It seems a lot like overdriving LEDs with high current, but using
incandescents instead. I don't think the filament will have time to cool
down in between pulses though. I have a little slide rule from Osram
that tells me bulb life relative to voltage. I can't seem to find it
right now (of course) but I seem to recall that a shift of 10% of the
rate voltage can effect bulb life by over 50%. Keep in mind these
figures are from my (very dim) memory, and I believe we decided
automotive bulbs are different then mains bulbs.

Josh
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Roman Black wrote:
>
> The actual link is here:
> http://www.difflock.com/buyersguide/newproducts/illustro/index.shtml
>
> Well it's an interesting idea at least! :o)
> The light given off from a heated filament is
> dependant on how hot it is. Hotter= more light.
>
> So apparently they are claiming that they can get
> the filament hotter using less total power??
>
> AFAIK the filament temp will be determined by the
> energy going in vs how quickly it can cool.
> I believe that the rate it cools will be relatively
> fixed because of mechanical properties of the bulb,
> so the brightness *should* be determined totally
> by the amount of energy fed into the bulb.
>
> So if they have a circuit that makes a standard
> bulb brighter they must be feeding in more power.
>
> In their defense they claim the bulbs are "2.5x the
> light output, for the same amount of amperage".
> Hmm, they also say "pulsed 24v instead of 12v"
>
> Now I *can* believe their claims of double the light
> from a 12v bulb, if they are driving it from 24v with
> "same amount of amperage"... ;o)
> -Roman

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