Gas bulbs,aerolux etc.

[cfz2882]

anyone collect the decorative neon or argon filled "glow"bulbs
such as aerolux or the like?so far i have about 8 of these,
in some petals and other details are coated with phosphor so
they will glow bright green or pink along with the orange or
purple of the neon or argon.
-pretty!

 

[tolivac]

I have seen these lights years ago-they were kinda neat.Good that someone collects them.Was a special fixture needed for these bulbs?

 

[cfz2882]

no special fixture needed-ballast resistor built into base of
bulb.

 

[tolivac]

The lights closest to gas types I collect is HID type fixtures and bulbs.Have lots of metal halide fixtures and bulbs in various wattages-from 50W to 1000W(came from a stadium)I don't even use incandscent or halogen bulbs.Also some flourescents.Aleays liked gas discharge lamps.Give better quality light.The Aerolux ones sound really interesting.Guess these were for decorative use-not for lighting.

 

[cfz2882]

i have a few sodium and mecury vapor lights 70 and 150w sodium
and 400w mecury vapor-that 400w mercury draws clouds of moths
if lit on a summer night LOL my jr.high school had a "spitz"
planetarium projector that used a zenon discharge light in the
star ball-sometimes you would hear a "crack"when it lit off
That projector was one cool piece of equipment!-it was install
in 1980 when the school was built.
The aerolux and clone bulbs are just for decoration-probably
less than 1 watt output,the electrodes are often in the shape
of flowers,birds,horses,Etc.One i have probably from the late
'80s,features a "trucker babe"LOL

 

[tolivac]

Zenon lamps used in projection equipment are a type of high pressure "pulse start" lamp.The ones used for projection use a "rectifying" ballast-the bulb runs from DC.You won't get flicker in projected pictures if the bulb were to be used on AC.An igniter that generates a high voltage pulse starts the arc in the bulb-then the ballast voltage maintains it.I have a 2500W xenon projection bulb-came from a movie theater.These can be dangerous-they are under GREAT pressure-even when unlit.If you break one the fragments can put out an eye or get into your skin.They are packaged in a plastic or metal enclosure-leave the bulb in the enclosure-and when running xenon bulbs are even more dangerous-when one lets go-its almost like a hand grenade-thats why projector lamphouses are pretty stout.Fortunately other bulbs are pretty safe.I had one metal halide go on me-just made a "pop" and fogged up the inside of the outer bulb.The arc tube went.As they age this can happen-metal halide,mercury,xenon.For your xenon bulb in the planetarium projector-the loud pop on startup is the HV ignitor striking the arc.Theater projectors can do the same sort of thing when their xenon bulbs are started.70Kv pulse-for pulse start metal halide and sodium(All HP sodium bulbs are pulse start)the ignitor is 2-6 KV.Other metal halides and mercury bulbs are "probe start"a small electrode by one of the main ones with a bimetal switch and resitor use the ballast voltage to start the lamp.No ignitor required for this.The bimetal switch disconnects the ignitor electrode when the bulb is started and warmed up-otherwise the start electrode could burn up.Looks like I will need to be on the lookout for the Aerolux type bulbs.Sounds like they are like common miniature neon bulbs(like used in electronic equipment)the resistive ballast.Good the Aerolux bulbs will work in any 120V incandescent fixture.

 

[cfz2882]

mercury arc rectifier

speaking of projectors and mercury vapor lights,once saw a
projector at a museum(looked 30s or early 40s vintage),that
had a carbon arc light in the lamp house and in the power
supply box for the light was a mercury vapor rectifier tube
IIRC there was an x-ray warning plate on the access door for
the rectifier LOL.
Also i think large mercury rectifiers were also used in some
electric locomotives and trolleys to drive the motor from
HV AC current.
One of those would be a great addition to a gas bulb or exotic
tube collection!

 

[tolivac]

My main job of fixing broadcast transmitters-was the very old ones that used mercury vapor tubes in the power supplies.I have some mercury rectifier tubes in my collection-got many from stations that converted the transmitter power supplies to solid state.I am trying to remember the type# but I have a very large mecury rectifier tube that came from WTOP's(1st 50Kw AM in Wash DC)And saw these tubes in use in their older 50Kw AM transmitter-the tubes flickered to the modulation.and in their TV transmitterch#9-the mercury vapor tubes glowed even more brightly during dark picture modulation-max power in a TV transmitter-of course analog days.I liked the mercury tubes-you got a visual indication on what the supply was doing-if you saw your tubes glowing very brightly-there is an overload or short in the supply.and at that point the transmitter overload relays should trip.Locomotive rectifiers used a mecury tube called an "ignitron" a mercury pool rectifier for very high current supplies.These devices don't have filaments-but a third electrode to help vaporize the mecury and iniate tube conduction.An outside heat source also warmed the tube to vaporize the mercury inside.3 of our transmitrters where I work use these devices as a "crowbar" OL for the HV supply.The ignitrons short the supply during an overload condition-and trip the primary circuit breaker to the supply-15Kv up to 60A.Two gas filled thyratron tubes drive the crowbar tube-thyratron tubes are gas filled triode tubes with the same charactoristics as modern SCR's.The ignitron tubes for the most part are metal tubes with the mercury inside-lots of it-and one end is glass with the ignition lead and cathode leads on it.The metal body served as the anode.For our purposes the tubes last a very long time.yes,at one time both GE and EMD locomotives used these tubes for controlling DC traction motors.And some welders use them too.

 

[cfz2882]

great info!

WOW-i now know a lot more about gas-discharge lights and
mercury rectifiers!
thanks!