Little did I know in Sept of 04, that by joining this innocent appearing forum, that I was setting myself up for a BIGGGG TIME addiction! Yes, I enjoy the hotwires. I enjoy the LEDs. I REALLY, REALLY enjoy the HID’s!! Especially, the military grade HID’s. Sure as heck, I’ve bought, played with, enjoyed and sold my share of these and loved every minute of it and my time here on CPF. I had a great time getting and building my tank lights and finding the Blackhawk Locators! I still get just as excited now about lights as I did back in ’04.
But now I’ve gone and done it – REALLY done it. I’m past the point of no return. I cannot turn back – EVER! I may be forever banished from CPF for turning to the “brightest side” (as opposed to the “Dark Side”). In keeping with my unplanned and unguided migration towards high-power military lights, I present the latest in my collection of “Flashlights”!
Weighing in at 850,000,000 Candle Power with a beam that travels 5.6 miles, that can be seen on a good night from 35 miles away and with a traveling weight of 8,500 pounds, I present…………..
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Opps, sorry, wrong picture……..
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My wife and I are now “Sierra Searchlights, Inc.” and this is our rig. She's a 60" Carbon Arc, 1942 WWII anti-aircraft searchlight in her original 2-unit configuration and she arrives August 20th. She runs on 78 Volts DC (ballasted down from 93) and consumes 150 Amps, all while her Hercules JXD 6 cylinder, 320 cubic inch, 110 HP flathead burns 2.5 gallons of gas an hour running just above idle at 1250 RPM – and very, very quietly whether or not its highly effective noise insulated enclosure is open or closed. There are very, very few of these originally configured, 2 separate unit lights around. The vast majority of the lights and generators have been cut off their 4-wheel dollies and permanently placed onto trailers. It makes for a smaller, easier to maneuver and cheaper to maintain unit.
Why did I do this? Simple…..I like flashlights! It’s as simple as that. And, just as importantly, owning, using and improving her will be a significant part of my past time when I retire in about 10 months. I actually plan to hire out for events, although according to most in the know, it is a dying business. Most businesses are ignorant of the power of these lights and are renting the Sky Trackers – Those NASTY little new-fangled things! (Can you tell there are definitely two camps when it comes to advertising searchlights) The NASTY things don’t have a third of the power and visibility of the genuine 60” Carbon Arc!
Our light is about an “8” out of “10” and I plan to spend a lot of time making her at least a “9”. One thing that few people know about these lights (I, for one) is that they were/are remotely controllable via a tripod with head-piece setup that was located a hundred or so feet from the light via cables. (When enemy planes were overhead, you didn’t want to be too close to a brightly lit target back then!) An operator stuck his head into the head piece, looked through the attached binoculars and as he moved his head, the light would follow in the same movements. Unfortunately, there is only one light known to exist in the world that works with this system. So unless I get really lucky and find a long-buried remote, I’ll only be able to fix her up to a “9”.
Lucky for me, I stumbled upon “Bob” who happens to own thee one-of-a-kind, remotely controlled, museum quality light and he happens to live just a few miles from me. He’s been instrumental in finding me my light. I visited him a few weeks ago while he used his light at a midnight sale for a local Chevy dealership and got a quick education on its operation. I’m certainly no expert yet, but hopefully, I will quickly come up to speed on the operation of my….errr….our light.
The automated rod feeding system is, to me, way ahead of its time. There is a small 1” or 2” mirror just to the side of the arc which precisely focuses a pinpoint of light onto a thermostat. As long as the pinpoint of light is on the stat, nothing happens - well, the positive rod is constantly rotating for an even burn. When the positive rod burns down a little, the position of the arc changes relative to the small mirror and the pinpoint of light moves off of the stat thereby causing the electrical contacts inside to close, thereby feeding more rod to maintain the precise gap. Many of the operators are still burning original National Carbon rods made back during the war, still in their sawdust-filled metal cans. The 22” positive rod will last about 2-2 ½ hours, the negative somewhat less because it’s about 12”-14” to start with. A can of 25 pairs runs about $350.00 so it costs about $7.00 an hour to run the light in rod costs.
It’s a little scarey knowing she’s almost 70 years old and that parts, while not impossible to find, are not easy to come by. Believe it or not, there are still parts wrapped in their original cosmaline’d containers available, for a price. There are even 3 brand new, never used light and gensets built by Sperry available for purchase. (Sperry could not keep up with demand during the war so they licensed G.E. to help them) But even with the parts issue, I love owning a piece of very old military history and letting her do what she was built to do. Am I nuts? Probably!
And gee…..I didn’t have anything to tow her with so I HAD to go out and order a new Black Chevy diesel pickup. It was really difficult, but someone had to do it.
Can I still hang around here even though I have – or will have a Carbon Arc and there’s no Carbon Arc forum? When I run it, I’ll probably have the opportunity to run my tank lights at the same time. :twothumbs
So come on, won't someone buy my Helios to help me pay for this monster?
Sorry for possibly mis-leading some of you who thought I had some inside information on a new Xeray and was keeping it under wraps :nana:
Beamshots from the SoCal March 8, 2008 get-together. JetSkiMark took the pics.
