AC Ford AC730
Lantern acquired in October 2008.
This lantern came from Darren Ford and is new and unused. The AC730 was a lantern which, in more recent years, was made to order due to low demand. It could accommodate tungsten lamps up to 200 Watt; MBF lamps up to 125 Watt and SON lamps up to 70 Watt, although the latter two lamp types will need control gear installing remotely, as the lantern does not have space for gear to be located within the canopy.
This view shows the 'front' of the lantern, complete with the correct alignment marker on the canopy. As the lantern is not fitted with any type of refractor, its actual position on a top-entry bracket is not that important. A bowl similar to the one used on later Thorn Beta 4s is usually employed; however, the bowl fitted here is of the type fitted to my Revo Prefect. The visible lugs on the canopy support the threads that hold the screws for the lampholder mechanism.
The alignment marker can be seen more clearly here. The AC Ford logo is located opposite, and follows the curve of the canopy rim.
The hinged bowl support ring can be seen in the lip around the canopy.
With the bowl opened, and the lampholder mechanism removed, the ¾′′ BSP bracket connection thread can be seen in the top of the canopy.
Unlike some lanterns of a similar design, the lampholder is pre-wired into a porcelain block connector. The two support rods are there for lamp focusing.
The AC730 was attached to a wall bracket on Friday, 13th July 2018. A 6 Watt GLS-shaped LED lamp was fitted - this provides a comparable lumen output to a traditional 60 Watt filament lamp, which is what was supplied with the lantern anyway.
The lack of any sort of optical control on this lantern allowed the lamp to be seen in all its glory.
Lamp operation video:
Testing with my energy monitoring device revealed the following results:
| Test Voltage (V) | Current being drawn at full power (A) | Measured wattage (W) | Apparent Power (VA) | Frequency (Hz) | Power Factor | True Power (W) | Difference to rated wattage | Percentage Difference |
| 241.1 | 0.04 | 5 | 10 | 49.9 | 0.52 | 5.01 | -0.99 | 16% |
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