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I have a vague memory of an ad or a story about a small "coin" sized diode/gadget from more than a decade or so ago that a person could put into a lamp socket before the bulb and extend the life of an incandescent bulb by by 300%... or more!?
I think it worked by slowly ramping up the energy to the filament and thereby preventing a short and extending the life by reducing the "thermal shock" to the filament every on/off cycle...
I have done some Googling, but haven't found anything...
Do any of you know anything about this? or is it another invention for the "conspiracy" pile???
I had a few of them. They aren't a scam, but they had a very specific minor niche. If you had an extremely hard to reach light socket, and the area didn't require a lot of light, you could stuff one in it and never have to worry about changing the lamp. However, they are HORRIBLE energy efficiency-wise. The watts required per lumen output is a number of times greater than a regular lamp, due to the de-optimization and shoving of the energy use into the infra-red instead of visible light.
LEDs have made the idea just a footnote in history. I recently bought a few 2.5 watt LED floodlights for $11 per unit that provide more long lasting light than a 75 watt incandescent with one of those coins.
Those that you reference are a newer concept than the one I mentioned. The flaw in the reasoning is that the lamp at full voltage is still boiling off atoms and creating a weaker filament. It won't blow on inrush, but it'll still be fragile and susceptible to any other shock.
Those that you reference are a newer concept than the one I mentioned. The flaw in the reasoning is that the lamp at full voltage is still boiling off PHOTONS and creating a weaker filament. It won't blow on inrush, but it'll still be fragile and susceptible to any other shock.
"The tungsten filament evaporates more rapidly as the temperature of the filament goes up. The evaporated tungsten particles tend to deposit on the glass envelope, causing over time, an increase in light output obstruction. Depending on the application, the light output obstruction could be high enough to end the useful life of the lamp. Eventually, the filament material will evaporate enough to cause the filament to break, completely ending the life of the lamp. Both of these effects are strongly dependent on the temperature of the filament, which is why long life vacuum lamps tend to be operated at the low end of the temperature range and the light has a yellowish appearance."
"The halogen compound serves to initiate a reversible chemical reaction with tungsten evaporated from the filament to yield gaseous tungsten oxyhalide molecules in the vapor phase. Thermal gradients formed as a result of the temperature differential between the hot filament and the cooler envelope contribute to interception and recycling of tungsten to the lamp filament through a phenomenon known as the halogen regenerative cycle (illustrated in Figure 1). Thus, vaporized tungsten reacts with hydrogen bromide to form gaseous halides that are subsequently re-deposited onto cooler areas of the filament rather than being slowly accumulated on the inner walls of the envelope."
Having grown up with vacuum tubes and carbon arcs, the concept of cathode decay was palpable even before I learned how filaments fail.
Back in the days of TV's having "Thermionic valves" there was a component called a surgistor in series with the AC line in front of the power transformer which limited the inrush current to the tubes. Same effect.
When in high school I worked part time as a TV service tec at a local repair shop. (remember them ? )
Funny thing was the surgistors were usually the first component to fail.
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