not so strange little light bulb

[Moparformances]

Im finishing up a customers machine.. just a simple tuneup and light cleaning.. one of the must haves was to get power to the lights and have them working again..

well the lief switches were bent to hell.. (like they always are) and dirty.. so i straighten them out and cleaned the contacts.. resoldered the wires and made sure everything was working..

when power woas applyed the low light was out.. unscrewed it and then back in and it came to life... but after a second it blew.. or so i thought.. then back on??? every time i reached to take the burnt bulb it came back on???

then i paused and thought it was arcing.. shut it off and cleand the contacts again... checked the fuse and all was good... pluged it back in again... still blinking..


WTF!!!

then i pulled the bulb and look what i found...

light bulb flashing.jpglight bulb flashing (1).jpglight bulb flashing (2).jpg

it apears to be made to flash.. really I think its kinda neat for a low ball light.. really draws the players attention when balls are low..

[Card Shark]

That is a cool idea. Would love to get some bulbs like that.

[emmadog]

Can't tell the scale of it but it looks like a 555 flasher bulb which were common in pinballs.

[Moparformances]

scale

bulbs.jpgbulbs (1).jpg

standard size bulb for any vintage machine

[browne92]

Almost, Emmadog. Pinballs use a #455 flasher bulb, which have a bayonet base and operate on 6 volts. That appears to be a #407 flasher lamp, screw base rated at 4.9 volts. Card Shark, they shouldn't be too hard to find, but it might take some research to find the voltage and lamp style you're looking for.

Kinda neat how they work. The wide strip inside is a bi-metallic strip that bends when heated. The bulb turns on, heats up the strip, the strip bends and breaks the connection to the bulb, bulb cools, strip bends back, makes contact, repeat.

See? Some days it pays to be old school.

[heima]

At times, I love low-tech solutions like this.

[Moparformances]

well i have not done any searching..

but if someone locates some i would be interested in buying a few... i would like them to handle something like 9 to 12 volts...

[browne92]

#258 is rated 14 volt, miniature screw base. $8.50 for a box of 10 shipped.

Box of 10 258 Lamp Bulb Automotive LIGHTBULB | eBay

They don't seem to come in a wide range of voltages.

Edit: Since they work on heat, running them on a significantly lower voltage might make them slower to start flashing, or not flash at all. YMMV.