3Kw Xenon Searchlight Build

[danthexenonorc]

ow )how far does the light reach approximately?are look so good
If I were to be your neighbor and I was to notice that, I would be very confused

I think a couple of miles for sure. I know of some other 3kW xenon lights that can reach like 7-10 miles, but I am not sure how mine would compare as I was not able to focus mine down as well as a commercially produced, computer aligned unit. I live near a rather large city, and even in the light pollution I had my friends call me from 5-7 miles saying that they were able to see the beam.

 

[Obsessedwithlights]

Alright, so I have gathered up some images of my progress thus far. Here are some images of the ballast I will be using:

I will post this for now, and if my images load correctly I will return with images of the focusing mechanism, control box, and remote

Did you find that power supply on ebay? Seems to very difficult to find power supplies / igniter for xenon lamps without paying a fortune.

Most of the newer power supply boxes I have installed contain the igniter and power supply all in one box.

Would be nice to be able to find a power supply / igniter all in one for my rebuild.

By the way just wanted to say what an amazing job you have done with your searchlight! Love it!

 

[Obsessedwithlights]

I have no idea about the exact lumens but the bulb is a 3Kw Ushio UXL-30SC bulb and I am running it a but over max spec (112a at 28vdc). The beam is just really frickin' big and that is all that is important to me haha. I have had people spot it from 6.2 miles away on a clear night, and on a foggy night it lights up all of the surrounding air around my house as the light is refracted and makes it seem like my house is a small city. The whole system runs off of split phase 244v ac and consumes 4350w, which I assume a lot of is going to the cooling system and the 90% efficiency of the 30kHz switching power supply.

I do have a question regarding that box below the lamp. Are you using that as an igniter? The power supply you are using came from a movie projection system using xenon short arc bulbs. I was under the assumption that power supply has the igniter circuitry built in?

Only reason I ask is because I was getting ready to buy that same power supply and I want to name sure that is all I will need to ignite and run a xenon short arc bulb.

Very nice build and I love the beam shots!