MY COLLECTION: THORN Civic 1 (1)

Manufacturer Thorn
Catalogue Number (model) Civic 1 SB N
Wattage 70W
Lamp-Type SON-T
Gear Modified
Ballast Parmar HSZ57223221
Ignitor Tridonic PXE070255
IP Rating (when new) IP65
Date Of Manufacture ~~/04/2003
Date Acquired 28/07/2023
Restoration Status Cleaned
Collection Number #3

The Thorn Civic 1 was a wildly popular lantern throughout the UK. It could be used with lamps up to 150W, meaning it was used in a wide-range of applications (this one is a 50W SON-T lantern). It's aluminium construction made it a very heavy-duty and sturdy lantern, and two versions of the Civic 1 existed, the older design and newer design. Both can easily be distinguished from one-another, owing to the different shape and paint used. It's distinctive shape makes it an icon amongst the lighting community, and one of the most-well-known lanterns overall. This one is the older design of the Civic 1. It was the third lantern in my collection after two WRTL 2600s. It runs 70W SON-T and uses the gear from a 2600, minus the faulty capacitor.

I've always thought that these lanterns look a lot like shoes, especially from above!

The back plate can be removed by unscrewing and removing two screws. On the underside is an April 2003 date-code.

It could do with a re-wire, as I did this over a year ago now, so that's a plan for the future. It's quite a noisy lantern, the Parmar ballasts are especially loud! Incase you're wondering, the ballast is a Parmar HSZ57223221. Its old ballast was a Tridonic OMBS 70.

The lantern pictured working for the first time after it entered the collection (in 2023).

The lantern doesn't use a photocell as I bypassed it. It has a Parmar PXE070255 Ignitor.