Vintage Zlatokov electric Christmas lights

     Vintage Zlatokov electric Christmas tree lights made by the Slovak company "Zlatokov" in Trenčín city in 1970s and 1980s. Several variants were made - Colored balls (Reflex), Clear balls with colored lamps (Krystal), colored bells (Lotos) and clear bells with colored lamps (Calla). Contained 12 incandescent lamps in series, connected directly to mains voltage 220V 50Hz. Lamps were 20V 0.1A in E10 socket. Total power was cca 22 - 25W.
     The disadvantage was that one faulty lamp caused the entire chain to stop working and was hard to spot. Another oddity is that this light chain is circular, which makes it a bit tricky to install and to untie knots on it.
     Incandescent lamps, however, have special vintage charm. LED colors are in my opinion too vibrant. Painted tungsten incadescent light bulbs have soft colors, more pleasant for eyes :).

Christmas with Zlatokov lights (Kryštál and Lotos).

Zlatokov KRYŠTÁL - clear balls

Zlatokov Kryštál vintage tungsten Christmas lights.





The label of the set made in 1988.


one of Zlatokov lamps.








Restored Zlatokov Kryštál lights in operation.





Detail of one ball.








Beware - a wrong lamp replacement can melt the socket or even cause a fire!


Video

Zlatokov LOTOS - colored bells

Zlatokov LOTOS - another version of Zlatokov lights.





Rewired from circle to line to be used as window decoration. 12x 20V 0.1A 2W changed for 11x 24V 0.05A 1.2W. One socket removed.


Zlatokov LOTOS.

Zlatokov CALLA - clear bells

Zlatokov Calla - clear bells for a Christmas tree.


Detail of the bells


Calla fairy lights in operation.


detail of the lit bells


Zlatokov CALLA - label of the set made in 1981.



Added: 30. 9. 2015
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