Post by Ron Walker on Jul 13, 2022 14:19:56 GMT -7
Posted by: Ron Walker Aug 11 2014, 01:30 PM
Received this information and thought it would be of interest to readers.
Bigeye1 writes,
I'm new to the forum and not really sure how to post. This is why I'm writing you personally. I think the following will have interest to owners of SL. I called SL and they told me the planetarium bulbs were being discontinued and they will upgrade the projector for around $2500 to LED. Current bulbs $44, limited supply. Not wanting to spend $2500 for an upgrade nor $44 a bulb, I ran through a lot of bulbs and found these to be my favorite. If you feel this post is okay, please post it for me to your forum. Roy Clingan________________________________________
Post:
After finding out that the SL planetarium projector bulbs are being discontinued, I started to search for an ideal replacement. I tried several LED’s but had no luck. I then started looking for a replacement incandescence bulb. Instead of listing all the bulbs that weren’t acceptable, I’ll list my top two favorites and why.
Mag-num Star II Xenon, 2 cell, LMXA201 replacement lamp. Cheap, easy to find and adquite brightness for 16’ dome. Acceptable stars.
www.homedepot.com/p/Maglite-Mag-Num-Star-II-Xenon-Replacement-Lamp-for-2-Cell-C-and-D-Flashlights-LMXA201/100384228
WA# 03900-U 2.5V. Very tight stars but voltage must be reduced. This bulb has tighter stars than the Star II but is dimmer (okay for 16’ dome). You have to build a bulb holder or carefully solder wires to work. Welch Allyn suggests using DC current. A full wave bridge rectifier and a 1000 mfd capacitor should help smooth the ripples. As I ran an observatory for 8 years, I’m really critical of sky rendering. It takes a little longer to dark adapt for this bulb but I really like the natural looking sky it produces. Current price on eBay (not WA) is less than $6 shipped.
www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_sacat=0&_nkw=Welch-Allyn-03900-2-5v-Halogen&rt=nc&LH_BIN=1
I did not find any of these for $6, but only looked at Welch-Allyn which tend to be pricy.
I will always recommend the Streamlight Stinger bulb which runs at 3.7 volt. It is my understanding the there is a variable resistor in the base of the Star-Lab projector that will allow one to increase the voltage somewhat but I'm not at all sure by how much. It would be interesting to compare the two bulbs that Ray has found to the Stinger. Perhaps he has allready tried in and dismissed it for use in a Star-Lab projector.
www.amazon.com/Strmlght-Stinger-Bulb-1-Pk/dp/B004RPXP8I/ref=sr_1_13?ie=UTF8&qid=1407787834&sr=8-13&keywords=stinger+bulb+replacement
Posted by: Ron Walker Aug 11 2014, 10:32 PM
Bigeye1 comments,
I purchased 20 for $108. I tried the stinger... unless I purchased the wrong one. Give the two I suggested a try. Also, the 03000-U, the 04900-U and 08500-U (vg) are all good but not as tight as the 03900-U. I noticed you mentioned 5v. These bulbs are all 3.5V except the 03900-U which is 2.5V. My projector measures 3.5V with load... but I bought it second hand. I'm guessing that is correct. ?
www.ebay.com/itm/03900-U-REPLACEMEN...=item336be218f8
Posted by: Ron Walker Aug 11 2014, 11:02 PM
Not sure where the 5 volts came from, the Stinger I'm talking about runs at 3.7 volts. That should work fairly well in your machine. There is a much larger and brighter Stinger bulb called the UltraStinger which runs at 6.3 volts. Both the shape of the glass and the size of the filament make it useless for any kind of pinhole type projection. The replacement bulbs I'm talking about are for the, Stinger, PolyStinger, and StingerXT series of flashlights.
I have played around with some Welch Allyn P/N 01143-U bulbs which have wire pigtails. They run on 3.7 volts as well and have an extremely small filament projecting very fine stars. They put out 61.2 lumens or only about half of the Stinger bulb. If your in a smaller size dome they might work well for you.
I personally have never had access to a StarLab projector but I remember reading somewhere that they either put in a brighter bulb or just raised the voltage a bit when they came out with their bigger dome.
Posted by: Ron Walker Aug 13 2014, 02:32 PM
BigEye1 reports:
I would like to say that many of the bulbs posted in a chart on your site are either discontinued or does not work well with pinhole projectors. This post is after 3 months of searches and dozens of bulbs and leds later. I know, I bought them or tried to. Among acceptable wa bulbs for pinhole projectors are: 04900-U, 03000-U and the 08500-U (all 3.5v) and brighter than the 03900U.
