14" 70.000 lumen spotlight project (with beamshots)

14" 70,000 lumen spotlight project (with beamshots)

Hi folks!

Here is my homemade spotlight/searchlight project.

A few details:
-62 Million Candela
-Range: 15.7 Km / 9.7 Miles 0.25 Lux (ANSI FL-1) or 7.8 Km 1 Lux (DIN)
-850 Watt short arc lamp. 70,000 lumens
-850 watt Electronic ballast with 30 kV igniter
-14"/355 mm Parabolic Electroformed Nickel reflector with Rhodium coating
-55 qt/60 liter Aluminum Stock pot
-Satellite dish tripod
-5050 RGB led strip
-100-260 volt AC input
-Total weight without tripod: 10 kg.

Thanks to Get-Lit, Ra, BVH, Ma_sha1, JP Labs and many more for a lot of knowledge and inspiration!

The finished light:

You can read the thread for all the updates, or you can just click on the shortcuts below.


First update with build pics and the first beamshots:



Power cord and some electrical parts:


Glass flange and some other metal work:


Ballast installation and more metal work


Finished tripod


Air filter and air flow testing


Temperature testing, and picture of the lit lamp


My first northern lights beamshots:


More and better northern lights shots


Installation of electric focus actuator and video:


Installation of RGB LED strip:


Beamshots in fog:



If you are interested in a different type of short arc project, check out my 55 Million Candela, 1955 Francis Searchlight

Assuming the 14"CA reflector is a medium FL 2.35", the beam should be equivalent to the 11"CA 3"FL reflector with retro-reflector and same lamp. That last shot at 4 miles is spectacular!

Thanks!
Your assumption is of course correct, 2.35" FL from Phoenix.

EDIT: I moved my first update here:

Here I have the high tec housing, I guess most see what it is?


I cut out the bottom of the pot, and replace it with a bigger sheet:


Here is the reflector mount (and parts of the lamp mount), it's a 5 mm aluminium plate that I actually had water cut several years ago for a completely different project that I never got around to. It was just pure luck the inside and outside diameter was useable for this. However, this piece was way to big for my small lathe, so I had to chamfer the center hole with a angle grinder and a dremel so it would fit the profile of the reflector. It took me a few hours, but it went surprisingly well. The extra grinding marks was to make sure the surface was rough so the silicone would stick.


Test fit before bonding.
This also show a bit more of the lamp mount. It's four 10 mm aluminium rods that I cut, drilled and tapped using the lathe. On top it's just a square 3 mm aluminium plate:


Making the lamp socket in the lathe:


And the finished mount and lamp:


Close up of the Mercury lamp:


And a glimpse of the business end, and the temporary cooling fan, temp probe wire and the wood stand:


And now the fun part, beamshots!

110 meters/360 ft. to target. Poor trees... Beam looks kind of square, but those trees are definitely not in line, so that explains it.


2800 meters/1.7 miles to target seems to work better for this light...


Another one, same target:


Then a go at a 6500 meters/4 miles. I still see the spot


More to come...

Awesome beamshots! That is a great use for a stockpot, by the way. I am looking forward to seeing more and thanks for sharing with us. I love these kind of project threads :thumbsup:

That is just awesome!!!

That's just so awesome

Damn!
That's so cool

Nice!

Mr. Tone said:

That is a great use for a stockpot, by the way.

Click to expand...

Exactly! Who's gonna eat 60 qt of soup anyway?
And the nice thing about these aluminium stockpots is the light weight. This one is supposed to have 4.3 mm thickness, but that's only at the top and bottom (that I cut off) the middle part is just 1.9 mm thick, and that's about perfect for light duty use. The bad thing is that this pot, and most likely all of them, was way out of round on top. And after I cut the thicker part off, the opening was a bit too flimsy for my taste to put a glass lens in. But I do have a solution for that coming up, hopefully some time next week.

OP you should make 2 and mount them on a rack on a truck lol.

Awesome!

Ingenuity at its best! Excellent! :thumbsup:

That is sweet!

Mr. Nobody said:

OP you should make 2 and mount them on a rack on a truck lol.

Click to expand...

Hi-beams for those inconsiderate oncoming drivers? Lmao

Nice to see more super lights being built from scratch! Nice project!

Omg I want one!!

Very impressive!

And those beamshots are just awesome. :thumbsup:

Thanks for all the feedback, appreciate it!

Received some parts today, and I made the power cord ready. I went with 13m/42 ft PUR cable. (Yes, I hate extension cords) It's strong and very flexible in the cold and actually don't cost more than a rubber cable. On the end that hook up to the light, I mounted a waterproof Buccaneer connector.
I also got some silicone coated fiberglass sleeve, mounting studs for ballast, a switch, fuse holder and the PSU. If anyone is wondering, I need the 12 volt PSU to power the fans. This one is actually overkill with it's 50 watt rating, but they only cost like $15, so why not have the extra power.

It looks like you are setting the trees on fire in that first beam shot!!!! :huh: :thumbsup:

Holy carp!!!! LOL

Got an aluminium ring cut, that will work as the lens flange. This will make the opening very rigid and also completely round. Just had to drill and tap it.
Also did some work on the yoke.