60" and VSS-1 on the left, VSS-3a from the top
60" on top and VSS-1 on the bottom
60" and VSS-3a from the top, VSS-1 from the bottom
60" and VSS-1 from the bottom and VSS-3a from the top
60" and VSS-1 from the bottom and VSS-3a from the top
60" from the center, VSS-1 on the left and VSS-3a on the right
60" and Locator
60"
60"
But now I’ve gone and done it – REALLY done it. I’m past the point of no return. I cannot turn back – EVER! I may be forever banished from CPF for turning to the “brightest side” (as opposed to the “Dark Side”). In keeping with my unplanned and unguided migration towards high-power military lights, I present the latest in my collection of “Flashlights”!
Weighing in at 850,000,000 Candle Power with a beam that travels 5.6 miles, that can be seen on a good night from 35 miles away and with a traveling weight of 8,500 pounds, I present…………..
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Opps, sorry, wrong picture……..
.
.
.
.
My wife and I are now “Sierra Searchlights, Inc.” and this is our rig. She's a 60" Carbon Arc, 1942 WWII anti-aircraft searchlight in her original 2-unit configuration and she arrives August 20th. She runs on 78 Volts DC (ballasted down from 93) and consumes 150 Amps, all while her Hercules JXD 6 cylinder, 320 cubic inch, 110 HP flathead burns 2.5 gallons of gas an hour running just above idle at 1250 RPM – and very, very quietly whether or not its highly effective noise insulated enclosure is open or closed. There are very, very few of these originally configured, 2 separate unit lights around. The vast majority of the lights and generators have been cut off their 4-wheel dollies and permanently placed onto trailers. It makes for a smaller, easier to maneuver and cheaper to maintain unit.
Why did I do this? Simple…..I like flashlights! It’s as simple as that. And, just as importantly, owning, using and improving her will be a significant part of my past time when I retire in about 10 months. I actually plan to hire out for events, although according to most in the know, it is a dying business. Most businesses are ignorant of the power of these lights and are renting the Sky Trackers – Those NASTY little new-fangled things! (Can you tell there are definitely two camps when it comes to advertising searchlights) The NASTY things don’t have a third of the power and visibility of the genuine 60” Carbon Arc!
Our light is about an “8” out of “10” and I plan to spend a lot of time making her at least a “9”. One thing that few people know about these lights (I, for one) is that they were/are remotely controllable via a tripod with head-piece setup that was located a hundred or so feet from the light via cables. (When enemy planes were overhead, you didn’t want to be too close to a brightly lit target back then!) An operator stuck his head into the head piece, looked through the attached binoculars and as he moved his head, the light would follow in the same movements. Unfortunately, there is only one light known to exist in the world that works with this system. So unless I get really lucky and find a long-buried remote, I’ll only be able to fix her up to a “9”.
Lucky for me, I stumbled upon “Bob” who happens to own thee one-of-a-kind, remotely controlled, museum quality light and he happens to live just a few miles from me. He’s been instrumental in finding me my light. I visited him a few weeks ago while he used his light at a midnight sale for a local Chevy dealership and got a quick education on its operation. I’m certainly no expert yet, but hopefully, I will quickly come up to speed on the operation of my….errr….our light.
The automated rod feeding system is, to me, way ahead of its time. There is a small 1” or 2” mirror just to the side of the arc which precisely focuses a pinpoint of light onto a thermostat. As long as the pinpoint of light is on the stat, nothing happens - well, the positive rod is constantly rotating for an even burn. When the positive rod burns down a little, the position of the arc changes relative to the small mirror and the pinpoint of light moves off of the stat thereby causing the electrical contacts inside to close, thereby feeding more rod to maintain the precise gap. Many of the operators are still burning original National Carbon rods made back during the war, still in their sawdust-filled metal cans. The 22” positive rod will last about 2-2 ½ hours, the negative somewhat less because it’s about 12”-14” to start with. A can of 25 pairs runs about $350.00 so it costs about $7.00 an hour to run the light in rod costs.
It’s a little scarey knowing she’s almost 70 years old and that parts, while not impossible to find, are not easy to come by. Believe it or not, there are still parts wrapped in their original cosmaline’d containers available, for a price. There are even 3 brand new, never used light and gensets built by Sperry available for purchase. (Sperry could not keep up with demand during the war so they licensed G.E. to help them) But even with the parts issue, I love owning a piece of very old military history and letting her do what she was built to do. Am I nuts? Probably!
And gee…..I didn’t have anything to tow her with so I HAD to go out and order a new Black Chevy diesel pickup. It was really difficult, but someone had to do it.
Can I still hang around here even though I have – or will have a Carbon Arc and there’s no Carbon Arc forum? When I run it, I’ll probably have the opportunity to run my tank lights at the same time. :twothumbs
So come on, won't someone buy my Helios to help me pay for this monster?
Sorry for possibly mis-leading some of you who thought I had some inside information on a new Xeray and was keeping it under wraps :nana:
Beamshots from the SoCal March 8, 2008 get-together. JetSkiMark took the pics.
60" and VSS-1 on the left, VSS-3a from the top
60" on top and VSS-1 on the bottom
60" and VSS-3a from the top, VSS-1 from the bottom
60" and VSS-1 from the bottom and VSS-3a from the top
60" and VSS-1 from the bottom and VSS-3a from the top
60" from the center, VSS-1 on the left and VSS-3a on the right
60" and Locator
60"
60"
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