Vintage Voltage

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July 14th, 2009 admin Leave a comment Go to comments

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can you help with identifying a very large vintage 500w light bulb?

it looks a lot like this one posted on etsy: http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=42684424
mine is a GE 500W 130V extended service bulb that has been in a large old porcelain enamel lamp hanging in my shop and working well for years, but just gave up. the base/screw end is 1 1/2 inches wide and it's about 9 1/2 inches tall.
it put out a lot of heat and could be uncomfortable to work under in the summer months, so i'd like to replace it, if possible, with something more efficient while maintaining the level of brightness.
can someone please link me to a bulb that will work? will anything in the voltage range with a 1 1/2 inch base work? i noticed a lot of lights in a shop online with a "ps" designation...is that the screw size? if so there are quite a few to choose from...i need to be sure in the size before i order.

thanks a lot for any help.
lulu

Your lamp has a mogul screw base. PS is the designation for the shape of the lamp and it will be followed by a number that is the outside diameter of the glass in eights of an inch.

Your lamp would most likely be a PS40. The 130 volt version will give you a longer life than the 120 volt version but with the penalty of lower efficiency. That is not to imply that the 120 volt version is all that energy efficient to begin with.

A common 100 watt incandescent lamp will usually be described as a 100 A21. "A" being the the designation for a bulb with a shorter neck than a PS and 21 being 2 5/8 inches in diameter.

A 65 watt compact fluorescent in an appropriate fixture will give you approximately the same amount f light with far less heat, and a huge savings in energy costs.

The first link below shows various PS lamps. The second has a 65 watt CFL that could be used in your existing fixture with the aid of a mogul to medium base adapter. The third link shows a different CFL that requres a separate ballast and can not be used directly eventhough it does happen to have a mogul base. The last link shows that same lamp in a fixture that will give you more light than you presently have while saving more than 3 1/2 kwH in energy usage per day. If you are in a high energy cost area such as California, that could translate into a savings of more than $1.00 per day.

Don