Eterna SAP70MINI

From the high-quality Wallpackette to a somewhat more budget offering now. In fact, this fitting is probably more designed for the domestic market due to its simple construction and wiring. Having said that, the fitting sees considerable use in Derby thanks to the City's Magistrates' Court having several installed on the outside of its building.

The bulkhead has a one-piece polycarbonate front cover - the lens must presumably have been masked off while the rest of the cover was being sprayed black. The small circular 'window' in the top part of the fitting is where a photocell could be positioned for automatic operation of the bulkhead.

The back of the SAP70MINI is aluminium. No fixing hole positions are drilled; allowing the installer to decide for themselves how to mount the fitting. The 'Wall Mount Only' and 'Up' comments are interesting - I have seen these bulkheads installed on ceilings and upside down on walls in the past!

Access to the inside is gained by unscrewing two 'Philips' head (as opposed to the more-common-in-Europe 'Pozidrive' head) screws on either side of the lens. The fact that these types of screws have been used; and that the control gear is made by 'Ding Sheng' (and the wiring between components is pretty untidy) suggests to me that possibly the fitting wasn't made in the UK! The lamp is one of my own Radiums - one was supposed to be included but the company I bought the bulkhead from had run out! Beneath the reflector are the positions for drilling the metal depending on whether the fitting is being mounted directly to the wall or being fitted to a conduit box. The photocell would be fitted to the left of the capacitor if it was installed.

Despite the gear, the internal-ignitor lamp struck up when the fitting was wired up - though it had difficulty in doing so. I am therefore considering changing the ballast for a better one to see if that improves performance.

The cover was refitted and the refractors in the lens were put to use. The bottom of the lens almost touches the bottom of the lamp - and so it becomes rather hot in a short space of time.

Lamp warm-up video:

Holophane Wallpackette II | GEC 'Nightwatch 18' F.64318

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