Decostar IRC MR16

[Seth]

X-CalBR8,

I´ll try to help...

Any place in germany where you found them?

If so, send me a mail / pm and I´ll get them for you.

I looked for them myself in some larger shops, but no avail...

Seth

 

[X-CalBR8]

B@rt: I looked at those and you are right about the ones that I’m looking for being Osram, but non of the ones on that page have the IR coating. They are normal MR16s. The ones with the IR coating are quite a bit harder to find, even in Europe. Also, the IR bulbs are about twice as expensive.

Seth: I will have to look again. I didn’t bookmark any of the German pages that I found because I don’t speak much German and so it was very difficult for me to try to read the pages. I was friends with a German exchange student in High School and picked up a little German from him, but I only took Spanish as a second language in High School because my school didn’t offer German classes at the time. I will try to find one of the German sites that has this bulb and I will post it if I can find it again.

Thanks for the offers of help guys, it is encouraging. With as many people as there are looking for this particular bulb, hopefully any info we post here will be of help to a lot of people.

 

[Seth]

X-CalBR8:

Seth: I will have to look again. I didn’t bookmark any of the German pages that I found because I don’t speak much German and so it was very difficult for me to try to read the pages.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">No sweat

I searched for them myself a while ago... and did take no bookmarks either

Right now, I´m tired ( 11:30pm over here and I had to work today... ) but I will ask the almighty Google tomorrow if I can find any bulbs.

Greetings

Seth

 

[Klaus]

The right part numbers are in my original posts where my MR16 based lights were introduced. They should be available in most shops you usually get your bulbs here in germany - expect them to be around 8 to 10 € max.

I would be willing to sent bulbs over but I would encourage a bigger number to save shipping cost.

BTW - there are high efficiency Philips as well and even at more wattages and 8° beams - but I never tested those - the sister co of Osram in US is Silvana - nit shure if they do carry such IRC bulbs as well. The old threads where litled 500 or 100 lumens DIY project for 50 bucks or something

Klaus (who brought these bulbs up)

 

[Klaus]

Old thread 1 1000-1200 lumen rechargeable project light for 50$

Old thread 2 Ultimate Nighthunter Dominator Killer

I do have the Osram spec sheets somewhere on some backup CDR - need to look - but they should still be somewhere on the Osram site too. Oh I just double-checked - the links in the old threads stil work fine and the bulbs data comes up.

Klaus

 

[X-CalBR8]

Klaus: I tried for the Sylvania equivalent, but they only come in a minimum wattage of like 37 Watts & 50 Watts with the IR coating, if I remember correctly. This is just too many watts for 12 NiMh AAs to handle. Maybe you won’t have to send the bulbs all the way from Germany. I’m hoping that someone in England will be able to find some because I would expect the shipping to be much lower from England than from Germany, but since I believe it is a German manufactured bulb, importing from Germany may be my only hope.

 

[X-CalBR8]

Well guys, this may be my best lead yet. After a LOT of searching I found the following site in England which carries what appears to be a Decostar even though it does not mention the brand. The specs are exactly the same as the Decostar though so I think it must be. I sent them an email asking them if they will ship to the United States, but with today being Saturday and all, I probably won’t hear back from them until Monday. This may be just the ticket for anyone living in England that is looking for a source for this bulb. Let me know what you guys think about it. Here is the URL: http://www.thelightbulb.co.uk/product/detail.php?id=934

 

[Klaus]

X-Cal,

not shure where those are manufactured - wait - Made in Germany on box and bulb - anyway I´m not shure if shipping from UK or germany is cheaper - sometimes its not distance but whatever - Rene from Switzerland is shipping to me much more expensive than I am to him, Doug seems to have higher cost shipping from Canada than other people have shippng from the US to me - whatever - PM or email for any help on those.

You might also try the Philips referrenced in my posts if you can get them.

And in any case - those bulbs are worth an effort.

Klaus

 

[Jonathan]

This company in New Zealand makes bike lights using several lamps, including the MR-16 Decostar lamps. I wrote to them and they said that they would ship to the US, but the project ended up on the back burner.

http://www.nightlightning.co.nz/

-Jon

 

[X-CalBR8]

Klaus: I will wait till Monday and maybe I will hear back from that email that I sent to that company in England, but if they are not willing to ship to me then perhaps you could sell me one. I bet the hardest part will be wrapping the bulb in such a way that it will come such a long distance safely.

I was really hoping that someone would find a source within the U.S., but it looks like that just isn’t going to happen. I expect that Sylvania will eventually offer this bulb here since they already offer the 37 Watt & 50 Watt equivalents but it may take them months or even years before they do, so I can’t depend on that happening. I think I tried to find the Philips bulb about a month ago and didn’t turn up anything. I’m still not 100% sure whether they make a comparable bulb or not but if they do, I was not able to find it. Has anyone else here found one of the Phillips bulbs for sale in the U.S.? Do they even make one of the 20 Watts with the IR coating?

