# 14" 70.000 lumen spotlight project (with beamshots)



## PolarLi

*14" 70,000 lumen spotlight project (with beamshots)*

Hi folks!

Here is my homemade spotlight/searchlight project. 

A few details: 
*-62 Million Candela*
*-Range: 15.7 Km / 9.7 Miles 0.25 Lux (ANSI FL-1) or 7.8 Km 1 Lux (DIN)*
-850 Watt short arc lamp. 70,000 lumens
-850 watt Electronic ballast with 30 kV igniter
-14"/355 mm Parabolic Electroformed Nickel reflector with Rhodium coating
-55 qt/60 liter Aluminum Stock pot
-Satellite dish tripod
-5050 RGB led strip
-100-260 volt AC input
-Total weight without tripod: 10 kg.

Thanks to Get-Lit, Ra, BVH, Ma_sha1, JP Labs and many more for a lot of knowledge and inspiration! 

The finished light:



















 

*You can read the thread for all the updates, or you can just click on the shortcuts below.*


First update with build pics and the first beamshots:





Power cord and some electrical parts: 



Glass flange and some other metal work:

 

Ballast installation and more metal work 



Finished tripod 



Air filter and air flow testing



Temperature testing, and picture of the lit lamp 



My first northern lights beamshots:



More and better northern lights shots



Installation of electric focus actuator and video: 



Installation of RGB LED strip: 



Beamshots in fog: 



*
If you are interested in a different type of short arc project, check out my 55 Million Candela, 1955 Francis Searchlight *


----------



## get-lit

Assuming the 14"CA reflector is a medium FL 2.35", the beam should be equivalent to the 11"CA 3"FL reflector with retro-reflector and same lamp. That last shot at 4 miles is spectacular!


----------



## PolarLi

Thanks!
Your assumption is of course correct, 2.35" FL from Phoenix.

*EDIT: I moved my first update here:*

Here I have the high tec housing, I guess most see what it is?









I cut out the bottom of the pot, and replace it with a bigger sheet:





Here is the reflector mount (and parts of the lamp mount), it's a 5 mm aluminium plate that I actually had water cut several years ago for a completely different project that I never got around to. It was just pure luck the inside and outside diameter was useable for this. However, this piece was way to big for my small lathe, so I had to chamfer the center hole with a angle grinder and a dremel so it would fit the profile of the reflector. It took me a few hours, but it went surprisingly well. The extra grinding marks was to make sure the surface was rough so the silicone would stick. 





Test fit before bonding. 
This also show a bit more of the lamp mount. It's four 10 mm aluminium rods that I cut, drilled and tapped using the lathe. On top it's just a square 3 mm aluminium plate:





Making the lamp socket in the lathe:





And the finished mount and lamp: 





Close up of the Mercury lamp:





And a glimpse of the business end, and the temporary cooling fan, temp probe wire and the wood stand:





And now the fun part, beamshots! 

110 meters/360 ft. to target. Poor trees... Beam looks kind of square, but those trees are definitely not in line, so that explains it.





2800 meters/1.7 miles to target seems to work better for this light...





Another one, same target:





Then a go at a 6500 meters/4 miles. I still see the spot









More to come...


----------



## Mr. Tone

Awesome beamshots! That is a great use for a stockpot, by the way.  I am looking forward to seeing more and thanks for sharing with us. I love these kind of project threads :thumbsup:


----------



## badtziscool

That is just awesome!!!


----------



## kj2

That's just so awesome


----------



## Mr. Nobody

Damn!
That's so cool


----------



## FRITZHID

Nice!


----------



## PolarLi

Mr. Tone said:


> That is a great use for a stockpot, by the way.



Exactly! Who's gonna eat 60 qt of soup anyway? 
And the nice thing about these aluminium stockpots is the light weight. This one is supposed to have 4.3 mm thickness, but that's only at the top and bottom (that I cut off) the middle part is just 1.9 mm thick, and that's about perfect for light duty use. The bad thing is that this pot, and most likely all of them, was way out of round on top. And after I cut the thicker part off, the opening was a bit too flimsy for my taste to put a glass lens in. But I do have a solution for that coming up, hopefully some time next week.


----------



## Mr. Nobody

OP you should make 2 and mount them on a rack on a truck lol.


----------



## Ryp

Awesome!


