night light bulb color

[[email protected]]

A couple years ago I replaced most of the night lights I have installed
with red bulbs (C7 size). Only the ones in the bathrooms keep white.
Many of them are always on, and many have a light sensor to come on only
when dark. I found this to be more comfortable on my eyes when walking
around at night. During Christmas, I put green in half of them. The
only catch is the colored bulbs are only available during Christmas.

 

[Jeff Jonas]

A couple years ago I replaced most of the night lights

I have installed with red bulbs (C7 size).

Clever! I adore red lights (but not when I'm driving).

... During Christmas, I put green in half of them.
The only catch is the colored bulbs are only available during Christmas.

I saw pink night light bulbs at Target but the prices were rather high.
The best time to get such bulbs is about a week after Christmas
when the replacement bulb sets are 1/2 price or less
at K-mart, CVS, etc.

The nixie folks once discussed dying/painting glass colors.
I forgot what industrial product did the job
but nail polish ought to work for night light bulbs.

The only time I had a bulb explode
was a dollar store night light bulb!
No more "no-name" bulbs for me!

What's with all these 4 watt lamps instead of 7 watts?

 

[Don Klipstein]

A couple years ago I replaced most of the night lights I have installed
with red bulbs (C7 size). Only the ones in the bathrooms keep white.
Many of them are always on, and many have a light sensor to come on only
when dark. I found this to be more comfortable on my eyes when walking
around at night. During Christmas, I put green in half of them. The
only catch is the colored bulbs are only available during Christmas.

You have a few colored C7s going all night every night?

That sounds like an application for LEDs.

If I needed colored nightlights, I would retrofit some white LED ones of
a brand that I trust with colored LEDs.
I estimate half a watt to 1 watt saved per dollar spent, more if I bet
that dollar store LED nightlights or ones that I make from my junkbox
parts won't burn my house down. Spending a dollar to save a watt 4,380
hours a year has payback period close to 2 years at typical residential
electricity rates in most of the USA, if I figure right.

Even if rate of return on retrofitting colored C7 nightlights is less
than that of good stock index mutual funds, colored C7 lamps running 4,000
hours a year with luminous efficacy less than 2 lumens/watt rubs me the
wrong way!

- Don Klipstein ([email protected])

 

[Don Klipstein]

Clever! I adore red lights (but not when I'm driving).


I saw pink night light bulbs at Target but the prices were rather high.
The best time to get such bulbs is about a week after Christmas
when the replacement bulb sets are 1/2 price or less
at K-mart, CVS, etc.

A few supermarkets and at least a few drugstores have pink and light
blue C7 nightlight lamps.

They aren't dirt cheap!

For that matter, I usually see at the supermarket closest to my day job
different prices between pink and light blue! IIRC, blue costs more
there!

What gives? Is gender identity more crucial for boys? Like male child
molesters are more evil if they molest boys, while children molested by
male molesters are mostly girls?

The nixie folks once discussed dying/painting glass colors.
I forgot what industrial product did the job
but nail polish ought to work for night light bulbs.

I like to think of "Colorine", a product in theater/stage supply shops
used for "painting" bulbs. (Yes, that product line is intended for
coloring only the glass part of a lamp - and I know that in this newsgroup
and in its relevant industry a "lightbulb" is usually called a "lamp" - at
least in North America by most English-speaking "technical types" outside
the automotive industry.)

<SNIP>

What's with all these 4 watt lamps instead of 7 watts?

4-watt C7s have been around for quite a while. Have you noticed that
nightlights that accept C7 lamps often have shades? Even 4-watt 120V
incandescents are rather bright for nightlights, with luminous output
around 15 lumens.

And last December, I noticed a lot of 5 watt colored C7s.

There is a 3 watt 120V incandescent filament. I wonder if it costs too
much more than wattages a little higher for low price mass market items?
The luminous output of even that one is at least plenty for most
nightlight use!

- Don Klipstein ([email protected])

 

[[email protected]]

|> A couple years ago I replaced most of the night lights
|> I have installed with red bulbs (C7 size).
|
| Clever! I adore red lights (but not when I'm driving).
|
|>... During Christmas, I put green in half of them.
|>The only catch is the colored bulbs are only available during Christmas.
|
| I saw pink night light bulbs at Target but the prices were rather high.
| The best time to get such bulbs is about a week after Christmas
| when the replacement bulb sets are 1/2 price or less
| at K-mart, CVS, etc.

Unfortunately, I've found that the places I checked (Wal-mart, Lowes)
ran out of replacement C-7 tree lights.

I could buy a box of 25 bulbs from one of the light bulb stores online
that have them year round.


| The nixie folks once discussed dying/painting glass colors.
| I forgot what industrial product did the job
| but nail polish ought to work for night light bulbs.
|
| The only time I had a bulb explode
| was a dollar store night light bulb!
| No more "no-name" bulbs for me!

You get what you pay for. I bet the explosion was not all that spectacular.
If I paid more, I'd expect a nice big **BOOM** instead of a little *pop*


| What's with all these 4 watt lamps instead of 7 watts?

I buy the 4 watt ones.

I'm also looking for 230 volt ones. Seems Europe has completely phased
out the C-7 style. I'm just wanting them to have 1 watt ones. Red would
work fairly well with the lower color temperature of a 4 watt 230 volt
bulb running on 120 volts. But maybe the thinner longer filament needed
to do 4 watts is just too big for a small bulb like C-7.

FYI, I do have some 3 volt bulbs in the very same C-7 socket and bulb size.
Maybe that is what you got at the dollar store? They are used in electric
"candles" that use 2 AA batteries. It has a clear (not frosted) glass and
a very short filament. Given that there is a supply of such bulbs, maybe
I should look into building a multi-bulb fixtured based on this. Either I
need to get a 3-volt step-down transformer or wire a few in series to run
them on common 12-volt step-down transformers.

