Hi all,

A YouTube user by the name of Ultralume recently came across my Burgess Safari Lite video. Intrigued by the lantern, he decided to buy one and dissect it to see how it ticked inside. He's commented on the video with a wealth of information. I'll provide the link to the video so you can see his comments for yourself, but I'll summarize what he's found so far here. I don't believe he's a member of this site, and I've invited him.

The ballast used for AC power is the usual magnetic choke, and the ballast used for DC power is a 10 watt, 600 ohm resistor. On AC power, the low brightness mode connects another 10 watt 600 ohm resistor in series with the choke to reduce the lamp brightness. On DC power, low mode connects both resistors in series. There is no constant cathode heating in low mode (some of you speculated that on my photo). The lamp is driven just as hard on DC as it is on AC. The lamp is also driven with DC current on DC mode, so mercury migration is a risk. The DC mode is very inefficient, with input power totaling about 20 watts. In DC mode, the AC choke is connected in such a way to provide an inductive kick when starting the lamp.

Here's a link to the comments section of the video:

http://www.youtube.com/all_comments?v=Hn9rDqP3O7A

I've been inspired to perhaps buy some DC-DC converters on eBay to try my lantern out on DC, which I haven't done yet.

Hi all,

A YouTube user by the name of Ultralume recently came across my Burgess Safari Lite video. Intrigued by the lantern, he decided to buy one and dissect it to see how it ticked inside. He's commented on the video with a wealth of information. I'll provide the link to the video so you can see his comments for yourself, but I'll summarize what he's found so far here. I don't believe he's a member of this site, and I've invited him.

The ballast used for AC power is the usual magnetic choke, and the ballast used for DC power is a 10 watt, 600 ohm resistor. On AC power, the low brightness mode connects another 10 watt 600 ohm resistor in series with the choke to reduce the lamp brightness. On DC power, low mode connects both resistors in series. There is no constant cathode heating in low mode (some of you speculated that on my photo). The lamp is driven just as hard on DC as it is on AC. The lamp is also driven with DC current on DC mode, so mercury migration is a risk. The DC mode is very inefficient, with input power totaling about 20 watts. In DC mode, the AC choke is connected in such a way to provide an inductive kick when starting the lamp.

Here's a link to the comments section of the video:

http://www.youtube.com/all_comments?v=Hn9rDqP3O7A

I've been inspired to perhaps buy some DC-DC converters on eBay to try my lantern out on DC, which I haven't done yet.

Yeah I had one of these in Vietnam, but it was not supplied by the Army, as I bought it through a mail order catalog about 1969 or 70 and was sent to me. It did work very well at night for emergency work, but soon the battery ran out and the cost of the battery plus shipping was high and there was no replacement batteries there.
that I could find anyway. It was almost cheaper to buy a new one. That was the only problem I had with it. It continued to work on 120 volt AC just fine.

I have seen where it was mentioned that these were used in Vietnam by the military, but as far as I know the one I had was the only one I ever seen in two years there.

I think that other than the special battery problem, most military lighting must be water proof and shock proof.
While it was a good light, I don't think it could take much water or banging around. Usually anything like this would have to be set up and tested for this type of use first. May be someone here knows of testing and use there.

BTW I just remembered that the one I had had the two buttons red and black with the chrome reflector. Also while well built, I would not say it was water proof at all as it did get wet a few times, but still worked ok.
The batteries were heavy and looked like a brick.

Also it created a lot if interest being something new and different and many people thought it was government issue, but it was not, I bought it if I remember correctly through JC Whitney catalog sales. You had to fill out a order form along with a money order, send it in and wait and wait for it to be delivered. I think it took about a month. I don't think it was cheap either. I know the special batteries sure were not.

Today with Amazon and E Bay what a difference in payment and shipping times.

I am surprised so many are still around. The one I bought is long gone due to the battery issue, so I did not ship it back to the states.

The government issued flash lights were not the best, but they were water proof.

Interesting story Larry; nice to hear from someone who actually bought one of these new! Yeah, I would say due to the lack of waterproofing (which was mentioned in the US Army's evaluation) and the expense of batteries, they probably saw only very limited, if any, deployment. Yes, the number of these that are on eBay is surprising, and many with the original lamp, packaging, and even some with the original included batteries! It's probably the most easily and inexpensively obtainable vintage fluorescent light fixture today, and an almost guaranteed way to nab a vintage GE F8T5/CW or Norelco F8T5/33.

Interesting story Larry; nice to hear from someone who actually bought one of these new! Yeah, I would say due to the lack of waterproofing (which was mentioned in the US Army's evaluation) and the expense of batteries, they probably saw only very limited, if any, deployment. Yes, the number of these that are on eBay is surprising, and many with the original lamp, packaging, and even some with the original included batteries! It's probably the most easily and inexpensively obtainable vintage fluorescent light fixture today, and an almost guaranteed way to nab a vintage GE F8T5/CW or Norelco F8T5/33.

Yeah the special batteries were the down side to the thing. I think they were specially made just for the light. There were batteries that could be charged for high end flash cameras back then, but they were $$$. The light would be too expensive if they were used plus a special charger for them would be required. Water proofing, shock resistant. Equipment used in the military really gets knocked around a lot.

Thanks for the information, it shows just how far technology has come since the 1960s.
Some things better, some things not so better though.

Some things better, some things not so better though.

But people tend to remember only the good parts of the past. And then mutter about everything becoming only worse... :-)

Update: I have been corresponding with the guy who found all of this information. His name is Alex, and in addition to completely uncovering what makes the Burgess Safari Lite tick, he has successfully fabricated two completely functional reproductions of the Burgess Z46 battery, and has been running his Safari Lite on battery power with great success. He has sent me a bunch of pictures of the batteries he made, as well as a picture of the lantern running on the batteries, and a picture of the lantern's internal components. I have received his permission to upload the pictures here to the gallery, which I will do starting tomorrow.