I have just picked up an AIDA Express 1500 Record 500 secondhand. It smells of paraffin and needs a mantle. The seals seem intact and it holds pressure. I have tested the ignition part ( you pump it up and then pull back a piece and light and it roars it to life with the flame aiming towards where the mantle would be ) and that appeared to work fine. I have ordered a pack of mantles off of evilbay. looking around the web i have seen videos on utube showing them to be dual fuel, but all of the ones shown as dual fuel have a sticker on saying its dual fuel. Apart from the aforementioned sticker, is there any way to tell if the model i picked up is dual fuel also as mine is missing a sticker but given the age if it had one could have easily fallen off over the years. The little plaque below the glass on the rippled neck say its " AIDA Express 1500 Record 500 " any help would be greatly apprieciated, it came in the original box which is tatty and says made in germany and came with with a little orange funnel. I paid £10 pounds for it. paraffin around my way is currently £9.50 for 4 litres and obviously diesol is a lot cheaper. I can take some closer up pics if needed when i get home from work
Hi @PorkChop , welcome on board! Your AIDA is a very fine quality lantern, at that time made by Petromax. Like all Petromax and similar clones, it is strictly a paraffin ONLY lantern, no petrol or the likes should ever be used in them as that is a safety hazard. Have fun with your AIDA! Best regards, Wim PS., don't use diesel in it, you'll shortly regret that! There are to many dopes in diesel to make it useable as engine fuel, these dopes will clog up the vaporizer in no time!
Like @Wim , said it is a paraffin lantern or petroleum lantern. I am sure there are no AIDA lanterns made with a dual fuel sticker. That is a real AIDA of Hirshhorn or later on Graetz. Read the manual, read it again. Make yourself understand how it works and use it the rest of your life.
Many thanks to you both for the warm welcome and fantastic advice. I wanted to make sure before i tried putting diesol in it and now i am thankful i stumbled across this fantastic resource and your goodselves. Here is why i had the confusion over the duel fuel bit After looking around on this site i have learnt there are codes on them to help identify year of manufacture etc so i will deffo upload some more pics and info on it. Ive ordered some paraffin and some mantles for it. I will be using it when camping, many many moons ago me and my father used to use tilly/tilley lamps when beachcasting and remember when id get tired and lay down in the bivvy tent the roar of the lamp being soothing and helping me drift off to sleep whilst my father fished thoughout the night. fond fond memories. To be honest it was a toss between this lamp for £10 or a poorish condition tilley for £45 and due to depleted funds i opted for this one, reading the forum here it seems i made a good choice. Again many thanks for your comments and saving me from making an error. Ill get out my mobile and photo the manual so i can zoom in on it and read it as the old eyes are starting to fail a bit lol
Thank you ROBBO55, could you suggest the best way to make the silver shiny again, it does not feel to have a smooth finish, would metal polishing wadding or the brasso liquid metal polish be the sort of thing to use on it?
Welcome @PorkChop. Start with soapy water and a sponge - it looks to be in very fine condition and a bargain at a tenner. This webiste is all about a Petromax 500 but nearly identical. Restoration of a PETROMAX 829 Lantern Apart from photos showing how to change seals etc, it also has a section on cleaning. You can light your lantern using the "rapid lighter" or you could fit a spirit cup for more gentle light ups. The 500 signifies 500 candle power so that is the size of mantle to get. I like the petromax helox for these, but I would use cheaper ones until you have finished cleaning/testing/tuning good luck Chris
Many thank Chris, i will have a good look at that and give it a good clean. It says hot soapy water with some citric acid, forgive this stupid question but would a lemon work being citric acid? i will deffo take some pics before during and after. i removed the pressure guage which it looks as to be where you fill it, there was a rubber seal there that appeared to be in very very good condition. I thought where the pump is that you pump to pressure was damaged until i realised that the pull out bit rotates under what i though was a chipped off piece to prevent the pump coming out during use lol It definatly is a nice bit of kit and i literally cannot wait to take it camping. also may i add, i have joined many forums over the years for a variety of topics and i have never been made to feel so welcomed Dan
As for the video: Well I am not an expert but when you put the inner hood on backwards and by doing so most of the time destroy the needle, which is up, then you are not an "expert" in my language. Also I doubt the red top is original.
