rdi@cci632.UUCP (Rick Inzero) (11/11/89)
I have a Raytech ultraviolet (fluorescent) lamp (used for mineral collecting) that consists of two ~6" long bulbs, each turned on/off by its own push-button switch that must be held in until the bulb "starts", and then released. It runs off of 120VAC *OR* you can plug it into its "battery adapter", which is two "B" cell (45 volt) batteries in series. At the time this unit was made (early 1970s), this was good technology for the battery adapter. Now-a-days, I see similar (small) single-tube white-light fluorescent units powered by 4 AA batteries or two 6V lantern batteries (camping lights). These 45 volt batteries are available special-order, and are pretty expensive, at least $20 a pair, and I can't see buying them when I don't use the lamp on battery power too often. Also, I don't have a need to power it for a long duration by battery, so the relatively massive storage provided by the B cells (something like 20 hours on-time) is overkill; I'd be happy with an hour or 2. Running only 1 bulb at a time is fine as well. The entire lamp is rated at 0.35 Amps (AC), and I actually measured this with a DMM and it's right on. Each bulb measures 0.17 amps each. The only components inside the lamp assembly are two "starter" switches made by Leviton, two transformers (~2" wide), and the two bulbs. I took apart the battery adapter, and the only thing inside is a couple of 2 Watt current limiting resistors that can be manually switched out when you have weak/old batteries. There is *no* converter circuitry inside this box, so the lamps really are running off ~90V *DC*. What I'd like to do is build a circuit that will power the unit off batteries that I already use around the house- the AAs or 6V lanterns, or maybe D cells. Anybody out there have a working circuit hanging around that will accomplish this? Anybody taken one of these camping lights apart to find out the circuit? I think all I might need is a DC-AC or DC-DC converter that can handle this current, and work from 6-12V batteries, right?. Thanx in advance! --- Rick Inzero rochester!cci632!rdi Computer Consoles Inc. (CCI) uunet!ccicpg!cci632!rdi Rochester, NY uunet!rlgvax!cci632!rdi "Your grandmother never, ever called me stupid. She always called me 'pinhead'." -Jimmy Stewart in 1988 Campbells Soup commercial.