# Lumisource plasma "globes"



## The_LED_Museum (Dec 21, 2001)

Has anyone seen the new Lumisource plasma globes yet? They have one called "Blue Planet Electra" and another one that's cube-shaped like a Borg ship.

They're hand-blown glass with a very tiny amount of phosphor dusting the inside to brighten the surface arc and create more of a subtle surface glow inside the sphere.
In the planet Earth shaped one (made of blue glass), the blue phosphor is where the water on the globe would be, and the green on the land masses. But it's so thin the globe still appears transparent and the discharge inside isn't hidden. 

There is also a purple glass cubical or diamond shaped one but I haven't seen it in action yet.

Very inexpensive too, under $30 at Radio Shack. I wanted to get one of each, but chose to get a UK Light Cannon instead so I could only buy one; the Blue Planet Electra version.


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## vcal (Dec 21, 2001)

Craig, could you put up a photo of the one that u have?


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## The_LED_Museum (Dec 21, 2001)

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by vcal:
*Craig, could you put up a photo of the one that u have?*<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
http://insulatorz.home.att.net/electra1.jpg 

All the "live action" shots were deliberately underexposed 2 stops to show the color better.


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## vcal (Dec 21, 2001)

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Stingmon:
*



All the "live action" shots were deliberately underexposed 2 stops to show the color better.

Click to expand...

*


> <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
> Thanks, any user controls on that unit?


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## The_LED_Museum (Dec 21, 2001)

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by vcal:
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Originally posted by Stingmon:
[qb]



All the "live action" shots were deliberately underexposed 2 stops to show the color better.

Click to expand...



Click to expand...

*


> > <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
> > Thanks, any user controls on that unit?[/QB]
> 
> 
> ...


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## geepondy (Dec 22, 2001)

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Stingmon:
*Has anyone seen the new Lumisource plasma globes yet? They have one called "Blue Planet Electra" and another one that's cube-shaped like a Borg ship.
*<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Hey thanks for the gift idea! I was going to give my niece and nephew money but after reading this post, I went to Radio Shack and got them these instead.(nephew, earth, niece cube). They had both displays set up and running but it was broad daylight so it was hard to judge the full effects. When my niece and nephew have them set up and it is dark, I will decide which one I like better to buy for myself. It seems like I saw these type of phospher spheres at places like Spencers selling for well over a hundred dollars, just a year or two ago.


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## The_LED_Museum (Dec 22, 2001)

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by geepondy:
*They had both displays set up and running but it was broad daylight so it was hard to judge the full effects*<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

What does the cube one look like?
What color is the arc? What color(s) is/are the phosphor(s)?


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## geepondy (Dec 23, 2001)

Craig, the color of the cube is purple. It is shaped like a cube. The glass also has raised indentations like the earth one. From pictures on the box, I assume the arc is orange. It was real hard to tell from the store as it was very bright where they had the display. For the same reasons, I don't know if there were any coating of phospher present. I hope to get a closer view in darker lighting when I give the present to my niece and so will report in more detail. I bought the earth one for my parents and was playing around with it tonight. It is neat and a good deal for the money I think. However, they could have been a bit more realistic in the raised glass, representing the continent's land mass and also it would have been nice to have some control to slow down the arcing rate.


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## The_LED_Museum (Dec 23, 2001)

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by geepondy:
*Craig, the color of the cube is purple. It is shaped like a cube. The glass also has raised indentations like the earth one. From pictures on the box, I assume the arc is orange. It was real hard to tell from the store as it was very bright where they had the display. .*<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>


Orange? Then it's probably a neon/argon mix with perhaps trace amounts of helium, xenon, and krypton to tailor the colors a bit for the purple glass. 
Our Radio Shack does not have one of these on display - only the "earth" one. But I expect to buy one sometime in mid- or late-January.


<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by geepondy:
* For the same reasons, I don't know if there were any coating of phospher present. .*<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

The phosphor dusting is neutral colored and fairly thin, and you can't really see it in ther unless you shine a bright light; then it appears as though the inside of the glass is dirty.




That's the phosphor.

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by geepondy:
*It is neat and a good deal for the money I think. However, they could have been a bit more realistic in the raised glass, representing the continent's land mass and also it would have been nice to have some control to slow down the arcing rate.*<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I don't really miss the intensity control so much as I miss one that slows down the arc, much as you get by placing your hand on the globe.

The last time I had a plasma globe was back in the 1980s, and it was a $200 Radio Shack "Illuma-Storm" with brightness & "contrast" controls and some kind of microphone-based amplitude control built in.
It got broken in a 1992 earthquake by falling off a counter and having a spoon fall on it. Oh boy, there's nothing like the fresh smell of highly ionized xenon & neon in the morning, and the crunch of thin "light bulb glass" under my shoes.


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## The_LED_Museum (Dec 24, 2001)

http://insulatorz.home.att.net/cube1.jpg 
Just a quick "snapshot" of the Borg-like plasma cube.
I'll add it to my website later. I've got presents to think about opening.





Because it's so much more colorful, this lamp will replace the Earth plasma globe in my headboard; that one will be 'banished' to some other out-of-the-way but still very visible place, like my computer room or the shelf behind the TV (it's more than 2 feet) or some other central location.


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## vcal (Dec 24, 2001)

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Stingmon:
*http://insulatorz.home.att.net/cube1.jpg 
Just a quick "snapshot" of the Borg-like plasma cube.
I'll add it to my website later. 
*<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Holy S**t!-that looks wildly bright




I guess I gotta back up to R.S. Wed. to see that thing:O


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## The_LED_Museum (Dec 25, 2001)

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by geepondy:
*Craig, the color of the cube is purple. It is shaped like a cube. The glass also has raised indentations like the earth one. From pictures on the box, I assume the arc is orange*<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

The cube has medium purple glass, and seemed smaller than I thought, but looked like the correct size once it was affixed to the base.

The plasma arc is light blue (same as the earth one), and it has several distinct phosphor colors in it - bright blue, green and a magenta tinted red. In some areas, the phosphors overlap providing the yellow and orange shades.
Unlike the earth one, the cube's colors are fairly different from the picture shown on the box.

Thanks Mom for the Christmas money, of which I blew 1/3 of on this lamp.





Both of these lamps have globes made of substantially thicker glass than is usually found in plain plasma globes.

Both lamps use a twist-lock fitting to affix the globe to the base; this is easily dislodged so you should always handle the globe when moving the lamp or it might fall off and make a loud light bulb-like "pow!" when it hits the floor.





Both use around 10-15 watts maximum, and so should impact relatively little on your electric bill even with continuous use.

Finally, these lamps create a substantial e field around them, and will light up neon bulbs and fluorescent tubes from a surprising distance, not unlike what a weak tesla coil might do. The instructions advise against using them within 24" of a computer or TV set because of possible electromagnetic interference. (Put enough of these things together in one room and you might be able to make a small tractor beam!)


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