Light bulbs (heaviest duty)

[tnom]

About twenty five years ago I came upon a traffic light that had fallen off of a county truck. I removed the light bulbs and used them for my front and back door entrance lights. They are still working today.

These bulbs are the standard shape screw in bulbs, but are not frosted. The glass is clear and thick The filament is a small diameter coil about 3/4 of an inch long and silver in color. There is no trademark on the bulb.

I have purchased heavy duty bulbs at the hardware store before but I believe "heavy duty" refers to the bulbs shock resistance not the life expectancy of the filament under normal use. These bulbs seem to burn out at a rate similar to standard bulbs.

The traffic signal lights must be special. Does anyone know of a source for these bulbs, other than falling traffic lights.

[B a r r y B u r k e J r .]

I've seen commercial long-life bulbs that were rated for more than

120V, usually 130V, in really hard to reach places. I guess the method is to use a lamp designed for a higher voltage, causing less stress to the filament, which equals longer life. Of course you won't get full light output from the bulb, so you may need a higher wattage bulb.

Try a "real" electrical supply house, or a supplier like Grainger. This may work for you:

Barry

[Tony Hwang]

Hi, My house was built in 1994. Not a single bulb burnt out yet. They're

130V l> On Wed, 26 Nov 2003 16:03:32 -0500, [e-mail] wrote: >

[mark Ransley]

They make crap so you always need to by more . Or the bulb manufacturers wouldnt sell as many, I have 220 voltbulbs that usualy last 10 to 15 years. Its all a scam.

[Tony Hwang]

[Roger]

Some years ago I replaced bulbs in my mother in law's house - she is 95 y.o. and cannot easily change ceiling bulbs. They were 60 watt, 25,000 hour rating, standard filament style frosted bulbs. Not a one has burned out. If you go to google and enter "25,000 hour bulbs" and "20,000 bulbs" (use the quotation marks, too) you will find several suppliers. The bulbs I used were about 2 or 3 bucks apiece, mail order, but I dont recall the company.

[Art Todesco]

[Joseph Meehan]

You are correct that there are various kinds of heavy duty light bulbs. One of the usual problems is vibration and there are bubs made for that use. Refrigerators have special lamps designed for cold, but mostly also vibration (garage door openers, fans etc.)

Post lamp bulbs may be coated with a plastic to help resist the drops of moisture on them that could break a normal hot bulb.

Long life bulbs are a little different. They seem to come in two flavors. The traditional flavor were just designed for higher voltage. Take a 130W lamb and us it one 120V and two things will happen. It will last a lot longer and it will also put out a lot less light. Use a 90W bulb and it will burn very bright for a few hours.(photofloods). The other long life bulb gets its life by design usually using a halogen cycle. They cost more and may proved both more light and longer life.

In general standard lamp is the best bargain, after considering cost of the lamp and electricity for the same amount of light. (halogens may do even better depending on the cost) If you have a difficult to reach light or one you really don't want to have burn out (like a traffic light) the long life bulb is worth it.

All of the above is for incandescent lamps only.

[Richard J Kinch]

Quite true, and not just slightly so. Nearly all the cost of a light bulb is the juice to run it. A GE 1200 hour standard 100W bulb costs 25 cents but uses about $12 worth of electricity in its lifetime. Long-life bulbs are a waste of money, except in the very few places where the labor of replacement is prohibitive. If you paid for the power in the price of the bulb up front, few would be sold. Same thing for those "bulb life extender" buttons, a real swindle that you don't see much any more.

[TimS]

I tried asking direct e-mail but you may have had them blocked... What is this 26 + 6 stuff? I saw an New England car car with a similar sticker. Would you explain?

TS

[Martin]

I think those long life bulbs for traffic lights are being phased out rapidly. They are being replaced with LED's at an accelerated rate.

[Tony Hwang]

[Joseph Meehan]

Yea my email blocking is rather strong.

26 Counties of the Republic (The South) and 6 Counties of the North equal one whole country, people and island as it was before the English

Dia's Muire duit

[Terry]

Joe: I think you mean? With reference to .... a) "Take a 130 VOLT lamp and use it on 120 volts .... it will last longer ....". b) "Use a 90 VOLT bulb (on 120 volts) and it will burn brightly 'perhaps' for a few hours ..... ". Since wattage is (with a couple of other factors thrown in) a function of the voltage squared, what you mention; a) The wattage ratio will be (approximately), [120 x 120]/[130 x

130] = 14,400/16,900 = about 85%. Apart from the wattage used the amount of light (lumens) will be less and of a different colour since the filament will be not quite as hot. We use one of these over our front door, on all night, every night; each bulb has lasted for 'years'. b) The wattage ratio will be approximately [120 x 120]/[90 x 90] = 177% (Very bright and as pointed out a 'photoflood'). Have seen photographers, especially indoors before the advent of today's 'fast' films, using 115 volters on 230 volts switching them on for a moment. Even then they lasted only briefly. They were very bright and HOT since they were at FOUR times the wattage! Cheers.

[Terry]

And then;

Joe; I figured it was that.** But was too much of an ex English Gentleman to mention it! Let's hope some common sense will eventually prevail over there? Eh? It doesn't look too hopeful again at the moment at Stormont! My solution is to make all of it, Scotland, Ireland including the Northern Counties, Wales and England, all part of the European Community and then it won't matter? Too much bl**dy nationalism everywhere. The Brits are still complaining about being invaded by Norman the Conqueror in the year 1066! And before that the Vikings invaders ..... and before that again the Romans were everywhere !!!! Also, sometimes one has to explain history to these North Americans! I vividly recall trying to explain an anti English joke about the Boston Tea Party to a Mexican American; he didn't even know what I was talking about! Cheers. Terry in Canada. PS. Boston Tea Party; an act of rebellion by colonists against British Government laws and taxation led by Samuel Adams in 1773; groups of colonists dressed as Indians dumped tea into Boston Harbour as a protest. Later Declaration of Independence July 4th

1776 etc.

[Joseph Meehan]

Yea. Too bad common sense is not common.

Yea, the fringes seem to be gaining, but the demographics are changing in the next ten or so years, it should be a done thing.

Your comment about the EU also makes sense and regardless of the outcome, I suspect it will be in the back of people's minds.