Glowing Light Pull

[willstewart]

This is a picture of the underside of a largish (around 30mm) light pull that hangs over our bed.  Unremarkable except for the two no-external-power Tritium lamp units - glass tubes 1.5*6mm in its base.  These are glued in to saw cuts in the base with a thermal glue gun (soft and translucent).  They are 'Trigalight' units from Amazon and are quite expensive (£6.5 ea) but will last a long time (decades) at about freshly-exposed-phosphor brightness.  Of course you can also use traditional phosphors but these may be a bit dim by the time you are looking for the pull in the middle of the night!

[Bryan Milham]

Will,

Tritium is a radioactive substance. Only and just slightly. but it is radioactive. The amount in these glass vials is nominal and you are in no danger, except please make sure they are disposed of correctly in the 'Decades' to come. The contained liquid can have localised effects if ingested or got onto your skin.

Having said that, I also use them (or used to) for night lights on my fishing floats.

It's always good to see someone looking to do something different with unusual items, great effort.

[willstewart]

Yes Tritium (gas) is slightly radioactive although the very low energy beta (electrons) do not escape the glass - any potential hazard is very small even on disposal.