# New searchlight in Japan?



## electromage (Oct 27, 2012)

Has anyone seen this? http://gigazine.net/news/20121027-portable-searchlight-dogstar/

I can't find any other references to it, but from Google Translate, I'm seeing 68,000 lumens, for 80 minutes. That doesn't seem possible, maybe it's 6,800? It also looks like the head turns, perhaps for focusing.

One million Yen is quite a lot of money, about $12k USD, right?


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## BVH (Oct 27, 2012)

Looks very interesting. Front to back, I recognize the optics section then cooling fins and then maybe a fan. That leaves very little room for ballast, ignitor and batteries. I don't see an umbilical so I'm assuming it has batteries on-board. I think 68,000 Lumens is not right. That would be a 700 Watt HID, give or take at 95 Lumens per Watt. But for 12 grand, you ought to get something handheld with those specs. Would be nice to get some good info on it.


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## electromage (Oct 27, 2012)

My friend was able to translate some of the article. He says that it's a prototype searchlight, designed for use in helicopters. I suppose it could get power from the helicopter, but then I don't know where the 80 minute figure comes from. The text translates to "nominal continuous exposure use tame", might be a heat issue.

It was featured at RISCON (Risk Control In Tokyo).


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## alpg88 (Oct 27, 2012)

nice, looks like it has big heat sink, don't see why hid would need one, imo, it is led with a lens, possibly aspheric. thou i can't see why helicopter needs handheld light, they have hid lights under the fuselage, with a lot bigger reflectors, and controlled from the cockpit.


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## Zeruel (Nov 11, 2012)

*DOGSTAR: Handheld "Proton" Blaster for Vampire Slayers*

For those who are wondering where are all the Japanese flashlights, I guess this is what they've been up to.












68,000 freaking lumens for 80 minutes, with a hefty price tag of course.


Source.
Original article with more pics.


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## shelm (Nov 11, 2012)

*Re: DOGSTAR: Handheld "Proton" Blaster for Vampire Slayers*

it's for professional military use


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## electromage (Nov 11, 2012)

*Re: DOGSTAR: Handheld "Proton" Blaster for Vampire Slayers*



shelm said:


> it's for professional military use



Clearly...just look at those Picatinny rails!


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## The_Driver (Nov 11, 2012)

*Re: DOGSTAR: Handheld "Proton" Blaster for Vampire Slayers*



electromage said:


> Clearly...just look at those Picatinny rails!



You know a LIGHT is SERIOUS when it has those :devil:


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## BVH (Nov 11, 2012)

*Re: DOGSTAR: Handheld "Proton" Blaster for Vampire Slayers*

The more I look the more I think that not only are there no batteries in the body, but that the power supply may not be in there too. Certainly the ignitor would be but there's just no more room with the optics in front, next the lamp and reflector, next the heatsink and fan and then a little room left over the the ignitor components. So my guess is a split ballast - separate ignitor components in the body and the boost and nominal power components in a separate box, tethered with an umbilical. I sure love to be proved wrong. A >500 Watt self contained HID (not short arc) would be a dream! Can't be a short arc due to claimed Lumen level. It would have to be a >3,600 Watt light to be a short arc with those Lumens.


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## yliu (Nov 12, 2012)

Battery and power supply on a backpack? Just like a flamethrower


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## Tumbleweed48 (Nov 22, 2012)

I've had guns with a light mounted on it, but never a light with a gun mounted on it!


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## dudemar (Nov 30, 2012)

*Re: DOGSTAR: Handheld "Proton" Blaster for Vampire Slayers*



BVH said:


> I sure love to be proved wrong. A >500 Watt self contained HID (not short arc) would be a dream! Can't be a short arc due to claimed Lumen level. It would have to be a >3,600 Watt light to be a short arc with those Lumens.



Knowing Japan's mastery of gadgets, it wouldn't surprise me if it was self contained. 

In the Gizmodo article it asks if it's worth the price of a new car. They've never met a flashaholic before.


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## Gravitron (Nov 30, 2012)

*Re: DOGSTAR: Handheld "Proton" Blaster for Vampire Slayers*

I saw this light on a website earlier this week. It is a prototype and is projected to sell for $12,000 USD. It looks ridiculous and at that price only government's could afford to own one.


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## get-lit (Nov 30, 2012)

*Re: DOGSTAR: Handheld "Proton" Blaster for Vampire Slayers*

It looks well engineered, but that beamshot would be completely washed if it were 68K lumen because no camera has that much dynamic range. Something's not right, either with the beam shot or with the specs, and the collimation in that beamshot is more of a flood compared to other high power lights. Plus if it were 68K well collimated lumen, it would be much too dangerous to turn on indoors.


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## idleprocess (Dec 9, 2012)

*Re: DOGSTAR: Handheld "Proton" Blaster for Vampire Slayers*



shelm said:


> it's for professional military use


So professional, they neglected to install a front sight to compliment the AR-15 carry-handle rear sight...


