Quest du jour- seeking T1.25 wire base blue tinted bulbs.

[aemeijers]

Anybody know a source for T1 1/4 wire base bulbs (NOT LEDs) with blue tint? Trying to replace the lights on the HVAC controls for a 2005 Caravan. Dealer claims they are unserviceable, and wants to sell me a whole new pod for hundreds of dollars. I have already replaced them with T1's (too small) after buying T1 3/4 that were too big (I feel like Goldilocks), but the T1s are too short, and the blue condoms make them too dim. I am aware of McMaster-Carr and Allied- that is where I wasted my money on the first two tries, for the condoms and bulbs respectively. Allied has clear bulbs in the right size (now that dummy me figured out what the size is), but not the tinted ones.

And yes, I already tried rec.autos.tech.

[Meat Plow]

Can't you apply an acrylic blue tint to the bulbs. Or just suffer with a white light?

[aemeijers]

I'm no artist or painter- where would I get that in small quantity at a decent price? I was just thinking blue nail polish or model paint of the 'candy' variety.

[Sjouke Burry]

Colored nail paint.

[Meat Plow]

A clear blue tinted nail polish might work if the lamp didn't get too hot. I used to tint Grain of Wheat lamps all the time with nail polish.

[Dave M]

You should be able to buy acrylic spray paint at almost any hardware store or home improvement store. Walmart, Kmart, Target, etc. should have acrylic spray paint in their crafts section as well as the paint section. Acrylic spray paint isn't hard to find.

[aemeijers]

I suppose- I was thinking something that I could dab on, or just dip the bulb in. I already have way too many spray cans sitting around going flat, that I'll never finish.

No hurry at this point- the lights I put in are bright enough to at lease SEE the damn controls. Maybe when it warms up again, I'll feel more motivated.

[Pete C.]

When I got tired of burned out lamps in the CD/radio in my Chevy truck, I replaced them with T1 white LEDs from DigiKey (and dropping resistors). They worked perfectly, and even dim evenly with the normal instrument dimmer control.

[Hell Toupee]

Hit the tackle department of a fairly decent sporting goods supplier. You'll find small bottles of paint for jigs and flies. That's what I've used to touch up Christmas light bulbs.

[Michael A. Terrell]

Like the old NE-2 lamp. Wire leads, no base.

[N8N]

either of those ideas should work, also you could get some transparent paint intended for making fake stained glass. I've used nail polish before to "make" 57Rs for dash bulbs for old Studebakers.

If you've already got the bulb condoms why not just get a higher wattage bulb than the ones you've already tried? any tint/paint will reduce light output as well.

nate

[Harrison Lighting and Neon]

I am a lighting service person and we use DEKA brand transparent LIGHT BLUE #30 glass stain. I have personally used this to dip antique x-mas lights and #47 dial bulbs with EXCELLENT results.......most any glass or hobby shop can get this. the small size bottle is 2/3 fluid ounce for about $4ea. this will do aprox 75 #40 lamps ( these were used as Christmas lights in the late

1940's) clean the lamps with alcohol, dip, stick the wire leads into a piece of Styrofoam at an angle so the paint drips down but not all over the leads....one dip will give very good results....if you really want to do it right bake these in a toaster oven at 200-300 degrees for aprox 15 minutes after they are dry to the touch. THIS WILL STINK a little,, so make sure the wife is away, but it wont damage the oven. or contact me by email and I can do a few for you if your not in a big hurry.

Herb Harrison Oxnard Calif USA

[Bob AZ]

AEM

bulbman.com or google for more leads

Bob AZ

[aemeijers]

Thanks. I'll try 'Hobby Lobby' this weekend. (when they came in, the ma'n'pa places went belly up.)

aem sends...

[Tony Miklos]

Blue INK will work much better than blue paint.

[David Nebenzahl]

On 1/26/2011 4:22 PM aemeijers spake thus:

Well, here's something novel for this thread: an actual possible source of bulbs. Try donsbulbs. This search:

turned up a shitload of T1-1/4 bulbs. Sorry, too lazy to go through them; maybe your bulb is in there somewhere. (Or you could contact the guy; I think it's actually some guy named Don who runs this biz.)

[aemeijers]

I think we have a winner here. Local Hobby Lobby didn't have the exact stuff specified, but they did have stained glass paint in daubing bottles, that they claimed were from the same company, although it didn't say so on the bottle. I tried it on a couple of the wrong-size bulbs, and it seemed to work okay. I have ordered t1.25s from Allied, and first warm (or at least above-freezing) day, I'll open it up and give it another try. Bulbs should be here Monday or Tues, so I'll pre-paint enough of them and leave them stuck in the foam block sitting in a sunny window for several days, for maximum hardness (short of over baking. After 4 years of non-use, I'm scared to open my oven.)