300 Watt HID. The "Locator" - Blackhawk Targeting Light

[BVH]

No, my tank light beam drew the LAPD chopper with it's SX-16 NightSun and the Burbank PD to my back yard. Seems they thought it might be a terrorist trying to blind pilots.

But at least I had the satisfaction of out-gunning the Chopper Night Sun! I was runing 2.2KW to their 1.6KW! They had more Lumens but I had much more candlepower!

LarryK, 2

 

[BVH]

Last year, we had 0 Trick-or-Treaters. I think it was IgNITEor that posted today that he was going to break out his VSS-1. Well, I decided to break my Locator out to try to draw some kids. I put in one of my new 3500K bulbs (Thanks to Modamag again!), set "Lokey" and my 50 Amp Power Supply on a rolling bench and wheeled it outside. I turned it on at about 7:30 and withing 5 minutes, cars began to drive up our very short cul-de-sac. We're kind of in no-mans land so it's very unusual for any non-resident cars to drive up the street. "Like bugs to a light" someone once said and how true it is. 26 cars drove up and made the tight U-turn just to see the light. Some had kids and I asked them to get out and hit the 5 houses near us because all 5 of us were complaining about no kids last year. Well, We had 22 kids this time. Pretty much all of them said they saw the light and had their parents bring them. I tried to ask each person where they saw the light from. The furthest viewing was from a Walmart over a 300' hill and a few feet under a mile away. Not bad throw from a 368 Watt, 5" reflectored HID. And, I was surprised how OK the color temp was of the 3500K bulb. This is the first time I've used it for long distance throw outside since being able to use the 3500K bulbs. Up until now, I just noticed how yellow it is in the garage. When brightly - and I mean brightly lighting up trees 2000' away, it is actually a very pleasing color. This is the first time I've run it for more than 15 minutes. I ran it for 1 hr, 45 min. I also played with my LarryK14, Twin vector, 160 Watt HID, and Costco 80 Watt. Yep, I had fun tonight! Both my wife and I are happy because we're not stuck with tons of candy that we would have to eat to get rid on. We now have only a half ton.

 

[LightSward]

Last year, we had 0 Trick-or-Treaters. I think it was IgNITEor that posted today that he was going to break out his VSS-1. Well, I decided to break my Locator out to try to draw some kids. I put in one of my new 3500K bulbs (Thanks to Modamag again!), set "Lokey" and my 50 Amp Power Supply on a rolling bench and wheeled it outside. I turned it on at about 7:30 and withing 5 minutes, cars began to drive up our very short cul-de-sac. We're kind of in no-mans land so it's very unusual for any non-resident cars to drive up the street. "Like bugs to a light" someone once said and how true it is. 26 cars drove up and made the tight U-turn just to see the light. Some had kids and I asked them to get out and hit the 5 houses near us because all 5 of us were complaining about no kids last year. Well, We had 22 kids this time. Pretty much all of them said they saw the light and had their parents bring them. I tried to ask each person where they saw the light from. The furthest viewing was from a Walmart over a 300' hill and a few feet under a mile away. Not bad throw from a 368 Watt, 5" reflectored HID. And, I was surprised how OK the color temp was of the 3500K bulb. This is the first time I've used it for long distance throw outside since being able to use the 3500K bulbs. Up until now, I just noticed how yellow it is in the garage. When brightly - and I mean brightly lighting up trees 2000' away, it is actually a very pleasing color. This is the first time I've run it for more than 15 minutes. I ran it for 1 hr, 45 min. I also played with my LarryK14, Twin vector, 160 Watt HID, and Costco 80 Watt. Yep, I had fun tonight! Both my wife and I are happy because we're not stuck with tons of candy that we would have to eat to get rid on. We now have only a half ton.

Good to read about the Locator and the success of bringing more kids in for Halloween.

My 50 inch 'Monster' searchlight will definitely make a brighter, thinner beam, when I can afford a small arc sized HID, and maybe bring in some extra kids...our neighbors also complain about not enough trick or treaters. At least we got a few extra kids, but the moon seemed especially bright tonight and white washed the sky with lit haze, making the searchlight barely visible less than half the normal distance.

One day I'd like to get my hands on a "Locator" or a VSS-3A type light.

 

[rhodiuman]

Found a neat use for my Locator, I've been painting all the rooms in my house and was having trouble getting enough light.
No longer a problem, I just used the searchlight and pointed it up to the ceiling and now I have more than enough light.
I pointed a small desk fan at it as it tends to get pretty hot other wise.
Just got thru running it 4.5 hours, just got a little warm, not hot.