----------



## sledhead

Ingenuity at its best! Excellent! :thumbsup:


----------



## hazza

That is sweet!


----------



## FRITZHID

Mr. Nobody said:


> OP you should make 2 and mount them on a rack on a truck lol.



Hi-beams for those inconsiderate oncoming drivers? Lmao


----------



## BVH

Nice to see more super lights being built from scratch! Nice project!


----------



## Jaredf

Omg I want one!!


----------



## GunnarGG

Very impressive!

And those beamshots are just awesome. :thumbsup:


----------



## PolarLi

Thanks for all the feedback, appreciate it!

Received some parts today, and I made the power cord ready. I went with 13m/42 ft PUR cable. (Yes, I hate extension cords) It's strong and very flexible in the cold and actually don't cost more than a rubber cable. On the end that hook up to the light, I mounted a waterproof Buccaneer connector. 
I also got some silicone coated fiberglass sleeve, mounting studs for ballast, a switch, fuse holder and the PSU. If anyone is wondering, I need the 12 volt PSU to power the fans. This one is actually overkill with it's 50 watt rating, but they only cost like $15, so why not have the extra power.


----------



## mikekoz

It looks like you are setting the trees on fire in that first beam shot!!!! :huh:  :thumbsup:

Holy carp!!!! LOL


----------



## PolarLi

Got an aluminium ring cut, that will work as the lens flange. This will make the opening very rigid and also completely round. Just had to drill and tap it.
Also did some work on the yoke.


----------



## Jaegerbomb

Wow... just wow!
Brilliant project, moon men beware!


----------



## PolarLi

I start to see the finish line, but one important part is still missing, the front lens. Got a nice deal on AR coated tempered glass, but the company tried to kill me with the shipping cost, (It was more than the glass!) so I'm waiting on a quote from a local company. 

Work light courtesy of Led Lenser:






Lots of holes:





Pretty much done with the wiring. I kept it really simple with just that single ON-OFF switch and a fuse, so not much to wire really. 
Might add a fan controller later and probably some fan ducting inside the housing too. But I have to do some testing first. 
I put all wires that can touch ground or hot parts inside those fiberglass sleeves.








The screws on the fan grills will be replaced by some stainless ones...





I got the tripod the other day. It's actually made for satellite dishes for camping use, and the top is just a round aluminum tube. 
So I made an Acetal bushing and pressed that in, and inside that an aluminium piece that will be welded to the yoke. 
Drilled and put a Heli-Coil in where the set screw goes.


----------



## Searchlightexpert

Very interesting project. I am about to start a similar one, making a HMI searchlight with electrical pan/tilt system and noticed a couple of things here,

-The focus system is fixed, wouldn't you prefere an adjustable one?

-The ventilation system allows rain and dirty air to be drawn into the searchlight drum. That is not very favourable taken into consideration that there are Electronic Power supplies, high voltage ignitors etc. fitted inside the drum.?


----------



## PolarLi

Searchlightexpert said:


> Very interesting project. I am about to start a similar one, making a HMI searchlight with electrical pan/tilt system and noticed a couple of things here,



Thanks for the comment and questions.

Adjustable focus with the flick of a switch would be nice, but that comes in my second Xenon edition :naughty: But yeah, I was thinking about it, but I figured I didn't really need it for this. The light was made to be a thrower and nothing more. If it was a smaller handheld unit with a battery pack, or mounted on a boat or vehicle, focus would be a higher priority.

The intake fan will get a water repellent filter. It's on it's way in the mail as we speak. It will filter particles down to .005" /0.127 mm and according to manufacturer keep "heavy rain and snow" out. The extra resistance in that filter is the reason i use a much more powerfull intake fan vs exhaust fan. The intake fan is also placed below all the electronics, so It should be ok. However, I must put some thin gasket material under the fan grills... 
As extra safety measures I used IP 67 and IP 68 rated switch, fuseholder and connector. Overkill, but that's what they had. The back cover and housing is also grounded, (you might spot two green-yellow wires in the pic) and by using that extra ground wire, the housing will also be grounded when the back cover is removed. But still, I won't call this a waterproof light by any means, the front lens won't be perfectly sealed either, so I will never leave it unattended outside in heavy rain, but it should handle some light rain. 

I hope you want to share some details from your HMI project, and good luck!