Anyway, the 01143-U you mentioned has been discontinued by WA. I bought and compared the stinger and the filament is larger. Brighter for sure but I considered the image unacceptable. All of my comparisons were made directly to the $44 bulb that SL sells. I have a picture I can send you with measuring tapes next to the filament. The closest I can measure the filament of the 03900U is less than 1/32" or about .75mm. Let me reiterate, this bulb is not for large domes. As a matter of fact, I'm sure some will consider it to dim for the 16' dome but with absolutely round stars 360, the rendering of the night sky is the closest I can find to the real thing.
Now, my personal thank you for all your effort. I have read many valuable posts. The service you do is spectacular. No one knows how much work it is to setup a site like this except you. Again, many thanks for posting my findings. Hopefully, someone will find them helpful. (Roy Clingan, (2001-2010) MPC code 460 Observatory and now, StarStuff Planetarium)
Posted by: Ron Walker Aug 13 2014, 02:53 PM
Yes there are a lot of filament bulbs disappearing as of late probably because of the LED revolution. Unfortunately I have yet to find an LED that works in a pinhole type projector. They are all too big and will not cover a hemisphere. I note that even the manufacturer of the Singer line of flashlights is now offering an LED replacement bulb so the Stinger filament bulb days are probably numbered.
I'm not at all sure of the diameter of the StarLab or perhaps more accurately the radius as this distance is directly proportional to the quality of the star projections. Virtually all of my experiments with the Stinger bulb have been with a Spitz A3P star ball which is 18 inches in diameter placing the filament 9 inches from the pinholes. Even with that distance close inspection of the projections reveals the construction of the filament. Adding one of the Spitz wide angle fisheye arc lamp lenses really helps with this. I particularly like the Stinger because of its brightness and to these old eyes, brightness is everything. The filament size compares favorably with the GOTO lamp used in the E-5 projector but I have yet to experiment with it.
it would be great if you could send or post a the picture of these various bulbs as well as a shot of the $44 original replacement one. It would be interesting to compare. There has been very little information on the SkyLab and I for one am very interested.
Finally, thank you for your kind words. I kind of started this planetarium section to find information for myself and it kind of just blossomed. Always fun to find new people infected with the planetarium disease. rolleyes.gif
Received this information and thought it would be of interest to readers.
Bigeye1 writes,
I'm new to the forum and not really sure how to post. This is why I'm writing you personally. I think the following will have interest to owners of SL. I called SL and they told me the planetarium bulbs were being discontinued and they will upgrade the projector for around $2500 to LED. Current bulbs $44, limited supply. Not wanting to spend $2500 for an upgrade nor $44 a bulb, I ran through a lot of bulbs and found these to be my favorite. If you feel this post is okay, please post it for me to your forum. Roy Clingan________________________________________
Post:
After finding out that the SL planetarium projector bulbs are being discontinued, I started to search for an ideal replacement. I tried several LED’s but had no luck. I then started looking for a replacement incandescence bulb. Instead of listing all the bulbs that weren’t acceptable, I’ll list my top two favorites and why.
Mag-num Star II Xenon, 2 cell, LMXA201 replacement lamp. Cheap, easy to find and adquite brightness for 16’ dome. Acceptable stars.
www.homedepot.com/p/Maglite-Mag-Num-Star-II-Xenon-Replacement-Lamp-for-2-Cell-C-and-D-Flashlights-LMXA201/100384228
WA# 03900-U 2.5V. Very tight stars but voltage must be reduced. This bulb has tighter stars than the Star II but is dimmer (okay for 16’ dome). You have to build a bulb holder or carefully solder wires to work. Welch Allyn suggests using DC current. A full wave bridge rectifier and a 1000 mfd capacitor should help smooth the ripples. As I ran an observatory for 8 years, I’m really critical of sky rendering. It takes a little longer to dark adapt for this bulb but I really like the natural looking sky it produces. Current price on eBay (not WA) is less than $6 shipped.
www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_sacat=0&_nkw=Welch-Allyn-03900-2-5v-Halogen&rt=nc&LH_BIN=1
I did not find any of these for $6, but only looked at Welch-Allyn which tend to be pricy.
