Non-incandescent light bulb replacement.

[Spork Schivago]

Hello,

Not sure if this is the right subforum or not. My Aunt gave me this really cool looking clock she had as an early birthday gift. It's made from some company called Kirsch / Hamilton (from Japan) and it's called Aurora. Although it's in great condition, it looks a bit old. The paper on the bottom looks old and when you open it up to set the time, the paper inside looks reeeally old.

It lights up with funky colours but they're not very bright. From what I was reading, it has these filters and over time, the heat from the incandescent bulb can damage the filters. I might need to purchase new filters. What I wanted to do though was try to find an LED bulb that doesn't produce any heat, so if the filters are good or if I have to replace them, they won't get damaged.

From what I've read, this uses a #93 incandescent light bulb. The kind found in the tail lights of older cars. Here's a link to one:

http://www.elightbulbs.com/Sylvania-...ive-Light-Bulb

Does anyone know of any good LED replacements that I could just drop in that would work? I'd like something that's high quality and would last a while. Any suggestions? Thanks!

[vinceroger69]

Re: Non-incandescent light bulb replacement.

What about something like this?
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/4X-1156-BA...cAAOSw91NTr8aX
is the clock like this? they look good
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHl0mF7PlRI

[budm]

Re: Non-incandescent light bulb replacement.

What kind of Voltage being fed to the lamp socket?

[keeney123]

Re: Non-incandescent light bulb replacement.

This might work for you. http://www.amazon.com/HQRP-Bayonet-I.../dp/B00BWACUKK

The above one is replacement for #93. If the pins are offset the below one would work.
This one is with offset pins http://www.sears.com/ledwholesalers-...&blockType=G18

[Spork Schivago]

Re: Non-incandescent light bulb replacement.

What about something like this?
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/4X-1156-BA...cAAOSw91NTr8aX
is the clock like this? they look good
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHl0mF7PlRI

Yup! That's the one! It looks real trippy! I always loved it when I went to her house. She says she remembers how much I loved it but couldn't find any of them for sale. I wonder if it's worth anything. Her husband (Uncle Bob), before he passed, used to be the Vice President of Science or something at Corning, Inc. He was a multimillionaire I guess. He had some real nice stuff and after he passed away, my Aunt inherited all of it.

[Spork Schivago]

Re: Non-incandescent light bulb replacement.

What about something like this?
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/4X-1156-BA...cAAOSw91NTr8aX
is the clock like this? they look good
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHl0mF7PlRI

That LED looks super bright! Do you think it'd be too bright? If not, I'd like to go for something like that. I think the original is around 13 watt.

[Spork Schivago]

Re: Non-incandescent light bulb replacement.

What kind of Voltage being fed to the lamp socket?

The bulbs run at around 12v. I'll take it apart and use my volt meter to verify. Give me a second.

[vinceroger69]

Re: Non-incandescent light bulb replacement.

as budms post what voltage is the light running at? the ebay ones was 12 v although the amozon one is 10 to 50 i think so maybe better im not sure how to work out led watts myself.

Edit sorry just saw your above post about voltage

[stj]

Re: Non-incandescent light bulb replacement.

check if the lamp is fed with AC or DC aswell as the voltage

[Spork Schivago]

Re: Non-incandescent light bulb replacement.

Looks like I made a mistake. The website that I was looking at that was selling replacement bulbs for this clock shows they use the #93's, but for some reason, these aren't those!!! I've attached a picture. The clock isn't as bright as it should be I don't think. Testing the voltage is going to be real hard. There's no way to get to the circuit without removing the "plate" that holds all three fluorescents.

[keeney123]

Re: Non-incandescent light bulb replacement.

What does the socket look like. These are florescent. these must have a set up voltage transformer from the line voltage feeding the clock. Is the clock plugged into the AC outlet?

[Spork Schivago]

Re: Non-incandescent light bulb replacement.

I've never seen a circuit board like this. The resistors appear to be like 1 watt ones or something, there's some smaller resistors and those big green things might be capacitors, but they're not actually soldered to the board like a normal circuit board. One end of the big green resistor seems to be soldered, but one end of the smaller resistor and one end of the caps are just tied together and soldered, instead of going through holes and being soldered. The traces on the back are very big but it's just really really simple. Those bulbs don't seem to have any markings on them at all. I bet even if I could find LED replacements like that, I'd probably have to change the transformer or something.