----------



## Capolini

Very Intuitive and impressive! :twothumbs


----------



## ThirstyTurtle

Subscribed for updates! Amazing work, I dream about doing something like this one day. Top notch beamshots by the way!


----------



## Tacitus

Cool as all get out!
:goodjob:
Epic beam shots!


----------



## Illum

Subscribed for updates :rock:


----------



## chillinn

subscribed.
REQ: 10" newtonian w/SLR & beamshots off ISS ; TIA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlBifX0H3yg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qrriKcwvlY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQj--Kjn0z8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fI4kPSO7CNA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tM60GAPIXTY


----------



## PolarLi

Well, Searchlightexpert, after a good night sleep, I realise you might have tempted me a little bit too much with that focus talk  I could just replace the aluminium studs on the lamp mount with steel, and I do actually have some linear bearings laying around here somewhere. The entire setup with an actuator, switch and all would cost me about $100-150 extra. As I mention, I don't really need it, but it would be a neat feature. But, I will finish the light as originally planned and make sure everything work good before I buy more stuff. Budget is kinda blown as it is...

----------
Chillinn, your youtube compliation made me :laughing:


----------



## mustang90

Nice work!


----------



## PolarLi

Just a small update. 
Currently I'm waiting on the glass, and it should arrive sometime around Feb 10. Not much to do before that. 
Had a local shop weld the yoke together a few days ago, so here is a pic of the finished product mounted on the sat dish tripod:


----------



## Capolini

*14&quot; 70.000 lumen spotlight project (with beamshots)*

Nice...........look forward to the next phase! http://www.sherv.net/cm/emoticons/smile/happy-wink-smiley-emoticon.gif

*Image tags removed see Rule #3 Do not Hot Link images. Please host on an image site, Imageshack or similar and repost – Thanks Norm*


----------



## PolarLi

I finally got the glass yesterday, and have installed it and started testing the air flow inside the housing. To visualize it, I made a dummy lamp and taped on thin strips of tissue paper. After some testing with various cardboard ducts, I have landed on a setup I think should work. Now I just have to make it of some sheet metal and do some testing with the real lamp.

BBQ anyone? 





Nah, but that mesh was perfect to keep the thin filter material away from the fan.









Paper lamp. Lumens and wattage is unknown.





Pivot point. To make them fit the profile of the housing, I used the roller end of a belt sander and carved them out. They are mounted from the inside with two screws each. (Don't mind the sharpie marks, I will take care of it later)





Tail stand light?:thinking:


----------



## james2153

Thats awesome! looking forward to the end result!!


----------



## ThirstyTurtle

Love the update, still watching this thread with great interest!


----------



## Terminative

Hot damn that's some good handiwork. I have a question tho, what kind of lumens output would you need if you wanted to make a visible dot of light on a cloud? Assuming you would be using some sort of collimating lens.


----------



## BVH

A lot less Lumens than this light produces. The Maxabeam at 80 Watts and + or - 3000 Lumens easily puts a spot on clouds. No collimating lens. Just a very high quality and expensive 5" reflector and a 1 degree beam and a very small arc gap creating a very tiny point-source of intense light.


----------



## Capolini

Terminative said:


> Hot damn that's some good handiwork. I have a question tho, what kind of lumens output would you need if you wanted to make a visible dot of light on a cloud? Assuming you would be using some sort of collimating lens.




These are NOT ASPHERIC lights. These are hand held reflector based LED flashlights[search lights]

It is NOT so much lumens as it is CD's[candela/lux]. I have an OSTS TN31mb that is only ~ 800 lumens but has 470Kcd which translates into 1501 yards of throw. ~ .85miles. I also have a TK61vn ~ 1700 lumens w/ 740Kcd! That translates to ~ 1 mile 300 yards of throw! 

I can not tell if I ever touched lower lying clouds,,,however, on a few occasions I have briefly touched the bottom side of flying objects!


----------



## PolarLi

Temperature testing, so there is a lot of wires poking out. Btw, note the white spot on the snow :naughty:





Close up of the bright part. And for the record, this was not an easy picture to take!





