A Photography forum. PhotoBanter.com

If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Go Back   Home » PhotoBanter.com forum » General Photography » In The Darkroom
Site Map Home Register Authors List Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read Web Partners

Safelight bulbs??



 
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old May 4th 09, 08:34 AM posted to rec.photo.darkroom
Geoffrey S. Mendelson
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 450
Default Safelight bulbs??

I have a Kodak safe light that looks like a metal cone. One end screws into
a lamp socket, the other holds a round filter. It's probably from the 1960's
or older, but it's the only thing I could get here in any color except red.

I bought out the last of the locally availaible little red things that
use nightlight bulbs and a bunch of the bulbs, so I am covered for red,
but I wanted an orange (Wratten OC) filter as I can see much better by
it.

The problem I have, is that here in Israel, we have been ahead of
everyone else in energy saving, CFL bulbs have been sold here, and used
by me, since 1997. That's good, but it has caused the demand and
therefore the supply of low wattage incadescent bulbs to dry up.

I found a few Chinese made 7-10 watt bulbs, but they only last a few
hours. I found a 15 watt bulb sold for refrigerators, but it has a
different base and I am trying to adapt it, but may not be able to get
those bulbs much longer and they are very expensive being made to
operate at 0F and below.

The smallest incadescent bulbs that are still common here are 40 watt
bulbs.

What is everyone else doing for safelights?

Thanks in advance,

Geoff.


--
Geoffrey S. Mendelson, Jerusalem, Israel N3OWJ/4X1GM
  #2  
Old May 4th 09, 10:24 AM posted to rec.photo.darkroom
Geoffrey S. Mendelson
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 450
Default Safelight bulbs??

Maciej Zielenkieiwcz wrote:

Here in Poland 15W bulbs are quite common and could be bought in almost
any shop (supermarkets etc.), but it is also possible to get 5
and 7 watt ones. The prices are like 0.5 euros for the 15W ones and
approximately 2 euros for smaller ones (they aren't so popular). Some
of the popular makers is Tungsram (owned by GE) and PIL1 (polish).


Thanks, I tried the supermarkets with no luck. I asked on a local group and
got some leads on real lighting stores, so I'll try them.

Although we have not gone as far as to ban incadescent bulbs, the market
seems to have spoken.

Geoff.


--
Geoffrey S. Mendelson, Jerusalem, Israel N3OWJ/4X1GM
  #3  
Old May 4th 09, 12:24 PM posted to rec.photo.darkroom
Jean-David Beyer
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 247
Default Safelight bulbs??

Geoffrey S. Mendelson wrote:
I have a Kodak safe light that looks like a metal cone. One end screws into
a lamp socket, the other holds a round filter. It's probably from the 1960's
or older, but it's the only thing I could get here in any color except red.

I bought out the last of the locally availaible little red things that
use nightlight bulbs and a bunch of the bulbs, so I am covered for red,
but I wanted an orange (Wratten OC) filter as I can see much better by
it.

The problem I have, is that here in Israel, we have been ahead of
everyone else in energy saving, CFL bulbs have been sold here, and used
by me, since 1997. That's good, but it has caused the demand and
therefore the supply of low wattage incadescent bulbs to dry up.

I found a few Chinese made 7-10 watt bulbs, but they only last a few
hours. I found a 15 watt bulb sold for refrigerators, but it has a
different base and I am trying to adapt it, but may not be able to get
those bulbs much longer and they are very expensive being made to
operate at 0F and below.

The smallest incadescent bulbs that are still common here are 40 watt
bulbs.

What is everyone else doing for safelights?


I use 7 1/2 watt 120 volt incandescent lamp bulbs. Whereas most incandescent
lamps are designed to last about 750 hours, these little ones are designed
to last 1250 hours. I do not know if I have ever had one burn out. Now if
you run them at 220 volts, their lifetime would be very short.

My safelights came with 15 watt bulbs, and they did not seem to fog paper,
but since the lights are slightly less than the 4 feet distance from my
working surfaces, I thought it would be better to use smaller lamps in them.

Incandescent lamps run much longer as their input voltage is reduced. You
might consider putting a suitable resistor in series with the bulb to dim
the bulb slightly and increase its lifetime. The trick is to compute the
proper resistance. If you measure the resistance of the bulb with an
ohmmeter, it will be very low, so you will get too low a value to put in
series. It is better to calculate it. If it is a 22 watt bulb at 220 volts,
the bulb draws 1/10 amp, so it is 2200 ohm with a hot filament. So you might
try a 110 to 220 ohm resistor to lower the voltage. You might wish to use a
5 watt resistor.

Thanks in advance,

Geoff.




