Anti collision strobe

[Arctic6]

Hello All.
recently purchased this product. An anti collision strobe featuring 4 x XHP70 in series (specs state 8000lm 80w and 6500k).
...Pretty underwhelmed with its performance though.

Its nicely packaged for my application, chunk of billet aluminium for the body and whole thing potted in epoxy but I really want more Jam out of it.
power wise I have a 70w coil which charges a 7ah lead acid battery so I should have lots of power to spare considering this thing has such a low duty cycle (flash,flash,pause.) think aircraft strobe flash pattern. I have opened up the electronics box attached, not sure what to comment about it, the size of a buck/boost converter going to some capacitors.

I am not worried about lifespan (well, 100hr would be nice) or cost or heat- everything below fire is acceptable

My question is: what can I do on the input side of things to really supercharge this light?
crank the voltage going to it?
some big capacitors?
Thanks!

 

[-Virgil-]

What do your local laws and regulations have to say about this "anti-collision strobe"?

 

[Arctic6]

3 nautical miles visibility, to be used during twilight hours. I'm flying para motor in fairly busy airspace so the brighter the better....

 

[Alaric Darconville]

That "underwhelming performance" is the design performance. Is it type approved for the application or certified by the manufacturer to be compliant with the requirements? (I'm not sure if under CAA-N such lighting needs type approval or not, but if it works like road vehicle lighting it would).

"The brighter the better" may not necessarily be the case.

 

[Arctic6]

almost completely unregulated sport. 75% of everything is home made/experimental. I run the light under all conditions for maximum traffic visibility, when required or otherwise. Its an omnidirectional light, no lenses or focusing.

Just wondering whats the best way to overdrive things. since its such a small duty cycle...200% of rated voltage?

 

[LEDphile]

Without knowing the design of the driver, it's impossible to say what would be involved in changing the output characteristics. OTOH, overdriving a unit that's likely already running at the limits of the parts (it takes a LOT of lumens to make a visually bright flash, due to the short duration) is a wonderful way to dramatically increase the probability of a catastrophic failure. And a catastrophic failure would leave you with NO anti-collision lighting.

(sidebar: starting essentially identical threads in multiple subforums is generally frowned upon)

 

[Arctic6]

I'd be open to doing a completely blank slate design. I mostly bought this product for the nice molded head unit with the intention of playing around with the driver guts over the winter. There's nothing else in the light end of things besides the heat-sink and the chips...red and black wire input.

My previous setup was a pair of 48w hideaway strobes. Anecdotally, everyone commented the old setup was visibly more impressive...I would agree.

I have decent power to spare. charge coil is rated for 70 watts (and my cruise power is roughly 80% of max rpm) and this is my only load. What would you run on the input side of things?

Application is not in any way mission critical. Its mandatory for perhaps 5% of my flights. I'm usually on the ground way before official twilight. If I was caught out after twilight with a dead strobe I would land asap.

 

[JustAnOldFashionedLEDGuy]

When I see this I think really crappy. I used to know something about these regulations and design aspects and I don't think this is how you do it. A collision is normally going to be with another plane on effectively the same altitude, and/or a controlled descent/ascent, i.e. somewhat on the same vertical plane. This send sends like everywhere, but what you most need is light on the same vertical plane, probably up and down 30 degrees. That is going to greatly increase the candela of the light and allow it to be seen from far further.

There is a formula for flash duration and intensity = perceived brightness. LEDs flash longer, but not with the power of Xenon which could easily be 50-100K lumens, but only 40-100usec.

 

[Arctic6]

Any product recommendations for a suitable xenon strobe?