jan 2019, 3:00 pm | #54 |
Moderator
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Fife, Scotland, UK.
Posts: 22,903
|
Re: What's this?
When they build a valve they include one or a few 'getters'
A getter is a grooved ring or cup shaped piece of metal. In the groove or in the cup is a plating of a highly reactive alkali metal such as barium with a protective cover of nickel plated over it. The valve is evacuated through a glass tube - as much as a normal mechanical vacuum pump can do it RF heaters are used to warm the inner metal structure to help entrained gas escape and get pumped out. Then the tube is melted and sealed off. The vacuum in the valve still isn't good enough. Stronger RF heaters are focused on the getter ring/cups and they flash up to red heat. The top layer of nickel is evaporated off and condenses on the inner surface of the glass envelope of the valve. Then the barium boils off and condenses on top of the nickel on the glass envelope. The exposed metal reacts with the reactive gas molecules, the inert gas tends to get anchored by adsorption rather than reaction. The pressure in the valve drops low enough now. Sometimes the unfired ring gets called a getter, sometimes the metal deposit after a getter has been fired gets called a getter. It's a sort of one-shot vacuum pump, though the reactive metal can keep mopping up the odd molecule for a very long time. David
__________________
Can't afford the volcanic island yet, but the plans for my monorail and the goons' uniforms are done |
20th Jan 2019, 4:40 pm | #55 |
Heptode
Join Date: Oct 2018
Location: Blackburn, Lancashire, UK.
Posts: 729
|
Re: What's this?
Wow! That sounds really technical stuff that only experts can understand, but thankyou so much, David, for that brilliantly written reply.
I'm afraid I am not very technically minded (I wish I was) I'm just happy if something works, or looks nice lit up, or sounds pleasing to listen to! I know! I'm a duffer! I do know how to fit a plug really well, though. It's one of the few things I am really good at....
__________________
Best Regards, Peter. |
20th Jan 2019, 5:08 pm | #56 |
Hexode
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Oswestry, Shropshire, UK.
Posts: 408
|
Re: What's this?
The low pressure sodium lamps I've installed atop lamp-posts in the garden are 70w, and produce that lovely yellow glow remembered from childhood.
Regards, Richard |
20th Jan 2019, 5:47 pm | #57 |
Heptode
Join Date: Oct 2018
Location: Blackburn, Lancashire, UK.
Posts: 729
|
Re: What's this?
Ooh! They sound nice, Richard! Can you post us some pictures, please? Both in daylight and lit up at dusk, if possible. I would love to see them.
Are they now connected to your Gewiss switch?
__________________
Best Regards, Peter. |
20th Jan 2019, 6:04 pm | #58 |
Hexode
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Oswestry, Shropshire, UK.
Posts: 408
|
Re: What's this?
Wilco Peter, tomorrow.
No, not yet hooked through the switch, but they will be. Regards, Richard |
20th Jan 2019, 6:08 pm | #59 |
Heptode
Join Date: Oct 2018
Location: Blackburn, Lancashire, UK.
Posts: 729
|
Re: What's this?
Thanks, Richard.
Looking forward to the photos What cable have you used? SWA?
__________________
Best Regards, Peter. |
20th Jan 2019, 6:17 pm | #60 |
Guest
Posts: n/a
|
Re: What's this?
Instead of an incandescent lamp they probably use one of these https://www.bltdirect.com/venture-me...yABEgLEI_D_BwE versions where (are?) available that use a filament inside the globe as ballast and can be directly connected to 240V.
|