Diamond cut LED lamp source?

There has to be somewhere that has them. I haven't had any luck finding a source yet.

found some cool looking ones for old guitar heads (pwr switch) in different colors.
worth a google search.

edit: like this?



http://www.hoffmanamps.com

[quote author="asm"]found some cool looking ones for old guitar heads (pwr switch) in different colors.
worth a google search.

edit: like this?



http://www.hoffmanamps.com[/quote]


HI
Those are "jewels".

[quote author="bobschwenkler"]There has to be somewhere that has them. I haven't had any luck finding a source yet.[/quote]


Antique Electronic Supply has them.

www.tubesandmore.com

Yeah, those style. Are those amp lights LEDs? Seems like they are probably bulbs, right? I'll be using it for the GSSL and I don't know enough about electronics to insert one of these competently to make sure to supply the bulb with the power it needs.

Also, there are a few manufacturers who say that they make some LEDs like this, but none to be found through distributors. I checked on what 7th Circle uses for theirs, and those don't seem to be available at the source they list...

With some ingenuity, you could probably take an old bayonet lamp socket and solder an LED and current-limiting resistor into it. Then you could use those "Fender" jewels. Be sure to add a reverse-polarity protection diode if you're lighting it up from AC instead of DC.

hey dave, thats exactly what i'd like to do, but i'm having trouble with those sockets to begin with....

i have a bunch of drake pilot lights, new or at least unsoldered old stock. really cool looking too ;]

anyway, i'm having a crapload of trouble simply hooking up power to the socket. the bulb is a 120v ac bulb, and i can light the bulb. i can not, however, find two places on the socket to solder it to...

t has one single tab at the back, which i *believe* is hot, however what screws me up is that there is continuity across the whole socket, everywhere..... electrically the tab seems to be connected to the whole kit and kaboodle, and i cant find anywhere that's isolated....

hopefully i'm explaining it alright.... i guess, however, i can use the cool frame and jewel (facetless ;] ) with an led, and my entire problem goes away ;]

ok i'm sold........

but, reverse protection diode, should it go in series just before or after the current limiting resistor?

time to get some ultra bright whites

billy

WATCH OUT!

A lot of those jewels will not illuminate the color that you expect with most LEDs.

LEDs are very precise when it comes to their primary wavelengths. The jewels are nothing but color filters meant to filter WHITE light. try putting a very narrow wavelength through them and you get very strange outcomes, IF you see anything through it at all.

"regular" white LEDs are actually very blue and a little yellow. They emit almost no other colors even though they look white. It's a trick!

I have a large number of purple jewels in my gear and the only LEDs that will actually work with those jewels are the "warm white" LEDs. they are doped to be rather red along with the blue. They have multiple peak wavelengths and look rather like halogen light but without the IR. They work well and will last 10 years of 100% duty.

:thumb:

Good point, Svart. I overlooked that--maybe 'cause I've never actually felt the need to stick an LED behind a jewel.

Billy, did you remove the lamp from the socket before taking that continuity reading? :wink:

haha, i just realized while you posted

hot to the tab, neutral to the bracket ;]

also, just now realized i could go look at the ones i pulled out of a broken lambda tubed power supply. they're drake i believe.

i'll use the bulb for now, and get some *warm* white. got point on that.

however, red leds would work for a red jewel, wouldnt they? most likely, anyway...?

billy

ps, would the power tranny, and i know what all the windings are, from that old lambda be any good for a tube project, dependant on the voltage of course.... it was a 'constant current' power supply, so i'm kind of wondering if the transformer would be different in any way that might not be beneficial for normal tube amps and 'stuff'.....

however, red leds would work for a red jewel, wouldnt they? most likely, anyway...?

Click to expand...

Not necessarily. Different materials act differently to various wavelengths of light. The jewel may look red but only pass a couple of hundred angstroms either side of a specified centerpoint wavelength. If the LED is outside of that band then it will also get filtered out.

I tried this with the purple jewels I have here, I stuck a purple LED and a blue LED behind them, and to my suprise I could barely see either one of them through the jewel even though they were blinding to the naked eye.

White LEDs will work better than colored ones do because they are really UV leds that have a phosphor coating that glows "white" which means it just has multiple peaks of color in it's spectra. the warm white leds have a lot more peaks and more power in between, a step towards true white light.

I studied this heavily when designing an LED lighting system for robotic cameras at my previous job. We used 5w white LEDs for illumination. :shock:

Billy, was that a typo when you wrote "120V?" Don't connect 120V to that socket; those open-frame sockets just aren't safe for that.

Are your lamps molded jobs with wire leads? They may actually be neon (with a dropping resistor inside for operation off 120V).

thanks dave.

this will not be done.

they were sold to me with 120v bulbs. i thought, well, i guess thats what they used then.

and when i read that post i thought, of course they didnt do that. they lit off the filament winding so if the light was lit, than your tubes should be hot, and not receiving B+ into cold tubes.

havent actually done anything yet, because this cct has a 5v rail and i believe i'll just use a 470r and an LED, of the warm white variety (thanks for the detailed heads up svart ;]

see what you're saying tho. live 120 would be bad there

and could also cause a lot of very serious front panel issues.

DONT TOUCH THAT DIAL!

I get huge red LED's, T5 I think, from mpja.com and have used them in Tube Tech equipment. Each TT unit uses a different lamp, they burned often even with minor voltage reduction, so I modded all with the LED's and stole a little DC for them. I do not do this in a Pultec or other vintage gear unless a client signs a heresy waiver, but, if signed, I create a simple half-wave rectifier and filter off the heater voltage and power a biggie LED.
You can also check any of the LED retrofitters. They will have a T3 1/4 bayonet LED bulb in many DC voltages and 120VAC. About $20 a pop.
Mike

Would it be too hard to wire up an amp jewel from the secondary of a power transformer (18V)? What do those bulbs need to run?