LED bulb upgrade??

[azimuth989]

Apologies if I missed this topic elsewhere on the forum. Just wondering if anyone has ever replaced flipclock illumination bulbs with LEDs?

I recently got a vintage late 70's Marantz stereo amplifier and it's really common and easy to replace the stock bulbs with LED equivalents.

Seems like an equally good idea to do with flipclocks. Less heat, longer bulb life, brighter (maybe good/maybe bad), possibly different colors.

Thoughts....??

[Mackey]

This is a great question with some complicated answers.
LEDs run on d/c. Many clocks do convert the AC to DC for the circuitry, but some do not for the lighting, especially the older one using the neon glow orange bulbs.
Due to this, you don't see a single bulb that be can called an LED replacement for a flip clock, however, there's surely a way.

Personally, I like my clocks original. However, I really appreciate those who have upgraded their clocks. I had one Copal 227 that had been fitted with a light sensing diode and a green LED so that it came on only in the dark. It was a great upgrade. I also love art that has used old flip clocks. It's doesn't hurt my sensibilities for people to use any clock in this way.

see this clock on Etsy.com

Let me give you an example of converting old to new technology. I came up against this last night as a matter of fact. You'd think that it would be simple to replace standard landscape lights with LEDs. Not so fast! Many of these systems use AC that has been converted to 12volts. There's a reason to use AC. It doesn't have as much a power drop over a long string. Anyway, a stand alone replacement LED bulb costs twice as much or more as each bulb has it's own ac to dc conversion circuitry.

You could get a LED set up that would work in any clock, but you'd have to bypass the original bulb wiring, connect right in to the AC as it comes in and have circuitry that converts the ac to dc, but this would be a little bulky. Or, on a forum like this, people could start giving tips on how to make a replacement, but this would be specific to almost each clock.

So, if the clock is for your own use with no intention of trying to resell ... upgrade! However, be warned that if you try to sell an upgraded clock, many people pass this up as they want original and/or they don't want a do it yourself-er making changes to a clock they're buying.

[jimmytvf]

Well, a LED is a diode itself (Light Emitting Diode), it will work, but it will only go half the frequency of the current as it will limit the current flow, so, to make it work at full power, you will need to put a rectifier bridge in order to use the full hertz rate to power up the LED as well as the resistor of the voltage you use.

Personally, though, I consider that a neon bulb give a soft warm glow and nice feeling that a LED doesn't have. Also i guess that it will be quite annoying at night as well...

[jimmytvf]

Ups... Kinda old thread, i just passed by so many pages and didn't realize the date of the post. Sorry about that...

[Mackey]

Ups... Kinda old thread, i just passed by so many pages and didn't realize the date of the post. Sorry about that...

jimmytvf No. Not a problem at all here! This isn't a super active forum, it's more of an information storehouse. So responding to older posts is encouraged if you have something to add. Thanks for your input!