The wiring was a bit thick I seem to remember that most of the TXs were fed with 11Kv slightly off topic does your site have automatic voltage regulators I saw that the mains input to the sight would bounce a bit with the modulation but at the buildings mains input but after the voltage regs it would be smooth not sure how they worked but they were very quick responding to changes

The plant I am at doesn't have voltage regulators in the building-IE not supplied by VOA.Duke Energy-the power company that supplies our power may have voltage regulators in the substation.Would have to look.

Some of my incandescent bulbs make a TINK noise sometimes as they are heating up! Anyone else heard that?

Some of my incandescent bulbs make a TINK noise sometimes as they are heating up! Anyone else heard that?

I have a set of four Fat-Albert lamps in the bathroom and they do that all the time. They seem to do it more when warming up, but you can still hear it occasionally when they are fully warmed up.

Me too, as long as the snap of the switch does not hide the faint sound from the lamp. Last lamp i noticed this happens with is a 60W Osram from France

Some of my incandescent bulbs make a TINK noise sometimes as they are heating up! Anyone else heard that?

The incandescents in my bathroom always do that when warming up (and cooling down too)

The four colored lamps in my bedroom make tink noise as they warm up one of the them even made a squeeling noise just before EOL sounded like it was in pain which it probably was! They are color bulbs 60 watts each 240 volt

We used to have colored enameled GLS lamps in the USA in 60W size.  They would get hot enough to fry an egg!  Same with the 75W incandescent "blacklight" bulbs.  I'm sure you're getting a lot of thermal expansion in these when they warm up.

Matt

I had a red coloured GLS of 40 watts (if I remember correctly) of NOMA brand and it would stink up the whole house when lit for about 10-15 minutes. It was intended to be used for a night lamp when we would get up in the night with the baby. I replaced it with a Philips CFL in red colour and it has been working odourless since then.

I have a GE "Reveal" 60w bulb that TINKS as it cools down.  Kinda disconcerting before I finally assumed that's what it was.  Especially since in that very same location, my bedroom, I had an 8ft slimline fixture, with lamps, come crashing down one night as I was drifting off to sleep.  Maybe I'm a little PTSD after that...

I've heard linear fluorescent lamps do it too...but more of a "creaking" when warming up.  I imagine it's the metal endcaps and/or glass expanding. 

I've heard some fluorescent lamps do TINK sounds when operating on a stuck starter.

Condensed Mercury "exploding" from the filament ?

The mercury has no reason to explode, it just boils off.

The noise comes from the expanding/contracting glass getting loose from the cement or moving when touching it (when it is already loose on that place)...

The filament gets past the boiling point of the Mercury in a split second, so it is quite possible that the speed of the Mercury evaporation is not far from that of an explosion (of the tiny drop) making a TINK sound

Another thing, what if the tube expanding lengthwise slips a bit in the lantern sockets ?

The filament gets past the boiling point of the Mercury in a split second, so it is quite possible that the speed of the Mercury evaporation is not far from that of an explosion (of the tiny drop) making a TINK sound

It warms up in a fraction of a second, but the amount of mercury is so tiny, it evaporates without any explosion or so (that would need way faster warmup, maybe connecting the filament directly on 230 or so).

Plus another aspect: The pressure in the tube is mechanically equal to vacuum. And that does not propagate any shockwaves or so, so even when it would explode on the filament, the sound won't reach the tube...

Another thing, what if the tube expanding lengthwise slips a bit in the lantern sockets ?

That would be another cause of some noise. But that I would expect only when the lamp really lights up, not just glowing with stuck starter - the stuck starter heats up only the ends, whiole normally running lamp warms up along the complete length, so expands way more...