What kinds of LED bulbs can I use with my vintage vacs?

[superocd]

I would like to get bulbs for my vintage vacs (since their bulbs have burned out/are missing) but figure that for not much more than a filament bulb, I could get an LED bulb which will last longer. However, I've heard that some Kirby vacuums power the bulb off the field coil and that the wrong bulb could destroy it. The Kirby vacs in my collection needing bulbs are a Dual Sanitronic 50 and a Heritage II Legend. My Royals (880 and 886) appear to tap the lamp off of the main, but not sure about my two mid-70s-era Hoover Convertibles (one is JCPenney-branded).

Which bulbs do I need for a Kirby DS50, a Heritage II Legend, two Hoover Convertibles and two Royals (880 and 886)?

 

[jake1234]

Buy a filament bulb!

I have seen other people do this, replacing an old incandescent bulb for an LED one for whatever reason. And my advice is dont. Because, to put it simply, it looks AWFUL! There is nothing worse than seeing a vintage vacuum where somebody has put an LED bulb in. They look way out of place. I have even seen them with cold white in which looks even worse! If you want to keep a vintage vacuum looking nice, fit the bulb it was made for. You wouldnt fit an LED bulb into the headlights of a vintage 60's car, so why do it to a vacuum? They are both just the same thing at the end of the day- headlights!

 

[lesinutah]

Lol

If you have a lamp or light fixture from the 30s or the 40s and you put an LED light in it because it consumes less power, it's brighter and it last longer.
The LED light on my opinion looks better. It consumes less energy and that will help the motor.
I can understand not liking the look. You can't say it's better for the vacuum. I use LED bulbs because they actually allow you to see alot better. I do like the looks but that's my choice.
The only way the light doesn't work is you get a bulb with low output. The bulbs run 5-10 watts that work.
If you get a car today the lights are almost always white.
Its all in the eyes of the beholder. It's just a light.
Les

 

[madman]

I *HIGHLY* doubt you could damage a Kirby's secondary coil by using an LED bulb. That sounds like some tinfoil hat nonsense to me. Now, the LED bulb could be easily damaged by the Kirby... if it's not designed to run on AC. I believe Les knows of a particular bulb that'll work in place of a 12v bulb.

A while ago I saw a light bulb on clearance at Menards, apparently for a pendant lamp. Feit electric BP35DC or a BA15d type bulb. This one looks real nice, it has a glass envelope and a large double-sided LED COB inside. It's very bright and looks classy. I'll be using it in my Cadillac vacuum whenever I finish it. Unfortunately it seems to be discontinued or something (hence the clearance). There is one listing on amazon but it's a 6 pack for $25. If you go to feit.com and type in BP35DC you can see it.

There are also some filament style LED bulbs intended for sewing machines, on amazon. Not sure how bright they are. Search 'led filament sewing machine'

The link below is a 12v filament style LED bulb. It *claims* it will work on AC, but I wonder. The glass bulb types leave precious little room in the base for the power supply, so they tend to have the simplest power supplies possible. In a 12VDC bulb, rectifiers are not really needed, so I'm not sure it it'll work like they say it will.

That being said, however, modifying a Kirby to supply DC would be a fairly trivial matter, and would allow you to use pretty much any 12v bulb or LED bulb you want. All you'd need is a bridge rectifier and a smoothing capacitor.

https://www.amazon.com/OPALRAY-Volt...d=1&keywords=ba15d+led&qid=1586225249&sr=8-64

 

[lesinutah]

Led

If you gander down the page to my supervac 180 thread you will find links to bulbs for almost every model of vacuum bulb. It's the ba15d dual polarity. The dual polarity is key word there.
The bulb in the picture is a ba15d bulb. It's 8.5 watts. It also has the clear shell. I have gotten some LED lights that don't have outer casing.
If you put a little piece of felt above the light your set. That will protect it against most run ins'.

 

[huskyvacs]

For what it's worth - My Kirby Ultimate G that was bought new in 2002 - it's never had the bulb go out. Also have a 1950's Kirby 500 series that still has the original bulb in it, and I know it is the original bulb because it is rusted into the socket - I didn't dare touch it for fear of shattering the bulb. Likewise there is a couple bedroom closets in my house that have the same light bulbs in them that were put in there in the late 1970's. It's all a matter of usage. You do not run a vacuum for 12+ hours a day like a table lamp, so the bulb does not get enough life on the filament to burn it out.

The light bulb on a vacuum does not get used enough to burn out likely ever. What burns them out is mainly just being banged around the house in the closet and all that stuff and the filament breaks.

Also there is no difference in energy saving at all with putting an LED bulb in a vacuum - because the bulb runs off the motor's armature (which is why on most vacuums when the armature is damaged the light bulb will flicker).

