Svetlina signaller's lamp - Restoration Project?

wosser

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Jan 19, 2019
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Last week I managed to score a great little item which raised some fascinating research findings from our knowledgeable CPF experts.

It arrived this morning and I'm really pleased with it. It's in better condition than the listing photos and description suggested.

Firstly a couple of pictures (there will be more to follow in the next few days once I've decided what I'm going to do with it)...


Opened up showing battery connections for a "MN1203" or "3LR12" 4.5 volt battery (the Duracell AA is shown for scale).
40071478113_2240e39395_z.jpg



External pic showing the green gel covering the bulb and reflector, and the belt clip.
33161201648_b6705edb5f_z.jpg



Construction:
  • The main chassis is thin, pressed mild steel sheet about 0.7 mm in thickness. Feels quite robust and is very lightweight without the battery.
  • The glass is actual glass and is domed outward slightly so it protrudes beyond the chrome bezel. It does not appear to be a lens, just plain glass of a constant thickness.
  • Internally the switch and contact gear is just formed copper strips held and insulated by what appears to be some very old-fashioned and thin phenolic sheets.
  • Things are held in place by metal tabs that are pushed through slots in the metal and then bent over to secure them.
  • The belt clip appears to be stiff stainless steel wire.
  • Case is magnetic.

Notes on the lamp's design:

  • The belt clip apparently allows the user to hook it over a tunic button so that it can be a hands-free working lamp.
  • The green and red gels can be used at the same time, although that's probably not very useful, given the weak output to begin with.
  • Not remotely resistant to water. Keep it in your backpack until you need to use it. If it looks like rain, put it away!
  • The front "door" is a sub-assembly in itself. There are two layers of metal that sandwich together and between them contain the reflector, the sliders for the gels and the gels themselves.
  • The belt clip allows the lamp to be attached to clothing in various ways, hung on a nail and also to be stood at an angle on a table like a kickstand.
  • The gel sliders are colour-coded, red on the left, green on the right.
  • Ingress Protection Rating: IP40 :)

The condition of this particular unit:
  • Generally good, certainly no major repairs needed.
  • Paint is mostly intact, a little rust shows through at the corners where it's been scuffed through regular use.
  • It has possibly been someone's EDC at work for many years, but treated with care, apparently.
  • The gel sliders are not quite functional at the moment. The green one can go all the way up if you jiggle the handle a bit. The red one goes about half way up and jams.
  • The bulb works! Hurrah. I tried powering it up from a USB charger through a diode to give something like 4.5v, and it lights up and gives a lovely warm orange glow but the beam quality is unsurprisingly very patchy and weak.
  • The glass has a few small scratches and scuffs but is fine and the reflector is in good shape, but a bit grimy.
  • The two gels seem to be made of a kind of clear, flexible acetate sheet. They show signs of age and slight cracking but still work. The red one has faded a bit, the green one is still good.


So what next? I welcome any advice about how to take some restoration steps to improve the condition of the lamp without damaging its antique look. To be honest I have no idea how old this thing is, it could be anywhere from 1985 back to 1950. There are no date stamps or lettering of any kind on it apart from the "СВЕТАИНА" ("Svetlina") which means "Light" in english.

To fix the sliders I will have to disassemble the front section of the lamp, which means unbending the six metal tabs. The gels will probably need to be replaced but it should be easy to make new ones.

It is in nice shape though and I think it would be a great light to have on a bookshelf for adding some mood lighting to a dark corner of the room.

Beam shots to follow in a few days once I've found a way to power this thing (I'm thinking a lithium battery of an appropriate size).

Your thoughts and insights are welcomed.
 
Last edited:

wosser

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Re: Svetlina signaller's lamp - RESTORATION PROJECT?

Amazingly, a standard 4 AA battery holder fits perfectly inside the battery compartment. It doesn't even rattle...

(Temporary hack just to do some beam shots)
40072242983_6eeb49fee5_z.jpg




Fitting a set of four NiMH cells gives me 4.8 Volts, and that's close enough to the original 4.5 Volts.
The lamp draws about 300 mA and the beam is... is... well it's not an Olight that's for sure :)

Beam shot shining sideways across a smooth wall:

47037179831_deeda86c75_z.jpg


Mmmmm, warm. Yeah, there's a big dark spot in the middle of the beam.

This light is HUGE fun. Highly recommend getting one or two.
 
Last edited:

xxo

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Apr 30, 2015
Messages
2,993
Re: Svetlina signaller's lamp - RESTORATION PROJECT?

Looks real nice. I think I would be inclined to solder in the 4 AA pack you have now, seeing how well it fits. If you are worried about overdriving the bulb, you could run 3 AA's and a dummy cell to bring the Voltage down. Either that or get one of the 3 AA adapters for the 4.5 Volt battery or perhaps use a single 18560 battery holder and run that. I don't know what kind of bulb it takes, but I would upgrade to a LED drop in if you can find one. I run my old Fulton US military angle head lights with 18650's in 3D printed adapters along with Nite-Ize drop-ins which work very well in PR based lights (I'm guessing your bulbs might be the screw in type that would need a different LED drop-in?).

BTW, you may be able to adjust the beam's focus by unscrewing the bulb a bit.
 

wosser

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Re: Svetlina signaller's lamp - RESTORATION PROJECT?

It is a screw-in bulb, yes. Good idea about adjusting the bulb focus, I'll try that. I'm considering a complete rewiring job includinga led emitter, PWM and going up to perhaps a couple of 22700 cells (or three 18650s).
 

Ken_McE

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Messages
1,687
Re: Svetlina signaller's lamp - RESTORATION PROJECT?

If it was me, I'd be tempted to fasten in the new battery pack, lube up everything, replace the cellophane if needed, stick a spare bulb or two inside the housing and leave the original bulb. If you do go LED you'll want one that has good red and green levels. It's quite spiffy!
 

wosser

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Joined
Jan 19, 2019
Messages
156
Location
England, UK
Re: Svetlina signaller's lamp - RESTORATION PROJECT?

If it was me, I'd be tempted to fasten in the new battery pack, lube up everything, replace the cellophane if needed, stick a spare bulb or two inside the housing and leave the original bulb. If you do go LED you'll want one that has good red and green levels. It's quite spiffy!

Hi Ken,

I did go with a LED in the end. See here: https://www.candlepowerforums.com/v...-with-an-LED&p=5284890&viewfull=1#post5284890
 
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