Stepan Novotill wrote:

On Wed, 3 Sep 2003 03:31:59 -0700, Watson A.Name - "Watt Sun"
wrote:


The bulb savers that I used back in the '70s were varistors. They
slowed down the turn-on of the light. They were low resistance when
warm, and high when cold. There was no diode.


These were actually Metal Oxide NTC thermistors back then (not Metal
Oxide Varistors), since silicon diodes were at that time just a
curiosity in the "ELECTRICAL" world as opposed to the "ELECTROMICS"
world.

I think you have that backwards. Back then, the radio and TV sets were
still using 5U4 TOOBS for rectifiers, whereas the electrical world
already had equipment with SCRs up to the size of hockey pucks that
could handle up to 1200 amps (http://www.cehco.com/sda.htm), and 1N1184
series of 35 amp stud mount rectifiers were common in equipment
(http://dkc3.digikey.com/PDF/T032/0547.pdf). And your average battery
charger had diodes in it, it just so happened that the manufacturers
were still stuck back in the "Stink Stack" days, still using selenium
rectifiers.

The problem with the Diode or the NTC solution, is that it does
nothing to save the bulb from line transients.

The NTC worked well because most bulb failures occurred during turn-on.

[snip]

Stepan

On Thu, 04 Sep 2003 14:36:25 -0700, the renowned Lizard Blizzard
wrote:

The NTC worked well because most bulb failures occurred during turn-on.

But soft-starting does not extend bulb life significantly in most
cases. Voltage reduction is what does the trick.

Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany
--
"it's the network..." "The Journey is the reward"
Info for manufacturers: http://www.trexon.com
Embedded software/hardware/analog Info for designers: http://www.speff.com

On Thu, 04 Sep 2003 14:36:25 -0700, the renowned Lizard Blizzard
wrote:

The NTC worked well because most bulb failures occurred during turn-on.

But soft-starting does not extend bulb life significantly in most
cases. Voltage reduction is what does the trick.

Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany
--
"it's the network..." "The Journey is the reward"
Info for manufacturers: http://www.trexon.com
Embedded software/hardware/analog Info for designers: http://www.speff.com

I think that furthermore, the few volts lost in the NTC aslo goes a
long way to extending bulb life, regardless.

s

On Thu, 04 Sep 2003 22:53:34 GMT, Spehro Pefhany
wrote:

On Thu, 04 Sep 2003 14:36:25 -0700, the renowned Lizard Blizzard
wrote:

The NTC worked well because most bulb failures occurred during turn-on.

But soft-starting does not extend bulb life significantly in most
cases. Voltage reduction is what does the trick.

Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany

I think that furthermore, the few volts lost in the NTC aslo goes a
long way to extending bulb life, regardless.

s

On Thu, 04 Sep 2003 22:53:34 GMT, Spehro Pefhany
wrote:

On Thu, 04 Sep 2003 14:36:25 -0700, the renowned Lizard Blizzard
wrote:

The NTC worked well because most bulb failures occurred during turn-on.

But soft-starting does not extend bulb life significantly in most
cases. Voltage reduction is what does the trick.

Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany

On Thu, 4 Sep 2003 03:50:04 -0700, Watson A.Name - "Watt Sun"
wrote:

Underneath the glass was a thick tray with grooves
cut (or cast) into it in the shape of the letters EXIT. Each groove
had a pale yellowish rod laying in it, a bit thicker than a pencil
lead. My guess is that this is some kind of phosphorescent material
that glows when light from flames from a fire are hitting it. There
is _no_ power to the sign.


Could it have been a tritium source? I've seen them to be yellowish
glass vessels. It would be hard to see it glow without cupping your
hand over it i think.

On Thu, 4 Sep 2003 03:50:04 -0700, Watson A.Name - "Watt Sun"
wrote:

Underneath the glass was a thick tray with grooves
cut (or cast) into it in the shape of the letters EXIT. Each groove
had a pale yellowish rod laying in it, a bit thicker than a pencil
lead. My guess is that this is some kind of phosphorescent material
that glows when light from flames from a fire are hitting it. There
is _no_ power to the sign.


Could it have been a tritium source? I've seen them to be yellowish
glass vessels. It would be hard to see it glow without cupping your
hand over it i think.