Here is the current setup for lamp cooling. The small fan suck air from the front of the reflector and out the vertex hole. Then the big exhaust fan in the back cover blow the hot air out of the housing. I guess you can call it semi-axial cooling. Not really recommended for these lamps, but with the 2.35" focal lenght, a rather big reflector and no ducting around the lamp, there is not a particularly high air speed over the lamp bulb itself. The fan more or less just help directing the turbulent air flow already present in the reflector, towards the lamp. Depending on fan speed, I can run the anode metal socket from 195-220 degrees celsius. About 10-15 C extra if I tilt the light up. Osram recommend max 200-230 C on their HBO lamps with the same probe placement, so I think I'm ok. But if anyone has any input on this, you are welcome to share.

Housing temp is around 30 C. That would actually be a bit on the hot side if I lived in a warmer region of the world, but I don't  so it's fine.
I also did an IR measurement of the front glass. 125 C in the center a couple of seconds after I shut down. 40-50 C around the edge. Seems to be ok.


----------



## Capolini

Looking good. Nice day time beam shot! Look forward to more Night time beam shots!!

Looks like beautiful countryside where you live

*________________________________________________________________________________________________________________*

It is VERRRY cold here,but not quite enough snow for my Siberian to be totally content!! He gets his enjoyment out of the snow drifts!

I just did some research for the RECORD LOW for Norway:

The coldest temperature ever recorded is −51.4 °C (−60.5 °F) in Karasjok on 1 January 1886. 

The Record low for the "State of Pennsylvania" where I live is: 


Pennsylvania-42F/-41CJan. 5, 1904Smethport

U.S.A. Record is -80F/-62C in Alaska


----------



## PolarLi

Thanks! 
Well, both the Norwegian and Pennsylvania record are way to cold for my taste. It rarely get much below -15C/5F around here, and that's about right. Still, the snow will last for a while, usually until May.

Edit, yeah, more night time beamshots coming up, I do have an idea for a cool one


----------



## BVH

Looking good! It's "cooking" right along - pun intended. Is the ignitor in the light housing and the power supply external? Are you running on a battery or house power?

If I remember correctly, there's a small gap between the glass window and the light shell allowing for cooling air intake? Without seeing a complete pic of the back side with everything assembled, it's difficult to see why you need the small computer fan? Wouldn't the large fan in the back pull cooling air from the front air intake?


----------



## ThirstyTurtle

Does the beam melt snow? I would imagine it would


----------



## PolarLi

BVH:
Ballast is mounted on the back cover. There is a pic of it on page 1. On the lowermost picture above, you can see a part of the black ignitor on the lower right. No batteries, mains power. 

Around the glass it's sealed tight so the only air intake is the lower fan grill you see in the daylight pic above. The upper grill is the exhaust. Between the housing and reflector there is about one inch clearance, and between the front of reflector and glass there is about two inch. The idea is basically that the lower intake fan push air below the reflector, it hits the glass, and cools that somewhat, then it bounce back towards the lamp and cools it. Hot air rise, and then the upper exhaust fan take over and pull it out. Some over the reflector and some out the vertex hole. When I tested this with the paper lamp, I saw plenty of air movement inside the reflector around the lamp, but it was all over the place. By sealing off the lampholder and putting a small fan there, it directs the necessary air flow around the lamp and out the back. Another option was to not use the small fan, and duct the air flow directly from the intake fan towards the front, and seal off the lower half of the reflector. But this would have been alot more work. I also thought about air intakes in front of housing, but I never found very convenient ways of making a decent looking fan grill of metal that also gave me some weather protection and stopped spill light.
Anyhow, I was running the light continuously for almost two hours today, and everything ran without any issues (that I could see...) 

ThirstyTurtle: I like Turtles. Wait, what? Actually, I have not tried it, but close enough I imagine it will.


----------



## Throwjunkie

Very nice craftsmanship, Outstanding and insanely cool, cant wait to see more Beam shots


----------



## ThirstyTurtle

Haha ya turtles are alright! In the beamshot you posted I figured that snow would melt if the beam was left there long enough.


----------



## BVH

Well the cooling system works, then it works! Do you have an IR thermometer gun? You could target the lamp bases to see what their running - just for fun.


----------



## Onestep

BVH it looks like he used thermocouples on the lamp bases to take the temps.


