Anyone tried to repair a selenium Bewi light meter in a Vito BL?

Hi Everyone, I have a nice old Voigtlander Vito BL camera with a Bewi selenium light meter. The meter is responding to light but is hopelessly non-linear. In the darkest conditions, it does not even show EV 0 when you push the little button. The inner ring with the EV numbers and shutter speeds does spin freely. Have any of you tried to clean the contacts on the selenium cell? Any success with repair? I once removed the top, but the Bewi unit looked like a sealed unit. Thank you!

Kodachromeguy said:

In the darkest conditions, it does not even show EV 0 when you push the little button.

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I am not sure what you mean by that, but no common selenium meter could indicate EV 0, they were not sensitive enough.

AgX said:

I am not sure what you mean by that, but no common selenium meter could indicate EV 0, they were not sensitive enough.

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You are right, that was badly stated. This Bewi meter does not show any level below 6 or 7 EV, while a handheld Gossen meter shows much lower.

Kodachromeguy said:

You are right, that was badly stated. This Bewi meter does not show any level below 6 or 7 EV, while a handheld Gossen meter shows much lower.

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That would be typical for an old camera light meter of that age. Gossen meters were of a higher quality and can read a bit lower.
Id leave it alone, unlikely to improve upon that.

Regarding lightmeters (CdS) I've been lucky, most of mine work within limits and the BEWI in my BL works fine above EV 8, below EV 6 it bounces all over the place

I have not been able to find a good tear-down for the BL, it is different than the Vito B and the C

However if you want to spedn the time and effort:
https://learncamerarepair.com/product.php?product=466&category=2&secondary=37
http://www.thermojetstove.com/Autoeye/meter.htm

Anything here that might help ?
https://learncamerarepair.com/productlist.php?keywords=voigtlander

I owned a few Vito's and currently use a Vito CLR.

Personally I dont feel the meters on these old cameras even when "working" are worth it at this stage, it's just as easy and accurate to sunny 16 or use a Smartphone Light Meter app.

Wonderful cameras.