When Thomas Edison invented the light bulb, he might not have imagined that his invention would revolutionize to such an extent that the light bulb would be found in different sizes, different colours, different wattages and voltages, and different uses and even different in the way they work. Today there are different types of bulbs available on the market varying in size, output and the way they function. Some are large enough to brighten up a large landscape and area and some are so small they can fit in very compact instruments and fixtures. These small or very small bulbs are often termed as miniature light bulbs or Lamps due to their miniature size.
There are millions of miniature light bulbs available on the market varying not only in size but in quality too. For a consumer who wants to have excellent quality at the cheapest price, it's not an effortless task to find out the most suitable bulb in the vast global market of miniature bulbs. This article is intended to put knowledge on miniature light bulbs in a straightforward manner.
Miniature bulbs and Lamps are mainly differentiated by their maximum overall diameter and their maximum overall length. Different shaped miniatures bulbs have different resistance values.
Applications of Miniature Bulbs
Miniature bulbs are often used in interior and exterior lighting, decorations at home and in exhibitions and exhibits. They are liked by people a lot due to their twinkling and sparkling effects and availability in different colours. They can easily be found in red, green blue and purple colors though other colors are also available on the market and a bit of research can provide many colors and qualities. They are also used in automobiles like cars, trucks etc. They are also used in Light Aircraft, Flash lights, fog lights, telephone lights, radio and television indicators, landscape and security light bulbs.
Miniature bulbs are also used in Christmas lights and in light assemblies and sets. When used in Christmas lights or any lighting assemblies, if one bulb fails, it may results in the failure of entire chains of bulbs or at least 10-20 chains of bulbs. To solve this, most miniature bulbs comes with a device named Shunt these days. Shunt is often placed in parallel with the filament in the electric device. As the shunt has a high resistance to electricity, most of the current passes through the low resistance filament. If a filament gets burned up, all the current starts passing through the shunt making it a good conductor of electricity. That way, all the bulbs keep lighting up even if a bulb in the chain does not work.
Miniature Bulb Products available on the Market
Miniature bulbs are available in different brands and product names. Their voltage ranges from 2.5v to 28v. There are Prefocus, Lensend and E10 miniature light bulbs available in the market. They are used in torches, lanterns, toys, bicycles and other household appliances and fixtures. BP2057 is used in Turn signals and parking lights. BP2112 is used in Indicator lights. Miniature bulbs and lamps come in different types like B Type, G Type, RP Type, S Type and T Type. They also come in different bases like Wire base, Slide base, Wedge base and Pin base.
Miniature bulbs and Lamps are mainly differentiated by their maximum overall diameter and their maximum overall length