{"id":348,"date":"2020-12-04T12:38:50","date_gmt":"2020-12-04T12:38:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bigbeanbag.net\/andythings\/?p=348"},"modified":"2020-12-04T12:38:50","modified_gmt":"2020-12-04T12:38:50","slug":"converting-an-old-oil-lamp-to-led","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.bigbeanbag.net\/andythings\/2020\/12\/04\/converting-an-old-oil-lamp-to-led\/","title":{"rendered":"Converting an old oil lamp to LED"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Another fun project concept that I will probably apply to everything I can think of…<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

First things first: big credit for the inspiration of this project goes to Adam Savage (of Mythbusters fame). I watched a video of his<\/a> where he built an old-style gaslamp, made it look old, and then put a disassembled led-flame bulb inside. I happened to have an small old oil lamp of my father’s so thought I would try the same thing. Video clips at the end of the post. Thanks Adam for the great idea!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Big difference with my lamp, asides from the size, was that I didn’t have to make it look old – it WAS old. When I started taking it apart the insides were caked in soot! I cleaned out the big chunks, but I didn’t want to clean it up TOO much \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I found some small tube shaped led-flame-bulbs online:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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and they look like they will fit quite well. My original plan was to hang the bulb upside down from top so I could keep the original wick, but that was going to get complicated. Asides from figuring out a firm way to attach it to the insides (and all the soot) there is also a spring mechanism up there for the vent shield.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Let’s take the bulb apart and see what’s inside ! LEDs mounted on a rolled-up circuit tube, and a small circuit board:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Since LEDs are usually driven by DC power (and electronic circuits to make flame patterns etc) , the circuit board is hopefully just to convert the AC power from the light socket to DC power. Adam double-checked this by disconnecting the bulb-socket and putting 120V AC into the board, and then measuring the power coming out to the LED board. I did the same just to be sure, but also to find out how much voltage I will need to supply with the batteries. Sure enough, 5V (a common electronics voltage):<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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So the big test – I connect the LED tube to a separate 5V power supply to see if it works. Success ! It even detects when it is upside down and runs the flames the other way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Ok, now to figure out how to mount this inside the lamp. The lamp has all sorts of cool swiveling parts to allow access to the wick without having loose parts – clever designing that today’s products don’t really need.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Disassembling to see what I have to work with:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Wow – it looks like the wick feeder shroud might be the perfect size to fit the LED base … and it is ! This is going to work amazingly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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And wow, the plastic bulb cover fits PERFECTLY into the hole in the glass bowl holder. This was meant to be! (The bulb cover got a bit dirty from all the soot, so I rubbed even more on it!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Ok, now to cut a hatch in the bottom for the battery compartment:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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… and drill a hole for the on\/off-button. Wiring everything up :<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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It looks and works amazing ! I am very pleased:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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and here is a couple of quick video clips of it running, along with a couple of parts from during the build:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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