top of page
Spotlamp Columns with UV Tubes
A Facebook friend of mine on a page dedicated to old Disco Equipment made me aware of a pair of spotlight boxes for sale on eBay. They had a starting price of £8 and were located a mile from my house so who was I to refuse !
 The light boxes that I saw on eBay for £8. They were only a mile from my house so I took a punt on them. When I picked them up is when I started to find the faults ! |  The lampholders were mounted on pieces of aluminium. There were two different styles of lampholder in the box |
|---|---|
 The wiring was very untidy and the base of the box had a slot cut out so the tube holder would fit. |  The fluorescent lamp ballast for the tube "fell out" and wasnt connected to anything. It was also a 65w ballast designed for a 5 foot tube but UV tubes are 4 feet in length and rated at 40w |
 The second box had BC lampholders whereas the first box was ES also there wasnt a fluorescent ballast in this box at all ! |  Wiring was really messy and bizarre. With 8 lamps per box I expected them to be wired 1&5, 2&6, 3&7, 4&8 but this box had 4 individually wired and then 4 on a fifth channel |
 YES THAT IS A HUGE TAPE JOINT |  The wiring of the Bulgin was totally non standard and potentially lethal. There were 6 lives and Pin 1 (the Earth Pin) was being used for neutral |
 Construction of the boxes was so flimsy that a complete rebuild was in order. I did reuse the sides and centre divider to that it was a restoration rather than a new build. Would have been less work to start from scratch! |  |
 Originally the sockets were mounted on the sides of the boxes which meant that nothing could be stacked against them. I cut some circles of ply to fill the holes and filled and sanded the gaps. Notice that the base is made of two pieces of wood...... the reason for that will be revealed very soon |  The new lampholders are mounted on a removable baffle and I have changed the design from 8 to 9 lamps per box as I will be using them on my Pulsar Modulator which is 3 channel |
 The two completed lampholder baffles ready to be fitted to the cabinets |  The reason for the double base is that the bottom base is removable so that the lampholder baffle can be fitted and also removed should repair be needed at any time |
bottom of page