Black light bulb in a motion lamp?

...or any color bulb, for that matter?

I noticed in HomeDepot the other day a large assortment of 25w and 40w bulbs, including a black light model. Now, I haven't had a black light bulb since the 80's, but it seems to me the thing burned hotter than a normal bulb. Was that just me?

Has anybody here tried this?

They also had red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple bulbs. I can't help but wonder if they all might work. I know I said elsewhere that I'd rather use gels, but if these bulbs work well then they are fairly cheap, and readily available to me.

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Permalink Reply by Mattmos on March 1, 2012 at 3:00pm

I don't see why the different colored bulbs wouldn't work. The bulbs should have the same type of filament, so the same type of heat should be put off. It should give you different looks, lighting wise, when turned on. I've never tried different colored bulbs, so I'm kinda guessing here.

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Permalink Reply by Loren on March 1, 2012 at 3:11pm

It's hard to say, because the one I had was a brand unto itself. There's no telling what kind of filament it had in it. But these home depot bulbs are all by the same company...so it makes sense that they would all be the same, save for the coating on the bulb.

Sorry if this was kinda a dumb question, but I'd rather ask than risk shattering a globe or something.

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Permalink Reply by DasGrinch on March 1, 2012 at 3:41pm

Well, the black light uses a very very dark blue coating to absorb most of the lower frequencies and allow only the UV to go out. The absorption of all that light is probably going to make the bulb run hotter than a 40w standard.

I figure some of the heat transfer from the bulb has to be from the light being absorbed by the bottle/liquid/goo. Lighter-colored goos may benefit from a blacklight, as more of the light is converted to heat by the bulb. Darker goo might not see a whole lot of difference. Worth a shot though.