The future of lava lamps.

[Zapiao]

Hi dudes, I have a question about the future of our lava lamps. Here in Europe, incandescent lamps were banned from manufacturing and LED lamps do not emanate enough heat, so how will lava lamp manufacturers solve the issue? Thanks.

[Claude J]

Reptile heaters and LED ring light?

[Critter]

Mathmos has used other style of bulbs such as halogen which generate plenty of heat and are not illegal.  Look at the bulbs used in recent Astro models and the new IO lamp.  

[Zapiao]

But reptile heaters iluminate the lava lamp? What is the color of the heater?

[Critter]

A reptile heater only makes heat, it is a small heating element.  You would also need to add a second light source like an LED bulb to the base to add light.  You could run the lamp with just the reptile heater and without the LED, many of us have done that as it creates a cool lightless flow.  

[Claude J]

See this link  http://oozinggoo.ning.com/forum/topics/coloring-changing-led-lava-lamp

I went upscale and did this to grandes

You can see videos of it on youtube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxnvdR8D5F4

Zapiao said:

But reptile heaters iluminate the lava lamp? What is the color of the heater?

[lampfancy]

 Mathmos appeared to have this solved around a decade ago with the 'smart astro', which used a separate heating element in conjunction with colour changing LEDs incorporated into the base, unfortunately they were plagued with reliability issues and withdrawn after only a year or so, with them appearing to have since given up on the idea. While halogen bulbs are still available and even incandescent bulbs can still be sold under a special purpose exemption (in the UK at least) legislation is likely to change in future so perhaps time the idea got a reboot along with a retrofit solution for older lamps.