I had this idea for a very small "flashlight". It would just be a small
tiny box with 2 LEDs in series and one resistor to limit current with the
other side of it having the connections to attach a 9-volt battery. Maybe
the LEDs could be directly wired right to the little board they put such
connectors on for various old broken gadgets.

 

[[email protected]]

| Jeff Jonas wrote...
|> The nixie folks once discussed dying/painting glass colors.
|> I forgot what industrial product did the job
|> but nail polish ought to work for night light bulbs.
|
| Rosco Colorine is designed to colour lamps up to 40watts by hand
| dipping.
| Available in 8 colours plus clear and can be mixed to produce custom
| colours.
| www.rosco.com/us/scenic/colorine.asp
| www.rosco.com/us/technotes/scenic/colorine_faq.asp

Nice. These are the guys that have the clear fluorescent paint I saw
demonstrated in high school ages ago, but could never find when I wanted
some.

 

[[email protected]]

|
|>A couple years ago I replaced most of the night lights I have installed
|>with red bulbs (C7 size). Only the ones in the bathrooms keep white.
|>Many of them are always on, and many have a light sensor to come on only
|>when dark. I found this to be more comfortable on my eyes when walking
|>around at night. During Christmas, I put green in half of them. The
|>only catch is the colored bulbs are only available during Christmas.
|
| You have a few colored C7s going all night every night?

Yes.


| That sounds like an application for LEDs.

Yes.


| If I needed colored nightlights, I would retrofit some white LED ones of
| a brand that I trust with colored LEDs.

I have not yet found any I trust.


| I estimate half a watt to 1 watt saved per dollar spent, more if I bet
| that dollar store LED nightlights or ones that I make from my junkbox
| parts won't burn my house down. Spending a dollar to save a watt 4,380
| hours a year has payback period close to 2 years at typical residential
| electricity rates in most of the USA, if I figure right.

OTOH, this is a very tiny part of the overall energy bill. Spending the
effort in other areas could be more productive.


| Even if rate of return on retrofitting colored C7 nightlights is less
| than that of good stock index mutual funds, colored C7 lamps running 4,000
| hours a year with luminous efficacy less than 2 lumens/watt rubs me the
| wrong way!

Otherwise I end up turning the main lights on when I do get up, and then
leave them on for a few minutes while I wait to get accustomed to the light.

 

[TKM]

|> A couple years ago I replaced most of the night lights
|> I have installed with red bulbs (C7 size).
|
| Clever! I adore red lights (but not when I'm driving).
|
|>... During Christmas, I put green in half of them.
|>The only catch is the colored bulbs are only available during Christmas.
|
| I saw pink night light bulbs at Target but the prices were rather high.
| The best time to get such bulbs is about a week after Christmas
| when the replacement bulb sets are 1/2 price or less
| at K-mart, CVS, etc.

Unfortunately, I've found that the places I checked (Wal-mart, Lowes)
ran out of replacement C-7 tree lights.

I could buy a box of 25 bulbs from one of the light bulb stores online
that have them year round.


| The nixie folks once discussed dying/painting glass colors.
| I forgot what industrial product did the job
| but nail polish ought to work for night light bulbs.
|
| The only time I had a bulb explode
| was a dollar store night light bulb!
| No more "no-name" bulbs for me!

You get what you pay for. I bet the explosion was not all that
spectacular.
If I paid more, I'd expect a nice big **BOOM** instead of a little *pop*



| What's with all these 4 watt lamps instead of 7 watts?

I buy the 4 watt ones.

I'm also looking for 230 volt ones. Seems Europe has completely phased
out the C-7 style. I'm just wanting them to have 1 watt ones. Red would
work fairly well with the lower color temperature of a 4 watt 230 volt
bulb running on 120 volts. But maybe the thinner longer filament needed
to do 4 watts is just too big for a small bulb like C-7.

FYI, I do have some 3 volt bulbs in the very same C-7 socket and bulb
size.
Maybe that is what you got at the dollar store? They are used in electric
"candles" that use 2 AA batteries. It has a clear (not frosted) glass and
a very short filament. Given that there is a supply of such bulbs, maybe
I should look into building a multi-bulb fixtured based on this. Either I
need to get a 3-volt step-down transformer or wire a few in series to run
them on common 12-volt step-down transformers.

I had this idea for a very small "flashlight". It would just be a small
tiny box with 2 LEDs in series and one resistor to limit current with the
other side of it having the connections to attach a 9-volt battery. Maybe
the LEDs could be directly wired right to the little board they put such
connectors on for various old broken gadgets.

--
|---------------------------------------/----------------------------------|
| Phil Howard KA9WGN (ka9wgn.ham.org) / Do not send to the address below
|
| first name lower case at ipal.net / [email protected]
|
|------------------------------------/-------------------------------------|

Look for the 7C7 or 4C7 lamps in neighborhood hardware stores. They stock
them when the big box stores don't because there are still night lights that
use them and people ask especially for the clear and white enamel versions.

The 4 watt versions appeared several years ago as lamp companies looked
through their product lines to see what might be done easily that would
result in energy savings. Many night light aren't; they burn all the time
so even a few watts can add up.

Terry McGowan

 

[[email protected]]

| Look for the 7C7 or 4C7 lamps in neighborhood hardware stores. They stock
| them when the big box stores don't because there are still night lights that
| use them and people ask especially for the clear and white enamel versions.

The white and clear versions are readily available in most places. Grocery
stores, WalMart, Target, etc. It's the COLOR ones that disappear right after
Christmas and become hard to find. I want RED!