In article ,
Gunner wrote:
On Tue, 09 Aug 2005 09:09:05 +0100, Ian Malcolm
wrote:
I've found that as well. Old wire cage inspection lamp with the black
rubber handle. Never could keep a normal bulb working in it for more
than a week
Never put a regular bulb in such a lamp. Buy the more expensive Rough
Duty bulbs and they last much much longer.
Not always, however. I was working in a dark corner of the
factory I was in -- under the last in a row of trailers for 18-wheel
rigs. Where I was there was a connector panel facing down with
something like 64 MS series connectors plugged into it. I had to
interchange two wires on one specific connector -- solder terminal
version, so no pin removal and insertion tools -- just a soldering iron.
So -- I was under there, with a trouble light and the soldering
iron plugged into the extension running off to somewhere. The soldering
iron was warming up, and I was trying to unscrew the ring on the right
connector to get it down where I could work on it. The trouble light
seemed rather bright, but it was a very dark area, so I just figured it
was a matter of relativity -- until the bulb burned out, and I could
almost read by the soldering iron. :-) It turns out that the extension
was connected to 240VAC, not the 120VAC which the connectors on it would
suggest.
*No* incandescent trouble light bulb lasts long on double
voltage. :-)
In case anyone cares -- the company was making "portable" flight
simulators for sub-hunting helicopters for the Navy. Three portable
ones (six trailer rigs), and one for installation within a building.
Really early in the use of minicomputers for this sort of thing, and
gazillions of wires in cables connecting the computer and analog stuff
to the second trailer which had the cockpit, the instructor's console,
and the sonor room from the tail of the 'copter. These days, almost all
of that from the first trailer could be squeezed into a PC with a few
special interface cards and lots of software. This thing took three
phase power fed by 4/0 cables. :-)
As for the best trouble light that I ever got -- it is one with
a short straight length of power cord, which goes into a lump about
3x3x4", and then turns into a coiled cord until it gets to the trouble
light, which is a plastic cylinder, with a fluorescent lamp and a
starter inside it, with a slip-on yellow rubber boot at the power cord
end, and another one with a hook at the far end. I still have the same
lamp in it, and have been using it on and off since about 1976 when I
got it. The only switch is the power plug.
To that, I've added another fluorescent trouble lamp, with the
cord in a spring-loaded reel which mounts on the wall, and a switch
under a rubber dome on the end with the hooks (which in this case are
made of wire wrapped around a turn and a half and formed into hooks.
I don't have as many years of use on that one, but it has been
very nice to use when I have needed it. It came from an MSC flyer a few
years ago.
Enjoy,
DoN.
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