Since 1993.  I started when a storm blew off the top of an ITT Contempo 245 outside of my house.  At that point, I started collecting photocontrols and bulbs, and in 1997, I received 2 new AEL NEMAs.  I traded those for a brand new 100W Contempo 245 HPS.  Sold that in 2006 for $50.00.  The rest is history.  As of now, I have several fixtures with more on the way.  I collect mostly NOS fixtures, as I do not have the means to restore older ones.  So any older ones I usually give away to other collectors who wish to keep or restore them.  I kept my GE 201SA 250w Merc fixture though.  a rarity for me.

I have been collecting light bulbs since the early 1970s.

I started last summer with a 4 lamp 40 watt T12 parabolic troffer with 2 vintage Advance ballasts.

I started collecting lights in June 2016, but I've been interested in lights for quite a while before I started collecting them.

I started collecting lights in June 2016, but I've been interested in lights for quite a while before collecting them.

I have been intrested in them for years before I started collecting and since I started, I cannot stop collecting.

I have been intrested in them for years before I started collecting and since I started, I cannot stop collecting.

Same here! I found lots of lights over the years that I wish I had the money for. That applies to even the present time.

Same here! I found lots of lights over the years that I wish I had the money for. That applies to even the present time.

Any time I see a light I want that is under $30, I get it. I missed out on an R175M at the ReStore last summer, I had forgotten to bring my money and I got my money and went back and it was gone. I do not know why, but almost everyone around here loves MV yardblasters. It's suprising because I would think most people are LED brainwashed.

That sucks, there have been a few times where that has happened to me as well. One instance of this (without money involved) was a TrueValue had replaced its HPS street lights (GE M-400 last-gen and M-400R2s) with LED shoebox lights and one of the old lights was sitting by one of the entrances, missing its door. I asked my dad if I can ask the people if I can have it and he said no. By the time we went back there to get something, it was gone.

That sucks, there have been a few times where that has happened to me as well. One instance of this (without money involved) was a TrueValue had replaced its HPS street lights (GE M-400 last-gen and M-400R2s) with LED shoebox lights and one of the old lights was sitting by one of the entrances, missing its door. I asked my dad if I can ask the people if I can and he said no. By the time we went back there to get something, it was gone.

That sucks.

I'm sure this has been asked before somewhere, but anyway, on and off since I was about 13-14 or so, which was towards the end of the 60's, so that gives you an idea of how old I am now 

Other things like work, life and stuff took up most of my time from my late teens until I retired 6 years ago, so lamps went on the back burner so to speak, although I got interested in telephones old and new, and collected them for a while as well.

Since I left work though, lighting has come back with a vengeance and I've been building up the collection quite rapidly since then..! My other half Sammi has also caught lampitis and far from stopping me buying more, actively enourages me 

I've been collecting since 2017. I'm not really sure which was my first bulb, but I think it was a 60w mini sphere "GE Elegance bulb", then later on in 2017 I got a 60W GE spot, a 52W Chestinghouse halogen bulb, an F18T8 preheat fixture with a blacklight tube, a 160W SBMV; starting my collection that way. Most of my bulbs from 2017 to mid 2018 are gone, only remaining the fixture and tube mentioned earlier, so I could say that I really started in 2019.

for me its since 2012, or about 9 years of my 15 year old skin. I might have had soem bulbs befroe that but my 6th birhtday was a definite as i had gotten my first few lamps. I have about 200-300 lamps and the number goes up pretty much every other week, i am going to count them all out this summer.

Since around 2007 for incandescent/fluorescent and since 2009 for HID. A year later in 2010, I got my first cobrahead and traffic signal.

I've been collecting bulbs since I was around 6 . Got my 1st streetlight when I was around 15 , a Unistyle 250 , 100/175w. I still have it !!!

I got my first HID lamp (a 275w Westinghouse sunlamp) in January of 2015 so that's generally when I consider as having started collecting. However, I have an old F40T12 preheat strip that used to be installed in the kitchen above the stove in the house I grew up in, it was taken down during repairs in 2010 and was given to me, and I've had it since then. I guess that's when I could say I started collecting. That same year I got a Feit 13w blacklight CFL for Christmas, which I also still have.