> On Jun 12, 2016, at 00:44, Henk Gooijen <henk.gooi...@hotmail.com> wrote: > > Just like Mark, it's about time to spend some time on my NOVA3. > I will be following this with interest!
Yay! > Were all bulbs on the front panel of your NOVA intact Mark? > Or did/do you also have dead lamps? Know of a source where to buy them? I did have some dead bulbs. My memory is foggy, but I found some archived emails from when I discussed the bulb replacement two years ago. I think that I used number 2185 bulbs that I ordered from Digi-Key. Here are the old messages in my archive: On Jun 14, 2014, at 09:21, Mark J. Blair <n...@nf6x.net> wrote: > Do any of y'all know the bulb number for the fragile little wire-leaded bulbs > used in the Data General Nova's switch console? I have at least one burned > out, and a couple have snapped off. I measure about 15V across the bulbs on > my machine, but I don't know yet whether that's the correct voltage, nor do I > know the nominal voltage, current or brightness ratings of the correct bulbs. > > Picture: > > https://twitter.com/nf6x/status/477846674543362048/photo/1 > On Jun 15, 2014, at 09:06, Mark J. Blair <n...@nf6x.net> wrote: > > On Jun 15, 2014, at 08:49 , Toby Thain <t...@telegraphics.com.au> wrote: >> Via email, snarfusmaximus writes, "I replaced mine with yellow LEDs with a >> series resistor." > > That's a pretty tempting solution. Those original bulbs are quite fragile, > and appear to be quite prone to suffering lead breakage near the glass seal. > > Here's what I just posted on VCF, for those (few?) folks who are here but not > there: > > -------- 8< cut here 8< -------- > > Regarding the console bulbs, I found that one of mine that snapped off at the > base still has an intact filament. I was able to probe the wires at the glass > seals to light it up and measure current. The bulbs are normally powered from > an unregulated 14V rail as I understand things, and I measured the voltage at > around 15V on my machine. The broken-off bulb draws 39mA at 14V and the > filament color is quite orange. It draws 50mA at 28V and has a normal-looking > color temperature. I conclude that the original bulbs were probably designed > for 28V operation or so, and are used at lower voltage in the Nova 3 to > increase service life (?). > > McMaster-Carr and Digi-Key both have some bulbs that look like possible > substitutes. I think I'll try some 2185 bulbs from Digi-Key since I'm > ordering other stuff from them anyway, unless anybody has a better confirmed > cross-ref. Those are 28V 40mA bulbs. > > I also received an email from another collector who used KH 4-280-040A-1 > bulbs from KH Lamp in his Nova. He reports that he got them from Swedish > distributor Elfa as part number 33-657-98. That's a 28V 40mA T1-1/4 bulb. On Jun 15, 2014, at 14:16, Mark J. Blair <n...@nf6x.net> wrote: > > > On Jun 15, 2014, at 12:51 , Brent Hilpert <hilp...@cs.ubc.ca> wrote: >> Here's another testimonial for a Nova, this fellow mentions replacing them >> with 28V/0.04A bulbs, but doesn't say how he knows those specs: >> http://www.foxdata.com/blog/?tag=nova-312 > > He's emailed me about his project. I can't access his web site at the moment, > and we're planning to look into that tomorrow. > > >> The Hudson 2187D type he mentions maps to Chicago CM-2187, listed at Mouser: >> >> http://ca.mouser.com/ProductDetail/Chicago-Miniature/2187/?qs=qp111mKzDjgelZXllf1Wrw== > > Cool. If the 2185 bulbs that I'm ordering from Digi-Key don't work well, I'll > try some 2187 bulbs.
