Product Overview
Birns Oceanographics Snooper 8800-120/500 EVR Replacement Lamp, 500W 120V, Unused in the Original Carton
Condition
New / Unused, old stock. The lamp is wrapped in its original General Electric printed sleeve, loose and crumpled rather than factory sealed, with bubble wrap we added around it, and it came in the original Birns Oceanographics carton, with the yellow label intact and fully legible: SNOOPER Replacement Light Bulb, MODEL 8800-120/500 EVR, Birns Oceanographics, Inc., P.O. Box 24160, Los Angeles, CA 90024. The white carton shows its shelf years, with light foxing, scattered brown specks and a patch of old tape residue across the top flap. Through the sleeve and wrap the quartz envelope reads as clear and the coiled filament sits straight and unclouded, and the threaded base carries its two white ceramic collars; the metal ferrule shows some dark mottling in the photos, and we cannot judge the base any closer than that without unwrapping the lamp.
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Product Overview
This is the replacement lamp Birns Oceanographics packaged for its Snooper light, sold under model number 8800-120/500 EVR, rated 500W at 120V, with EVR being the ANSI lamp code carried in that designation. It is a single-ended tubular quartz lamp: a slim clear envelope with a coiled filament occupying roughly the first third of the tube and the remainder of the glass empty, closing into a threaded metal base fitted with white ceramic insulating collars and a single contact at the tip. The sleeve is General Electric print stock, and the operating instructions on it are readable in the photos, ending with GENERAL ELECTRIC CO. NELA PARK, CLEVELAND, OHIO 44112. Those instructions carry the thermal window GE specified for this lamp family: keep the lamp seal temperature below 650 degrees F and the bulb wall temperature above 500 degrees F, and burn it only in well maintained sockets to preclude electrical arcing. Birns lamps are hard to source now that the Snooper systems they served have aged out of catalogs, and a carton-fresh spare is the whole reason a working fixture stays working.
Key Features
- Model: 8800-120/500 EVR, printed on the original Birns Oceanographics carton label
- Rating: 500W, 120V
- Lamp style: single-ended tubular quartz envelope, coiled filament occupying roughly the first third of the tube
- Base: threaded metal screw base with white ceramic collars and a single tip contact, base code not confirmed - match it against your fixture socket before ordering
- Marked supplier: Birns Oceanographics, Inc., P.O. Box 24160, Los Angeles, CA 90024
- Sleeve print: General Electric Co., Nela Park, Cleveland, Ohio 44112
- Printed operating limits on the sleeve: lamp seal below 650 degrees F, bulb wall above 500 degrees F
- Packaging: original Birns carton plus the original GE printed sleeve, loose rather than factory sealed, in bubble wrap we added
- Condition: new, unused old stock, not powered up here
Applications
- Marine equipment technician relamping a Birns Snooper fixture and wanting the exact lamp Birns boxed for it rather than a guessed cross-reference
- Restorer bringing a period underwater or industrial lighting head back to service and needing a correct, unused spare in hand before the first power-up
- Lighting technician maintaining a legacy 120V 500W quartz fixture whose socket matches this threaded ceramic base
- Collector or museum keeping a Birns instrument complete, carton, label and spare lamp together as it left Los Angeles
Frequently Asked Questions
Is this actually the lamp Birns specified for the Snooper?
The yellow label on the carton it shipped in reads SNOOPER Replacement Light Bulb, MODEL 8800-120/500 EVR, Birns Oceanographics, Inc. That is the packaging and the model number as Birns issued it. We cannot certify fitment to a specific Snooper serial or revision, so check the model number against your fixture documentation.
Who manufactured the lamp itself?
The sleeve the lamp is wrapped in is General Electric print stock and the operating instructions end with GENERAL ELECTRIC CO. NELA PARK, CLEVELAND, OHIO 44112. Birns packaged and sold it under its own model number. There is no separate etched brand marking readable in these photos beyond faint lettering on the base metal.
What base does it use and will it fit my socket?
What the photos show is a threaded metal screw base with two white ceramic insulating collars and a single contact at the tip. We have not confirmed a base code such as an ANSI or IEC designation, so measure or compare against your socket before you buy rather than relying on the photo.
Has it been tested or lit?
No. It is sold as unused old stock and has stayed in its GE printed sleeve, and the quartz looks clean and free of handling marks in the photos. Quartz lamps do not like fingerprints, so plan to install it with gloves or a clean cloth and never touch the envelope bare-handed.
Why buy a single lamp here instead of a case of them somewhere else?
Because a Snooper takes one lamp at a time. PartsMine sells the exact quantity you need, one spare or two, instead of forcing a case lot on a fixture that will outlive the rest of them on a shelf. Shipping is $8 flat rate and free over $28, and orders leave our Idaho warehouse the same or next business day.
A 500W quartz lamp that sat in a Los Angeles carton through decades of catalogs coming and going, waiting on the one fixture that would ask for it by name. If you are the person keeping a Snooper lit, the waiting part is over.
