Vintage Eveready ROP aka The Silver Bullet

EDIT

I just put in a new ,much better condition reflector Whoa!! Its 3X brighter! ROP is serious light.




Now I have a name for it!(I was not drinking Coors when I came up with the name )
I picked up a vintage Eveready circa 1940s bullet flashlight for 1.99 on ebay with the thoughts of modding. I dropped in a mag led.Pretty cool,a good improvement,but I thought it was capable of more. It has a metal reflector and glass lens already. I got a 5megea 6AA to D adapter,thanks Gene, and loaded up with rayovac Hybrid Nimh(they are supposed to hold thier charg 4x longer,eneloop technology) So far they perform good,they come ready to use ,I measured 1.3 v out of the package.We will see how they do.


Here it is all polished up!




Beam shot inside,huge spill,really bright spot! Cool!!


It is working great, gets a little warm with the high bulb, not bad for a 3 min test. My only question is this plastic piece that hold the bulb in,Is it going to melt? Maybe a trip to Home Depot and look for a bolt or something metal to hold it.I think there is a good chance of something to fit with some drilling.Anyone got any ideas on that?Maybe a nice brass piece???Heres a pic

EDIT The bulb holder is working fine no heat issues.
1 month follow up.No heat issues to report.Working great.

Re: Vintage ROP Eveready

That's pretty much what I did with my Rayovac light form the 70's. Same problem with the plastic piece so I just use a 6 cell mag bulb in it on 7NImh +1 dummy. ROP bulb doesnt get bright enough. Must be switch resistance. YOu might want to try using wadded up aluminum foil to hold the bulb in. That's not going to burn. This ought to be moved to the ROP thread by the way.

Re: Vintage ROP Eveready

In several of my 2AA lights, the bulb is held in the reflector by the battery positive nipple.

You MIGhT find this usefull...

Re: Vintage ROP Eveready

I am working on a similar mod using a 2C light with the Carley H1499p bulb. It started deforming the plastic piece after 10 mins of being on. 5 mins did not cause deformation. I am having a teflon bulb holder made, and will post the results along with plans for the bulb holder once it is finished and tested. The reason I recommend a bulb holder is that it can thermally isolate the bulb a bit more from the batteries. The Li-ion cell nearest the bulb gets really hot after 10 mins! I still think PlayboyJoeShmoe has a good idea though...just may want to limit usage time.

Re: Vintage ROP Eveready

Paul6ppca said:

My only question is this plastic piece that hold the bulb in,Is it going to melt? Maybe a trip to Home Depot and look for a bolt or something metal to hold it.I think there is a good chance of something to fit with some drilling.Anyone got any ideas on that?Maybe a nice brass piece???Heres a pic

Click to expand...

If you use a bolt or "something metal" to hold it in you'll short it out, unless you're drilling out the center (re-reading, that seems to be your plan). The bulb "nipple" needs to be isolated from the threaded part.

I think mudman cj is on the right track. Would like to hear how it holds up.

I've used an Pelican 3853 (NiMH) low on 3x123's but didn't run it long enough to risk damage. Decided the Mag 5-cell bulb was enough for that project.

Love that old Ray-O-Vac! I've got one a friend gave me but the insides are shot.

Re: Vintage ROP Eveready

Nice spot, no figure 8.

Re: Vintage ROP Eveready

Hey Paul, mind if I jump into yet another one of your threads?
I just got mine going today. I got a 4" piece of PVC, and taped the hell out of it to increase it's width. So now it's stationary within the 2D body and holds 3 cells in place. I'm using a Radioshack KP118 6 cell 7.2v bulb. Only have run it for seconds at a time, but I'm going to the gf's farm tonight, and I can't wait to see how it goes against fifthunit's 9v 2xRCR123 Hemse light.

Re: Vintage ROP Eveready

I have a similar setup here :


http://candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=129899

Re: Vintage ROP Eveready

Omega Man said:

Hey Paul, mind if I jump into yet another one of your threads?
I just got mine going today. I got a 4" piece of PVC, and taped the hell out of it to increase it's width. So now it's stationary within the 2D body and holds 3 cells in place. I'm using a Radioshack KP118 6 cell 7.2v bulb. Only have run it for seconds at a time, but I'm going to the gf's farm tonight, and I can't wait to see how it goes against fifthunit's 9v 2xRCR123 Hemse light.

Click to expand...

Lets see some pics!!

Re: Vintage ROP Eveready

Aw
Can you tell me more about your teflon holder?Where did you get materials,how heat resistent is it?
Is that th eback of your bulb we see in the photo?

BTW, I saw a silver version of that light on ebay! It really cool.

Re: Vintage ROP Eveready

Well, I thought you'd never ask! Actually it's turd ugly, the inside job. But it's outer beauty hides it well...

Here's the tail spring, which needed to be bent inwards to make contact. This was alot harder to do than I thought it'd be:


Spring again:


Here's the spacer in place, with cells loaded:


Another view of spacer in place with tailcap:


Shots of the cells lined up to show how they fit in the body:


And there's Ol' Blue :sick2: It sure ain't pretty, but it actually works ok. It gets pushed into the body and is just wide enough to be secure, but fully removable. This shot shows it's exactly the 3Xcells length:


Here's a shot of it "in the lab", 7' from wall in living room(exposure set -2.0):


And here's the Hemse, 9v lamp using 2 RCR123s:


Tonight, the farm test!

Re: Vintage ROP Eveready

very cool... I love those old lights...

and I really LOVE those old lights that are made BRIGHT!

Re: Vintage ROP Eveready

Hey my friend!
I just stumbled upon your thread. Glad you received the battery holder and thanks for the thanks. I was getting a little concerned if you received it. Folks should always send a little courtesy PM when they receive items.

Anyways, I like your conversion! That bullet light is neat. I just did a conversion with a 1939 Eveready art deco light that I bought at yard sale years ago. I'm running it on 3X123s and a 6 cell Mag Krypton bulb and it puts out a lot of light.

I love that folks are getting these old lights and converting them to produce modern day lumens!

Re: Vintage ROP Eveready

Ok, I got to test my light a bit, but with all the outside lights on, sadly. It threw pretty far, farther than the 9v Hemse. Not much spill on it, but it loves to throw. And it's light as a feather, feels empty!
All in all, I'm happy, and this is my first official "real" mod ever. And it WORKED.

Re: Vintage ROP Eveready

Gene ,I thought I sent a PM ,well I meant to.Thanks again.Show some pics if yo can.Id love to see more vintage lights.
I ran mine with rop high bulb, it did not seem to get hot enough to melt the bulb holder.I will continue to monitor it.I took it outside,,WOW it can throw !!I gotta find a more open space to see its limits.

Omega man,
Nice job! I like the photos!

I just put in a new ,much better condition reflector Whoa!! Its 3X brighter! ROP is serious light!

Very cool. Love the retrofit job on old lights, turns 'em into real monsters. A light realizes its manifest destiny...

nice work mate - vintage mods rule!