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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. |
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11th Nov 2020, 12:12 pm | #561 |
Dekatron
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Re: Vintage Christmas Tree lights
The first image appears to show one unlit. Is it shorted out or is this simply an optical illusion?
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11th Nov 2020, 12:40 pm | #562 |
Dekatron
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Re: Vintage Christmas Tree lights
They look splendid.
I'm curious as to how exactly the Disney shades are attached? Especially now the bulbs are MES tubular rather than the original olive shaped type.
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11th Nov 2020, 1:04 pm | #563 |
Heptode
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Location: Letchworth Garden City, Hertfordshire, UK.
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Re: Vintage Christmas Tree lights
Nice to see those up and running - go careful on the landing carpet, that photo has brought back a memory from my youth.
A friend of the family, who worked in the display department of a local store, had brought round some unused 'festoon lighting' for me to play with; a string of BC lamp-holders on old rubberised flat cable. The sort of thing the council would string up around the streets for Christmas. Plus, a box of coloured bulbs. I put all the bulbs in, laid the cable across the landing floor and powered them up to show some neighbours who were popping round. They lights looked fantastic in the dark, but one small Pygmy lamp was burning a bit brighter than it should. There was a funny smell in the air and the Pygmy bulb went out. Not sure whether the higher temperature was due to the smaller bulb, or the fact it was running hot, about to expire, but on clearing up, there was a crispy crater left in the landing carpet. That would be the carpet that had only been laid a week or so earlier..... SR |
14th Nov 2020, 11:56 am | #564 | |
Diode
Join Date: Oct 2020
Location: Sheffield, South Yorkshire, UK.
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Re: Vintage Christmas Tree lights
Quote:
The MES bulbs are narrow and the shade slips through the bulb, so I've kept the shades on the coloured set. |
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14th Nov 2020, 4:33 pm | #565 |
Dekatron
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Re: Vintage Christmas Tree lights
Ahhh.......
Take great care handling the tubular mes set when lit, it looks all too easy to touch the metal threaded part of the bulbs compared with the more bulbous style of lamp. Replacement coloured olive style bulbs are rather expensive but there are lamps like these: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/9-Pack-Of...edirect=mobile sold for candle bridges which might be worth considering.
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3rd Dec 2020, 9:12 pm | #566 |
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Re: Vintage Christmas Tree lights
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5th Dec 2020, 12:01 am | #567 |
Dekatron
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Re: Vintage Christmas Tree lights
In keeping with the generality of the thread, i am putting an extra vote in for the silicon diode method of under-volting old sets of lights, especially where the immediate supply of spare lamps is a problem.
I have a string of 20 push-ins of 12v 820mW rating that has eaten all it's spare lamps, and now only 18 are intact. A couple of years ago i fitted a 1N4007 in the plug and having now checked the current draw, they are dissipating around 613mW each. Clearly some interesting maths involved, which does allow them to generate a decent brightness, but with a barely noticeable 25hz flicker. The reaction time of the filaments is sluggish enough that the flicker is entirely tolerable. (It is barely perceptible when the lamps are waggled back and forth in a darkened room.) Of course sometimes the lamps can be removed and the plastic bases swapped over onto new lamps- but not if (as is sometimes the case) they are glued in.....plus you also have the problem of trying to match wattages.. not always possible these days. Dave |
5th Dec 2020, 12:54 am | #568 |
Octode
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Re: Vintage Christmas Tree lights
Without detracting from the seriousness of the technical discussion I want to say that I really like the lovely feeling I get when I see this topic surface at this time of year.
It is a pure pleasure to be a part of a community where such things are aired. Best wishes, Steve.
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5th Dec 2020, 1:06 am | #569 |
Dekatron
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Re: Vintage Christmas Tree lights
Youtuber 'technology connections' shows us those vintage Bubble Lights
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5un4DdKQZvs
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5th Dec 2020, 1:54 am | #570 |
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Re: Vintage Christmas Tree lights
If you use a series diode, you get 50Hz flicker, direct connection gives 100Hz flicker.
The filament doesn't care which way the current flows, it glows just the same.
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5th Dec 2020, 4:24 pm | #571 |
Dekatron
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Re: Vintage Christmas Tree lights
Thanks Chris, brain fade there, had just done 2 shifts too close together!
Pondering that a 1N4007 is up to the job and really quite small....so what results in the need for production it's lesser stablemates, 1N4001, 1N4002 with lower voltage ratings...? Are they even smaller? Dave |
5th Dec 2020, 6:06 pm | #572 |
Diode
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Re: Vintage Christmas Tree lights
I hope you peeps will excuse me, but I am new to this site and already have been blessed with help in resolving a search for some rareish Pifco 1.1 watt Cone/Olive bulbs.
I read with interest one post from 2010 by AndiiT who said about a Bubble set of lights which comprised of a coloured globe with a glass candle in the top with coloured liquid which would bubble when they heated up. My memories are of a set like this we had when I was very young, but recall the globes had a top and bottom half of different colours. |
6th Dec 2020, 2:18 am | #573 | |
Dekatron
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Re: Vintage Christmas Tree lights
Quote:
Not smaller physically, just lower voltage ratings. Perceived wisdom is that originally production was sorted into type depending on performance but nowadays they're probably all 4007 spec but just labelled differently for convenience of replacement. They're renowned for being (in the words of others) "barely worth calling a diode" on account of their slow and noisy reverse recovery characteristics. They are cheap though!
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6th Dec 2020, 1:04 pm | #574 |
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Re: Vintage Christmas Tree lights
In recent years due to the quantities made for SMPSU use the faster UF ones are getting cheaper than the IN ones.
Slow diodes will slowly become rare and expensive and will only be used if there really is a need for them. |
6th Dec 2020, 6:46 pm | #575 | |
Octode
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Re: Vintage Christmas Tree lights
Quote:
Andrew |
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8th Dec 2020, 12:20 am | #576 |
Triode
Join Date: Jun 2019
Location: Houghton-le-Spring, Tyne and Wear, UK.
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Re: Vintage Christmas Tree lights
Hello.
I've got a set of the original Bubble Lights, from the USA, manufactured by Noma. They were launched in 1946, and this is a early set from that time. These were on sale in this country. This set is complete with a very sought after purple tube, which are very rare, because they were only made during the three first years of manufacture. I also put more modern bubble lights, also from the USA, on my Christmas tree, with other American vintage style lights, shown in the last photo. Last edited by Nicholas Bilton; 8th Dec 2020 at 12:25 am. |
8th Dec 2020, 10:31 am | #577 |
Dekatron
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Re: Vintage Christmas Tree lights
They're fantastic, i wonder what (oil?) they're filled with.
Dave |
8th Dec 2020, 12:31 pm | #578 |
Dekatron
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Re: Vintage Christmas Tree lights
Ah- apparently DCM in the fast ones and some sort of viscous oil in the slow ones.
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8th Dec 2020, 1:45 pm | #579 |
Triode
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Location: Houghton-le-Spring, Tyne and Wear, UK.
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Re: Vintage Christmas Tree lights
Hello.
Bubble lights are normally filled with Methylene Chloride, which is a poisonous liquid. However, you can get oil filled ones, but they have a much slower bubble speed. The set pictured has Methylene Chloride filled tubes. |
8th Dec 2020, 8:31 pm | #580 |
Dekatron
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Re: Vintage Christmas Tree lights
my link in post 569 explains all
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