LED Pygmy Lamp

[Ian]

Can anyone point me at a source for LED Pygmy Lamps in the UK, preferably mail-order. What I specifically need is a BC/B22 ("Proper") base, and no bigger than the traditional Pygmy outline, because it needs to fit in a decorative glass shade that only has a small opening. Red would be ideal, but clear or other colours will do. Plenty of golfball style ones available but they're no good (won't fit).

Something like this is what I'm after:

But I can only see them stocked by CEF, who won't sell to plebs, and Fusion expect you to buy a truckload.

Can't see anything similar on ebay or amazon.

TIA,

[Dave Plowman (News)]

[Ian]

Ta, though that looks too fat. A traditional Pygmy is only marginally wider than the base. They don't specify the diameter of that one - may pop them a question...

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Think they may have varied in shape over the years. And by maker. There were some signal mains lamps the same diameter as the base designed for say a 1,2,3... indicator where space could be tight - but generally SBC.

There seems to be a much bigger choice with SES - any chance of changing the bulb holder?

[Ian]

Quite likely, though the incandescent ones seem to be fairly standard now.

Unfortunately not, it's a (rather nice) custom made decorative lamp in the form of a flower, with BC bulb holders soldered onto metal stalks, and glass shades. I've got a 0.5W golfball led in the bigger "buds", but the opening on the smallest one is barely bigger than the lamp. Would be nice to replace the 15W with something cooler and longer lasting.

May consider butchering a golfball and putting the glass from a normal bulb on it. Or converting the whole thing to LV and making a suitably sized lamp from a dead mains one.

[Andrew Gabriel]

Would a 35mm golfball fit in?

[Ian]

Unfortunately not, the opening is only 28mm wide, and is glass, so no flexibility.

[Richard]

This any good?

[Ian]

Yep, that's just the job, but where can I buy it? (CEF is trade-only)

[PeterC]

Another possibility, if it can take the length, is a BC-to-G9 adapter, then there's a good choice of lamps.

[Dave W]

Why on earth do you want an LED version? Surely 15W incandescent isn't going to break you?

[Mike Clarke]

Have you actually tried them?

I've never had any problem buying from CEF, apart from some of their prices being on the high side.

[charles]

just go in and ask to buy. "Trade only" is rarely a problem.

[Ian]

Cheers, might work with a small lamp (didn't realise those adapters were so small)

[Martin Brown]

White ones:

Coloured ones:

You can buy them from China for not very much. I got some 3W and 5W red B22 ones this way for astronomy. Better than filtering white light!

Since I have one in front of me B22 the dimensions are 22mm increasing to 25mm on the metal socket and the clear envelope/control electronics is 30mm dia and length 80mm (for the 3W) the 5W is longer. This will be a bit bigger footprint than a standard pygmy lamp.

In the spirit of DIY you could probably shave 2mm off that with a bit of careful work. I doubt you could put them in a lathe though.

So far I have never had anything not arrive although delivery times can vary depending on the speed of the slow boat from China and season. Longest was about 6 weeks. From memory the bulbs took about 3 weeks.

You can sometimes find them in stock in the UK for about 5x the price.

[Ian]

Well it runs hot, the paint cracks, spoiling the effect and it doesn't last long. Also, it niggles that the "illumination" lamp is a nice bright

0.5W LED, but the small decorative one is a 15W heater.

[Ian]

I did buy from their trade counter a long time ago, and got thoroughly reamed because I didn't have an account, so they're on my shit-list. As a last resort I might see what hoops you need to go through to buy online - says you need to sign up for a trade account, but the qualifications may be nothing more than a 16-digit number and CCV...

[Ian]

Cheers, that's getting close enough for a punt. I've no problem ordering low-value things from china (though I do wonder how they ship for the price!)

[Andy Burns]

Room for a candle lamp?

I bought a similar one (higher powered though) the individual LEDs didn't last long, you could hear them "cracking" as the lamp cooled down each time it had been used, eventually about 1/3 of them had blown and the whole thing gave up.

[Andy Burns]

They've given me "cash discount" without having to ask whenever I've bought from their trade counter, which brings list price back to something almost reasonable.