Cloud illumination

I was just outside checking out the passing heavy storm and watching the moon come out when I noticed various areas of the clouds being illuminated by moving lights. Now I have some hotwires that throw a pretty fair beam and an HID that sure pulls its weight as well but, certainly no cloud shiners these!! What kind of power/light is needed for these games?


Karl

We are about to get the storm that just passed you area, however to answer your question, a xenon short arc lamp like the one in the Maxabeam or Supernova would work best. Even better would be a high powered laser.

D-Dog said:

Even better would be a high powered laser.

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Which would be stupid since it is illegal.

LuxLuthor said:

Which would be stupid since it is illegal.

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Yea, probably not a good idea You also have to be careful with high-powered light as they usually attract unwanted attention. My fault in bringing up the laser in the first place, as I thought this was a thread of curiosity, rather than " I want to shell out a lot of money for a maxabeam/laser". Sorry

Hey Karl,

I just saw the new proto Super Flashlight V from Arc_Mania (on ebay) that could probably light up a cloud (only a guess). it's pretty darn bright by the beamshots.

Link to posting on "other auctions notices" forum


doug

Those effects are usually done with sky-beams, like the griven imerial:

http://www.griven.com/imgupl/bigimgprod-37-imperial.jpg-1022849872.jpg

4000W HID, don't asume any flashlight will come even close.

D-Dog said:

Yea, probably not a good idea You also have to be careful with high-powered light as they usually attract unwanted attention. My fault in bringing up the laser in the first place, as I thought this was a thread of curiosity, rather than " I want to shell out a lot of money for a maxabeam/laser". Sorry

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Nah, no harm done here. I'm not gonna laser anything and my inquiry was merely curiosity since I've seen this before. THANKS FOLKS!


KARL

My HF HID will hit clouds as high as 2000-3000ft.

The light in my Avatar is a 7,000 Watt Xenon.

It has a really tightly collimated beam that really throws a long way.

It could light clouds.

Is the light scanning across the sky like a light house?
If so, Then its probably an airport beacon light.

D-Dog said:

Yea, probably not a good idea You also have to be careful with high-powered light as they usually attract unwanted attention. My fault in bringing up the laser in the first place, as I thought this was a thread of curiosity, rather than " I want to shell out a lot of money for a maxabeam/laser". Sorry

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Yeah, I was trying out a 5M candlepower lantern for the first time when I finally got home from working 2nd shift ~1:30 AM. Within seconds I was hit with a searchlight from a cop's car. I was given a short lecture about looking suspicious shining a flashlight around in the middle of night. I was like - yessir, no sir, I understand sir, I appreciate that sir. Urban living...

Too bad about the hassle from the cops, but as you can imagine its all for the good in the end...At least you know the cops are concerned...thats a nice thign to know especially by your home!

Marked said:

Is the light scanning across the sky like a light house?
If so, Then its probably an airport beacon light.

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Sounds like a searchlight to me. Stores use those during grand openings and sales.

I can hit coulds with my AE Powerlight

Marked said:

Is the light scanning across the sky like a light house?
If so, Then its probably an airport beacon light.

Click to expand...

I guess I'm 10 (?) miles or so from the airport so I don't know. Posibly an opening from a new show in a nearby metro area? Only the one day that I saw it and previously, many years ago. Not a big deal but somewhat of a mystery....


Karl

Slightly OT but heavy-handed government practices should be brought to light and these forums are valid for questioning such actions. McCaw deserved a lecture only if shining his light in an annoying or unsafe (blinding drivers) manner.

So a criminal is going to call attention to himself with a bright light? How does one not look suspicious a 1:30AM? I imagine a total curfew would make the cop's job easier but is that the next step? Our government is supposed to be OUR servant - not the current trend of limiting civil liberties, which we seem to be accepting without being aware of the rights our constitution and laws provide.

I've addressed our local city council and got an overly restrictive ordinance changed. Formerly, one could not park in the beach-front, municipal, lots before 6AM. My wife & I got hassled when we went to see a sun rise and it was already light. This once restrictive ordinance also limited star gazer's ability to view the sky overnight. Fortunately the CC used common sense and reduced the restrictions at the lake front.

Thank's Kromatics!!! I finally buy a 500 lumen flashlight and you have to post a picture of the Sky Tracker. Actually I saw one on a cloudy night in Lincoln, NE last summer. I had just home at 1am and was going into the house and saw SOMETHING wierd in the sky out of the corner of my eye. I look and saw the 4 beams again and thought that I was now one of those morons who saw a ufo. I do not believe in ufo's but could not explain it any other way because I could not see the beams with the town's ambient light...just the circles dancing rapidly on the underside of the clouds. I quickly got my roommate who laughed at me and told me he saw the trailer earlier that night in town.

I now know three things:

1. If I win the lottery...that thing is MINE!!!

2. You can spend THOUSANDS of dollars on this hobby if you really want too...

3. The Sky Tracker kind of puts the "led vs. incans" battle in a whole new perspective.

Thanks for the post.

Karl,

See here:
https://www.candlepowerforums.com/posts/1711016

I've got plans to use three Q3 Bin LEDs driven at around an amp atop fan cooled heatsinks inside a special enclosure to do something similar. The light will have a built in NiCad battery pack and charger, plus a variable brightness regulator for all three LEDs.

Should be fun.

-Enrique

Now that's a hoot sure to get me shipped off to the pokie!!! Thanks Enrique!



karl

No problem. Based on Newbie's results I'm really looking forward to getting the lenses in. I'm also looking forward to doing a few tests to see if the beam can be smooth out a bit rather than just projecting the die exactly - there will be losses in efficiency, brightness, and throw, but given the way these are performing now the sacrifice might be reasonable to get a more useful beam overall, we'll see how it goes.

If you do something similar you end up with a cloud burner for a relatively economical price - probably around $50 in parts and time if you make the design basic enough. Certainly cheaper than HIDs and massive spotlights.