----------



## PolarLi

Yes, there is a thermocouple on the anode socket. And cathode socket is not that hot, I will estimate between 60-100C The air speed around it is much higher, and the socket itself is huge.
The IR gun only read glass temp, and if I remove the glass there is no point of measuring the lamp anyway. 
But yeah, I agree, If it works it works. I guess I might have been reading a little bit too much about thermal aspect of these lamps... get-lit covered a lot of it in the NightSword thread, and I also went through all the docs from Ushio, Osram, Zeiss and more.


----------



## PolarLi

So I promised some beamshots, and here is three from tonight.

I was the ruler of the night sky - for a few minutes... 







Then someone decided he's had enough of my antics. I thought I put up a good fight for a moment...






...But then he put on the high beams and it was game over! :candle:


----------



## FRITZHID

Awesome! :thumbup:  :beer:


----------



## Capolini

Awesome!! Beautiful pictures! The first one looks like a laser beam from outer space,,,,,,,,like STAR TREK! Not sure of you heard of that show in Norway!


What is that Green lights? Aurora Borealis?! The third picture should be put in a magazine! :thumbsup:


----------



## PolarLi

Haha, thanks guys. Yes, the green light was the Aurora Borealis. However, this was actually a rather small display. When the conditions are right, there is a lot more of that around here.
Then again, these are long exposures, so it don't need to be that bright to show up on pictures. It was also a new moon a couple of days ago, so that helps too.

And of course, Star Trek ran on tv here for years!


----------



## G. Scott H.

:wow: PolarLi, that's one of the best looking bits of homemade kit I've ever seen. Absolutely beautiful! :thumbsup:


----------



## Tacti'cool'

Amazing pictures. Best beamshot ever.


----------



## Throwjunkie

Stunning Pictures of those Beamshots. The Aurora Borealis is something to see on its own with the added laser beam of light I bet it's quite the show. Great Pictures Brother

Joe


----------



## PolarLi

Thanks again folks!
Yeah, the northern lights can be a pretty rad light show, and usually outclass any man made light source. 
As I mention, these are long exposures so the light beam will pop quite a bit more than it appears to the naked eye. On the other hand, these shots are just for fun, and I will probably give it another try from a different angle some day. 
In other news, I have started to shop parts for the electric focus adjustment, but I'm not sure when I start building it. I'm busy with some other projects too.


----------



## liteglow

PolarLi : where in Norway is this ?


----------



## PolarLi

Troms


----------



## Terminative

You should try it during the day when its overcast and gloomy.


----------



## Onestep

PolarLi said:


> Troms


Wow 70* North.
You are quite the artist with the hardware and photography!

Any ideas as to where I can get some mysost here in the States?


----------



## Rockstock

That is amazing. Coolest project ever.


----------



## PolarLi

Onestep said:


> Any ideas as to where I can get some mysost here in the States?



Ehm, no... Ebay? :laughing:


Terminative, I will give it a try.


----------



## Crane

that is so insanely cool!!! Can this thing run off the car battery while the car is running?


----------



## PolarLi

Yes, you can run it off a car battery, but you need an inverter. The light draw about 1000 watt, so for runtimes longer than 20-30 minutes you would need a decent sized alternator to keep up.


----------



## Onestep

If running off a car I might suggest one of these.

http://www.prestolite.com/pgs_produ...ail_id=871&item=A0014962PA&product=ALTERNATOR


----------



## PolarLi

Wow, that thing is a beast for sure! 
But if I need to run this somewhere remote for a longer time, I think I prefer just a small inverter generator. They are useful for a lot of other things too.


----------



## Ryp

Man you are so lucky, it's always been my dream to see the aurora borealis since I was a child.


----------



## liveris flashlights

Absolutely amazing, keep on...


----------



## get-lit

PolarLi said:


> ...Depending on fan speed, I can run the anode metal socket from 195-220 degrees celsius. About 10-15 C extra if I tilt the light up. Osram recommend max 200-230 C on their HBO lamps with the same probe placement, so I think I'm ok. But if anyone has any input on this, you are welcome to share.



The seal temp is good until 350C, but there is a caveat..

XBO lamps use a rod seal with glass of graduated thermal expansion, and the rods are thick enough to conduct heat from the seal to the metal socket. But lamps with Molybdenum foil seals do not conduct heat through the foils to the sockets because the foil is too thin. The foil has to be thin to enable the more compact simple construction without graduated glass, but all foil seal lamps are limited to 13-14 amp current through the foil. That's why the higher watt version of this lamp was discontinued. Anyhow, measuring at the socket gives absolutely no indication of seal temp under various cooling conditions, and temp measurements need to be taken at the actual quartz seal itself and not at the metal socket.


