studer A827 meter bridge bulbs

been trying to find a 6V wedge base T-1 3/4 bulbs for Studer A827 meter bridge. Tried Eiko type #86 bulbs which fit the specs, but they're just a fraction too wide to fit physically thru the pcb hole. Anyone been down this road before? Don't want to order from Studer, they charge $10 for a shim.

I have. It helps if you put your location in your profile so we know where you are at. If you are in Los Angeles, you can definately go to electronic city and they have what you need. for about 50 cents a bulb.
they have a website
www.electroniccity.com

Do yourself a strawberry flavour, and do as I did to our A827s about 7 years ago.

Don't put 6V 20mA bulbs in, put 12V 40mA or 12V 60/80mA bulbs in.

Our machines have been left powered on for the last 7 years and we haven't had a single lamp failure since. The three A827's that I installed in California a year ago have already got lights out. I was about to look into finding out which bulbs I put in, so I could send some bulbs out to re-lamp the California machines.

Are they definately T1 3/4? -It's been a while, but I'd have to measure one and see what the dimensions are.

The 12V double-current lamps run slightly dimmer than the originals, but not by much. In addition to lasting longer, the light is very slightly more yellow, owing to running at a cooler temperature.

If you do this, you'll never have to change another bulb for the next ten years or more.

Keith

Thanks Keith, I hadn't thought of that.
I've been using JKL E6522s, which are a bit bright, but were the closest I could find. They've got a 14v 80mA #E73 that will likely be my next order. Oh, they're T1 1/2 rather than T1 3/4.

If you can buy just a few 12V/80mA bulbs to try first, I say do that. -I bought ten of the bulbs I used first, then when I discovered how well they worked, I ordered a hundred (to get to the price break) and re-lamped both machines. Since each machine uses 2 lamps per meter, that's 96 for both machines anyway.

Buying 110 that way was cheaper than buying 96, though if you only have one machine, I'd see if anyone has price breaks at fifty.

Keith

so they are T 1 1/2's, which is why the T 1 3/4's I tried didn't fit. Great idea using higher voltage bulbs, I will do that. What mail order vendors sell T 1 1/2's? Allied, Digikey, Mouser, and Newark all only have T 1 3/4's. I haven't tried Farnell yet.

farnell has them. http://uk.farnell.com/jsp/endecaSearch/partDetail.jsp?SKU=328960&N=401 :grin:

...although those are only 30mA, so they will be a little dimmer, though they'll still last almost as long as the heads on the machine! :wink:

Keith

yeah, they don't have 40mA's. Next step up is 100mA from Farnell. 30mA is probably too dim but the machine is in a dark alcove so they may suffice.

Try ten of each and see if it's good for the location. Keep half an eye on the life expentency (which is at rated voltage and will be many times that in this application) -Longer rated bulbs at 12V will be even longer at 5 or 6V...


Keith