I've added 3 toggle switches and a handle for ease of use, the two toggles on the left control up / down, right / left.

The toggle on the right is on / off.

Cool thing with the handle is you can hold the lamp with one hand and have full pan / tilt / on / off capability.

I use a 14 amp Lambda 24vdc power supply tweaked up to 28 volts for power.
Tom

 

[BVH]

Tom, are you using the original special military, 5000K or 5600K color temp lamp that has the round nosed bullet shape on the back end and the screw terminal on the front end?

http://candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?p=3123483#post3123483

If so, have you had any success in finding any? They're supposed to have only a 25 hour life to 75% brightness. At least that's all the data I can find regarding the GE Marc 300 EZS 3500K lamps that I can now use with Modamag's adapters. I notice the GE Marc 350 EZT has a 50 hour life. Not much better.

Are you, by chance the one who sold me a Locator and at the time mentioned he had made bulb adapters?

 

[rhodiuman]

I have not located any of the origional bulbs, I use the GE EZS with modified bulb holders I made. I could not tell any difference between the military bulb and the EZS.
In fact I had one military bulb that had a distinct yellow incandescent look to it, did not care for that at all.
Yes I am the one who sold you the searchlight some time back.
Looks like you did some cool stuff with it.
I always wanted to build a battery back pack for one and make it portable, never got around to it.

Tom

 

[BVH]

Tom, do you have any other lights in your inventory that are 5000K - 6000K in color temp that you could shoot a beam shot with against a garage door or something like that so I could see what your EZS's looks like in comparison? I've only tried 1 EZS but all of mine are marked "35K" right on the metal base end so I am assuming they are all the same. Does yours have the same markings? The one I'm using is much yellower than the two originals I have.

 

[rhodiuman]

My lamps are all 35K

Here are pictures of the clamp I made to attach the white wire to the end of the bulb.
Made from a 3/8" stainless steel one piece clamp collar, McMaster-Carr # 6435K33 @$5.56 each.
I cut off part of the collar as show and tightened the 6-32 set screw down against the bulb and tightened the jam nut to keep the collar in place.

Had to make new bulb holders on each end one being brass and the other teflon, they are slightly different than the origional military parts as the bulbs are not exactly alike.

Tom

GE MARC EZS 35,000K bulb on top
Military bulb on bottom

 

[BVH]

Thanks for posting this, Tom. It's fun to see different ways of accomplishing the same task.

 

[LightSward]

This is a bright little pod light! I would describe the beam style as similar to my Helios - It very slightly favors a flood style and its transition/cone is extremely smooth versus having a very bright center spot and a noticeably dimmer corona. The VSS-3 is definitely a more collimated beam. To my eye, the Locator beam appears to extend out the same distance as the VSS-3. In the next couple of weeks when I have a new camera, I will take these lights to a better spot where I can actually place the spots on a target over a mile away - or attempt to. I'm extremely pleased with my POD light. For a little fan, it is fairly loud and the casing just below the lens got somewhat hot after about 25 minutes of running. It probably relies on forward motion of the helicopter to help keep it cool. I can't run that fast.

Locator on the left and VSS-3a on the right.


:candle:Just a quick note if you still have the cooling issue. :thinking: Since the Light was designed to be moving through the air on a helicopter, as you noted, perhaps just mounting or aiming a small cooling fan on the outside, at the areas that get too hot, may allow you to run the light for longer periods of time? :twothumbs Just an idea.

 

[BVH]

Great thoughts! That's exactly what I did on Halloween. I ran it for 1.75 hours straight with a couple 6" fans on the case hot spots. Someone at a brightly lite Walmart parking lot about 5000' distant and over a hill, said they saw the beam quite clearly. That surprised me. I had no idea it reached that far in a light-polluted environment.

 

[KD5XB]

I've never been around Blackhawks much, but it seems like I saw this kind of light either on S2's or P3's, where it was used to identify ships at night. Must be quite a feeling, being in, say, 20-foot seas and having this light come at you at 150+ knots!

 

[BVH]

So that I keep all infomation I've learned about these lights in one place, I'm reviving this thread.

I came across a Locator for Sale on Ebay recently that advertized a manual coming with the light. So I asked the seller if he would make me a copy. For a fee, I got a great copy on nice paper of the original Optical Radiation Corporation Operation, Maintenance and Trouble shooting manual including all the fold-out electrical schematics. I learned that the light can handle input Voltages of between 23 and 32 - although it may perform kind of "buggy" below 24V. Also found out the fan is supposed to be variable speed depending on temp and angle of reflector relative to the fan. The trouble shooting section is nicely detailed, not just a replace this, replace that.

