Dangerous Vintage 1960s Christmas Lights

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Күн бұрын

Пікірлер: 52

@sambranton3346 2 ай бұрын

The purple and blue was amazing. I remember lights like this as a kid and the magical feeling you had when you saw them. Modern sets dont come close in comparison.

@vcluk 2 ай бұрын

The purple was excellent! 🙌

@VintageLynx 2 ай бұрын

I always use vintage lights from Pifco or Noma. The weak point is the direct soldering without strain relief of mains cable to bulb holder. Due to this danger, I've actually bought some low to high voltage DC converters so basically isolated from mains. But nothing beats vintage lights on the tree so its worth it.

@vcluk 2 ай бұрын

Absolutely worth it! 🙌

@timpage3142 2 ай бұрын

I have a set of these lights. I remember them with happy and excited memories from bygone Christmases when everything was magic. I am 51 now. Suffice to say I don't use them now but I cannot throw them out, they are part of my childhood. How the house didn't burn down, I don't know!

@vcluk 2 ай бұрын

Just built differently back in the day. Thank you so much for watching. 🙌

@timfischer 2 ай бұрын

That ominous music the whole video lol.

@vcluk 2 ай бұрын

Supplied by @co.agmusic 😊 We have been using his tracks since 2017. He's a legend! Links in the description. 🙌

@mickeythompson9537 2 ай бұрын

Really brings out the 'will they light' tension!

@BigRed-dr6we 2 ай бұрын

@01:04 the -/8 is 8 shillings. A Shilling is UK pre-decimal currency.

@vcluk 2 ай бұрын

I remember, I'm a fossil. 20 to a pound. In old money that is. 😁 That would mean this set would have been about £7.50 today. 💰 Bargain! 😊

@mickeythompson9537 2 ай бұрын

Such lovely bulbholders! I particularly like those old-style all-translucent ones, but, yes, difficult to repair. Maybe - and here comes heresy - this is a situation where they could be fitted with warmwhite LEDs, maybe on stems, as a tabletop decoration, painting the LEDs with bulb paint to get the colour.

@vcluk 2 ай бұрын

Interesting idea. 🤔

@ShieyV2komputroniks 2 ай бұрын

Can you make a tutorial how to Resolder sockets? I have one with 1 flaky socket one of the early outdoor ones

@chrisperyagh 2 ай бұрын

My gran had these and they caught fire. The ones we had back in the '70s and '80s weren't much better and had that white 'fuse' bulb, or was it some sort of bimetallic switch that made them flash?

@vcluk 2 ай бұрын

We have an upcoming video featuring a flasher bulb!

@Stannington 2 ай бұрын

Love the shades. The thing that oiks me about modern Christmas tree lights is that 700 bulbs on a chain seems to be average these days; that's just crazy. You put them on a tree and there's no dark area that allows the bulb to show its best, if you know what I mean. I've just received a set of 20 Pickwick lights from the Noma website, but they're battery operated with 2 x AA. I'm thinking of putting 3 volt adaptor on them

@vcluk 2 ай бұрын

With a resistor or two, you could run them via USB. 👍

@MyBrilliantChannel 2 ай бұрын

I use a quicktest to test these kind of lights, and use a dimmer if i actually use them. My brother has Pifco crystal lights on his christmas tree, he uses a wago to connect them all together (about 4 sets) and then a dimmer to lower the voltage to make the bulbs last longer. The screw in bulbs are harder to get and the chinese replacements are terrible lol.

@vcluk 2 ай бұрын

Had no idea the Chinese were making new ones. Do you have a link? To be fair, they were generally all made in Hong Kong. 😊

@stevehadfield5963 2 ай бұрын

Can i ask how you display your lights, especially at Christmas? Im always in a quandary as to how best to display my small collection, i like the artwork on the boxes as much as the lights and as such only collect boxed sets. I always think they look best lit up in their box, lid removed obviously. I know its not the thing to do but i run all my lights on a plug in dimmer to about 50-60% brightness, only run them for an hour or so, and am always in the room when running them. Basically im looking for other people's ideas to better show off my lights. Lovely to know im not the only idiot who loves these things!

@vcluk 2 ай бұрын

95% are out of the boxes. They go on trees, around winows, doors, and pocture rails.

@stevehadfield5963 2 ай бұрын

Thanks for the reply, unfortunately the wife would not be happy if I got them all out although my noma bubble lights have passed approval! We take bets on which bulb is the last to bubble.

@vcluk 2 ай бұрын

@stevehadfield5963 Always a good bed to do. One of my blue ones is a bit lethargic. 😁

@kevodowd5282 2 ай бұрын

The stamp is 8/- 8 shillings 40 pence in todays currency.

@vcluk 2 ай бұрын

Bargain! 👍

@scottt988 2 ай бұрын

I'm from the US and was curious how you string a bunch of lights with those huge plugs in the UK.?

