#51 lamps....will LEDs replace them?

[Babybearjs]

well, this is an experiment I trying.... went to www.superbrightleds.com and ordered 1 each of their telephone slide LEDs to find out if they will work on the telephones as a replacement to the #51 lamp. they come in 5 different colors: white, blue, red, amber and green. available in both 12 and 24 volt AC/DC versions. has anyone seen these before? or even tried them? If not, check them out at the fore mentioned link.

[twocvbloke]

Just had a look for them (direct link - https://tinyurl.com/y7kzsk8z ) and it doesn't say if they're rectified for AC use, so if used on an AC source they may flicker, so you might want to look at adding a rectifier circuit inbetween the supply and the LED...

[Babybearjs]

doesn't need to. they are rated for AC or DC circuits. enclosed are some pictures. the one with the 3 lamps are the LED on the left. a #51A lamp in the middle, and a 12PSB lamp on the left. quite clearly the LED and the 12PSB lamps will work great in a standard switchboard setup. they are longer then the #51 lamp and that poses problems. I tried to put one of the led lamps in one of my 444EG sets and it wouldn't fit... only the #51 lamp will work. then I put it in my 2544 and it works great! Used the Blue LED in that phone... quite different then a regular lamp.... These lamps will fit in the 564-65 phones as well as the 2564-65 sets... if you want to use them in the older sets that use the 588 and the 589 key assemblies, I bit of tweaking is required... the lamp assemblies are designed for the #51 lamps and the back of the bulb will sit upwards, though still making contact. these bulbs make a great replacement for all the switchboard lamps used and in some telephones... so.. spice up your lights! add some color! who knows..... you just might pick up the "Blue Line"....

[RB]

Da Bloke got it right.
LED's just like that are used in pinball machines also.
But, because they are strobed, they flicker.
They are not filtered very well, so, it all depends on the application.
Does your power supply filter well enough to avoid the flicker?
Prob does in phones. But in pinballs, very annoying!

[Babybearjs]

I have a WE 20B2 power supply for my system and they work fine. I wound up using the 5 units I bought in my alarm cabinet. they seem to fit there better... no flickering on my end.... buy some and try them.... they are available in BOTH 12 and 24 volt versions... 5 different colors to choose from... at $1.95 each, you can hardly go wrong!

[RB]

yeah, nice effect!
don't remember the fix for the pins, but they do make things look classy!
may buy some and stick on my switchboard, soft green, or red?

[Babybearjs]

the blue is cool....and the amber too... I just wish the specs had matched the #51 lamps.... but that's life.... since the 1980's all the new business phones have the red LEDs in them already... (merlin, etc.) its the older equipment where the specs got dropped.... does anyone even make the #51 lamps anymore? or are they all the 12PSB lamps now?

[twocvbloke]

My Cortelco multiline/1A2 phone has red LEDs in it, with the buttons being half-width to accommodate the LEDs, looks odd compared to a proper one with regular lamps in it, but, it was cheap (I think, was many a year since I bought it!!)...

[rdelius]

Later GTE 6 button keysets had leds also

[Babybearjs]

Yes, I remember... they were all red. I broke one down for salvage and kept the leds... interesting part...

[twocvbloke]

That's what mine looks like when it was lit up with 10vDC:



It'd be nice to have a system to hook it up to, but I'm unlikely to find one over here... 

[Babybearjs]

I have a phone that has this version of the 636 key assembly. I even added the 6th LED for the MW slot...(under the HOLD key)

[twocvbloke]

I think I thought about adding a sixth LED in the blank space to that phone, but I didn't have any in my "collection" of LEDs, the only similar ones I had were a bit smaller, plus at sometime in the past I'd glued them together into a Red-Amber-Green stack, rendering them a bit useless... 

Dunno where I put them though...

[Babybearjs]

the Colored LEDs I bought, I put in my alarm cabinet... wish there was a way to show the individual colors better... but, these fancy cameras just don't do it... anyway, the colors go Blue, Amber, white, green, and red....(lines 1-5)

[JB-Alert]

Definitely worth a try, what voltage works for using them in the 2565 sets?   12 or 24 volt versions?  I want to avoid too bright a light, just match the normal AC lamp light output.