Jonathan's New Toy ...

[modamag]

It have been almost two years that I've waiting to complete this quest.

I prep ... design ... prep ... and wait ... wait ... wait ... and finally BINGO! I hit the mother load (at least for me) in March.

Then more wait ... :sleepy: wait ... :sleepy: wait :sleepy:. You get the idea.

During work today I got a FedEx notification of a long awaited package DELIVERED. I skimp out of work early (5:30PM) and Zooomm... home.

Here's what I see ...

The feeling of a five year old running downstair to the x-mas tree @ 7AM. :naughty:

Just want to share my experience.

More to come later but for now I got to get some sleep. :nana:

 

[cqbdude]

Oh man...what is that???more pics..

 

[ShortArc]

Congratulations Jonathan :thumbsup:
You finally found a VSS-3A!
You are the first one of us to have the tripod before the light
Where did you end up finding it. Details we need details!
Best,
Willem.

 

[JimmyM]

That looks like an AN-VSS1 (or 3, I forget which one is the "small" one). Am I wrong?
ShortArc beat me too it.

 

[BVH]

Hey, congrats Jonathan! I assume you got the control box with it? Now you, JimH and Ignitor can have some beam wars! And we expect to see some war correspondent stories with pics, ok?

 

[adamlau]

Looks tacticool . Makes me want to look for one. The only place that depletes my bank account faster than CPF is MidwayUSA ...

 

[Data]

Oh boy! :thumbsup:

 

[Patriot]

wow how exciting! It is a -3A right?

 

[BVH]

Yesireeee Bob! That there's a -3a!

 

[Knifekulture]

Sweeeet.:thumbsup:

 

[Probedude]

I want one!

 

[MSaxatilus]

This ought to be good!



Oh heck....x2


MSax

 

[BVH]

What?!!!!!!!! No beam shots yet????? I expected them last night, Jonathan. You're slipping. I don't want to hear any excuses about not having made 48 solder joints to fab your connection cables and having to wait months for the special connectors to arrive. Well???

By the way, are you going to use the super stranded, super flex welding cables used on Jims light for the power cables (#4's for the -3a) and the silicone jacketed wires for the control wires? This combination makes the huge connection cables very flexible and manageable.

 

[windstrings]

Somehow I don't think this is going to fit in your pocket for the next camping trip.... maybe mount it on a boat for frog gigging/cooking combo?

 

[SwissT]

Wow,

Cant wait to see some beam shots of youre new monster!

 

[lronchef]

Sooooo....what exactly is it? Dare I say "Is it just a light?" Help out a noob in need.

 

[BVH]

Lots of threads here on CPF dealing with the AN VSS-3a Army tank searchlight. It's a 1 KW, Short Arc tank searchlight with quite a marvelous and farrrrrrrrrrrrrrr reaching beam.

 

[tvodrd]

I just noticed this thread. Jonathan emailed me re the tripod kit a couple weeks ago, and I started rounding-up the scattered pieces. I'm still chasing the 80-20 proprietary fasteners- it's been a while since I did the other 5. Sorry for being slow, and I will plead busy. I am maxed-out on vaca at work (7.5 wks, and have ceased to accrue.)

I'm headed for the desert shack Sunday for a couple days and am taking all of next week off, so I won't have any excuses for not getting it out.

Larry

 

[seery]

VERY NICE......:twothumbs

Can't wait to see more pics and of course some beam shots.

 

[modamag]

Like Bob said this is a AN/VSS-3 complete with controller and remote. What's missing are the cable and connectors.

Guys who build this before can you point me to where I can purchase the Amphenol connectors.

Milestone #1 is to get everything connected and Morse "Hello Jim", who is ~20 miles away.

Milestone #2 is to designing an enclosure for this with the following in mind.
1. SAFETY! Minimize the risk of pointing this at on lookers. HEIGHT!
2. Compact! The largest vehicle I have is a Camry
3. Easy to use!
4. Light weight! Keep the overall weight < 150 lbs

Milestone #3 is to improved the power supply to the system. Hookup my
Lorain power supply to run this beast as Uncle Sam designed it.

Milestone #4 Improve portability with the use of Lithium Phosphate batteries to reduce the weight by ~50 lbs (also limiting runtime to 10 minutes).

Project time line is 6 months. I'll keep you guys posted with my slow progress, since this is priority #3 on the hobby list.

ShortArc :I picked it up from the CPF BST.
Probedude: I heard from my src that another fella from the Bay Area was interested in one of these (or VSS1) was that YOU?
tvodrd: Larry no biggie, enjoy your vacation. I wish I can take mine. I have maxed out at 30 days but work is so busy that I have to just loose the accrued