Organ Lighting: Candle and Pygmy light bulbs

Organ Lighting: Candle and Pygmy light bulbs
Have a look at the photo below, taken last Thursday night at a very wet Christmas shopping event in north Shropshire…

Notice how yet again one of the candle light bulbs at the back has blown. I can’t believe how often I’ve had to change these – the front colour bulbs are all original as fitted in 2003 bar one, as is the supposedly delicate halogen floodlight bulb. The trailer large wheel and leaf springs give the organ the gentlest ride possible, so I’m sure it’s not an issue from excessive transportation vibration. These candle bulbs are slightly tinted in colour, and were an expensive make and only 40W, so why do the things only ever seem to last a few hours? A dodgy batch, or a general problem with this design? I’ve found the same with pygmy bulbs too – the manufacturer’s quote of 1000 – 2000 hours is surely inaccurate! Anyone else found this? Do those miniature ‘golf ball’ bulbs fair any better? Oh, and it was nice to see from the barometer that evening that I wasn’t just imagining the high winds and rain at the event, though I’m really not sure that the 12 degrees C on the thermometer was right – it felt far colder :( …

Hello Nick, It would be an interesting experiment to remove those lamps every time you travel, for a while at least. Then at least you can rule out the vibration issue. When I used to help run a showmans engine, we used to remove all the lamps for travelling, otherwise there would hardly be any working by the end of the journey. Of course, not as smooth on the road but it makes a point. Rob.

Hello Nick Why don't you change over to LED. These are guaranteed for 50.000 hours. On top of that they won't heat up so they won't warm up the organ, and because there's no heat, these lights hardly use any power. We have a line of christmas lights on our building wich takes with normal bulbs 44 Kw a day. Since we have put in LED we are using now approx 800 watts a day. We will use them also on the rally's next season. At the moment we work on a simple pole system to attach the line. Good luck Willem Kelders

Hi Nick, Some light bulbs are designed to be lit in an upright position. Try turning yours so that they are upright and not hanging down. Bob

LED's are an excellent solution, although they are initially expensive in comparison to a regular lamp. When I helped with a friends trailer mounted Wurlitzer Style 157 we had the same problem. We found a source of lamps that were rated for 130V (instead of 110V). While they were just a little dimmer at 110V, we had far fewer failures from transit. We found it advantagous to sit for a while after shutting down and preparing for the road. It allowed the filaments to cool and reduced the likelyhood of jostling the hot filaments which resulted in lamp failure.

Given the current exchange rate between the UK and USA, the "Turbo" light fixtures and LED bulbs for them listed on this link below are a _very_ good deal for you guys at the moment - if they will ship to the UK - which I am sure they will. I've dealt with this company a few times and their posting is prompt and the customer service is excellent. http://www.actionlighting.com/items.asp?MainCategory=Amusement+Turbo+Type&Sub=TE40%20Turbo http://www.actionlighting.com/category.asp?MainCategory=Amusement%20Turbo%20Type These fixtures are found in almost all fairground rides and are designed to take a knocking and a lot of rough handling. When I eventually finish my organ, I will be using these lights !! Just my two cents worth...:-) Stephen.

I ahve found the golf ball bulbs last alot longer like the regular sized 15/25 watts. I have heard people complain about Candle bulbs in the home in the past, my Aunty Rita got rid of hers- she was spending a fortune on them!! What you need Nick is to pick up 4 nice cutglass old looking shades at a car boot somewhere to put on the lamps, then you can use regular bulbs.

I just found this on a UK website as well... http://www.bltdirect.com/product.php?pid=5418&cat=369 http://www.lyco.co.uk/products/Omicron-50000-Hour-1W-Bayonet-LED-Candle-Bulb.htm?prodID=5569 Stephen

Hi guys! Thanks so much for the useful information and wealth of ideas. I always switch the front flood off on ‘De Toren’ well before packing up to protect the bulb and organ (fitting almost touches the façade when the trailer doors are closed). The back lights are always last to be turned off of course, as I need these to pack up the trailer, so I guess this is where the damage was happening, when there are still hot and thus even more vulnerable. I’d never thought of using LED bulbs before, but these would seem the best solution, certainly compared to removing all bulbs each time of travelling! I don’t want to alter the present BC fittings, and above all else I want the lighting to look old and traditional, not something from a modern fairground (ditto when I complete the lighting on the 50kl). I’ve found on ebay a UK seller offering LED golf ball bulbs for instance rated at 20000 hours and aesthetically identical to the old incandescent lamp variety (£5.45 each, but they are a new product to the market so prices will fall and more types become available, especially when bulk buying). From a power saving point of view they are beneficial too; I’m not sure I can afford to replace all the standard front coloured bulbs on “De Toren”, nor that this is totally necessary at the moment as these are lasting very very well. LED bulbs on my 50-kl fair organ would be happier at flashing too I suppose, if I wanted to add some colour changes to the registers, though the 5 kVA diesel generator is more than capable of powering either type of bulb. Thanks again for all the posts; certainly lots to be thinking about now! All the best, Nick

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