looking for long life light bulb

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Bill Shields
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Re: looking for long life light bulb

Post by Bill Shields »

Cool...and I just have some of the 4004s in a drawer...really!
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pete
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Re: looking for long life light bulb

Post by pete »

Maybe look for what are known as Severe or Rough Service light bulbs. https://www.bulbs.com/learning/roughservice.aspx There almost universally used in the open pit mining industry with few failures. Lot's of areas are illuminated 24 hrs a day inside the equipment structure. It's amazing how well they stand up to shock and vibration loads, humidity, rock dust etc. Highly doubtful you'll find them at any big box store, so ordering them online or a visit to an industrial electrical supplier would be what I'd try.
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Steggy
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Re: looking for long life light bulb

Post by Steggy »

pete wrote: Sat May 08, 2021 3:55 pmMaybe look for what are known as Severe or Rough Service light bulbs...
Another possibility is to get a traffic signal lamp. I know from past experience they are good for at least 7500 continuous hours on 120 volts.
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Asteamhead
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Re: looking for long life light bulb

Post by Asteamhead »

tornitore45,
You had it :idea: :!:
Works fine for thousands of hours due to the reduced rms voltage.
Will give you some less brighter light :o but don`t care for it`s just inside the boiler :lol:
I used that methode for my 24/7 night and day outdoor light at my home in the older days when LED-bulbs weren`t available :)

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Bill Shields
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Re: looking for long life light bulb

Post by Bill Shields »

All good ideas...but have to fit through the firedoor of my loco and not been able to find a rough service bulb that will

Going the diode route to see how that does.

Thx all 4 suggestions
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atunguyd
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Re: looking for long life light bulb

Post by atunguyd »

Another option if you find that the diode makes it the bulb too dim would be to put a capacitor in series with it as the reactance of the cap reduces the voltage without generating much heat. A lot of modern LED bulbs do this to drop the voltage these days.
You would need to calculate the value of the capacitor though and ensure that you don't use an electrolytic one.

Try the diode first, if it doesn't work then we can work out a capacitor value.

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Chris Hollands
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Re: looking for long life light bulb

Post by Chris Hollands »

I have to admit the Chromalox screw in heater is very neat and about as simple as it gets - never seen them before .

Another option is Electrical cabinet / encloser heaters ( resistance heaters ) we use them on site up in the great white cold north to heat mainly grease injector / lubrication systems that are housed in electrical cabinets about 1 - 3 ft square so the grease in the injectors stays at a usable temp and not a solid block .

They come in all sorts of shapes / sizes / voltages and wattage and put out a lot of heat from a very small item and I have never replaced one yet , they work in extreme conditions for years .

Some units come with adjustable built in thermostats ,the one I have attached is one I found on the internet and is just an example of just one size and shape available .
The ones we use on site tend to be more of a square shape 1 1/2 "-2" DIN standard mount or screw / bolt option .

Just another simple option - plug it in and place inside the firebox - walk away .
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Dick_Morris
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Re: looking for long life light bulb

Post by Dick_Morris »

I have a couple of car battery warmers that were with some other junk in my garage when I moved in. Checking the on line auto parts stores, they start at about $30 and go up from there. I use one with a thermocouple controlled supply to heat the resin for my 3D printing. They are fairly flexible. One of those or a personal heating pad might be adaptable to warning a boiler.
Steve Goodbody
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Re: looking for long life light bulb

Post by Steve Goodbody »

Bill,

If it helps, after trying incandescent bulbs in previous years, this winter I used a 200W magnetic engine block heater for exactly this application on my steel boilers. I removed the ashpans and grates and then attached a heater directly to the inside walls of the firebox. This was after blowing each boiler through with warm dry air for a day or so.

Not so useful if you have copper boilers however!

Below is a link to the NAPA website, but I suspect they're available elsewhere.
https://www.napaonline.com/en/p/KAT1155

Best regards
Steve
Kimball McGinley
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Re: looking for long life light bulb

Post by Kimball McGinley »

I think incandescent lights also don't like to get too hot. I had a 3-bulb ceiling fixture that really went through 40W round bulbs. It had vents around the top, but no inlet. I drilled some holes in the bottom and bulb life increased dramatically. In your layup situation, can air flow through the firebox, tubes, and up the stack to prevent bulb overheating?
BillF
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Re: looking for long life light bulb

Post by BillF »

Why focus on a light bulb? Why not just get a high-power-rating resistor and wire it to a 120V line cord? 50 watts would need about 300 ohms, but a 500 ohm resistor will still give you about 30 watts. Mouser Electronics (https://www.mouser.com) has many such parts listed, including an Ohmite HS50 500R J with solder lugs for $5.22. Of course, the heat transfer with a lower temperature element like this will be primarily by convection, rather than radiation.
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Bill Shields
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Re: looking for long life light bulb

Post by Bill Shields »

Lots of good ideas .. appreciate them all.

Have a bulb running with a diode for now and will see in 3 months.

Heaters are fine -> and considered them -> but all must go through firedoor since no ash pan or grate and not going to remove gas burner for a short layup since doing so requires 2.5 hours of work (each way) to remove boiler.

...basically a chromalox screw in heater is the same thing and easy to implement. Anyone who knows me understands my propensity for the easiest way (hence my picking of the group's brains)

Big resistor is a good idea...have considered nichrome wire to get there in lieu of light bulb....which is a big resistor in a fancy package with a acrew in socket.

If diode on bulb does not work will take the next step

Let you know in july!
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