Lantern Collections - Wonder, Ever Ready, Ray-O-Vac...

[konifans]

I have been collection incandescent flashlights for almost 10 years and since recently I found it is lots of fun collecting those vintage battery powered lanterns. It is so nice to have a warm light (but not too bright) on the desk of your room. Most of them use 4 x D cell batteries or 6 volt lantern battery,. It is easy to get a 6 volt lantern battery adapter and use 4 x D cell. I recommend Amazon Basics rechargeable D cell. With a 0.3A to 0.5A bulb, the run time is around 20 to 30 hours. I believe these were made in 1970s to 1980s in England, France, USA....

Ever Ready Leisure Lamp
Made in England
Use 4 x D cell
This one usually appears on Ebay UK.

Wonder Type "Sport"
Made in France

Lantern Auvan
Made in France
This one usually appears on Ebay France.

 

[xxo]

Cool vintage lanterns!

The Rayovac no. 100 "table Lamp" was pretty common back in 70's in the USA.



Not my photo.

 

[konifans]

Cool vintage lanterns!

The Rayovac no. 100 "table Lamp" was pretty common back in 70's in the USA.



Not my photo.

Yes, I am looking for one of these. A similar one would be BMG Portable Lamp which is made in USA as well.

I just bought a Rayovac Nite Owl Portable Lamp and it is on the way...

 

[vicv]

Nice lanterns. I'm not sure if I've ever used one. I generally use those hissing white gas lanterns. But these would be better inside.
Also thanks. I didn't know about the basics D cells. Just ordered a set

 

[snakebite]

i have one of those rayovac units that came to me with a burned out bulb.
its a relatively uncommon type.
at $10 plus shipping for one bulb at the time i busted the dead bulb to get the base.
made a led drop in from a short section of 1/2" copper and a cap.
runs around 300 ma and stays cool.
and powered by a dozen 18650 laptop salvage cells.
a 3500k 219b high cri works nice for this.
the dropin is the led on a 10mm mcpcb,the pipe/cap,and a 3.3 ohm 1/2 w resistor.
i shrinkwrapped a tp4056 boad and left it hanging.
the battery pack is wrapped in foam amd fits inside tight.
i even stuffed in a long usb cable in the leftover space.
now the newer type i have uses 4 d cells and a pr bulb.
that one got 4 8ah nimh cells and a 4v 900ma xenon bulb.
a dc input jack and diode allows this one to be left connected to a solar panel.
its always ready!

 

[konifans]

Nice lanterns. I'm not sure if I've ever used one. I generally use those hissing white gas lanterns. But these would be better inside.
Also thanks. I didn't know about the basics D cells. Just ordered a set

I always want to have a classic Coleman fuel lantern, but yes for indoor usage I think battery powered lanterns is better although it is not as bright.

 

[konifans]

i have one of those rayovac units that came to me with a burned out bulb.
its a relatively uncommon type.
at $10 plus shipping for one bulb at the time i busted the dead bulb to get the base.
made a led drop in from a short section of 1/2" copper and a cap.
runs around 300 ma and stays cool.
and powered by a dozen 18650 laptop salvage cells.
a 3500k 219b high cri works nice for this.
the dropin is the led on a 10mm mcpcb,the pipe/cap,and a 3.3 ohm 1/2 w resistor.
i shrinkwrapped a tp4056 boad and left it hanging.
the battery pack is wrapped in foam amd fits inside tight.
i even stuffed in a long usb cable in the leftover space.
now the newer type i have uses 4 d cells and a pr bulb.
that one got 4 8ah nimh cells and a 4v 900ma xenon bulb.
a dc input jack and diode allows this one to be left connected to a solar panel.
its always ready!

Nice upgrade! The bulbs for my lanterns are all E10 screw type miniature bulbs, these are very easy to find and they are cheap. Although not as bright as LED, a 4.8V 0.5A bulb is quite sufficient and the warm tint light is so comfortable and beautiful.

 

[snakebite]

yes once you are dark adapted you dont need the sun sitting on your table.i have homebrew "candles" made with 1 sandblasted 5mm high cri and a laptop salvage 18650.
only about 15 lumens but thats a lot once adapted.
and it runs a very long time on a cell.

 

[konifans]

Rayovac Nite Owl
Made in USA

 

[konifans]

Ever Ready Sundowner
Made in England

 

[vicv]

I like they sundowner. That's cool

 

[vicv]

Well I picked up my first one. Paid $10 at an antique store with a working bulb and battery.
A Rayovac no. 100 like above.

 

[xxo]

Nice! I never had one of those back in the day, but now I kinda want one....will need to keep an eye out for them at the thrift store.

 

[bykfixer]

Back in 98 a freezing rain knocked out power in every direction near me on Christmas Eve. What a drag. My apartment was all electric. I lived on the outskirts of town where one wire was supplying electricity so we were way way down the list of priority.

A WalMart was open but had no C or D batteries to fuel my flashlights I had at the time. But they had a million billion Christmas candles on clearance. The big 3" around 12" tall kind. And they had plenty of double a batteries. So I bought like 25 of those big candles and a 4aa Coleman lantern along with about 5 pounds of batteries.

It doubles as a flashlight

For years I did not have any C or D (or lantern) battery operated lights simply because in a pinch they were always the first batteries to sell out.

When hurricane Isabell hit the candles and lantern were used again.

 

[konifans]

Ray-O-Vac Wireless Light Fixture
Made in USA

 

[konifans]

Velamp Quartet
Made in Italy

It uses 4 x D cells. This one looks like not as durable as other lanterns (thin plastic / weak joins, easy to break), however the diffusion material of the shade should be the best one among all of my lantern collections.

 

[konifans]

E10 screw base bulb choices:

#502 5.1V 0.15A
#27 4.9V 0.3A
#425 5V 0.5A

The #27 should be the most common lantern bulb. Bulb life is 300 hours. The #502 is not so bright, but quite enough as a night light. Bulb life is 50 hours (Eiko 502) to over 300 hours (CEC 502). The #425 is much brighter, bulb life is shorter. Most of these are vacuum bulbs, which means the glass will get darker so it may not as bright as a new bulb after using for a period of time. It is possible and may be better if you can find some E10 6V Krypton bulbs to replace the #27 bulb.

If you cannot find those made in USA vintage E10 bulbs, CEC bulbs are good choices.

 

[konifans]

This is the best way if you do not want to charge your batteries or use alkaline batteries. A universal power supply, which provides DC 3.5V, 4.5V, 5V, 6V..... To perfectly replace 4 x D-cell batteries, uses 5V instead of 4.5 or 6V.

 

[vicv]

Very nice

 

[konifans]

Ever Ready Swivel Lite
Made in USA