----------



## PolarLi

Thanks for your input! And yes, I am aware of this. But the 200-230c rating is also for Osram HBO lamps with the same type of moly foil. They still do all the measurements on the socket. The probe placement Ushio recommend, embedded in the quartz, is only 6mm away from the brass socket I measure on. There is obviously some temp loss between these two points, but I doubt it can be any more than 150C ? 

If the socket was bigger or had cooling fins, there could be a bigger temp differential, but on this lamp, it's the quartz that has cooling grooves, and the brass anode socket is more or less the smallest part of the lamp. That's the main reason I have a hard time seeing that a few mm quartz, a dab of ceramic cement and maybe 15 gram of brass it is able to wick away more than 150C. Then again, this is just my own theory, so I could be way off here. :candle:


----------



## get-lit

My initial idea to cope with difficult axial cooling flow with this lamp was to use a heat sink. When testing effectiveness with a thermocouple-embedded lamp and a massive 2 lbs heat sink threaded onto the anode, the anode mount remained under 80C yet the anode seal climbed past 350C just as quickly as without the heat sink. Out course I was also dealing with a retro-reflector mount that was partially blocking air flow to the anode seal. But in this extreme, I measured a 270C differential between those few mm. The anode seal required air flow somehow directed onto it. A slow air flow perpendicular to the lamp is ideal, but once you try going for axial air flow, it becomes a very difficult balancing act of cooling the anode seal while not over-cooling the envelope and losing output, even when some method has been devised to divert the axial air flow onto the anode seal.


The HBO line confuses me because there's three styles. HBO lamps that require forced air cooling have either a rod seal or some kind of hybrid foil seal with the foil being more of a rectangular rod thick enough to conduct heat. Then there's the HBO foil seal lamps which are simply convection, and I'm not sure how they manage that with over 1000W.


----------



## PolarLi

I did remember reading about those test you did, and you probably saved me a lot of trouble building this.
But I was thinking if you attach a heat sink, or any big metal object to the small anode socket, it will dissipate more heat, and do it way faster than the thin moly pin, the quartz and ceramic cement manage to transfer to it, (or vice versa) As you said, it's really not designed to transfer heat at all, but when the socket is so small as it is here, the less temp differential it will be. At least, that make sense to me. But I may be off on my numbers, that's for sure.


----------



## get-lit

It's not because the socket is too small, it's because the foil is too thin to conduct heat from the anode and anode seal to the socket.


----------



## PolarLi

You sent me out on another google run, and I found a document I wish I had found a month ago. HMI lamps run moly foil with the exact same temp specs as this one, 350C in a groove where the outer pin connect to the foil. But the same doc also explain another and simpler way of measuring the temp - base temp, max 230C. I think I can lay this cooling stuff to rest now. It appears I have tuned it in pretty close after all.


----------



## get-lit

Very good find. I wish I'd known this as well. Maybe I could have used a heat sink to make cooling easier after all. I was told by the lamp engineers that thermocouple testing was required for new designs. Now I'm thinking in my testing with the heat sink, maybe the embedded thermocouple itself was limiting thermal conduction through to the base. The thermocouple is embedded into the lamp by grinding half the glass away and bonding what appears to be ceramic cement of high thermal resistance.

EDIT.. Thread one of *these* on the end and call it a day.


----------



## PolarLi

I think the readings you did with the heatsink was spot on. I doubt the TC itself had any effect on the base temp. But the lamp shaft/foil seal is just not able to carry enough heat away for a heatsink to have any noticeable effect, other than cooling the base itself. The shaft still need _some_ air flow. I think the moment you attach any bigger metal object to that base, an air deflector, reflector or heatsink, it will throw off any readings on the base, and the TC lamp you have will be a necessary tool.
But I did read about another interesting way of cooling in that PDF: https://assets.sylvania.com/assets/documents/ENGR_BLTN7.13e279c9-3eba-4850-b60d-7347f23ab996.pdf
Page 14. Osram has a patent on frosted lamp shafts. They reported temp drop up to 80C! I think some media blasting on this Emarc lamp could have a similar effect.


----------



## get-lit

I've been noticing the frosted areas on newer lamps. I'm sure it would help.


