ConnorG
New Head-Fier
Back in July of 2023, my buddy @Xecuter alerted me to the availability of unassembled Moth Audio NiteLite kits for sale. I had always wanted one after seeing his, and had been on the lookout for one for quite a while.
I’m not entirely sure of the backstory of how the seller came to procure all of the parts for the Moth equipment, but I was happy to throw my money to them for the chance to finally get a working NiteLite
For those who don’t know, the Moth Audio NiteLite is a 15E radar vacuum tube installed into a fancy Steampunk-type chassis that is controlled by a multi-tap transformer. It’s literally just a very pretty (and very, very expensive) nightlight. It adds a very nice warm ambience to any room you stick it in. It’s the perfect addition to any listening room and is definitely a conversation starter.
Anyways, I reached out to the seller of the parts kit, and found that the kit was missing some key components for the build including the Grayhill rotary switch, top and bottom plates, and the fuse holder (which turned out to be quite a PITA to source)
I was able to reverse engineer the internal wiring, as well as figure out what rotary switch was used with great help with the pictures from Xec. Luckily, the transformer wires were all numbered, but none of the numbers corresponded with the numbers on the switch terminals. It took quite a bit of trial and error, but with the pictures I received from Xec’s fully built unit, I was able to successfully wire everything together and test it out.
I was on edge while testing, as one slipped wire could send the transformer windings to magic smoke heaven. Luckily, I was careful enough to successfully get the switch fully wired and comb the wire loom to look halfway decent.
You can see the bottom plate I made that the transformer and terminal block assembly attaches to. I even had to supply the hardware for this step. Of course, I had to use all AN/MIL spec aircraft hardware for this. I guess working out of an aircraft hangar has it’s benefits sometimes
Here are a couple shots of the fabrication and assembly process. Lining the tube sockets up perfectly was definitely a bit of a struggle, but I managed to get everything squared and looking good.
The kit came with the power cord (which turns out to be Mogami microphone cable with a cotton braid around it), but it didn’t include the plug. I was able to source a suitable repro plug that fit the bill well enough.
Here is the back of the unit with the nameplates and NOS Ukrainian fuse holder installed. The hole for the fuse holder was comically large, and the Schurter fuse holder that was originally used on the NiteLite was no longer available from any seller. After tons of trial and error, these red fuse holders from Ukraine were as good as I could come up with. They are surprisingly high quality and have a nice retro look to them.
After painting the top and bottom plates, and
assembling everything one last time, I was very happy with the final product. I also forgot to mention the solid milled aluminum replica knob on the front that was designed by @bazelio. It was definitely the cherry on top of this project
Thanks for reading along, and another huge thank you to Xecuter for help with this project!
I’m not entirely sure of the backstory of how the seller came to procure all of the parts for the Moth equipment, but I was happy to throw my money to them for the chance to finally get a working NiteLite
For those who don’t know, the Moth Audio NiteLite is a 15E radar vacuum tube installed into a fancy Steampunk-type chassis that is controlled by a multi-tap transformer. It’s literally just a very pretty (and very, very expensive) nightlight. It adds a very nice warm ambience to any room you stick it in. It’s the perfect addition to any listening room and is definitely a conversation starter.
Anyways, I reached out to the seller of the parts kit, and found that the kit was missing some key components for the build including the Grayhill rotary switch, top and bottom plates, and the fuse holder (which turned out to be quite a PITA to source)
I was able to reverse engineer the internal wiring, as well as figure out what rotary switch was used with great help with the pictures from Xec. Luckily, the transformer wires were all numbered, but none of the numbers corresponded with the numbers on the switch terminals. It took quite a bit of trial and error, but with the pictures I received from Xec’s fully built unit, I was able to successfully wire everything together and test it out.
I was on edge while testing, as one slipped wire could send the transformer windings to magic smoke heaven. Luckily, I was careful enough to successfully get the switch fully wired and comb the wire loom to look halfway decent.
You can see the bottom plate I made that the transformer and terminal block assembly attaches to. I even had to supply the hardware for this step. Of course, I had to use all AN/MIL spec aircraft hardware for this. I guess working out of an aircraft hangar has it’s benefits sometimes
Here are a couple shots of the fabrication and assembly process. Lining the tube sockets up perfectly was definitely a bit of a struggle, but I managed to get everything squared and looking good.
The kit came with the power cord (which turns out to be Mogami microphone cable with a cotton braid around it), but it didn’t include the plug. I was able to source a suitable repro plug that fit the bill well enough.
Here is the back of the unit with the nameplates and NOS Ukrainian fuse holder installed. The hole for the fuse holder was comically large, and the Schurter fuse holder that was originally used on the NiteLite was no longer available from any seller. After tons of trial and error, these red fuse holders from Ukraine were as good as I could come up with. They are surprisingly high quality and have a nice retro look to them.
After painting the top and bottom plates, and
assembling everything one last time, I was very happy with the final product. I also forgot to mention the solid milled aluminum replica knob on the front that was designed by @bazelio. It was definitely the cherry on top of this project
Thanks for reading along, and another huge thank you to Xecuter for help with this project!
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