--
.~. Jean-David Beyer Registered Linux User 85642.
/V\ PGP-Key: 9A2FC99A Registered Machine 241939.
/( )\ Shrewsbury, New Jersey http://counter.li.org
^^-^^ 07:10:01 up 40 days, 13:24, 3 users, load average: 4.02, 4.15, 4.13
  #4  
Old May 4th 09, 02:28 PM posted to rec.photo.darkroom
Ian Harding
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1
Default Safelight bulbs??

Geoffrey S. Mendelson wrote:
The problem I have, is that here in Israel, we have been ahead of
everyone else in energy saving, CFL bulbs have been sold here, and used
by me, since 1997. That's good, but it has caused the demand and
therefore the supply of low wattage incadescent bulbs to dry up.


I use 3W CFL lamps in my beehive safelights. They are supposed to
produce equivalent light output to 15W incandescents. They certainly
seem to produce about the same amount of illumination in my darkroom,
and no fogging problems when used for similar periods of time.

Ian




  #5  
Old May 4th 09, 08:04 PM posted to rec.photo.darkroom
Lawrence Akutagawa
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 145
Default Safelight bulbs??


"Geoffrey S. Mendelson" wrote in message
...
I have a Kodak safe light that looks like a metal cone. One end screws into
a lamp socket, the other holds a round filter. It's probably from the
1960's
or older, but it's the only thing I could get here in any color except
red.

I bought out the last of the locally availaible little red things that
use nightlight bulbs and a bunch of the bulbs, so I am covered for red,
but I wanted an orange (Wratten OC) filter as I can see much better by
it.

The problem I have, is that here in Israel, we have been ahead of
everyone else in energy saving, CFL bulbs have been sold here, and used
by me, since 1997. That's good, but it has caused the demand and
therefore the supply of low wattage incadescent bulbs to dry up.

I found a few Chinese made 7-10 watt bulbs, but they only last a few
hours. I found a 15 watt bulb sold for refrigerators, but it has a
different base and I am trying to adapt it, but may not be able to get
those bulbs much longer and they are very expensive being made to
operate at 0F and below.

The smallest incadescent bulbs that are still common here are 40 watt
bulbs.

What is everyone else doing for safelights?

If that 40 watt bulb can indeed fit in your safelight, what about hooking it
up to a variable resistor? A specific one commonly available (I trust even
in Israel) is the room dimmer. Get an electric/junction box which allows
two switches/receptacles, one two prong receptacle, and one room dimmer.
Mount the dimmer and the receptable in the box suitably wired. If desired,
add a cover plate. If desired, add rubber feet/felt pads to the bottom of
the box. Plug your safe light wire into the receptacle and turn on/off the
safelight using the room dimmer. You may want to mark the cover plate
suitably to indicate illumination levels. And connect the box to any wall
receptacle using a length of suitable wire ending in a male plug - I suggest
cannibalizing an plain old extension cord - cut off the female end and wire
it into the box.


  #6  
Old May 6th 09, 08:21 AM posted to rec.photo.darkroom
Richard Knoppow
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 751
Default Safelight bulbs??


"Geoffrey S. Mendelson" wrote in message
...
I have a Kodak safe light that looks like a metal cone. One
end screws into
a lamp socket, the other holds a round filter. It's
probably from the 1960's
or older, but it's the only thing I could get here in any
color except red.

I bought out the last of the locally availaible little red
things that
use nightlight bulbs and a bunch of the bulbs, so I am
covered for red,
but I wanted an orange (Wratten OC) filter as I can see
much better by
it.

The problem I have, is that here in Israel, we have been
ahead of
everyone else in energy saving, CFL bulbs have been sold
here, and used
by me, since 1997. That's good, but it has caused the
demand and
therefore the supply of low wattage incadescent bulbs to
dry up.

I found a few Chinese made 7-10 watt bulbs, but they only
last a few
hours. I found a 15 watt bulb sold for refrigerators, but
it has a
different base and I am trying to adapt it, but may not be
able to get
those bulbs much longer and they are very expensive being
made to
operate at 0F and below.

The smallest incadescent bulbs that are still common here
are 40 watt
bulbs.

What is everyone else doing for safelights?

Thanks in advance,

Geoff.

AKA Beehive lamp. Get the smallest wattage compact
fluorescent lamp you can obtain and use some layers of plain
writing paper over the filter or inside against the filter.
The compact fluoresent lamps have some after glow but that
should not be a problem for a safelight. I don't think they
run hot enough to cause problems with the paper.


--

--
Richard Knoppow
Los Angeles
WB6KBL



  #7  
Old May 6th 09, 12:24 PM posted to rec.photo.darkroom
Geoffrey S. Mendelson
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 450
Default Safelight bulbs??