----------



## Crane

please take more pics :ironic: need my high


----------



## PolarLi

Haha, well, it hasn't been much good weather to take any cool pics. But I tried it when it was snowing, from just a little bit, to a snow storm. Personally, I don't think the effect was that much to write home about, at least close up. Except the beam is colored bright white. (not the biggest surprise, huh) It's worth noticing that the beam is so narrow, you don't get much glare and reflection from it.


----------



## Capolini

I noticed the same with my high powered LED reflector based modified torches! When it is snowing[rain and fog too] the beam is very much affected by it and the beam does not seem nearly as intense and the "Light Saber" seems shorter!


----------



## lunas

i wonder if people on the iss can see that light...


----------



## PolarLi

Nope, The ISS is below the horizon up here 
But two units of a commercial spotlight, Sky-View AdLight, that actually use the same lamp as this one (but a bigger 16" reflector) was indeed seen from ISS: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UoY15WDuHQ 
On the other hand, a handfull of ordinary street lights seems to be just as visible from space.


----------



## PolarLi

I took a few (admittedly, show off) pics yesterday. Almost off topic... They may be the last for the season, because i'm starting to run out of night here. It's been fun, aaaaand it appears I need a bigger light :devil:
Sometime after easter I will start to install the focus actuator. More pics of that to come.


----------



## Capolini

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ *AMAZING!!


*Did you alter the color at all? Or is that what it looks like in REAL LIFE?!


----------



## FRITZHID

Awesome


----------



## PolarLi

Capolini said:


> *
> *Did you alter the color at all? Or is that what it looks like in REAL LIFE?!



Color temp is set to 4750 kelvin. No other color altering. On my screen, that was the closest to RL this night. But those three pics are all 8 sec exposures, ISO 800, f2.8, so everything appears brigther than it is. Especially visible on the last pic where the beam hit the snow and is completely washed out. That was 3.1 km/10.000 ft away from the light. It's not THAT bright.


----------



## G. Scott H.

PolarLi said:


> aaaaand it appears I need a bigger light :devil:



Yep, this one is waaaay too wimpy. Your next one needs to be able to burn a hole through the moon. :twothumbs


----------



## GunnarGG

These photos are beautiful!


----------



## ThirstyTurtle

Best photos and beamshots I've seen ever on this site. Absolutely incredible work, you are a very talented person to be sure.


----------



## kj2

Those pictures are amazing!  Thanks Polar.


----------



## PolarLi

I really can't take credit for nature, but thanks for the compliments!


----------



## Bill Idaho

Ok, is it safe to say-----within this thread, a bulb and matching ballast has been determined to be workable (and very impressive!), and I can replicate aforementioned bulb and ballast within my VSS-3 housing (with existing cooling fan intact)?

If that's the case.....FINALLY!!!!!!!!!!!!


----------



## PolarLi

Have only seen some pics of the VSS-3, and the housing itself seems to have plenty of room for this tiny lamp and ballast. (especially if you remove some other parts) Fan might work too, and probably not much of a problem to swap it anyway. But why not restore it to original and get the other features too?


----------



## Bill Idaho

It was gutted when I got it. I have the housing, lens, reflector, some of the internal bolts,. etc, and the front support (the coated ring-whatever it is, is gone). The fan is still intact, I think. Plus, I would rather find something I can power without the military control box and cables. ( I have a working VSS-1, and fully understand/realize the complexity of the original set-up.) 
I bought the VSS-3 at the military vehicle show in Lodi a few years ago and wanted to find something "civilian" to fit inside without much fuss. I must admit, probably the main reason I joined this forum. I have watched with much interest some of the threads, but this thread has pretty well gotten as close as I can figure for a "retro-fitting".
Heck, it's been sitting so long in the shed, I forget what all is actually still with it.
THIS MIGHT BE THE TICKET!


----------



## Bill Idaho

Temporary thread hijack, with all due respect:
Speaking of VSS-1's, I heard of a vehicle mount (only) for about $75, available at the upcoming Lodi Show in April.

Resume normal traffic.

The more I re-read this thread, I'm liking the results!


----------



## PolarLi

Well, when it's that gutted, it definitely sounds like a good host for a retrofit. The lacking front support doesn't matter either, since this lamp don't need one. But I can't give you any answers on how the beam actually will look like in the VSS-3 reflector. Do you know the focal lenght? Anyway, I send you a PM with some info..


