old german boxlight.

my resent project.
box shaped lights are popular in Europe, this
one is pbly from 60's, the body is extremely well made, rigid steel box can take some heat, ind is strong too.
first i took guts out, wasn't gonna reuse them, cleaned it, and as i was putting masking tape to mark and drill holes i noticed how good it stretched and covered the corners, so i thought why not wrap entire shell with it, turned out good.
pics will show you how i did it.
in the middle are smd 5050 leds they are good for about 100lm of warm even flood, no hotspot whatsoever.
on top is 3 xp-g neutral, driven at 500ma, with narrow optics 16* iirc.
press once- xpg's on,press again- off, once more- smd's on, click more time- off.
light takes AA, lithium or alkaline. my plan is to use lithiums, besides better performers, they are lighter, the light with alk. cells is 455gr. about a lb.
the light is tied together with screws, so i can take it apart and change wrapper, or paint it..ect, nothing is welded, glued or riveted, all comes apart.
the appearance wise i,m not too happy, will redo it when idea how pops into my head.

Great idea! Looking forward to seeing what you do with it!

Nice modding job , I like old style lanterns like that always lots of options for batteries and lamps. The old stuff was built for a purpose and to last

Great job keep us updated

alpg88 said:

....this one is pbly from 60's...

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I´d say it was made earlier. The Bundesrepublik Deutschland (West Germany) was founded 1949. The Occupation-Status (the official end of the occupation) of the western allies (USA, Britain, France) ended in 1955. So it depends on how long this "Made in occupied germany" was really used. But I guess it is save to say it was made 1955 or ealier.

Eric

Great inspiration! I have some lights in that format and I have been reluctant to mod them. You made it moot.... Thanks!

Yeah nice! :wave: And I thought my light is old... :huh:

Eric242 said:

I´d say it was made earlier. The Bundesrepublik Deutschland (West Germany) was founded 1949. The Occupation-Status (the official end of the occupation) of the western allies (USA, Britain, France) ended in 1955. So it depends on how long this "Made in occupied germany" was really used. But I guess it is save to say it was made 1955 or ealier.

Eric

Click to expand...

wow, thanks for the info.

That light cries out for an old style "hammer tone" paint job, maybe bronze/copper color. Nice work BTW.

Great project, Your idea is awesome for this old german light, i would LOVE to see some beamshots as well, and also how hot does it get ??

what kind of switch powers it on and off ?? do u have another pic of it (power switch) ??

ok, original latch got lost , so i had to replace it with something, painted with ,rustoleum hammered finish, nothing inside changed.
i ran xpg's for 2 hours straight, chunk of aluminium got hot, but not too hot to touch, button is from dx with 3 outs, i used 1st and third, outs, 2nd is another off position.