MicrobeHunter.com Microscopy Forum

Just acquired a 'new' microscope! But I don't have any way to power it yet so I still don't know how much servicing it'll need to get back up and running.

I have a question about these plugs. One of them is for a 150W HBO bulb and another is for a 6V Halogen. Questions are:

• Do I need a power supply for the 6V or is it integrated within the microscope and I just need a converter for the European type plug? I believe it is rated 110V. • For the HBO, does anyone know which type of power supply would work for this? • I have no idea what this is for. Any ideas? Thanks in advance!

These plugs don't look like mains plugs, so I suppose you need a transformer. You can either buy a transformer/s with right voltage and enough power for the bulbs currently in the microscope.
Or find some other bulbs which can fit and power them with their matching transformer.

A pic or 2 of the whole microscope would be nice.

I have no experience with Jena microscopes. However, in Russian Lomo microscopes (I have owned several of them) they sometimes used mains-type plugs with low voltage systems. These mains-plugs fitted into transformers, however could be accidentally inserted into mains as well. This might be fatally misleading and is definitely against western standards and safety regulations.

imkap wrote: ↑

Mon May 09, 2022 6:18 pm

These plugs don't look like mains plugs, so I suppose you need a transformer. You can either buy a transformer/s with right voltage and enough power for the bulbs currently in the microscope.
Or find some other bulbs which can fit and power them with their matching transformer.

A pic or 2 of the whole microscope would be nice.

I'll add more photos of the specs labeled on the microscope, but it seems the transformer is inside the microscope. For the 6V that is.

The bi-pin plug you have looks to me like it fits an external power supply.

Finding a proper fluorescence power supply, in working condition, for your mercury lamp will likely be a bit of a journey. Given the issues of safety (both eye exposure to UV and the short live and occasional bursting of mercury lamps) -- many hobbyist don't bother with tagging proteins with fluorescent dies or simply do a UV LED conversion. Likely cheaper and, with care on barrier filters, safer.

Upon further inspection, it seems someone modded it by gutting the internal power supply and just using an external one instead--might as well. They had a 15V 150W bulb in there instead of the original 6V. Since I don't have a 15V 150W power supply, I swapped it for a 12V 100W and tested it out. The microscope is great, but all the controls are INVERTED!!! CW lowers the stage and CCW raises it. I'm used to the opposite so I'm not sure I can keep this one--I'm OCD like that. I will however keep the objectives and get some M25-M28 thread adapters so I can use them on my Polyvar instead. Any M25 objective would fit on this one so whoever buys it won't have any issues finding objectives that will suit their needs. The condenser includes dark field as well, very nice!

Here are some photos. If anyone is interested or knows anyone near Toronto who might be interested pass on the word. I'll consider a fair offer, otherwise I'll probably put it up on eBay. We'll see! What a nice piece of history though, it exudes quality through and through.

dgerw wrote: ↑

Wed May 18, 2022 9:55 am

This could be catastrophically misleading, and it certainly goes against Western safety norms.
idle mining empire

Well, the worse thing that could happen is someone under powers it with a 6V 25W power supply... That's hardly catastrophic.

The thing about illumination: it just requires a mounted light source, just about any will do. If you can't find the correct one, can you find a workable substitute.

Regarding the 6V Halogen plug, it is likely that the power supply for the microscope is integrated and that you will only need a converter for the European plug. However, it's important to confirm the voltage growdle rating of the microscope before connecting any power source. If the microscope is rated for 110V, you will need to use a voltage converter to convert the voltage from the European standard (usually 220-240V) to the appropriate voltage for the microscope.