In article ,
mentioned...
On Thu, 4 Sep 2003 03:50:04 -0700, Watson A.Name - "Watt Sun"
wrote:

Underneath the glass was a thick tray with grooves
cut (or cast) into it in the shape of the letters EXIT. Each groove
had a pale yellowish rod laying in it, a bit thicker than a pencil
lead. My guess is that this is some kind of phosphorescent material
that glows when light from flames from a fire are hitting it. There
is _no_ power to the sign.


Could it have been a tritium source? I've seen them to be yellowish
glass vessels. It would be hard to see it glow without cupping your
hand over it i think.

That sounds like it might be what's in the rods. I didn't try to see
if it glowed when I darkenwed the area. I know that the H bombs that
were made during the cold war years are losing srength because the
tritium in them is decaying, so tritium doesn't last all that many
years. That blgd is about ten years old.


--
@@F@r@o@m@@O@r@a@n@g@e@@C@o@u@n@t@y@,@@C@a@l@,@@w@ h@e@r@e@@
###Got a Question about ELECTRONICS? Check HERE First:###
http://users.pandora.be/educypedia/e...s/databank.htm
My email address is whitelisted. *All* email sent to it
goes directly to the trash unless you add NOSPAM in the
Subject: line with other stuff. alondra101 at hotmail.com
Don't be ripped off by the big book dealers. Go to the URL
that will give you a choice and save you money(up to half).
http://www.everybookstore.com You'll be glad you did!
Just when you thought you had all this figured out, the gov't
changed it: http://physics.nist.gov/cuu/Units/binary.html
@@t@h@e@@a@f@f@l@u@e@n@t@@m@e@e@t@@t@h@e@@E@f@f@l@ u@e@n@t@@

In article ,
mentioned...
On Thu, 4 Sep 2003 03:50:04 -0700, Watson A.Name - "Watt Sun"
wrote:

Underneath the glass was a thick tray with grooves
cut (or cast) into it in the shape of the letters EXIT. Each groove
had a pale yellowish rod laying in it, a bit thicker than a pencil
lead. My guess is that this is some kind of phosphorescent material
that glows when light from flames from a fire are hitting it. There
is _no_ power to the sign.


Could it have been a tritium source? I've seen them to be yellowish
glass vessels. It would be hard to see it glow without cupping your
hand over it i think.

That sounds like it might be what's in the rods. I didn't try to see
if it glowed when I darkenwed the area. I know that the H bombs that
were made during the cold war years are losing srength because the
tritium in them is decaying, so tritium doesn't last all that many
years. That blgd is about ten years old.


--
@@F@r@o@m@@O@r@a@n@g@e@@C@o@u@n@t@y@,@@C@a@l@,@@w@ h@e@r@e@@
###Got a Question about ELECTRONICS? Check HERE First:###
http://users.pandora.be/educypedia/e...s/databank.htm
My email address is whitelisted. *All* email sent to it
goes directly to the trash unless you add NOSPAM in the
Subject: line with other stuff. alondra101 at hotmail.com
Don't be ripped off by the big book dealers. Go to the URL
that will give you a choice and save you money(up to half).
http://www.everybookstore.com You'll be glad you did!
Just when you thought you had all this figured out, the gov't
changed it: http://physics.nist.gov/cuu/Units/binary.html
@@t@h@e@@a@f@f@l@u@e@n@t@@m@e@e@t@@t@h@e@@E@f@f@l@ u@e@n@t@@

10 or 12 year half-life on tritium

On Thu, 4 Sep 2003 23:07:09 -0700, Watson A.Name - "Watt Sun"
wrote:

In article ,
mentioned...
On Thu, 4 Sep 2003 03:50:04 -0700, Watson A.Name - "Watt Sun"
wrote:

Underneath the glass was a thick tray with grooves
cut (or cast) into it in the shape of the letters EXIT. Each groove
had a pale yellowish rod laying in it, a bit thicker than a pencil
lead. My guess is that this is some kind of phosphorescent material
that glows when light from flames from a fire are hitting it. There
is _no_ power to the sign.


Could it have been a tritium source? I've seen them to be yellowish
glass vessels. It would be hard to see it glow without cupping your
hand over it i think.

That sounds like it might be what's in the rods. I didn't try to see
if it glowed when I darkenwed the area. I know that the H bombs that
were made during the cold war years are losing srength because the
tritium in them is decaying, so tritium doesn't last all that many
years. That blgd is about ten years old.