@vcluk 2 ай бұрын

I know what you mean, I have a few sets of lights from the States. I love how you can link them. We just had to be creative with cable management, still do. 😁

@ulrichschwenk6164 2 ай бұрын

Would it be possible to convert it to parallel and run it on 24V? It needed to be rewired, so that four conductors go in each bulbholder, two incoming and two outgoing. Is there enough room for soldering 4 wires into each bulb-base? If so, the set would look very much like the original, but all bulbs would now be in parallel; It would be much less dangerous; If that very thin cables (absolutely inacceptable for todays standards, for 230V over here at least 0.75mm2, doubly insulated cable needed to be used, and the bulbholders were required to have a strain relief of some kind...) do break there is not enough voltage on there to harm anybody. An old computer powersupply could be used supplying 19 or 20V which would be ideal for under-running 24V bulbs making them last very long. I played around alot with the modern christmas bulbs and my experience is, that if you run them in parallel practically never a shunt goes off and shorts out the chain. If it does, the shunt usually is melted through in a second. There is a short flash of light and the bulb goes open circuit again. So -- at least to my experience -- converting them from series to parallel should not be a problem electrically... If that was my lightset, I would surely give it a try...

@vcluk 2 ай бұрын

You are welcome to the set, minus the bulbs for the cost of postage. 👍

@ulrichschwenk6164 2 ай бұрын

@@vcluk Oh! Thank you! How nice of you... But I'm more into playing around with stuff instead of collecting... Moreover I think these E5.5 Pistello-like bulbs never where very common over here... I have a box full of push-in type bulbs from way back when, but only spherical E5.5 screw-in bulbs... Märklin model-trains used E5.5 at 16V and there were dollhouse and christmas-crib blubs using E5.5 at 3-4V, all much smaller than the ones you have in there... Do you think four wires would fit in those lamps? Is it more desirable from a collectors standpoint as a modified parallel-set with maybe 18 bulbs instead of 20 or as a parts donor? If it somewhat helps, how about I try to change it to parallel and then send it back? I could come up with a 12V powersupply and an english plug... I recognized I need a 12V supply, right? 240V/20 Bulbs => they are 12V not 24...

@vcluk 2 ай бұрын

It might be possible to wire in 4 thin gauge wires if they were run on low voltage. They are wired in series, hence the 12v 1.1 watt bulbs. 22 watts in total, give or take.

@ianturvey3894 2 ай бұрын

The stamp mark on the box is actually the price when they were new. The 8/-, is eight shillings. That would equate to 40p now. Pifco products were always cheap and low quality from what I remember as a kid.

@vcluk 2 ай бұрын

Thank you for that! 😁

@mikecummings7054 2 ай бұрын

I restore old torches so don't know much about Christmas tree lights but this set looks to be Hong Kong made. Is there any way of saving these like fitting low voltage bulbs to run on batteries instead of mains. You have a nice Pifco collection, this company made many things including torches. I have two sets of Ever Ready battery festive lights that run on 6V. The battery was housed in a cardboard cottage but sadly I don't have that part. Mine all work ok. Other makes of Xmas lights included Ediswan and GEC. Excellent collection you have plus it's a fantastic hobby restoring things from the past that we will never see the likes of again because nowadays stuff like this is not built to last sadly. It's great to have the original boxes to.

@vcluk 2 ай бұрын

It is, got to try and keep some history from the past going. 😁 So happy you found the channel. Many thanks for taking the time to watch. 🙏

@Stannington 2 ай бұрын

By the way, a question we all want answered is what's the best method to untangle lights? 😆

@vcluk 2 ай бұрын

To store them correctly in the first place, lol 😆

@eliotlees6124 2 ай бұрын

They look nice, its a shame they're damaged. You might find some sort of test adaptor useful, like a Keynector. No need to put a plug on them to test. Can't believe it'll soon be time to get all my old sets out again.

@vcluk 2 ай бұрын

I am of limited brain, my £2 beeper is my go-to. 😆 Month to go, you looking forward to it?

@eliotlees6124 2 ай бұрын

@vcluk Absolutely, I have the living room and hallway packed with lights every year. The majority plug into the ceiling roses, with two or three-way adaptors so I can connect multiples. It's all very old, and seems to concern a lot of visitors! 😂

@vcluk 2 ай бұрын

Lol, they need to chill. they're supposed to smell like that. 🤣

@eliotlees6124 2 ай бұрын

@@vcluk Hahaha!

@iangrice329 2 ай бұрын

Talking of safety, I hope you swapped the 13amp fuse in that plug. Wasn't Christmas in the early 70s unless you got a bit of a zap of the tree lights.

@vcluk 2 ай бұрын

Lol, biological electrical testing! 😬 The set is now decommissioned. 👍