The magic bulb

Bring an old Bulb to new live with a colourful LED firework inside.
You can change the colour by pushing a button and it changes the colours in a cycle.

This is an very easy step by step instruction including the source code of the PICAXE controller I used in this instruct able.

Step 1 The parts

You need:

• A bulb (what ever you find in your home)
• Wired SMD LED´s (I used 2xblue, 3xred and 4xgreen)
• A PICAXE 08M Prototype kit
• An  ULN 2803 Driver circuit
• A switch (on/off)
• 1 10 KOhm Resistor (as a pull down for the push button, see picture 3 below)
• 9 220 Ohm Resistors for the LED´s
• A small piece of a glass tube
• Two component clay
• A small wooden box of your choice

The PICAXE prototype board comes with all parts. Including:

• The PCB
• The socket for the programming cable
• The programming cable
• The chip
• 2 resistors
• 1 capacitor
• 1 Batteries clip
• 1 Batteries holder
• A CD with the programming software

The ideal kit for a fast prototyping
I used three pind for controlling the LED´s and one pin for the push button.

The ULN 2803 is a driver cghip with 8 Darlington drivers. Ideal to drive the LED´s,
There is no need to hassle around with Transistors to build driver circuits.

Comments

[Kyp-Nephew]

Hi all, I just wanted to introduce myself. I'm the nephew of my late Uncle Robert Kyp, the inventor of the Balafire and Electric Flame Lightbulbs. We still carry on the passion of producing these bulbs handmade, one by one in our little shop in DeLand, FL. If anyone has any questions, I'd be more than happy to answer. Just drop me an email at [e-mail].

Cheers,

Donny

[garrett10]

Really cool, will probably try this soon after Christmas! I wonder what It would look like with mineral oil inside the bulb?

[Geek07Boy]

That is BEAUTIFUL
Try auto-changing RGB leds from superbrightleds.com

[Horatius.Steam]

Thank you for the Link and the comment.

H. Steam

[electfire]

Very cool - I was at the Renaissance Fair yesterday in Maryland and I came across this guy who makes these beautiful light bulbs - he calls the Balefire bulbs but its pretty much like an ordinary light bulb but inside there is a magnet that as the current runs through the filament the EMF from the wire interacts with the magnet causing the filament to dance in side the bulb- the other cool thing is that these light bulbs are designed to run on 110-115 VAC and are only 15watts.... I bought one but sadly I didn't get a business card from the guy.... Which is a pity cause he had other cool stuff that was Renaissance/Steampunk styled... (other lamps and several clocks too!) Anyways if you happen to know who is the creator of these magnificent light bulbs I would be grateful..... And as always I love your stuff too, keep up the good work!

[zoakley]

The man who has the patent for these bulbs is Robert Kyp. The website: http://www.kyp-go.com/products.htm has links for vendors. Good Luck.

[electfire]

Thank you! After I had posted that comment/question I noticed that I had misread the name of the bulb I thought it said Balefire - I was wrong it was Balafire - so I looked that up and found it.... thank you though for looking!
(It's so cool that he hand makes these!)

[freelancer79d]

both of my boys (12 and 9) recently got into Steampunking. Get Ible!

[freelancer79d]

you can find the Balafire Flicker bulbs all over the web. here is a link to Amazon's Balafire Flicker Bulb, $15.95:

http://www.amazon.com/Ambiance-KG002-Balafire-Flicker-Bulb/dp/B004DY05H2

[SHIFT!]

This is Amazing! How did I miss this?

[Horatius.Steam]

Thank you for the nice comment.


H. Steam

[Horatius.Steam]

I found it :-)

Look here:

http://houseofantiquehardware.com/Balafire-Flicker-Light-Bulb

[Horatius.Steam]

Thank you very much!
And thank you for the pictures. These bulbs are amazing!
But I don´t know who is making this :-(

Regards and have a nive day,

H. steam