I will always recommend the Streamlight Stinger bulb which runs at 3.7 volt. It is my understanding the there is a variable resistor in the base of the Star-Lab projector that will allow one to increase the voltage somewhat but I'm not at all sure by how much. It would be interesting to compare the two bulbs that Ray has found to the Stinger. Perhaps he has allready tried in and dismissed it for use in a Star-Lab projector.
www.amazon.com/Strmlght-Stinger-Bulb-1-Pk/dp/B004RPXP8I/ref=sr_1_13?ie=UTF8&qid=1407787834&sr=8-13&keywords=stinger+bulb+replacement
Posted by: Ron Walker Aug 11 2014, 10:32 PM
Bigeye1 comments,
I purchased 20 for $108. I tried the stinger... unless I purchased the wrong one. Give the two I suggested a try. Also, the 03000-U, the 04900-U and 08500-U (vg) are all good but not as tight as the 03900-U. I noticed you mentioned 5v. These bulbs are all 3.5V except the 03900-U which is 2.5V. My projector measures 3.5V with load... but I bought it second hand. I'm guessing that is correct. ?
www.ebay.com/itm/03900-U-REPLACEMEN...=item336be218f8
Posted by: Ron Walker Aug 11 2014, 11:02 PM
Not sure where the 5 volts came from, the Stinger I'm talking about runs at 3.7 volts. That should work fairly well in your machine. There is a much larger and brighter Stinger bulb called the UltraStinger which runs at 6.3 volts. Both the shape of the glass and the size of the filament make it useless for any kind of pinhole type projection. The replacement bulbs I'm talking about are for the, Stinger, PolyStinger, and StingerXT series of flashlights.
I have played around with some Welch Allyn P/N 01143-U bulbs which have wire pigtails. They run on 3.7 volts as well and have an extremely small filament projecting very fine stars. They put out 61.2 lumens or only about half of the Stinger bulb. If your in a smaller size dome they might work well for you.
I personally have never had access to a StarLab projector but I remember reading somewhere that they either put in a brighter bulb or just raised the voltage a bit when they came out with their bigger dome.
Posted by: Ron Walker Aug 13 2014, 02:32 PM
BigEye1 reports:
I would like to say that many of the bulbs posted in a chart on your site are either discontinued or does not work well with pinhole projectors. This post is after 3 months of searches and dozens of bulbs and leds later. I know, I bought them or tried to. Among acceptable wa bulbs for pinhole projectors are: 04900-U, 03000-U and the 08500-U (all 3.5v) and brighter than the 03900U.
Anyway, the 01143-U you mentioned has been discontinued by WA. I bought and compared the stinger and the filament is larger. Brighter for sure but I considered the image unacceptable. All of my comparisons were made directly to the $44 bulb that SL sells. I have a picture I can send you with measuring tapes next to the filament. The closest I can measure the filament of the 03900U is less than 1/32" or about .75mm. Let me reiterate, this bulb is not for large domes. As a matter of fact, I'm sure some will consider it to dim for the 16' dome but with absolutely round stars 360, the rendering of the night sky is the closest I can find to the real thing.
Now, my personal thank you for all your effort. I have read many valuable posts. The service you do is spectacular. No one knows how much work it is to setup a site like this except you. Again, many thanks for posting my findings. Hopefully, someone will find them helpful. (Roy Clingan, (2001-2010) MPC code 460 Observatory and now, StarStuff Planetarium)
Posted by: Ron Walker Aug 13 2014, 02:53 PM
Yes there are a lot of filament bulbs disappearing as of late probably because of the LED revolution. Unfortunately I have yet to find an LED that works in a pinhole type projector. They are all too big and will not cover a hemisphere. I note that even the manufacturer of the Singer line of flashlights is now offering an LED replacement bulb so the Stinger filament bulb days are probably numbered.
I'm not at all sure of the diameter of the StarLab or perhaps more accurately the radius as this distance is directly proportional to the quality of the star projections. Virtually all of my experiments with the Stinger bulb have been with a Spitz A3P star ball which is 18 inches in diameter placing the filament 9 inches from the pinholes. Even with that distance close inspection of the projections reveals the construction of the filament. Adding one of the Spitz wide angle fisheye arc lamp lenses really helps with this. I particularly like the Stinger because of its brightness and to these old eyes, brightness is everything. The filament size compares favorably with the GOTO lamp used in the E-5 projector but I have yet to experiment with it.
it would be great if you could send or post a the picture of these various bulbs as well as a shot of the $44 original replacement one. It would be interesting to compare. There has been very little information on the SkyLab and I for one am very interested.
Finally, thank you for your kind words. I kind of started this planetarium section to find information for myself and it kind of just blossomed. Always fun to find new people infected with the planetarium disease. rolleyes.gif
