Candle powered homemade lamp won't cycle

[LavaMeister]

I have a lamp I'm experimenting with that has the liquid and lava from a Lava World 20 oz. blue/white made in 2008.  That much is not an experiment.  I know it worked in the original lamp before I cracked it open to rob the goo from it.

 

I've tried suspending the lamp above a tealight candle from 3.5" to 5".  Above 3.75" the goo won't budge.  Below that it cycles once or twice and then stays at the top.

 

I'm thinking I might have two problems.  1.  The container isn't tall enough to dissipate the heat in the goo to allow it return to the bottom.  2.  There might be too much goo in the container.

 

Any thoughts?

 

 

 

[D Newnham]

It might be the other way, you could try adding more goo to see if the added volume enables it too cycle better.

[LavaMeister]

Hi Bohdan:

Interesting observation you made. The lamp was dead cold when the pic was taken. The goo was broken originally into two nearly identical parts, one up top and one at the bottom from the previous heating. I shook the blob back down after cooling and then sat it in nearly boiling water until it recombined. Then I removed it from the water. The coil also came from the 20 oz. lamp. That was one of my main concerns when I fired it up originally. It actually connects quite nicely with the coil, saturating it when the blob settles to the bottom while hot. This lamp gets really hot during operation, much hotter than a lamp using an incandescent bulb. I'm not quite sure why it didn't recombine when cold. Looking forward to the Aladdin on Thurday!

[LavaMeister]

Yep. Gave it a thorough cleaning.

[LavaMeister]

I'll certainly give that a try. Thanks for the thought. That's why we're here!

[D Newnham]

What volume is the jar your using? I would say that the Fireflow and vintage candle power lamps both look larger than your jar, perhaps the heat just doesn't get a chance to dissipate.
Also are you just suspending over a naked candle? If so perhaps try a ventilated can, which should allow the heat to build up a little more with the candle at a greater distance from the jar. Looking forward to hearing how you get on.

[LavaMeister]

Thanks D. The jar holds 3.53 oz. of liquid. Do you know how much liquid is in a Fireflow? I would expect a Continental Lava Lamp is 32 oz. I'm sort of leaning with you on the idea the heat can't dissipate. The candle is in a votive holder which is probably about 3 inches tall. I'm going to mess with it again this weekend, trying both more and less lava. Hope I can get it to work. I always wanted a small candle powered lamp.

[D Newnham]

Yeah, i tried making one years ago with a Michelob beer bottle, but had no idea how to do the mix.
Wonder if anyone has quantities posted of goo and liquid from different size lamps already. Might be able to make a graph up. I imagine the ratio alters with the size of the container. Should be no reason you can't make it work as really small electric lamp work. I'll try and find my digital thermometer and see what heat a 50 oz reaches at the top and bottom. I'll keep an eye out for other bottles and jars of a simliar size. You can't be too far off getting this right. Can't find the quantity for a Fireflow, though it is wider than your jar the hight of the active area only looks to be around 4".
Below is their trouble shooting guide.
http://www.mathmos.com/mathmos-fireflow-r1-candle-lava-lamp-trouble...

[LavaMeister]

That's funny! Always love your robots. They are a cool compliment to the lava lamps. I assume you made the stand for the lamp? Very eloquent. What is the distance from the tealight shelf to the bottom of the 52 oz. globe?

[LavaMeister]

I'm hoping I'm not too far off getting it right. It's a challenging little project, but well worth the effort. I want to make some really awesome lamps in the future. I'm collecting the lab supplies and such little by little. One of my goals is to make a batch of liquid/lava that matches my Enchantress that was shaken. I still have it's mate from when I bought two, so matching won't be impossible I don't think.

[☆VixenGypsy☆]

I'm interested in your project. Please keep us updated on your progress!

[LavaMeister]

When dealing with such small measurements it begs the question....is that 2' from the top or bottom of the candle? Thanks!

[LavaMeister]

Thanks VixenGypsy. I thought this would be something most of us are interested in. It's been a head scratcher so far!