 

[FRITZHID]

So that I keep all infomation I've learned about these lights in one place, I'm reviving this thread.

I came across a Locator for Sale on Ebay recently that advertized a manual coming with the light. So I asked the seller if he would make me a copy. For a fee, I got a great copy on nice paper of the original Optical Radiation Corporation Operation, Maintenance and Trouble shooting manual including all the fold-out electrical schematics. I learned that the light can handle input Voltages of between 23 and 32 - although it may perform kind of "buggy" below 24V. Also found out the fan is supposed to be variable speed depending on temp and angle of reflector relative to the fan. The trouble shooting section is nicely detailed, not just a replace this, replace that.

CPF needs a "like" button! Wtg bob!

 

[rhodiuman]

Awesome find Bob,
I still have one locator left, never had any luck finding a manual / schematic though.
Still use it from time to time.
Keep up the good work!

 

[cboles]

So that I keep all infomation I've learned about these lights in one place, I'm reviving this thread.

I came across a Locator for Sale on Ebay recently that advertized a manual coming with the light. So I asked the seller if he would make me a copy. For a fee, I got a great copy on nice paper of the original Optical Radiation Corporation Operation, Maintenance and Trouble shooting manual including all the fold-out electrical schematics. I learned that the light can handle input Voltages of between 23 and 32 - although it may perform kind of "buggy" below 24V. Also found out the fan is supposed to be variable speed depending on temp and angle of reflector relative to the fan. The trouble shooting section is nicely detailed, not just a replace this, replace that.

I would be very interested in sharing your expenses in obtaining said manual for a PDF copy of it. I recently purchased a locator on eBay that is in need of some TLC. One of the tantalum capacitors is blown on one of the PCBs, but I would like to understand the whole circuit first to be sure it's not indicative of some bigger problem. Unfortunately, the reflector seems a bit tarnished / scratched as well. I don't know what the best option is for getting a new reflective coating put onto it. Maybe someone was trying to harvest the negligible quantity of rhodium in it? Otherwise it seems to be in pretty good condition.

Colby

 

[BVH]

I just looked back at my PayPal Account. I ended up paying $140 for the nicely bound, high quality paper copy. I can't imagine more than one more person wanting a copy. So hows this...$140 / 3 = $46.00 for your PDF copy?

I'm ending up with the nice paper copy but I'm also going to have to scan in all those pages which will probably take 3 hours or so to do. Haven't used my scanner in 2 years, hope it still works. Hopefully, someone else comes along who wants a copy in the future. Also, keep in mind that on a few of the schematics, some of the extreme edges got cut off, maybe an eighth or quarter of an inch IIRC. I think that is how the sellers copy was. I don't think it will inhibit trouble shooting and understanding the circuits. I'll need a few days to get it done. Let me know if this meets with your approval.

I'm guessing you bought the one on Ebay with the lamp negative electrode wire hanging off the terminal?

 

[FRITZHID]

 

[cboles]

I just looked back at my PayPal Account. I ended up paying $140 for the nicely bound, high quality paper copy. I can't imagine more than one more person wanting a copy. So hows this...$140 / 3 = $46.00 for your PDF copy?

I'm ending up with the nice paper copy but I'm also going to have to scan in all those pages which will probably take 3 hours or so to do. Haven't used my scanner in 2 years, hope it still works. Hopefully, someone else comes along who wants a copy in the future. Also, keep in mind that on a few of the schematics, some of the extreme edges got cut off, maybe an eighth or quarter of an inch IIRC. I think that is how the sellers copy was. I don't think it will inhibit trouble shooting and understanding the circuits. I'll need a few days to get it done. Let me know if this meets with your approval.

I'm guessing you bought the one on Ebay with the lamp negative electrode wire hanging off the terminal?

Sounds good. I would do this on PM, but I am a new user and it doesn't look like I am allowed to do that yet. Too bad you aren't a little closer (I'm in San Francisco) - I have very nice sheet-feed double sided scanner that takes no time at all and does OCR as well so that the PDFs are searchable. I did pick up the one on eBay - it needs a little love but I should be able to get it working - I am an EE with a full machine shop as well. I think the mirror might be the toughest issue to fix.

 

[BVH]

Just found out that an air EMS company in CA is still using a bunch of these in daily (nightly) in-flight service. I'm very surprised. I thought these were long-gone from their original use. They aim them 45 to 90 degrees off-target and use their Night Vision devices to view the target and it works perfectly they say. Evidently, the corona provides ample Lumens - which I can attest to.