Yes lemon juice would do - but I would start with soap first. As an acid it is removing material - the practice is that it removes the corroded bits faster than the remaining plating. but it will remove that too if left too long or too strong. Yours looks to be in great condition. Brasso is not liked here due to it's chemical properties. Use chrome polish if you need to.
cheers Craig, Thank you Jeff i had a good look over it for a date and there isnt one anywhere that i can locate I took the glass out and give it a wipe ive added some pics below ( the camera flash was on and it seems to have made it look worse than it is lol ) Looked everywhere i could think to find the date and even underneath and ive had no luck
@PorkChop There is a small 4-digit number stamped on the bottom of the tank. Please take a photo of the bottom. Regards Reinhard
@Reinhard ahhh many thanks, it was under some grime, gave it a rub with a damp rag and boom there it was lol it says 2214
@PorkChop 2214 =Week 22,1971,Thursday The rapid lever and substructure of the Rapid and the label"Made in Germany"on the tank tell me that this AIDA was manufactured by Petromax in Altena between 1964 and 1972. Regards Reinhard
@Reinhard So its older than me then as i was born in 1975 lol So its an Aida made under license from Petromax? or is it a Petromax Aida? please forgive my lack of knowledge, hoping to impress my grandchildren Its going to be the business camping and it was cheap as chips too
@PorkChop After the war, the two brands Petromax and Aida were manufactured in the same factory in Altena West-Germany. Two brands but one manufacturer. AIDA also took part in the move to Hipolito /Portugal. On these AIDA, s manufactured in Portugal, only"Germany" is written on the tanks and not "Made in Germany". You will then also have other 4-digit codes for determining the age of the tanks.
@Reinhard many thanks for you fantastic information good sir. I am so looking forward till end of next month when i go camping, ill be sure to upload some pics of it in action in the field. Im going to impress the life out of the grandkids lol cheers my good man
You mentioned that you intend to use that lantern when you go camping , so this tip may be of interest. The box is a bit tatty, but it will protect the lantern and it's possible to make the box more useable, just give it a wipe down with a damp cloth and then give the box a coat of varnish or lacquer and that will make it more durable. The price of paraffin when it's bought in those 4 litre flasks is hellish and there should be suppliers in your area who have paraffin on pump, which means that you can turn up there with your own flask, the supplier which I use charges about 70 pence per litre.
hello jeff, Yes i fully intend to use it camping and 2 hours ago bit the bullet and purchased 8 litres from a well known decorating suppliers that wear orange. £7.98 for 4 litres and i got 2 of them. I tried everywhere local for the paraffin on pump and had no luck, even the formerly cheap local hardware shop was chargin £9.50 for 4 litres. When i camp ill be taking a new metal 20l jerry can ( military design one ) to fill up at a pump in Ashborne. To be fair i am impatient and want to see it up and running prior to camping so i bit the bullet. You mention protecting the lamp, would it be worth putting some of them large firgure of 8 shaped white polysteyrene things you get in boxes on ebay purchases to pack the box out? ( obvioulsy not whilst the lamp has any heat in it lol as i have a big bag of them from when i purchased a new PC tower ) to minimise glass movement? And that is a fantastic tip for making the box more durable, i was thinking about asking a friend of mine to knock me a box up to keep it in and thought about the polysterene things.
Protecting the lantern in some manner when traveling is a good idea as replacement glasses are expensive. This link is for a Google search for paraffin suppliers the Derby area. https://www.google.com/search?clien...ERS+IN+DERBY&sourceid=opera&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8
Cheers, i tried the local ones nearest me that i could get to after work and none of them sold it anymore. The shaftesbury street south one is a possibility but also likely to be bottled. Ive now got enough to last a while hopefully ( i have no idea how long a fill would last lol ), would you have any idea of the burn time for a full lamp? and is it approx 1 litre for a full fill?
One litre is plenty and I don't recall exactly how long a 500 cp., lantern will run on that amount, but you should get at least 4 hours.
@JEFF JOHNSON Many thanks, ill make sure not to overfill @Henry Plews Many thanks, thats a mighty impressive burntime, the more i find out about the lamp the more i think i hit the jackpot on economy lighting! During my camp ( 8 or 9 days ) i was thinking 1 fill per day lol ill be using it for less than 2 hours per day so this is far better than i anticipated, even 4 hours per 1 litre fill would be better than i expected. Something so old being so economical is pleasantly surprising.
@PorkChop - You seem to be investing emotionally in the lamp for your camping trip (and anyone here will understand that). As it is second hand and not anywhere near new I really would recommend a good testing in the garden, maybe new rubber seals/pump leather as well. Once set up these lanterns are very reliable but they do have their foibles and you don't know what the previous owner did to it ! I have arrived at places with a perfectly functioning lamp to find something has decided to go "end of life" in front of everyone... cheers Chris
I just watched the you tube video you started with. Looks like the mantle is too small, and also the "rapid starter" was not burning well. It should light up more quickly and with less drama.
To avoid drama at all: use the soft start method with a spirit cup aka alcohol pre heater cup. Like Chris mentioned, make sure you have some spare parts and tools with you when going on a camping trip and use the lantern. Make a nice wooden carry box and buy a cheap glass to use to preserve the marked one. Any 500cp Petromax size will do.
