Magnus Maximus

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knot

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Little did I know I was going to have a flashlight obsession when I bought this bulb at the local Goodwill thrift store many years ago. I have no idea what it is and I have sent a picture to a bulb dealer and they have no idea either as it's unmarked. I have tried to hook it up to zip cord to 110 and I will never do that again - the zip cord burned like a super fast dynamite fuse. I once envisioned building the ultimate off road search light with this. Does anyone know what it is and the voltage requirements? It looks like a GIANT halogen bulb.



 
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Yeah, that's most people's reaction when I show them this bulb - they don't know what to say. I bet it even scares the laser guys.

This bulb couldn't be in a handheld and I'm guessing it could cause an instant sunburn/blindness.

Because of the element similarities I'm going to guess that the bulb I have is a 50,000 watt bulb like this one. Can you imagine fifty freakin thousand watts?

However, the picture below is an antique 50,000 watt (1,400,000 lumens) and weighs 35lbs. http://www.bulbcollector.com/article010.html

 
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I doubt if it is 50,000 watts. The 50KW bulb you showed above is actually three feet tall and your's appears to only be 6 or 8 inches.

Try a car battery and some jumper cables. Since you burned up a zip cord on 110, the resistance of the bulb is definately too low for it to be that voltage. Usually, bulb collectors use a variac and slowly bring up the voltage when testing an unknown lamp.

Have you tried measuring the bulb's resistance as well?
 
The 50kw bulb is an antique. This is a new bulb. The element looks very similar IMO.

I'm a little afraid to try to power it since that zip cord burned up. I'll measure the resistance.
 
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Cool ! Love a good mystery, man that is a mean looking thing.....

Going to need a low ohm hi-res DVOM to get anything close to an accurate reading I would think.

Those elements must be .050" dia or bigger!

Its going to take a welding machine to light that thing up...They provide voltage similar to aviation and military power supplies in the 28vdc range...

Fabricate a socket/clamp and welding cable suitable for 200 amps just in case lol!
 
knot -

I could be wrong but it looks like the fill gas has been compromised. The white residue is telling us something. This lamp, even properly powered, may not react in an expected manner.

Please be careful. Maybe consider some eye protection. Maybe a full face guard. Maybe a motorcycle helmet. Maybe some battle armor.

Whether the lamp still has pressure in it or not it looks like a candidate for an explosive failure.

Interesting lamp BTW.

- Jeff
 
That could be a 10KW TV/movie lamp, once popular for lighting film sets. Only it`s missing its large bipost base - a tall metal lattice structure necessary to space the lamp from the socket and keep the heat away. Don`t try to light it whatever you do. Assuming the gas fill is still intact, 10KW at 110 volts is about 91 amps, plus it would melt/burn a hole in whatever it was resting on within seconds. Impressive thing to have though.

There is also a 20KW 240 volt version out there that`s even bigger. They are still made, but are produced by hand in very small amounts and cost several thousand ££/$$. If you`re lucky, the smaller ones show up on Ebay now and then, otherwise they are extremely hard to find.
 
The white residue is on the exterior. The main body seems to have some kind of coating on it but I think the residue that you see on the posts are from the zip cord burning up. It comes off with my finger.

I measured ohms at 200. It jumped around a bit but seemed to settle around 00.6 - 00.8. Will that help to spec this bulb?

This has a similar coiled tungsten arraignment but the container looks much different: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=633&A=details&Q=&sku=264405&is=REG&addedTroughType=categoryNavigation


Icebreak said:
knot -

I could be wrong but it looks like the fill gas has been compromised. The white residue is telling us something. This lamp, even properly powered, may not react in an expected manner.

Please be careful. Maybe consider some eye protection. Maybe a full face guard. Maybe a motorcycle helmet. Maybe some battle armor.

Whether the lamp still has pressure in it or not it looks like a candidate for an explosive failure.

Interesting lamp BTW.

- Jeff
Click to expand...
 
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I wouldn't be able to figure off of resistance.

It does bare some resemblence to the GE tunstan halogen globe for a Mole movie set lighting rig seen at the bottom of this page. I think Chris M. was sending us down the right path. Now I'm all curious about it and other set lights.
 
Chris M. said:
That could be a 10KW TV/movie lamp, once popular for lighting film sets. Only it`s missing its large bipost base - a tall metal lattice structure necessary to space the lamp from the socket and keep the heat away. Don`t try to light it whatever you do. Assuming the gas fill is still intact, 10KW at 110 volts is about 91 amps, plus it would melt/burn a hole in whatever it was resting on within seconds. Impressive thing to have though.

There is also a 20KW 240 volt version out there that`s even bigger. They are still made, but are produced by hand in very small amounts and cost several thousand ££/$$. If you`re lucky, the smaller ones show up on Ebay now and then, otherwise they are extremely hard to find.
Click to expand...

How can one know if it's AC or DC? Would DC current destroy an AC lamp?
 
I'm currently working on a hotwire MagD for this bulb. All I need is a bigger head and erm.......a bigger body and perhaps a few hundred batteries.

 
knot said:
I'm currently working on a hotwire MagD for this bulb. All I need is a bigger head and erm.......a bigger body and perhaps a few hundred batteries.
Click to expand...

:lolsign:
 
mdocod said:
hmmm, that sucker looks like fun, I want one!
Click to expand...

It would be fun if I could figure out how to use it, providing the necessary parts are available or could be made. Then there's this money issue in buying parts for the monster.

As it is, it's an oddity. Most have never seen a halogen/tungsten (if that is what it is) bulb this big.

If there is a general value (I have no idea) and what it may be worth to you, perhaps you can have a little (big) project to play with. Perhaps a trade or partial can be considered.

This is the first and only time I've ever seen anything like this.

I actually have two reliable flashlights (0k three, the worthless 2c 8LED dorcy). - the coast Lenser that I found and a minimag that I upgraded with terralux. My mag 3D is missing a bulb retainer and bulb and there looks to be some white powder corrosion on the bulb socket. I'm still wanting to create a cheap as possible "ghetto" version of WA1185 or ROP or perhaps another terralux - just stuck in "more bang for buck" because cost of AA battery pack and bi-pin adaptor is out of reach for me at this time - too many other obligations and responsibilities.
 
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