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Author Topic: Self contained Plasma "light bulb"  (Read 24031 times)

Offline Tim

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Self contained Plasma "light bulb"
« on: October 30, 2005, 07:04:08 am »
The plasma light bulb!

I always thought this would be a fun concept: a self contained plasma globe that could be operated in any standard light fixture.? I see that someone is producing such a novelty now.? Perhaps they have existed for a while and I just haven't noticed them.? Regardless, I couldn't resist this for $8 at the local Wal-Mart? :lol:




« Last Edit: October 30, 2005, 07:09:39 am by tim »

Offline Chris W. Millinship

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Re: Self contained Plasma "light bulb"
« Reply #1 on: October 30, 2005, 09:18:19 am »
That`s impossibly groovy 8-)

If you see anywhere that would ship one of those overseas (Ebay?) please let me know. Looks great!

Offline Hemingray

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Re: Self contained Plasma "light bulb"
« Reply #2 on: December 26, 2005, 11:58:17 pm »
ahh, Sunbeam, they're making alot of little edison-based novelties. I myself own three, a changing traffic light, a small red strobe, and a little neon palm tree.

Offline Mónico González

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Re: Self contained Plasma "light bulb"
« Reply #3 on: December 27, 2005, 07:37:11 pm »
I agree with yours, what an amazing "Pocket" plasma ball!.
I figure these have built-in a kind of converter not so different from those that compact fluorescent lamps does use, but whose output transformer has a secondary winding fitted with a number of turns noticeably greater than those found into regular CFL's in order to generate a higher voltage to properly ionizing the gas mixture within the globe.
After all, both kind of lamps uses RF energy to create a plasma discharge into the tube, only the voltage are different for each application.
I would be interested about to know if anyone are manufacturing such a devices for use in continental Europe at 220-230 volts/50 Hz, fitted with E27 or E14 Edison caps.
In any case, a standard plasma-ball rated? 110-130 volts for US market could be useful for me, because the fact that I have no problem to use 125 volts in many rooms at home, via a bulky step-down self-transformer that I've permanently installed that feeds a dedicated line for these voltage through almost the whole ground floor.
Only the compatibility between mains frequencies could be a problem if such a bulb are only 60 Hz rated, because as you knows here we have a mains frequency of 50 Hz (Xformers does not convert frequency ;-)).
Furthermore, E26 bases are practically interchangeable with our E27 ones withouth any problem.
The only remaining difficulty are the availability of such lamps at our markets or how to order one of them overseas. BTW, Chinese lamps are nowadays very common here, and given the fact that their electric systems are the same that here in Europe, perhaps would be more easy than I though to find such? plasma-balls rated for our own standards.
In any case, I have not yet seen them here.

Thanks in advance, best regards and Happy Holidays!
M. Gonz?lez.
« Last Edit: December 27, 2005, 07:39:52 pm by M?nico Gonz?lez »

Offline mr_big

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Re: Self contained Plasma "light bulb"
« Reply #4 on: February 25, 2007, 03:53:09 am »
That's really cool I wonder what the voltage on this plasma ball is it can't be as high as a normal one anybody know :?

Offline gnildir1

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Re: Self contained Plasma "light bulb"
« Reply #5 on: February 11, 2009, 04:03:09 pm »
You know, with these plasma bulbs, you can burn holes in paper with it...

take a quarter and put it on the top of the bulb, put the paper on top, and then take a paperclip and hold it on the paper and you will see an arc and it will burn holes in the paper... 

here is a link to youtube on this demostration...  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nR24XqGSGEhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nR24XqGSGE


Without Edison, where would we be at today?