I went to a local thrift store over the weekend and came across a decorative lamp I thought was "neat". Only after doing an image search did I realize the lamp was a designer lamp from the 1980s that was worth a good bit more than the 5.99USD price tag. This made it go from "neat" to "I'll buy that".
I started taking apart and testing some things. The halogen bulb I found still worked, but the dimmer switch inside needs replacing. Luckily, the switch's specs are clearly visible, and even readable on a cardboard wrapping still on it inside the lamp's innards:
It got me thinking, could I not just repair, but improve this with some sort of smart dimmer switch inside the lamp?
The bulb is listed as a GE "120V Hunga Q150 T3/CL". It's still good, and of course, being halogen, very bright and hot. I'm wondering if any sort of LED is available for it that would easily work, maybe even with color changing capabilities, but that could be too much to ask.
Likely the switch/dimmer is the more important thing. I did see an LED replacement on Amazon, but nothing that's color changing. That might be out of the real of possibility though.
I didn't out of...embarrassment. I'm weird. It's neat to me, but may not be to others. At first glance, it almost looks like it goes to a fish tank. The only validation I got that it's more than something that appeals to me alone came from listings for it in places like 1st Dibs online.
It's honestly interesting to take it apart and see what really makes it tick. Base had this big plastic thing in it. My imagination envisioned an entire circuit board behind it, even though I know better. Turns out it was just a plastic weight filled with concrete. Behind it was the switch and simple wiring.
We had this lamp many years ago. I saw it while on a business trip and bought it for my wife. If memory serves me right, the dimmer switch died on ours too and that's why it ended up in the dumpster. It was a heavy lamp and the halogen bulb could heat the room. LOL
The switch should be easy to at least replace. Hoping to "improve" it. Also, seems at least one LED bulb option is out there that hopefully will resolve the heat issue. And yes, I don't doubt the heat. Some of the metal closest to the bulb actually looks to be a bit warped from the heat.
It appears to be a lamp that connects directly to the AC line (no ballast or power adapter). The dimmer circuit looks like an old school TRIAC style dimmer. I would get a replacement LED bulb in the same form factor, get rid of the dimmer, and rewire the lamp so the AC line connects direct to the two ends of the bulb connectors. You can them use it with any Zigbee or Z-Wave plug-in dimmer.
It depends on how deep into the weeds you want to get. Myself, I might consider pulling out the bulb and fixture. Then replacing it with a piece of LED neon tube. You could then add a small microcontroller like the ESP 8266 D1 mini (or whatever the name is. ).
I believe there are ways to connect WLED to Hubitat. Then you would have full control over the light and even could do something like a Cylon sweep across the "tube." Actually it wouldn't be difficult to setup HTTP endpoints with WLED to call saved presets. I think this might even standard in the firmware.
...or you could get a replacement LED bulb and new dimmer switch.
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