Dazor light wiring / switch wiring help

[sinned6915]

Greetings all-

I am trying to re-assemble a Dazor P-2134 that I got in pieces, less the ballasts (I was told it only needed ballasts, but I question that advice now). One of the lamp sockets has been replaced and the wiring in the upper part of the lamp has been 'adultered'. I think I have it figured out, but would appreciate extra eyes on it before I let out any blue magic smoke from the genie bottle.

Taking apart a known good P-2134 I have, it only has 3 wires coming to the base- a Black, Brown and Yellow. This lamp only uses 6 pins on the switch. It pretty much matches what @Bert_ drew up in this thread with the exception that the Black 'OFF' switch is on the Neutral leg, not the inputs for the ballasts.

Dazor 2134 lamp only one bulb works

It's often called a draftsman lamp. It has two 18" fluorescent tubes. It's not the bulbs. I swapped in multiple new bulbs at the hardware store and only one will come on at a time. It's not specific to one side or the other. Sometimes one side comes on, sometimes the other side comes on, but...

www.garagejournal.com

My known good lamp schematic:


The unknown lamp's schematic:

I cannot for the life of me get the schematic based on my pinning of the wires to make any sense assuming the wires to the base all need to be connected. I have 4 wires coming out at the base of the light from the lamps/switch. It uses all 8 pins on the switch.

Brown to the base from the upper lamp checks.
White to the base from the upper lamp checks.​

Red to the base makes no sense​

Yellow to the base makes no sense​

​

If the Red 'START' switch is depressed, then the Red and Yellow#1 wire will connect to the Yellow wire going to the base. That means that the Red and Yellow would short if connected to Line or Neutral.

I am thinking that I should cap the Yellow wire in the base and leave the rest alone, using the Red wire as a Line and the Yellow#1/Red wire at switch terminal joint as a connection. Then the rest makes sense.

Can anyone comment and/or confirm ?

Dennis

 

[Bert_]

Greetings all-

I am trying to re-assemble a Dazor P-2134 that I got in pieces, less the ballasts (I was told it only needed ballasts, but I question that advice now). One of the lamp sockets has been replaced and the wiring in the upper part of the lamp has been 'adultered'. I think I have it figured out, but would appreciate extra eyes on it before I let out any blue magic smoke from the genie bottle.

Taking apart a known good P-2134 I have, it only has 3 wires coming to the base- a Black, Brown and Yellow. This lamp only uses 6 pins on the switch. It pretty much matches what @Bert_ drew up in this thread with the exception that the Black 'OFF' switch is on the Neutral leg, not the inputs for the ballasts.

Dazor 2134 lamp only one bulb works

It's often called a draftsman lamp. It has two 18" fluorescent tubes. It's not the bulbs. I swapped in multiple new bulbs at the hardware store and only one will come on at a time. It's not specific to one side or the other. Sometimes one side comes on, sometimes the other side comes on, but...

www.garagejournal.com

My known good lamp schematic:


The unknown lamp's schematic:

I cannot for the life of me get the schematic based on my pinning of the wires to make any sense assuming the wires to the base all need to be connected. I have 4 wires coming out at the base of the light from the lamps/switch. It uses all 8 pins on the switch.

Brown to the base from the upper lamp checks.​

White to the base from the upper lamp checks.​

Red to the base makes no sense​

Yellow to the base makes no sense​

​

If the Red 'START' switch is depressed, then the Red and Yellow#1 wire will connect to the Yellow wire going to the base. That means that the Red and Yellow would short if connected to Line or Neutral.

I am thinking that I should cap the Yellow wire in the base and leave the rest alone, using the Red wire as a Line and the Yellow#1/Red wire at switch terminal joint as a connection. Then the rest makes sense.

Can anyone comment and/or confirm ?

Dennis

Guessing it has, or had, a high power factor lead/lag ballast. They often use a starting compensator winding for the leading lamp.

 

[sinned6915]

@Bert_ do you agree that capping the Yellow wire to the base would be ok?

 

[Bert_]

@Bert_ do you agree that capping the Yellow wire to the base would be ok?

If you have simple choke ballasts then, yes, I would say cap the yellow wire in the base and connect red and brown to the line. White going to the neutral

 

[n8n]

Thread resurrection... I am looking for a pinout of the switch on one of these lamps as I have one that only one tube is lighting reliably, although it worked a couple times when I tested it initially. Am going to test per the attachment in post #1 and have also reached out to Dazor to see if they have a diagram. The replacement switch is now $35 so while I suspect that it is the problem I'd really like to 100% verify before ordering. I'm also half tempted to drill out the rivets and try to clean it internally although that may be false economy...

 

[n8n]

OK, I also had another working lamp. I took it apart and compared both to the printed out diagram above. Both of mine were identical with the exception that for both, the black and black/white wires are all white on mine. Also, the "brown to base" and "yellow to base" connections are swapped on mine.

I was able to determine that the "normally closed" black/white connection on the switch is open when off and closed when on on both lamps. The other three connections are only made when holding down the red button to start the lamps. I am assuming the unused middle connection is for the three lamp version that Dazor sells. I found that these connections are not being made reliably on my flaky lamp and in fact one of them is tenuous on the working lamp, but because it is still functioning, I'm not messing with it. OK I guess it is time to bite the bullet and order another switch, because I am guessing that the non working lamp is quite old. I'm not going to throw out the old switch however as if I ever need another one I will drill out the rivets and see if it is repairable...

