There was always a trick to making sure a light bulb would last a very long time. Let's look at how it was done....
Las Vegas, 1987 footage by 12Voltvids:
www.youtube.com/ @12voltvids
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Las Vegas, 1987 footage by 12Voltvids:
www.youtube.com/ @12voltvids
Join Team FranLab!!!! Become a patron and help support my YouTube Channel on Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/frantone
#franlab #bulb #filament
- Music by Fran Blanche -
Fran on Twitter - https://twitter.com/contourcorsets
Fran's Science Blog - http://www.frantone.com/designwritings/design_writings.html
FranArt Website - http://www.contourcorsets.com
I’m 64 years old, so I cut my teeth on batteries, switches and bulbs, and watched in awe as transistors (my transistor radio was about the size of a ladies handbag), LEDs (ooh! Soo pretty), and Integrated Circuits (witchcraft, sheer witchcraft) took over; but, I never knew this about lightbulbs!
Love your vids – they are so calming and comforting!
For flashy signage like that you could totally leave it glowing a little, you'd hardly notice the difference when there's a hundred other bulbs right next to it. I'm sure some signs did that just to boost the overall brightness too.
Bin A View Hey Fran!!! Love that telco wire. I have a bunch of that.
I had no idea. Thanks for a very interesting video Fran.
Covers 2-3 areas actually, lowering thermal stress by preheating, lowering inrush current, and maybe under-running a little as well
Shows that we used to live in a time where wasting energy was less of an issue than having to occasionally swap out bulbs..
Ah, the days of cheap power and no regard for the pollution of those coal power plants!
I Watch you videos thruly but I skip the patreon list finale. I wonder whether YouTube thinks my watching Is just a swipe watching or a complete one
Interesting… Thanks Fran. I remember the IBM 360 computers had a panel with hundreds of tiny lights that flashed and flickered with different intensities as the computer ran programs. You could tell how the program was progressing by watching the light patterns change. I never thought about the issue of light bulbs burning out. Never saw that happen.
This is a fascinating explanation, thx Fran!
Ah HAAA! I have definitely learned something new. Thank you!
Old security code interfaces for doors in buildings used to do this with incandescents the filaments were still luminous in their "off" state. Last one I have seen was used in the old MDW airport terminal before demolition.
In the case of signage, I wonder if flashing in fractional to single digit Hz, if the filament has time to cool enough to contract and cycle fatigue.
I have a theory that says keeping your computer on all the time has similar longevity benefits
On UK fruit machines/ slot machines did exactly the opposite by over driving to get bigger flash. The other reason was they wanted to limit life & keep the high turnover of machines with the game changing in the cabinet.
In the UK the machines regularly had new bulbs with wiring harness & front glass!
I read doing something like this for “numitron” style displays when driving them from a CD4511. Known as a preheating resistor
The Omega Indicating Light brochure says, ". Lamp life increases (or decreases) with the 12th power of voltage reduction (or increase) while light output is affected only by about the 3.6 power of voltage reduction so a substantial life increase can be achieved with a small decrease in brightness".
The power consumption does not decrease very fast with decrease in voltage, though, because the change in current in the incandescent region is small compared to the change in voltage. For indicator lamps, the power consumption is typically a minor consideration compared to lifetime. The inrush current to a cold filament when the lamp is switched on can be a substantial stressor. The addition of a fixed resistor in series with the lamp can substantially reduce the inrush current. It looks like the indicator panel uses this technique also.