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## JulianP (Dec 18, 2012)

*Re: DOGSTAR: Handheld "Proton" Blaster for Vampire Slayers*

The heat sink looks suspiciously like a Luxim plasma light module. I bought one a couple of years ago but I never built a portable housing for it. Now I know what it would look like inside a super-soaker with optics. 

I just plug it into the mains and turn it on every NYE to light up the whole street. The aspheric could well turn it into a searchlight. The bulb is tiny, and has an incredibly high surface brightness.


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## BVH (Dec 18, 2012)

*Re: DOGSTAR: Handheld "Proton" Blaster for Vampire Slayers*

I don't know the amount of Lumens produced by that LEP but that might explain the high claim of Lumens in a package that an HID setup and battery would not fit into.


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## JulianP (Dec 18, 2012)

*Re: DOGSTAR: Handheld "Proton" Blaster for Vampire Slayers*

I am not sure about the lumens. Their top LEP product, the STA-75-01, has 45,000 lumens and needs 500W in power. I suspect they used one of the smaller units + optics and fiddled with the output figures. Alternatively, they could be using 60 XML-U2s...bah, it just doesn't add up.


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## petersmith6 (Dec 19, 2012)

*Re: DOGSTAR: Handheld "Proton" Blaster for Vampire Slayers*

so dose it come with a clip and how many AA's do i need to put on charge?


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## get-lit (Dec 20, 2012)

*Re: DOGSTAR: Handheld "Proton" Blaster for Vampire Slayers*



JulianP said:


> The heat sink looks suspiciously like a Luxim plasma light module. I bought one a couple of years ago but I never built a portable housing for it. Now I know what it would look like inside a super-soaker with optics.
> 
> I just plug it into the mains and turn it on every NYE to light up the whole street. The aspheric could well turn it into a searchlight. The bulb is tiny, and has an incredibly high surface brightness.



Nice catch. I found that they're surface brightness doesn't compare well to short arc lamps. This must be what the "Dogsater" is using because that Dogsater has little room in front of the light source, and the LEP emitter is the only plasma lamp that doesn't need much space in front of it before the optic since it's a forward emitting lamp. I'm quite sure it's the LEP.


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## langham (Dec 21, 2012)

*Re: DOGSTAR: Handheld "Proton" Blaster for Vampire Slayers*

body size, length of about 563 x 132 mm, the weight of the battery in about 4.1 kilograms. If you have the maximum brightness of nominal continuous irradiation time is approximately 80 minutes. Apparently that was a 30m shot to the stairs. Could the translation be weird for lumen? Maybe they use a different standard, it doesn't seem to be all that bright. That could also be a just after startup picture taken by someone who doesn't know what they are doing. How much capacity could you fit in a 4.1 kg battery? You could assume common materials.
Not sure if this will work, but here is the translated version. http://translate.google.com/transla...a=X&ei=0xDUUMeiAYGp2gXwq4GwBQ&ved=0CDoQ7gEwAA


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## Frugalbuyer (Jan 24, 2013)

*Re: DOGSTAR: Handheld "Proton" Blaster for Vampire Slayers*

The article says it is an LED light with 68,000 lumens (not 6800)



langham said:


> body size, length of about 563 x 132 mm, the weight of the battery in about 4.1 kilograms. If you have the maximum brightness of nominal continuous irradiation time is approximately 80 minutes. Apparently that was a 30m shot to the stairs. Could the translation be weird for lumen? Maybe they use a different standard, it doesn't seem to be all that bright. That could also be a just after startup picture taken by someone who doesn't know what they are doing. How much capacity could you fit in a 4.1 kg battery? You could assume common materials.
> Not sure if this will work, but here is the translated version. http://translate.google.com/transla...a=X&ei=0xDUUMeiAYGp2gXwq4GwBQ&ved=0CDoQ7gEwAA


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## BVH (Jan 24, 2013)

*Re: DOGSTAR: Handheld "Proton" Blaster for Vampire Slayers*

So it will be a real "flooder", not a thrower.


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## get-lit (Jan 24, 2013)

*Re: DOGSTAR: Handheld "Proton" Blaster for Vampire Slayers*

I think it uses a Luxim, which would be more middle ground between throw and flood, not too shabby though.


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## PhotonWrangler (Jan 26, 2013)

*Flashlight bazooka*

Look thru the comments - there appears to be at least one flashaholic there. 

Flashlight bazooka


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## mcnair55 (Jan 26, 2013)

*Re: Flashlight bazooka*

I can see it being used by the military.


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## tam17 (Jan 27, 2013)

*Re: Flashlight bazooka*

Nice toy (although expen$ive), a potential NLW. I'd like to have a few million lux in short bursts.

Cheers


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