I found this:

Lamp card for the Japanese Aurora -- $59. These cards have been modified to work with an alternative lamp that we install, it is not just a card with 3 new lamps. No need to send in the old card. Attention: The plastic gears in the Japanese version of the Aurora usually fail before the lamps so there is little reason to order spare cards. Once the plastic gears go, then the whole clock must be rebuilt which will include a different lighting source.

This has to be the Japanese Aurora. It says it's made in Japan. On this website:
http://www.chronoart.com/parts.html

Under Aurora parts, it shows there's a version of this clock that uses fluorescents called the Aurora Classic but it says it is made by ChronoArt, not Kirsch Hamilton. Seeing how mine is made by Kirsch Hamilton and it says made in Japan, I'm assuming it's the Japanese Aurora.

60$ is a lot for the board. Do fluorescents run hot? From what I read, they said a problem with these clocks is the incandescents generate heat and ruin the filters. I didn't see anything about the units that use the fluorescents lamp. If they don't generate too much heat, maybe I'll just find replacement fluorescents...you now, try to keep it as original as possible or something.

[Spork Schivago]

Re: Non-incandescent light bulb replacement.

What does the socket look like. These are florescent. these must have a set up voltage transformer from the line voltage feeding the clock. Is the clock plugged into the AC outlet?

There's no socket for the fluorescents. Each end of the three fluorescents have two really tiny bare wires coming out the end that get soldered directly to the board.

The clock is plugged directly into an AC outlet and there is a transformer inside the clock, not on the cord. I can see on the top of the transformer:
ST-6161
JA 06P SMD

It looks like it has three wires coming out of it. A white one, a red one and a blue one. The wires from the AC outlet are both white. One ties into the transformers blue wire and it also goes down into the base of the clock. The other one ties into the transformers white wire and goes into the base. The transformers red wire just goes into the base of the clock and doesn't connect to the AC wires.

[Spork Schivago]

Re: Non-incandescent light bulb replacement.

It also appears that the red and white wires from the transformer power the fluorescent light circuit. There's two blue wires in the base that power the clock motor. I can try to take pictures because it looks a bit complicated. I can use a multimeter to map out where each wire goes if you guys want.

[Spork Schivago]

Re: Non-incandescent light bulb replacement.

Same site says there was roughly 1,000 of these Japanese versions made but customers mostly got them when they sent theirs in for repair. They'd just be giving the Japanese version. So if this is the Japanese version, it means it was probably made in the 1980's.

http://www.chronoart.com/repair.html

You can ctrl-F for, "First let's talk Aurora, scroll down for the Prisma" without the double quotes to read a little bit of history about this clock.

According to that section there, even those these fluorescents ran cool, they were placed to close to the filter and would damage it. Also, they said they glued the rear filter in, making them impossible to replace or something. So I guess I'm back to looking for some type of really cool running LED replacement.

[stj]

Re: Non-incandescent light bulb replacement.

i think i'v seen those tubes, how long and wide are they?

[Spork Schivago]

Re: Non-incandescent light bulb replacement.

Roughly 87 - 88 millimeters long, roughly 8mm wide.

[Spork Schivago]

Re: Non-incandescent light bulb replacement.

Should I try to figure out the voltage still? I can probably put a multimeter in between the wire nuts that go to the light board.

[eccerr0r]

Re: Non-incandescent light bulb replacement.

Just be aware that you may need to hunt for a LED bulb that's as bright as the original lamp in the direction that you want it to point and still fits in the envelope.

[Spork Schivago]

Re: Non-incandescent light bulb replacement.

Just be aware that you may need to hunt for a LED bulb that's as bright as the original lamp in the direction that you want it to point and still fits in the envelope.

Okay, what do you mean by the envelope? The part that the light board (circuit) goes into? I figure if I can use LED bulbs, I'll probably not find any even close to the right shape / length / width. So I'll need to use wires or something and maybe glue them on the board where the old one goes.

Also, don't fluorescents need a very high amount of electricity to excite the phosphor? And then a smaller amount to keep the phosphor excited?

Shouldn't there be a starter or something to produce this high voltage? Or am I thinking of something else? I don't see any ballast, just the transformer. Would the transformer be the ballast? I do have to admit, I don't know very much about fluorescents...