Color Changing LED Lava Lamp

[Dr. WHAT?!]

 I was able to convert my heritage century into a LED color changing lamp for fairly cheap! roughly $25!!

This was the first part I purchased, its a 50w ceramic heater. It gets hot so a dimmer is a must use. You can see the size comparison with the standard bulb. It wont fit in the standard 32oz or 52oz "premier" bases, I tried. The century has a larger bulb opening allowing you to screw it fully in. Ebay Link

Next purchase was the LED rings. They are 70mm halo rings made for car custom headlights. Cost about $19 for a set of 4 rings that come with a remote 24 buttons and IR remote box and some adhesive pads. I did purchase new IR remote boxes with 44 button remotes that have more color phasing options and dyi options cost under $5.00.  Ebay Link

Here's how it looks with the globe off. The ring fits on the base inner rim perfectly. You can see the ceramic heater is showing its red hotness!  The one thing I was worried about is the LED ring wiring being so close to the heater so I took some tin foil and rolled it around heater so it keeps the heat down for the wiring and flowing upward toward the globe. Speaking of wiring, the only modification I made to the base was that I pulled off the cord plug and then feed the led wiring thru the hole. Then pulled out all the slack of the led wires and tied it off to keep the wiring away from the heater.

Here are a couple pics of the 3 main colors look and a couple videos of the color changing.

[Claude J]

you're lucky

I couldn't find a 300 watt
andy ross said:

I've used a 250w (and a specially-ordered 300w) ceramic heater in Colossus, no problems

Will try to dig out photos if interested?

Claude J said:

Actually the heat transfer is less

I run a 150 watt in a Grandes with a set distance from the globe for safety

You can only find a max of 250 watts in these 

I bought one for my colossus but never got around to using it (It was for glitter anyway)

Autumn said:

Claude when you were doing these experiments did you ever measure the heat put off from the ceramic heating elements? How hot does a 100 watt heating element get compared to a 100 watt light bulb? I'm considering doing this for my colossus, but I'm hesitant due to the risks involved. These run at 250 watts and I fully expect a 250 watt ceramic heating element to blow up the globe.

[Autumn]

Yeah that would be great. When you run it do you run it at full power?

andy ross said:

I've used a 250w (and a specially-ordered 300w) ceramic heater in Colossus, no problems

Will try to dig out photos if interested?

Claude J said:

Actually the heat transfer is less

I run a 150 watt in a Grandes with a set distance from the globe for safety

You can only find a max of 250 watts in these 

I bought one for my colossus but never got around to using it (It was for glitter anyway)

Autumn said:

Claude when you were doing these experiments did you ever measure the heat put off from the ceramic heating elements? How hot does a 100 watt heating element get compared to a 100 watt light bulb? I'm considering doing this for my colossus, but I'm hesitant due to the risks involved. These run at 250 watts and I fully expect a 250 watt ceramic heating element to blow up the globe.

[andy ross]

Sorry Autumn - there's a four-month black hole in my photos (lost in transfer and not backed up) which must have been when I was experimenting with these heat bulbs, I'll append a pic below of the two running on standard incandescent from 2017, but I don't post much so don't bother to photograph much either.

Re your question on full power, yes I used them in exactly the same way as their equivalent incandescent cousins, same wattage and same dimming procedures. They're fun for a while but I prefer the light.

Incidentally,  I simply asked the (China) manufacturer of the 250w version if they had any 300w versions, and they ran me up half a dozen; this must have been in 2017, I don't have any details though.

[Claude J]

Making these grande color changed lamps is quite a task

The last 2 are sold

I'm thinking the only way I would make more is if I do a large quantity at one time

Otherwise, it's just not time management worthy

That being said, I would need to have 5+ preorders prior to starting production again