Richard Knoppow wrote:

AKA Beehive lamp. Get the smallest wattage compact
fluorescent lamp you can obtain and use some layers of plain
writing paper over the filter or inside against the filter.
The compact fluoresent lamps have some after glow but that
should not be a problem for a safelight. I don't think they
run hot enough to cause problems with the paper.


Thanks, and to everyone who suggested something. I went to another lighting
store today and found a bunch of GE 15 watt bulbs (made in Hungary).I bought
six, so I am set for a long time.

I'm still thinking about the other possibilites as I need more safelights,
and I doubt that there more Beehive lamps around (here).

Geoff.


--
Geoffrey S. Mendelson, Jerusalem, Israel N3OWJ/4X1GM
  #8  
Old May 6th 09, 03:36 PM posted to rec.photo.darkroom
Richard Knoppow
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 751
Default Safelight bulbs??


"Geoffrey S. Mendelson" wrote in message
...
Richard Knoppow wrote:

AKA Beehive lamp. Get the smallest wattage compact
fluorescent lamp you can obtain and use some layers of
plain
writing paper over the filter or inside against the
filter.
The compact fluoresent lamps have some after glow but
that
should not be a problem for a safelight. I don't think
they
run hot enough to cause problems with the paper.


Thanks, and to everyone who suggested something. I went to
another lighting
store today and found a bunch of GE 15 watt bulbs (made in
Hungary).I bought
six, so I am set for a long time.

I'm still thinking about the other possibilites as I need
more safelights,
and I doubt that there more Beehive lamps around (here).

Geoff.


--
Geoffrey S. Mendelson, Jerusalem, Israel
N3OWJ/4X1GM


Are you not able to get these thing via eBay, they seem
to turn up pretty frequently there. However, I know you have
to deal with some pretty serious restrictions. I think
Ilford made a similar lamp, they certainly made filters that
fit the Kodak lamps.


--
Richard Knoppow
Los Angeles
WB6KBL



  #9  
Old May 9th 09, 05:17 PM posted to rec.photo.darkroom
Murray
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 34
Default Safelight bulbs??

A 1 amp diode in series with the bulb will reduce the wattage
(but not by half). Try a 1N4004. 400V @ 1amp. About 10c or less.
Murray

Geoffrey S. Mendelson wrote:

Richard Knoppow wrote:


AKA Beehive lamp. Get the smallest wattage compact
fluorescent lamp you can obtain and use some layers of plain
writing paper over the filter or inside against the filter.
The compact fluoresent lamps have some after glow but that
should not be a problem for a safelight. I don't think they
run hot enough to cause problems with the paper.



Thanks, and to everyone who suggested something. I went to another lighting
store today and found a bunch of GE 15 watt bulbs (made in Hungary).I bought
six, so I am set for a long time.

I'm still thinking about the other possibilites as I need more safelights,
and I doubt that there more Beehive lamps around (here).

Geoff.


  #10  
Old May 9th 09, 10:42 PM posted to rec.photo.darkroom
K W Hart
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 142
Default Safelight bulbs??

Will the series diode work with a compact fluorescent lamp? I think either
the clipped sine wave or the decereased voltage might not let the bulb work
Although the clipped sine wave might not be a problem..

"Murray" wrote in message
...
A 1 amp diode in series with the bulb will reduce the wattage
(but not by half). Try a 1N4004. 400V @ 1amp. About 10c or less.
Murray

Geoffrey S. Mendelson wrote:

Richard Knoppow wrote:


AKA Beehive lamp. Get the smallest wattage compact fluorescent lamp you
can obtain and use some layers of plain writing paper over the filter or
inside against the filter. The compact fluoresent lamps have some after
glow but that should not be a problem for a safelight. I don't think they
run hot enough to cause problems with the paper.



Thanks, and to everyone who suggested something. I went to another
lighting
store today and found a bunch of GE 15 watt bulbs (made in Hungary).I
bought
six, so I am set for a long time.

I'm still thinking about the other possibilites as I need more
safelights,
and I doubt that there more Beehive lamps around (here).

Geoff.


 




Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

vB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is Off
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Colored safelight *bulbs* still available? Stephan Goldstein In The Darkroom 24 December 4th 04 11:26 AM
Paterson VF safelight Ian Hodge In The Darkroom 2 August 26th 04 01:38 AM
Adorama LED safelight Richard Swanson In The Darkroom 15 June 26th 04 05:44 AM
bicycle LED as safelight Luigi de Guzman In The Darkroom 3 March 7th 04 11:19 AM
bicycle LED as safelight 10x@_telus.net In The Darkroom 5 February 27th 04 12:20 AM


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 11:25 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.6.4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright ©2004-2024 PhotoBanter.com.
The comments are property of their posters.