JumbleDuck
Well-known member
Many years ago I bought a Sowester hand bearing compass, like this
It's an excellent compass, and I find it much easier to use than any of the modern ones I've tried. However, it uses beta light illumination, which depends on the slow radioactive beta-decay of tritium, and since the half-life of tritium is 12 years, mine had stopped glowing altogether.
Others may be in the same position. But be of good cheer, friends, because there is a solution.
You contact Tristan at Betalight in Holland (info@betalight.nl) and you order two 9mm x 3mm x 1.5mm green betalights, which will set you back €9.52 for the pair plus €4.50 postage. When they arrive you use a small flat-bladed screwdriver to remove the old betalights from their rectangular recess in the case, then the two new ones sit perfectly in the space, side by side, and can be secured by a drop or two of superglue. When I next have some sealant out I'll put a thin skim over them, too.
Bingo! Sorted! One, nice, fully functioning compass, for less than twelve quid and about ten minutes' work.
It's an excellent compass, and I find it much easier to use than any of the modern ones I've tried. However, it uses beta light illumination, which depends on the slow radioactive beta-decay of tritium, and since the half-life of tritium is 12 years, mine had stopped glowing altogether.
Others may be in the same position. But be of good cheer, friends, because there is a solution.
You contact Tristan at Betalight in Holland (info@betalight.nl) and you order two 9mm x 3mm x 1.5mm green betalights, which will set you back €9.52 for the pair plus €4.50 postage. When they arrive you use a small flat-bladed screwdriver to remove the old betalights from their rectangular recess in the case, then the two new ones sit perfectly in the space, side by side, and can be secured by a drop or two of superglue. When I next have some sealant out I'll put a thin skim over them, too.
Bingo! Sorted! One, nice, fully functioning compass, for less than twelve quid and about ten minutes' work.