I personally detest LED bulbs and I still use incandescent bulbs in my house.

The only vacuums I have in my collection with LED bulbs are ones that came that way from the factory - Kirby Sentria, Hoover React Pet, Shark Navigator, Garry Vac.

 

[lesinutah]

Touche

Incandescent bulbs use up to 90 percent more energy than LED. They emit heat but the LED doesn't emit heat. Incandescent bulbs cost less to buy but the difference is quickly made up as they consume slot more energy.
LED lights are far more durable. LED lights can be used in extreme temperatures.
LED lights work instantly.
The g series light is an energy efficient light. They now use LED lights over even the energy efficient light on g3 through ultimate g.
I can respect your opinion but when you spew a bunch of over opinionated stuff is no bueno. I said people can use what they choose. I didn't say the older bulbs are designed after one of the first bulbs in the 1900s and now in every application where lights are used LED is the choice every time. Halogenic and other bulbs were preferred before LED came out.
If you put LED bulbs in your house you save instantly. The LED bulbs installed 3 years ago save 75 percent in power consumption. They last 6-10 years. They don't emit heat and they are better.
Now we got my one sided set of facts let's respect each other and make it is like the plaque to use one over the other.
I respect your opinion and usage of the bulb of your choice. It is original to the vacuum. I get that totally. I like LED lights because you can see in front of the vacuum better.
PS less energy is used when using LED. If you don't believe me bust out a voltage meter and test. I said under 5 watt bulbs flicker but over 5 watts work and work better. If you are driving in your car and you and have less weight in the car it performs better than if you had more weight. The fixtures for most rooms are 60-75 watt fixtures. Yet when I put 110 watt LED lights in I saved 75 percent.
Les

 

[madman]

Husky, obviously it's a matter of opinion. I don't blame you, incandescent light has its qualities, for sure. Like near-perfect color rendering index. LEDs are getting better, though.

But I will dispute one thing, LEDs do consume less energy. I mean, that's physics, you cannot argue that point. Energy comes from some place and goes to some place. What the energy goes through (like a secondary winding) doesn't matter (other than that it might have some losses). If there is a large load on the power supply, it uses more energy. A smaller load uses less. And it doesn't matter if a bulb is powered by a secondary winding or straight from the line.

I will say, though, the difference between a 15w incandescent bulb and a 3w LED bulb is not very much (12w). Especially not in a machine that itself uses 1000+ watts, and that gets used for 10 minutes once a week. So in those terms, I don't think energy savings are a prime concern. Personally, I'll use an LED bulb in a vacuum because it can be much brighter, with little to no heat. The energy savings are just a bonus.

 

[lesinutah]

New

The Kirby g series bulb s 1.8
Watts. Im pretty sure there is very small difference. Kirby Optimizes effeciency even if it's 1 or 2 percent.
Les

 

[fan-of-fans]

Heat output

In some cases LED might have an advantage as far as heat output. Some machines had issues with warped hoods or headlight lenses. Less heat with LED might help prevent that.

 

[lesinutah]

Hoods

I have a few Kirby hoods that have purn marks from light.
I do agree with vacuums being OEM.
I do like LED for brightness.
I do use some older bulbs. B
I however will not chew on an asbestos cord. That gives you cancer and death. It happens slot in California. If you swallowed a bulb led would be more ideal.
Les

 

[weltron]

I have ran a LED bulb in a couple of Convertibles with no issue. I'll see if I can find the bulb on their web page. It's at Menards. It was a Feit Electric bayonet LED bulb. When installed, you couldn't tell the difference between a incandescent and the LED.

 

[weltron]

I misspoke...

It was a Meridian branded bulb. Here is a link to it.

https://www.menards.com/main/electr...d-light-bulb/13125/p-1479712833891-c-7482.htm

 

[danph77]

Sorry for necro

Lesinutah I have tried to find the post you are talking about that has all the bulb links but I just cant find it for some reason.

I need a good LED bulb that works on a Heritage 2/ Legend 2 vacuum

If anyone can post a link to where I can buy one on Amazon or somewhere I would appreciate it

 

[kirbyclassiciii]

superocd

I read that Royal metal uprights built prior to 1995 use a 120-volt, 10-watt double-contact bulb. Until the late 1980s, they were candelabra-shaped.

Kirby cleaners built between 1935 and 1973 (model coverage: C thru Classic 1CR) use a 120-volt, 25-watt double-contact bulb; however, the COMVAC 1300, Super Sweep and Super Vac 180 also used this type until 1984.

But as to LED versions, I wish you the best of luck!

~Ben[this post was last edited: 1/26/2022-18:42]

 

[bikerray]

Heritage and Legend use a single contact bulb with the bayonet base as the other contact. Good luck finding one of those in an LED.