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Old 7th Dec 2018, 2:57 pm   #421
paulsherwin
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Default Re: Vintage Christmas Tree lights

I notice that there seem to be no incandescent light sets at all around this year. I don't know if this is because of some new safety/eco rule or simple economics. This means that any incandescent set has effectively become vintage.

I've mostly standardised on 20 lamp push in sets now, as there are lots of them at car boots and flea markets to supply spare bulbs. As has been said, it's usually easy enough to swap the plastic bases around.

I must admit that LED sets are getting better though - the white sets have a better colour temperature and more pleasing appearance, and multicoloured sets seem to be making a comeback after going out of fashion for a while.
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Old 8th Dec 2018, 12:17 am   #422
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Default Re: Vintage Christmas Tree lights

I'll be digging out several vintage sets shortly, then. (They were still "modern" push in types last year.)
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Old 8th Dec 2018, 11:09 am   #423
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Default Re: Vintage Christmas Tree lights

Three posts moved to a new thread here:-

https://www.vintage-radio.net/forum/...d.php?t=152116
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Old 8th Dec 2018, 9:25 pm   #424
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Default Re: Vintage Christmas Tree lights

My Parents had one of these. It used cake candles, although they were never left lit for long: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-46432082
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Old 8th Dec 2018, 10:53 pm   #425
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Default Re: Vintage Christmas Tree lights

Actual candles are of course incredibly dangerous on Christmas trees, particularly on natural trees which are highly inflammable. Artificial trees contain fire retardants nowadays, but I'm not sure they did in the 30s.
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Old 9th Dec 2018, 1:01 am   #426
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That goes without saying, which is why so few survive to create that auction price.
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Old 20th Dec 2018, 2:52 am   #427
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Default Re: Vintage Christmas Tree lights

I still have mostly incandescent lights, I have seen that LED sets have been improved a lot in recent years but christmas would not be the same without the ritual of finding faulty bulbs.

Coloured lights in the christmas tree is not that common here in Sweden, we mostly use clear bulbs in some form of candle-imitation. This is the old lights I use in my tree, as you can see by the look of the girls faces they surely are festive. It also says on the box that if you buy coloured bulbs to it it can be used for other parties too.

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Almost every home have one or more electric candelabras, this is a swedish thing and mostly unknown in the rest of the world. It was invented in the 1930's by a man that worked at a Philips warehouse in Gothenburg. He asked his boss if he could take some tree lights sets that had been scrapped, bought a cheap wooden chandelier which he mounted the lights in. His boss thought it was a silly thing that no one would like to buy but he ultimately agreed to try to sell the product. It was a huge sucess and still is.

This one is a Philips from the 50's, it was my great-grandmother's.

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Quote:
Originally Posted by paulsherwin View Post
I notice that there seem to be no incandescent light sets at all around this year. I don't know if this is because of some new safety/eco rule or simple economics. This means that any incandescent set has effectively become vintage.
Same here, I have not seen a single incandescent set in stores this christmas. A department store I vistited today have a lot of spare bulbs they are trying to get rid of. I could not help myself but buying quite a lot of them.

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Previous price was about £2 per pack, now they were all reduced to 1 swedish crown per pack, that's about 8p I suppose they are quite hard to sell nowadays.

Quote:
Originally Posted by The Philpott View Post
Amongst our spares there are two push-in lamps that stand out because of the red bases (normally green.) They are the bi-metal strip random flashers. From what I'm told these were quite unreliable. I do wonder how they were wired- was there a shunt in the base of the lamp? I don't imagine there's many left, building up a set is something I pondered briefly but I think they're too scarce.
I don't think you are supposed to make a whole set out of these, I think you replace one ordinary lamp in a set with one of these and all lights will blink in unison. I am not sure though.
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Old 20th Dec 2018, 11:37 am   #428
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Default Re: Vintage Christmas Tree lights

Electric candelabras do exist here and are reasonably common, though certainly not universal. People put them in their windows. All the ones I've seen on sale this year use LEDs.

Your Philips example is very attractive.
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Old 20th Dec 2018, 11:54 am   #429
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Default Re: Vintage Christmas Tree lights

I haven't seen any replacement incandescent bulbs on sale this year, but I stocked up two years ago when a local shop was discounting them in the new year.
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Old 20th Dec 2018, 12:30 pm   #430
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Default Re: Vintage Christmas Tree lights

Electric candelabra have become a lot more popular in the UK in recent years, I think that IKEA popularised them by selling huge numbers at low prices.
Often called "candle arches" even if not arch shaped.

Older ones used 55 volt, 3 watt lamps, five in series, or 34 volt 3watt lamps seven in series.
Less common were small neon "flicker flame candle" bulbs in parallel.

I purchased some old vintage examples from a junk shop, these are still in use but now fitted with modern "continental" Christmas bulbs each of 14 volts, 3 watt, parallel wired from a transformer.
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Old 20th Dec 2018, 8:49 pm   #431
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Default Re: Vintage Christmas Tree lights

Ahh, arches....

