> On Nov 1, 2024, at 12:37 AM, gregebert <[email protected]> wrote:
> 
> I recently made a clock with similar displays from IEE. I'm worried about 
> filament stress, so I dont run the seconds for more than a minute at-a-time. 
> I also have pre-heating , cool-down, and current-limiting so that the 
> filaments never get a current-surge at turn-on. Time will tell if they last a 
> long time.

Dropping the voltage on incandescent lamps by 10% increases the life by a lot. 
Doing all of the above make it about as foolproof as possible. I power up my 
antique Xmas lights up by slowly increasing the voltage with a variac. Having a 
box that does all of that for me would be nice. 

Note that I'm using parallel wired festoons connected to a big 12V exterior 
lighting transformer and light dimmers are right out because of the inductive 
load. There IS such a dimmer but I haven't seen any for sale for a long time. I 
actually have one in a portable neon sign transformer but I don't care to 
remove it.


Terry Bowman, KA4HJH
"The Mac Doctor"

https://www.astarcloseup.com

"If only you could see what I've seen with your eyes."—Roy Batty, Blade Runner

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