 

[X-CalBR8]

Here is a snippet of information that I found on the Phillips MR16 IR bulb:

“The use of infrared technology in halogen lamp types has been expanded by two manufacturers. Philips Lighting Company has introduced 20 and 50 W MR16 lamps with beam spreads of 10, 24, and 38 degrees. The use of this technology in MR16 type lamps results in up to 30 percent higher candlepower. The lamps utilize aluminized reflectors and have a rated life of 4000 hours and a color temperature of 3200K.”

Looks like this is just the bulb that I need and since Phillips bulbs are sold in the U.S., this bulb should be obtainable here. Now I’ve only got to find a place that sells it. Looks like we’re getting closer and closer.

 

[Jonathan]

I believe that these are the 'Masterline ES' lamps, one of which is described on this page:
http://www.lighting.philips.com/nam/product_database/halogen/displayhalogen.php?id=223

If you find a source for onsies in the US, I'd appreciate it if you post here.

Thanks
Jon

 

[X-CalBR8]

Jon: Thanks very much for the link. I was looking all over their page to find a bulb like that one. Now that I have an exact bulb to look for it should make the task easier. I think they make one like this with an aluminum reflector also if I can find it. I'm not sure which is best, but I would think that the aluminum one might work best in a flashlight. The less glass to break, the better I would think. Of course it may just have an aluminum coating and not be solid aluminum though. Of course, I would be glad to have either bulb at this point. I will see what more info I can dig up.

 

[X-CalBR8]

Here is a site that has them, but it looks like they want you to buy them in a pack of 50! That, of course, is out of the question. Here is the link: http://www.ace-lighting.com/

The message board would not allow me to post the full link because it has a parenthesis in the link. Weird, I've never run into that before...

 

[X-CalBR8]

Hi all. I’ve been trying very hard to get a 20W Decostar with IR coating and a 10 Degree beam for a mod that I’m working on but they are practically impossible to obtain in the United States. These bulbs are said to be like 30% more efficient and 30% brighter than a normal MR16 20Watt. This would make it the best possible solution for a battery operated flashlight in this wattage range.

I've been trying to get one of these in the U.S. for a few weeks now but the only places that I’ve found that have them so far are in England and Germany and they are not willing to ship to the U.S. unless I buy in very large quantities which would cost a small fortune for a bulb this expensive. No company that I’ve contacted in the U.S. is willing to even try to obtain one of these bulbs for me because they all tell me that “it is a European bulb”. Why that should matter, I don’t know, but apparently it does. I thought that perhaps someone that lives in England or Germany might have easy and inexpensive access to these bulbs and that perhaps one of you guys could ship me out one.

If anyone here knows of a place to get these in the States or a business that would be willing to ship to the U.S., I would love to hear about it. I know that a lot of people have been trying to get these in the U.S. so I thought I would post and see if anyone has successfully obtained one here. Maybe we can get a group buy going or something. Thanks for any help guys.

 

[B@rt]

X-CalBR8 ,
maybe I can be of help...
If the lamps you are looking for are listed here , I might be able to get them for you at a reasonable price . Shipping to me would be € 5.- to me and maybe another 5 to you.

Please note that the number after the "g" is beam degree, and the number after "d" diameter of the reflector in mm. Decostars are Osram brand.

Hope this helps,

 

[Monsters_Inc]

Hey X-Cal, sorry I just got hold of this thread. I can work something out for ya.

These lamps were requested earlier, but the person ran outta money and had to pull out of the deal.

I'm not entirely sure of firm pricing, but I can porbably get them at close to wholesale. Osram who make Decostar are an Aust company I think, but my sister & her associates are involved in a commerical lighting company in NZ and I'll look into finding a source for these or any other lights you're after and can confirm pricing if you're serious.

[Note: Aust/NZ vs US dollar exchange rates]
Contact via Email: [email protected]

 

[Jonathan]

X-Cal,

Most MR-16 lamps use a glass reflector with a 'dichroic' coating. This is supposed to reflect most of the white light forward, but let some white and most of the IR leak backward. You can see this in exposed lighting fixtures where the _back_ of the reflector glows a sort of purple color.

Some lamps use solid aluminized reflectors. They are still glass with a mirror coating, rather than solid metal. _All_ of the light gets reflected forward. I think that an aluminized reflector would be better for a flashlight; less heat going back to your hands

-Jon

 

[B@rt]

Found another (Dutch) site that carries them.

H7 Halogeen Decostar IRC 51MM 12V for €5.97 .

Shipping (to me) is a little more expensive at €10.- though.

 

[X-CalBR8]

Thanks for all the offers of help. It is much appreciated. I still have one last option to exhaust first though. That Phillips bulb should be available in the U.S. and the specs on it do seem to be a little better than the Decostar. The spot is narrower, the bulb life is longer and the color temperature is higher. If these specs can be believed then the Phillips bulb should be the best bulb available. Tomorrow is Monday so I should be able to make some phone calls now that I know exactly what to ask for. If I find out anything useful I will be sure to post the info here so that everyone can benefit. Thanks again for all the help in tracking down this elusive bulb.