I bought this one for £3 in a local charity warehouse a few weeks ago- it's a seven light incandescent job. I'm not sure it's all that old- the original box it came in (along with a bag of seven spare bulbs ) was very "recycled" looking with Swedish labelling but "Made in China" at the bottom.

It looks the part nevertheless and should have a good few years left in it.

It's sitting on a block of wood on top of the radiator behind the sofa.
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Old 20th Dec 2018, 10:40 pm   #432
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Default Re: Vintage Christmas Tree lights

Quote:
Originally Posted by broadgage View Post
Electric candelabra have become a lot more popular in the UK in recent years, I think that IKEA popularised them by selling huge numbers at low prices.
Ah, Ikea. I hadn't thought of that, but it makes sense. They were certainly rarely seen 50 years ago.
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Old 23rd Dec 2018, 5:01 pm   #433
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Default Re: Vintage Christmas Tree lights

I've been reliably informed that our incandescent candle bridge came from Netto, and they've been an Asda for the last 20 years
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Old 23rd Dec 2018, 6:54 pm   #434
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Default Re: Vintage Christmas Tree lights

An extremely-ancient friend of mine has an electric Menorah, which she bought in Tel Aviv sometime in the early-1950s.

It uses nine 28-volt MES bulbs, and was originally powered via 2-core twisted 'figure-of-8' rubber/cotton cable - not a good idea whrn you realise the menorah itself is metal. (I fitted a modern 3-core cable for her a decade or so back).
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Old 24th Dec 2018, 2:57 am   #435
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Default Re: Vintage Christmas Tree lights

Not vintage, but relevant to this thread as the bulbs can be used to keep my vintage sets going, I did come across a stall in Chelmsford market on Saturday which had a couple of dozen boxes of incandescent fairy lights. As they were only £3 and use the 6V bulbs that most of my old sets need, I bought a set.
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Old 24th Dec 2018, 10:14 am   #436
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Default Re: Vintage Christmas Tree lights

..certainly cost effective if the bases are the same (or if they're free from glue and can be swapped)

Could someone confirm the mathematics involved in calculating the resistance value (and dissipation) required if i wanted to insert a resistor into a string of Twenty 12 volt 1.1w lamps- thus making them run at 11.5v per lamp. (Given that such a provision should be safe from a shock and fire risk point of view) Is such a mod. safe in principle?

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Old 24th Dec 2018, 10:39 am   #437
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Default Re: Vintage Christmas Tree lights

The string current should be 92mA (1.1/12) and you want the resistor to drop about 10V. To a first order approximation (the non linear resistance/temperature behaviour of the bulbs will upset things a little) try 100R 2W.

For best lifetime improvement, go as far as you can without making the set look too dim. The fixed R will also help reduce switch on surge too.

For best appearance and safety, adding a few extra bulbs to the string is the way to go.
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Old 24th Dec 2018, 2:43 pm   #438
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Default Re: Vintage Christmas Tree lights

As above, a series resistance is certainly possible, but adding extra lamps in series is arguably simpler, safer, and neater looking.
Anything from two extra lamps up to perhaps six would be suitable, depending on how much dimming is acceptable.
Even a single extra lamp should noticeably increase lap life.

If you find a source of inexpensive Christmas lights it is IMHO well worth buying perhaps 12 sets each of 20 lamps.

Make these into 10 strings each of 24 lamps, and they should last decades of normal use. The 24 spare lamps that came with the original sets should last a long time.

Alternatively, if you wish to avoid such modifications, an external transformer can supply a reduced voltage to a large number of light strings.

A 240 volt to 12 volt transformer, suitably wired as an autotransformer, will give 228 volts. A 240 volt to 25 volt transformer similarly connected will give 215 volts.

A NOTE OF CAUTION regarding series wired strings of 20 lamps. Traditionally, each lamp was 12 volts, 1.1 watts. Modern ones tend to be 12 volts 0.9 watts.
The two different wattages are NOT suitable for series operation with each other.
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Old 24th Dec 2018, 2:55 pm   #439
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Default Re: Vintage Christmas Tree lights

I've found they last pretty well in the standard configuration, and I wouldn't bother making modifications to a bog standard push fit 20 or 40 lamp set from the 80s and 90s. They still turn up all the time in flea markets, house clearance stalls etc. for little money. A genuinely old and rare set is a different matter of course.

The important thing is not to continue running a set with one or more lamps out, as this will obviously overrun the remaining lamps.

You can reduce the running temperature by adding a 1N4007 in the plug, though this can cause some flicker.
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Old 24th Dec 2018, 5:02 pm   #440
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Default Re: Vintage Christmas Tree lights

I have 3 sets of filament lamps on my tree total wattage for the whole lot it about 50 watts if I run them all with a 100 watt incandescent bulb in series will that give any useful increase in life? I think it would but am not sure so thats why I'm asking
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