DIY Tank Searchlight - The Swan Blaster 260W Short Arc
Inspired by VSS-3, the most "portable" version of the military Tank light (still weight 75Lbs), I've been wanting to make a home Made Tank light that could achieve the 50 Million CPs of VSS-3 but much much lighter & truly portable.
I've mentioned this project will be the swan song of my last short-arc mods in a post somewhere, thus the name appropriately named by Ra, The Swan Blaster.
History of my short arc mods:
I've made 3 short arc mods, all based on UHP/P-VIP type of High Pressure mercury short arc used in DLP projectors:
Franken Mag Short Arc NHII flashlight ~500,000 lux @ 1 meter
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?313112
Mega Blaster-- the MegaRay style short Arc, 5 Million lux @ 1 meter
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/...t=mega+blaster
Moon Blaster-The Blitz Short Arc, ~16.1 Million lux @ 1 meter
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/...t=moon+blaster
The Host:
I decided to get a Cruise Hinds Vintage searchlight as host, to have more of a similar look to the Tank Light. This host weight in at only 17Lbs, I can easily carry it with one hand or on my shoulder should I need to do a hike to look for a beam shot location away from people.
The Power Source:
Since already had this light in my mind for a long time, when I built my Portable power pack, I've made it so that it'll run Mega Blaster, Moon Blaster & the Swan Blaster. The Swan Blaster uses the 300DC piggy-back output:
I put in a 20AH Lifepo4 Battery from electric cars, Pulls 20Amp/13V, ~260W. I can run the Swan Blaster about 1 hr or Mega/Moon Blaster for about two hours. I can also fire up the Mega Blaster & Moon Blaster on it at the same time .
The Lamp:
The Lamp is a 230-280W UHP lamp with 1mm Arc. This is the highest power UHP/PVIP lamp with 1mm Arc that I could find a retail source for.
The Ballast:
The Ballast is a 250W P-VIP Ballast with a firmware upgrade to 260W, a gift from a fellow CPFer Ot10St who works at Osram.
Unlike the previous Ballast I pulled from DLP projectors, this one doen't come with the PFC (Power Factor Corrector) & can not run on 100V AC. Thus, the need for the 300V DC rig.
Testing of ballast, lamp & home made 300V DC:
The old Reflector:
The reflector that came with the light is 8" diameter glass, long FL.
It's not high quality. I mounted the lamp with the built in elipical reflector back-wards at the focal point of the 8" glass reflector & got a horrible star & scattered hot spot and loose beam. However, it still scored 16 Million CPs. (The ballst is mounted under the light in a cage with fan coolling)
If I was to going to settle with another 16 Million cp light, this project would have been finished long time ago, but that is not the plan, a high quality short-arc reflector, i.e. Ra's Maxa Beam quality reflector is a must to bring out the true potential of this lamp...
The Old Glass Reflector in the housing:
http://img826.imageshack.us/img826/1/pvip2011catalog.jpg
Inspired by VSS-3, the most "portable" version of the military Tank light (still weight 75Lbs), I've been wanting to make a home Made Tank light that could achieve the 50 Million CPs of VSS-3 but much much lighter & truly portable.
I've mentioned this project will be the swan song of my last short-arc mods in a post somewhere, thus the name appropriately named by Ra, The Swan Blaster.
History of my short arc mods:
I've made 3 short arc mods, all based on UHP/P-VIP type of High Pressure mercury short arc used in DLP projectors:
Franken Mag Short Arc NHII flashlight ~500,000 lux @ 1 meter
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?313112
Mega Blaster-- the MegaRay style short Arc, 5 Million lux @ 1 meter
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/...t=mega+blaster
Moon Blaster-The Blitz Short Arc, ~16.1 Million lux @ 1 meter
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/...t=moon+blaster
The Host:
I decided to get a Cruise Hinds Vintage searchlight as host, to have more of a similar look to the Tank Light. This host weight in at only 17Lbs, I can easily carry it with one hand or on my shoulder should I need to do a hike to look for a beam shot location away from people.
The Power Source:
Since already had this light in my mind for a long time, when I built my Portable power pack, I've made it so that it'll run Mega Blaster, Moon Blaster & the Swan Blaster. The Swan Blaster uses the 300DC piggy-back output:
I put in a 20AH Lifepo4 Battery from electric cars, Pulls 20Amp/13V, ~260W. I can run the Swan Blaster about 1 hr or Mega/Moon Blaster for about two hours. I can also fire up the Mega Blaster & Moon Blaster on it at the same time .
The Lamp:
The Lamp is a 230-280W UHP lamp with 1mm Arc. This is the highest power UHP/PVIP lamp with 1mm Arc that I could find a retail source for.
The Ballast:
The Ballast is a 250W P-VIP Ballast with a firmware upgrade to 260W, a gift from a fellow CPFer Ot10St who works at Osram.
Unlike the previous Ballast I pulled from DLP projectors, this one doen't come with the PFC (Power Factor Corrector) & can not run on 100V AC. Thus, the need for the 300V DC rig.
Testing of ballast, lamp & home made 300V DC:
The old Reflector:
The reflector that came with the light is 8" diameter glass, long FL.
It's not high quality. I mounted the lamp with the built in elipical reflector back-wards at the focal point of the 8" glass reflector & got a horrible star & scattered hot spot and loose beam. However, it still scored 16 Million CPs. (The ballst is mounted under the light in a cage with fan coolling)
If I was to going to settle with another 16 Million cp light, this project would have been finished long time ago, but that is not the plan, a high quality short-arc reflector, i.e. Ra's Maxa Beam quality reflector is a must to bring out the true potential of this lamp...
The Old Glass Reflector in the housing:
http://img826.imageshack.us/img826/1/pvip2011catalog.jpg
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