BVH
Flashaholic
350 Watt HID. The "Locator" - Blackhawk Targeting Light
I found this gem recently and just received it this morning. Pics are from before it's been cleaned. I don't remember seeing this light on CPF before but i only go back to Sept of 04.
It's a "Locator" made by Optical Radiation Corporation. They're still around, sort of, and make different products now. I think the vintage is somewhere around the mid 70's. I'm told it was/is used on Blackhawk military helicopters as a targeting light. It measures 19" tall and is about 9" at its max diameter. The reflector measures about 5.5" and is Rhodium plated. It weighs 21 pounds according to my bathroom scale. It looks "military" in all respects, very well made.
It's of aluminum construction and the dome is glass. It works off of 28 Volts and the label says it consumes 20 Amps. The person that sold it to me said he had it operating off of 14 amps @26.5 Volts. and that's how I'm powering it.
I fired it up and ran it for about 2 minutes just to verify that it lights and moves in both axis. It appears to me as though it's somewhere between 5000K and 5500K in color temp. It appears to have a warm up time similar to the BB, 15 - 20 seconds. Tonight will be loads of fun playing with it. Looks like I'll be soldering some more Amphenol connectors!
The 300 Watt lamp in it now is an original special military version similar to the now obsolete GE Marc EZS. Replacement lamps EZS are available but require an adapter to be made to accommodate the different lamp end configuration. However, the replacement lamps are 3500K in color, not the original 5000K. The seller is sending me a CAD drawing of the adapters he has made in the past so it should not be a problem getting them made. The cooling fan comes on after about 1 minute. There are no vent holes so it just moves the air around in the chamber.
The seller, who seemed very knowledgeable, said he can see the beam from a little over a mile away. Not sure how far it throws its spot.
What am I going to do with it? Heck if I know! I just have to have these wonderful HID's to satisfy my insatiable desire for them. I'll post some beam shots tonight. Is it night time yet!!!!!
I found this gem recently and just received it this morning. Pics are from before it's been cleaned. I don't remember seeing this light on CPF before but i only go back to Sept of 04.
It's a "Locator" made by Optical Radiation Corporation. They're still around, sort of, and make different products now. I think the vintage is somewhere around the mid 70's. I'm told it was/is used on Blackhawk military helicopters as a targeting light. It measures 19" tall and is about 9" at its max diameter. The reflector measures about 5.5" and is Rhodium plated. It weighs 21 pounds according to my bathroom scale. It looks "military" in all respects, very well made.
It's of aluminum construction and the dome is glass. It works off of 28 Volts and the label says it consumes 20 Amps. The person that sold it to me said he had it operating off of 14 amps @26.5 Volts. and that's how I'm powering it.
I fired it up and ran it for about 2 minutes just to verify that it lights and moves in both axis. It appears to me as though it's somewhere between 5000K and 5500K in color temp. It appears to have a warm up time similar to the BB, 15 - 20 seconds. Tonight will be loads of fun playing with it. Looks like I'll be soldering some more Amphenol connectors!
The 300 Watt lamp in it now is an original special military version similar to the now obsolete GE Marc EZS. Replacement lamps EZS are available but require an adapter to be made to accommodate the different lamp end configuration. However, the replacement lamps are 3500K in color, not the original 5000K. The seller is sending me a CAD drawing of the adapters he has made in the past so it should not be a problem getting them made. The cooling fan comes on after about 1 minute. There are no vent holes so it just moves the air around in the chamber.
The seller, who seemed very knowledgeable, said he can see the beam from a little over a mile away. Not sure how far it throws its spot.
What am I going to do with it? Heck if I know! I just have to have these wonderful HID's to satisfy my insatiable desire for them. I'll post some beam shots tonight. Is it night time yet!!!!!
Last edited:
How is the light moving without the helicopter controling it? Just by hand putting it into the direction you want it to or is there still the possibility to use the engines?
on those beam shots - oops it's probably still not quite totally dark yet in CA. Can you tells us what you are using for a power supply?
