fluroscent christmas bulbs

[jonathan cassiday]

today i found a string with five fluorescent bulbs at an antique store for $4.oo, of which two bulbs work properly both yellow, and one green one had a bad base but i can light it by lowering the voltage and raising the amps. the other two bulbs, a blue an yellow, i cant make work and figue that the resistor has gone bad. If anyone has any ideas on how to get the green one a base i would like to try to fix it. My ide is to wedge some new wire to connect withthe existing wires that are broken in the stem of the bulbs and sel the stem with silicon and run the bulb through a transformer that lowers the voltage and raises the amps. I find that i can light the good bulbs this way even with the resistors in the base. Any othe rideas, or would anyone be interested in possibly tinkering with the bum bulbs to fix the?

Jonathan Cassiday

[Tim]

Hi Jonathan,

I may have a spare base laying around.? Let me look around and I'll let you know if I can locate one.? In the meantime, keep us posted on your progress of repairing these lamps.

[Christmas Lamp]

Please Can you Post some Pictures 
Fluorescent and Bubblers are My Most liked US Christmas Lights
Thanks

[Chris W. Millinship]

If it`s any use, quite some time ago I had a go at repairing one of these with a loose base. Unfortunately it did not end up quite as I had planned (it fell on the floor shortly after fixing the base back on ) but did produce some interesting photos of the insides and plenty of comments. The whole topic is here:

http://bulbcollector.com/forum/index.php?topic=36.0

[Christmas Lamp]

Thanks Chris
I'm Sorry that the Bulb Died the way it did 

Did you ever find a new one to replace it with?

[Chris W. Millinship]

Yes, over the years since then I have picked up several including a boxed set. Even managed to get one of the rare blue ones, which I was very pleased to find.

Just looking at it again now, I notice that my blue one was either badly manufactured, or has been re-attached to its base some time in the past as there is a clear patch around the base through which I can see the electrodes. When lit, there is the characteristic purple colour of argon glow lamps around those electrodes, while the outer bulb glows the more familiar blue proving it is a phosphor coating excited by the UV given off inside. Argon lamps have a much shorter life than neon types, which also explains the short life of these blue ones too. As it is, mine is much dimmer than the others, it can`t have much longer left to live. Still no idea what gas fill is inside the others yet though. I suspect the green ones use an argon fill with green phosphor, while the yellow and pink use neon with coloured phosphors.

I like the soft cool glow they give off, very unique. It`s just such a shame they don`t last too long, meaning I don`t get to put any out for the whole of the Festive Season. Still nice to get some out now and then for a short while.

[Christmas Lamp]

Very Nice Chris 

[Chris W. Millinship]

I was putting that bulb and its set away when I noticed a green bulb in the set was very loose in its base, to the point where the cap paste was just rattling around and the bulb hanging on inside by its wires. Sensing an opportunity, I set to work repairing it, this time being more careful to unsolder the base without breaking the resistor. While the base was off, I carefully applied power. See the first attached photo - as you can see, it`s an argon gas fill in there as I had thought. Green ones didn`t last too long either (though longer than the blue ones for some reason) so that makes sense.

Also, I noticed one of the yellow ones had a slightly crooked base. Not as bad as the blue one, but enough that there was a visible gap in the phosphor around the neck, just enough to see the colour of the electrode discharge. Attached photo two tries to show this - it is the orangey glow of neon "penning" mixture as with the original orange one.

Wouldn`t surprise me if the yellow ones used green phosphor - the slight amount of UV emitted by the discharge would cause it to glow just enough to mix with the orange light and produce yellow. By a similar pattern of thought, the pink "orchid" ones could well use a neon gas fill and blue phosphor coating - orange plus blue makes pink. It would simplify manufacture having to use just two different phosphors plus a plain white for the orange "coral" ones. The blue phosphor probably degrades quite quickly compared to the green too, explaining the reason the blue ones dim so soon and also why I have some pink ones here that now look very orangey.

[Christmas Lamp]

Thank You for Sharing your Pictures Chris