Busch "Street Lights"

[JimmyB]

I recently purchased a pair of Busch street lights, which are fitted with 18v screw in lamps



I have managed to remove (without breaking ) the top of the light, and wish to remove the actual screw lamp fitting so that I can fit LEDs, has anybody any experience with this, any advice (practical) would be appreciated:

 

[idlemarvel]

I believe you can get LEDs that have a screw fitting sob you could them directly. They were reviewed in a thread on here but I can't find it.

 

[Paul M]

Wouldn't LEDs be too bright for gas lamps?

 

[Greg Elmassian]

You can dim leds... I found screw base LEDs on Amazon, in a variety of voltages. I use 24 volt ones so I can run direct from DCC track power.

Greg

 

[wandgrudd]

I recently purchased a pair of Busch street lights, which are fitted with 18v screw in lamps

View attachment 261321

I have managed to remove (without breaking ) the top of the light, and wish to remove the actual screw lamp fitting so that I can fit LEDs, has anybody any experience with this, any advice (practical) would be appreciated:

View attachment 261322

Bit of WD40 helps, always a bit tight when new.

 

[phils2um]

I think Dave is referring to my thread "A Better E5 base LED bulb" under "Controls, Signals, and Electronics". I agree these bulbs make a lot more sense than trying to rip the guts out of the lamps.

Jimmy, how did you get the top off the lamps? I've got some too that I may put LED bulbs in. I already tried some gentle persuasion but gave up fearing I'd break them. From your pics it almost looks like there are threads on the top of post. Does the "globe" just unscrew?

 

[JimmyB]

Thanks for all the advice, I will check out the screw in LED. P phils2um yes the globe screw off, a very coarse square thread, very tight!

 

[Paul M]

You can dim leds... I found screw base LEDs on Amazon, in a variety of voltages. I use 24 volt ones so I can run direct from DCC track power.

Greg

Greg, can you give me a diagram on how to dim LEDs? It's something I'm sure I should know, but....

 

[JimmyB]

E5 LEDs (12V) found on that auction site:
Https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/E5-12v-LED-Bulbs-x4-Warm-White-or-Bright-White/254479770975?hash=item3b402d255f:m:mIHAIpKxS79rFCJ6kpH5lUg

 

[Greg Elmassian]

dimming leds is a bit touchy, since they try to be either on or off, but adding a resistor in series tqo limit current right about the minimum that is required to light it... takes a bit of cut and try. In decoders, the use PWM to dim LEDs but that cost would not be justified, although there are LED dimmers on the Chinese market (ebay and amazon) that will run a bunch in parallel.

 

[Monty]

You can always paint the bulb/LED with a coat of Tamiya Acrylic X-26 Clear Orange paint to make it more like a gas lamp, I use this regularly and it works a treat. More than one coat may be used but I find one usually suffices.
A lot easier than trying to dim the LED’s and a bottle of the paint lasts for years....

 

[Paul M]

dimming leds is a bit touchy, since they try to be either on or off, but adding a resistor in series tqo limit current right about the minimum that is required to light it... takes a bit of cut and try. In decoders, the use PWM to dim LEDs but that cost would not be justified, although there are LED dimmers on the Chinese market (ebay and amazon) that will run a bunch in parallel.

Thanks Greg, I knew there was a problem with dimming LEDs, I've tried the resistor approach, but as you say it's a bit hit and miss, and I've never got it to work satisfactorily.

 

[Greg Elmassian]

a variable DC power supply is a good tool to have.... set it to about 3.5 volts, and then reduce the voltage on the particular LEDs you want.

You can buy an inexpensive buck/boost DC to DC inverter and play with the voltages... look on amazon or ebay, then you can set the voltage to what makes the LEDs dim.

Greg

 

[korm kormsen]

Wouldn't LEDs be too bright for gas lamps?

definitely not.

before we got electricity, we had gas lamps with incandescent gas mantles (a very bright and very white light, but not blueish)
kerosene lamps with incandescent mantles (bright, white light - Aladdin lamps, Petro-Max)
and simple kerosene lamps with wicks only (yellowish light, not very bright) (the type of lamps they always use in western movies to arson haystacks)

 

[Paul M]

a variable DC power supply is a good tool to have.... set it to about 3.5 volts, and then reduce the voltage on the particular LEDs you want.

You can buy an inexpensive buck/boost DC to DC inverter and play with the voltages... look on amazon or ebay, then you can set the voltage to what makes the LEDs dim.

Greg

Cheers Greg. I actually use a 3V button battery and resistor. Definitely not controlled by anything other than a switch. I'll be trying different resistors to see what happens

 

[Paul M]

definitely not.

before we got electricity, we had gas lamps with incandescent gas mantles (a very bright and very white light, but not blueish)
kerosene lamps with incandescent mantles (bright, white light - Aladdin lamps, Petro-Max)
and simple kerosene lamps with wicks only (yellowish light, not very bright) (the type of lamps they always use in western movies to arson haystacks)

[/QUOT
I think my problem is that I imagine LEDs to give out the wrong type of light, old pictures and films always give the impression of them giving out a yellowy gloomy sickly sort of glow, may be due to the smog.

 

[JimmyB]

I have a variety of LEDs, and usually go for "warm white", which is not as harsh as the pure white, and I they feel looks better. As korm kormsen mentions, also "Tilly" kerosene lamps were pressurised, and burned using a mantle, and had a very pure white light.