 

[n8n]

Follow up: I don't know why I didn't think of this as soon as I noticed that the switch wasn't working reliably, but I took two test leads and simulated the "start" contacts with those, and both tubes light every time. New switch ordered.

 

[n8n]

Update: got official Dazor docs, which don't match the colors of my lamp, but do reflect how it's wired.

Figured I'd upload here because this seems to be the best repository of info on these I could find.

 

[n8n]

Since I had to order a switch, I ordered a diffuser kit as well. I think I am going to try to super glue some little tiny pieces of metal to it however to stiffen it up, it looks pretty cheezy. Lamp works great though.

 

[n8n]

I had another one of these lamps in a slightly different color (somewhat metallic/hammered brown rather than straight brown like this one) that I'd bought over 10 years ago and also fixed up. When I did that one I found only two screws holding the reflector on and I'd bought a box of screws from McMaster-Carr to fill the other two holes. I found the exact same thing on this one, but I was able to find the box of screws that I'd bought previously! (how often does that happen? consider that I've moved several times as well...) I wonder if this is just how they were made, but having four screws really makes the "head" of the lamp flex much less when adjusting and feel more "premium" so I'm leaving both of them with four screws.



The screws that hold the keystones onto the reflector are similar but are slightly longer, probably 3/16"? I didn't measure.

This appears to be the product currently available https://www.mcmaster.com/90277A142/

If I do anything else, I may cut some small rectangles of drawer liner to "float" the transformer/ballasts a little; I can hear an audible hum when either lamp is operating. I don't really want to go to an electronic ballast because I like things that are original. The one I just fixed has a non original cord because the one that was on it was starting to disintegrate but the other one is 100% bone stock.

I think I'm also going to see if I can disassemble the old switch and put it back together with some binder bolts as $35 is a lot and I bet it just has dirty contacts that can be cleaned with some deoxit or oxalic acid, also while troubleshooting the "new" lamp I see that the start contacts on the old one, while still working, are high resistance so it's only a matter of time.

 

[Snip's]

Follow up: I don't know why I didn't think of this as soon as I noticed that the switch wasn't working reliably, but I took two test leads and simulated the "start" contacts with those, and both tubes light every time. New switch ordered.

I have a vintage Dazor over my temporary workbench and one of the tubes wasn't lighting... Last weekend I picked up 2 new 18" fluorescent tubes... Figured they were pretty old so new ones should solve the problem. Replaced the bulbs and got no change, one was still not lighting off...
Disassembled the light holder and reflector... Saw that riveted switch with all the wires soldered on the tabs... Wasn't going to take the switch apart... So I ended up squirting some CRC Lectra-Motive electric parts cleaner in and around the red and black switch buttons, working them on and off several times. Also shot some of the cleaner inside the four tube receivers....

Plugged it back into the wall outlet... Pushed the red button and both bulbs lit right up... Success....

 

[Mattlamont]

To the OP or anyone else who might know, I have a P2134, my question isn’t electrical, but I can’t for the life of me figure out how to get the head to tighten up. I took out the inner liner, and there is no inner nut to tighten the head against the swing arm. Wasn’t sure if you encountered this as you were putting everything back together. Thanks for the help!

 

[n8n]

Just got another Dazor, this one is a clamp (I think 2134? I forgot already after I walked downstairs LOL)

Looks like something is missing from the clamp assembly, but I'm not sure what. There's one piece of thin metal with felt on it and on the actual lamp base there is nothing to protect the table. Any help?

this wasn't much of a project, was $13.50 at the thrift store ($15 but I apparently had 10% off to use, cool) and the color matched one of my desk lamps (metallic brown) and it just looked dirty. Went to HD and spent $22 on new tubes as the lamp had none (3000k, 85 CRI, I'm not happy about that but I can't seem to find any affordable 90+ CRI tubes - here's me whining about it https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/good-f15t8-tubes.481482/ ) and this wasn't much of a project, I just wiped it down with some soapy water and when it dries I'll give it a coat of Nu-Finish. Works splendidly - lights right off - and unlike the last one there's only a little rust, no nasty tape residue to clean off.

So if one of you fine folks can show me what the clamp is supposed to look like that'll be great, and I guess it's now time to see about drawing the diffuser parts in CAD because when I bought one last year for the last lamp Dazor told me they were down to their last few of those. I can cut the Plexiglas, will have to beg a favor for the two metal pieces I guess.

@Mattlamont once this is clean I will remove the reflector and take a pic for you, since I am working on one.

Edit: re: my comment above about the screws holding the reflector on, this one had all four! but they were all loose, maybe that's why my other two lamps came to me with only two. It does make a huge difference to have all four, the head isn't really sturdy without the reflector being solidly screwed down.

 

[n8n]

@Mattlamont here is a pic of the head with the reflector removed. It looks like there's a solid machined piece that just holds the sheetmetal of the head in place and that's what it pivots on. I can't tell if that's in a unit with the part that hinges above or if it's driven/pressed in without disassembly. The welded on tab appears to just limit the rotation of the head. Sorry I can't be more descriptive but that's about all I can give without more and possibly destructive disassembly.

I took several pictures of this area but this is the only one that came out worth posting.

Now my own question - this is the first one of these that I've had with the clamp on base as opposed to the heavy desk base. Am I missing anything? It seems that there ought to be more than one plate, but I really don't know. I've sent an inquiry to Dazor as well (they've been helpful in the past as you can see above) but figured I'd ask here as well.

this was really kind of boring, I just bought new tubes and threw a coat of Nu-Finish on it et voila.