Need old timey filament light bulbs - source/supplier??

Thread Starter

Pca

Joined Feb 10, 2020
17
Is it over, is it literally now impossible to buy a resistance filament style light bulbs?
I need a box full for experiments, I have exhausted my sources and don't know where else to look.

I did find two that work in an abandoned caravan.

I am hoping some very large organisation with lots of lights previously purchased bulk amounts and they are sitting with no use in a storeroom somewhere.

Any sources/leads greatly appreciated.

Regards.
 

wayneh

Joined Sep 9, 2010
17,496
Is it over, is it literally now impossible to buy a resistance filament style light bulbs?
I need a box full for experiments, I have exhausted my sources and don't know where else to look.

I did find two that work in an abandoned caravan.

I am hoping some very large organisation with lots of lights previously purchased bulk amounts and they are sitting with no use in a storeroom somewhere.

Any sources/leads greatly appreciated.

Regards.
Anything specific you’re looking for? I have incandescent bulbs up to about 500W. I’m not sure they’re “old timey”, they’re just bulbs.
 

Thread Starter

Pca

Joined Feb 10, 2020
17
Looking for a variety at this point, different voltages 12, 120, 240 different Wattages.

Are we talking about the same thing, tungsten filaments?

Do you have a list, are you a business?

Curious why you have them still?
 

TeeKay6

Joined Apr 20, 2019
573
Is it over, is it literally now impossible to buy a resistance filament style light bulbs?
I need a box full for experiments, I have exhausted my sources and don't know where else to look.

I did find two that work in an abandoned caravan.

I am hoping some very large organisation with lots of lights previously purchased bulk amounts and they are sitting with no use in a storeroom somewhere.

Any sources/leads greatly appreciated.

Regards.
What is special about the bulbs you want? Walmart, Amazon, Home Depot, and other outlets have a variety of incandescent bulbs for sale, although at prices higher than they used to be some years ago. Where are you located?
 

Thread Starter

Pca

Joined Feb 10, 2020
17
Thanks all for links, got an eBay order. I don't shop on eBay so never thought to look or knew how. My work bans eBay purchases.

All my national franchise outlets could not source.
 

Reloadron

Joined Jan 15, 2015
7,501
Is it over, is it literally now impossible to buy a resistance filament style light bulbs?
I need a box full for experiments, I have exhausted my sources and don't know where else to look.

I did find two that work in an abandoned caravan.

I am hoping some very large organisation with lots of lights previously purchased bulk amounts and they are sitting with no use in a storeroom somewhere.

Any sources/leads greatly appreciated.

Regards.
Well I guess it depends on where you are? I was buying from Allied Electronics and McMaster Carr Supply and I am sure any industrial supply house. Bayonet or screw in, whatever you want. Before I retired my boss was forever complaining about lamps burning out on test stands. Mostly 28V but also 6 and 12 volt miniature lamps. I replaced all of them lamp by lamp with direct replacement LED lamps having the same base and working voltages. I retired about a year after I made those changes and despite a pile of spare bulbs I never had to replace a single one.

VCC formerly CML (Chicago Miniature Lamps) is one of plenty of companies still making what you are looking for. Just about any electronics parts house carries that line. Again, I don't know where you are but the lamps are still everywhere around me.

Ron
 

djsfantasi

Joined Apr 11, 2010
9,156
Here in the Boston area, almost any local hardware store will carry filament bulbs. If you need a large quantity, my experience has been that they will order them for you and sell them at a discount. If you’re polite!
 

Reloadron

Joined Jan 15, 2015
7,501
Here in the Boston area, almost any local hardware store will carry filament bulbs. If you need a large quantity, my experience has been that they will order them for you and sell them at a discount. If you’re polite!
See being polite pays off. :) Whenever I deal with anyone in retail I am always polite and friendly. People appreciate that and I tell them outright I could never have worked retail. I simply do not have the patience for how some people act and behave.

Ron
 

oz93666

Joined Sep 7, 2010
739
I suspect thread starter is thinking about something like this ....


Why does it have to be so dam big? ... and hence very fragile .... the pictures of bulbs in my post above are smaller than the tip of your little finger , do the same thing , same light output and are rugged and much cheaper , easy to send in the mail ... the big one must surely be outdated technology , people just get used to it ... The only advantage I can think of is if the big bulb had frosted glass , this would make the light more defuse and easier on the eye .

I expect the availability of glass with superior qualities made the small bulbs possible.
 

Thread Starter

Pca

Joined Feb 10, 2020
17
Anything specific you’re looking for? I have incandescent bulbs up to about 500W. I’m not sure they’re “old timey”, they’re just bulbs.
I suspect thread starter is thinking about something like this ....


Why does it have to be so dam big? ... and hence very fragile .... the pictures of bulbs in my post above are smaller than the tip of your little finger , do the same thing , same light output and are rugged and much cheaper , easy to send in the mail ... the big one must surely be outdated technology , people just get used to it ... The only advantage I can think of is if the big bulb had frosted glass , this would make the light more defuse and easier on the eye .

I expect the availability of glass with superior qualities made the small bulbs possible.

You guessed it. That was what my initial request was for. I did not express it very well.

Thanks for posting the pic.

They are a nice for experiments.

Did you get that pic from a supplier, link please.
 

djsfantasi

Joined Apr 11, 2010
9,156
You guessed it. That was what my initial request was for. I did not express it very well.

Thanks for posting the pic.

They are a nice for experiments.

Did you get that pic from a supplier, link please.
I missed where you are from. It’ll be difficult to find these in the US, as they’ve been banned.
 

Tonyr1084

Joined Sep 24, 2015
7,852
Why do you need bulbs with filaments? You said for experiments, but there must be other ways of achieving the same thing. As for 12 volt lights, auto parts stores carry a host of bulbs with filaments.
 

MisterBill2

Joined Jan 23, 2018
18,167
Why do you need bulbs with filaments? You said for experiments, but there must be other ways of achieving the same thing. As for 12 volt lights, auto parts stores carry a host of bulbs with filaments.
Filament type light bulbs have a number of unique properties hard to create otherwise. They are very tolerant of waveform distortion, and also they do not care about the frequency. They can function well with Dc of random polarity. Going deeper they have a very interesting current versus time and voltage relationship. So for illumination there are a lot of better choices but for other purposes there probably is no easy substitute.
 
Top