B-17 Navigators Desk Lamp Question

Jerry O'Neill · **Posted:** Mon Jan 04, 2010 9:00 am

I'm not an electrician, so I thought I'd post this to see if some here can point me in the right direction.

I have several NOS B-17 Navigators Desk lamps in their original tubes and I've been wanting to use two of them to use as lighting for a B-17 print I have framed. They have the original bulbs and wiring and I want to see if it's feasible to convert them to use house current instead of what they were originally intended to use.

Any ideas on how to do it safely?
Thanks.
Jerry

mustanglover · **Posted:** Mon Jan 04, 2010 10:47 am

Jerry O'Neill wrote:

I'm not an electrician, so I thought I'd post this to see if some here can point me in the right direction.

I have several NOS B-17 Navigators Desk lamps in their original tubes and I've been wanting to use two of them to use as lighting for a B-17 print I have framed. They have the original bulbs and wiring and I want to see if it's feasible to convert them to use house current instead of what they were originally intended to use.

Any ideas on how to do it safely?
Thanks.
Jerry

I take old runway lights and convert them to household current. I simply get the wire and sockets from Lowes and rewire them and put a standard bulb in. I am sure you could do the same thing with a correct size socket and bulb. You can keep the old wiring and socket in case you wanted to convert them back.

Pat Carry · **Posted:** Mon Jan 04, 2010 11:08 am

The runway lights look kool. Where does a person find such items?

mustanglover · **Posted:** Mon Jan 04, 2010 11:18 am

Pat Carry wrote:

The runway lights look kool. Where does a person find such items?

I am fortunant to have duties with the maintenance/management of the airport.

When the crews change out damaged runway lights I try to get the upper base if it is considered trashed. The stem and lower base I get from Tractor Supply and then I order new globes. The wiring, switch, plug and socket come from Lowes and I make the wooden bases out of mesquite wood.

Pathfinder · **Joined:** Tue Nov 10, 2009 7:35 pm **Posts:** 587

The overriding concern should be the source current. Obviously 110 "house wiring". If you connect the present NOS wiring and bulb direct to house current be prepared to enjoy it for about four minutes--before the fire starts!

You should do a "wire-and-socket-endectomy".

That done, I would think small--both in terms of new wiring and bulb.

Lamp cord would handle the load without a problem. I would then think along the lines of VERY LOW wattage bulbs. Modern bulbs put out a ton more heat than the old stuff--especially those run off of batteries. The concern here should be the hot lights heating up the glass on your frames and baking your print. (Remember just about everybody's (over the age of 50) sister could bake brownies with a light bulb!)

You might consider buying a complete 110 LED reading light and taking that apart to refit to your nav lamps. The idea being to keep the bulbs "cool".

LEDs do not put out as much heat as incandescent. Even something like these holiday windowsill-candlesticks that are wired for house current would be good. Post X-mas you should be able to pick these up at Odd Lots by the arm load!

mustanglover · **Posted:** Tue Jan 05, 2010 10:36 pm

me + pathfinder = success

sdennison · **Posted:** Wed Jan 06, 2010 6:14 pm

Pat Carry wrote:

The runway lights look kool. Where does a person find such items?

Along side the...uh...runway? :wink:

Toddmurphy · **Joined:** Wed Nov 21, 2012 2:26 pm **Posts:** 5

Pathfinder wrote:

The overriding concern should be the source current. Obviously 110 "house wiring". If you connect the present NOS wiring and bulb direct to house current be prepared to enjoy it for about four minutes--before the fire starts!

You should do a "wire-and-socket-endectomy".

That done, I would think [u]small--both in terms of new wiring and nice led lights.

Lamp cord would handle the load without a problem. I would then think along the lines of VERY LOW wattage bulbs. Modern bulbs put out a ton more heat than the old stuff--especially those run off of batteries. The concern here should be the hot lights heating up the glass on your frames and baking your print. (Remember just about everybody's (over the age of 50) sister could bake brownies with a light bulb!)[/u]

You might consider buying a complete 110 LED reading light and taking that apart to refit to your nav lamps. The idea being to keep the bulbs "cool".

LEDs do not put out as much heat as incandescent. Even something like these holiday windowsill-candlesticks that are wired for house current would be good. Post X-mas you should be able to pick these up at Odd Lots by the arm load!

LED lights are much better source then bulbs. They are cool and save significant amount of energy

JDK · **Posted:** Thu Nov 22, 2012 5:53 am

Jerry O'Neill: B-17 Navigators Desk Lamp?

Everybody's favourite doctor on an aircraft: "They're the little light to read the maps by, but that's not important right now..."

Anyway... A tangential thought, perhaps worth mentioning is to be aware of the lux and duration your lighting is putting onto the print; it doesn't take as much as you may think to cause localised fading. There are museum guidelines for this kind of thing, worth searching out (can anyone help?)

Regards,

Airlift48 · **Joined:** Sat Oct 29, 2005 7:01 pm **Posts:** 744

Why not just find yourself a 24VDC adapter and use that to power it.

Like this?

http://www.fullcompass.com/product/368928.html?utm_source=googleps&utm_medium=shopping&utm_campaign=googleps&gclid=CPT2opHW4rMCFcyf4AodtW0AuA

Jerry O'Neill · **Posted:** Thu Nov 22, 2012 10:02 am

Thanks guys! All great points.
Haven't done it yet, but it's one of those future winter projects we all have!

James, my thought is not to have it on all day/everyday. It would be in my "I Love me Room", so I wouldn't have it on every time I was in it, just when guests come over so I can seem like a totally cool guy and not some airplane geek

who only reads books and can't appreciate art! :-D

....or should I just donate it to some worthy restoration?

Jerry

The Inspector · **Posted:** Thu Nov 22, 2012 10:26 am

JDK makes a good point regarding bleaching of the paper. I assume you have or will have it framed and low E museum glass is available in most bigger framing shops. I'd just buy a couple of $15.00 gooseneck desk lamps and gut them for all the internals. The gooseneck I'm typing by ($13.00) as I write this has a 100 or so LEDs 4" diameter unit flood type LED and casts 'just enough' blueish white light to massage the key board by, I've also got a golf ball sized one that puts out, in my estimation, not enough light on a sort of brownish side of white.

Taigh Ramey · **Posted:** Thu Nov 22, 2012 2:58 pm

I agree with keeping it original and providing either 12 or 24 volts DC. A simple bulb change and run it on a 12 volt automotive bulb. The 12 volt power supplies will be cheap and you may already have a wall wart in the garage from some old toy or electronic device that would work.

Another thought is finding a 24-28 volt supply that you can use for not only the lamp but other cool WWII things like an optical gun sight or a radio or bail out bell rigged to a switch on some cool control box.

More electrical goodies in the man cave can make the price of a decent power supply worth while plus you don't have to alter the artifact. Hit your battery master switch and fire 'em all up .

shrike · **Posted:** Thu Nov 22, 2012 5:12 pm

Most low-voltage house lighting (track lights, landscaping and such) are also 12v, so you should be able to pick up a simple power supply at your favorite DIY store

Richard W. · **Posted:** Fri Nov 23, 2012 8:52 am

Is it possible to get a picture of the lamp posted here?

I've Googled "B-17 navigator's desk lamp" and had no luck.

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