Second Life of an Old Kerosene Lamp: the 'Bat' Lantern

Restoring and upgrading old things – a very exciting activity

As my first upcycling project, I decided to work on an old kerosene lamp. This lamp had been lying in the attic for many years, and it was produced in the 1970s.

The main idea was to modernize the lamp for today, meaning installing LEDs, a battery, and making it remotely controllable.

Materials: TP4056, MT3608, 18650, YK04 radio module, LEDs, acrylic glass, field-effect transistors, paint, and other small items.

First, disassemble the lamp. The most valuable and fragile part of the lamp is the glass.

Next, I needed to remove the old paint. Since I don’t have a sandblaster, I decided to use a torch. I worked with the burner, and the paint quickly burned off, while the metal didn’t overheat.

After burning off the old paint, I used sandpaper to remove the remaining bits.

The battery, wires, and electronics need to be placed inside the lamp’s fuel tank. For this, I cut a window in the bottom. Now, I need to solder a plate to the cut-out part so the cover can be screwed back into place.

Now the lamp is ready to be painted. At first, I thought about using dark brown paint, but I soon realized that white paint would work better. I applied a few layers from a spray can, and it turned out great.

First, install the TP4056, which is a charging module for the 18650 battery, as well as a protection module to prevent deep discharge and overcurrent.

On the cover, place the YK04 control module, a DC-DC boost module, and a board with power transistors that will switch the LEDs on and off.

The signal from the YK04 radio module goes to the gate of the field-effect transistor, turning on the LEDs.

When the field transistor opens, an optocoupler triggers, maintaining the voltage on the transistor gate so that it does not turn off.

To turn off the LEDs, a signal is sent to a bipolar transistor, which grounds the gate. This way, I avoided using additional microcontrollers.

Next, screw the cover back in place, charge the lamp using a phone charger, and it’s ready for testing.

The lamp now has three lighting modes, shines brightly, and works as a nightlight.

It can operate both from the power grid and from the battery.