----------



## SemiMan

Personally I just think you are using the light as an excuse to show off your photos .... and I am quite okay with that! 

Awesome photos!

I don't think I ever realized how far north Norway is (from a latitude standpoint). I have to do some serious travel to get that far north even from where I am.


----------



## Croquette

Hi,
I went in Tromso two years ago and saw the northern lights (the green one, note yours  ).
Beautiful country and you made an amazing spotlight !


----------



## Mr. Tone

The photos with the northern lights and the lightsaber beam are just beautiful. I would love to experience the northern lights in person, especially with the mountains, too.


----------



## ChrisDallas

Do you have an EDC version of this with maybe a little more light output? I'm interested.
And it needs to fit in my pocket thx.


----------



## Capolini

ChrisDallas said:


> Do you have an EDC version of this with maybe a little more light output? I'm interested.
> And it needs to fit in my pocket thx.



Nice Ferrari Chris!

Are you serious about an EDC version of his light?!! His light is not a traditional LED light,,it has a ballast.


----------



## ChrisDallas

lol it was a joke..

Thx for the nice comment love my Enzo.


----------



## Capolini

ChrisDallas said:


> lol it was a joke..
> 
> Thx for the nice comment love my Enzo.



Your welcome! I thought it was a joke,,,,,,,on the other hand sometimes I am gullible!

I have a few nice pics. of Ferrari's. I took them in Rome when I was visiting family several years ago,,,,,,,,It was a RED one!


----------



## UNiT5

Simply stunning and seriously motivating! Amazing work Polarli!


----------



## PolarLi

Thanks guys!






ChrisDallas said:


> Do you have an EDC version of this with maybe a little more light output? I'm interested.
> And it needs to fit in my pocket thx.



Yeah, about that...







Close enough?


----------



## Capolini

PolarLi said:


> Thanks guys!
> *_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________*
> 
> 
> I will take one also!!! Capo my Siberian can pull it on a sled w/ an elevated tripod!!
> 
> p.s. I posted some of your awesome beam shots on another CPF thread and people were amazed as expected! Check out post # 966
> 
> http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb...amp-throw-measurements!&p=4634184#post4634184
> 
> 
> *__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________*
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yeah, about that...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Close enough?


----------



## Mr. Tone

*Re: 14&quot; 70.000 lumen spotlight project (with beamshots)*

It's so compact you hardly notice it's there :naughty:


----------



## kyle_ying

The production and pictures are very detail,nice


----------



## Capolini

kyle_ying said:


> The production and pictures are very detail,nice



:welcome:.............yes they are!


----------



## PolarLi

Thanks! And funny you posted here today. I was actually outside an hour ago and tested the light for the first time after I finished the focus project earlier today. 
Pics coming up.


----------



## PolarLi

So as I mentioned, I have finished the electric focus adjustment, and so far it seems to work great! :twothumbs 

I guess I can call it a retrofit? I was able to reuse the lampholder, so I just replaced the aluminium rods with chrome plated steel rods that I center drilled and threaded. Added 3 linear bearings and the actuator. Had to drill a few holes for the bearings, and make a new air duct. I also made an extra duct to direct more air toward the exhaust fan. And I installed a few compression springs to take out the actuator backlash. The bearings are, as most see, not perfectly mounted due to the undersized top plate, but they work fine for this. The biggest issue was actually to figure out an air seal around the air duct. It had to seal a gap that varied in size, and also have low friction, and could only be fasten on one side. So when I was waiting for parts, I came up with a few different "good" ideas, but when I tried them out, neither worked particularly good. So I scratched my head a bit more and came up with this rubber U trim. It has low friction with a drop of silicone, and was easy to install. 
The actuator is 12 volt, but I use it with a 6 volt step down converter to slow it down. If I bump the switch, the actuator move about 0.5 mm, that give me a pretty precise focus adjustment. 

New ductwork:






Air seal and some other stuff:











Step down converter and DPDT switch











To enter "service mode" I use two pieces of bicycle spokes with hooks on to hang the back cover:






And testing in the evening sun:







A few words about the video. It only briefly show one important but obvious feature: I can of course stop the actuator at any point between full focus and full offset. The switch is momentary, so when I release it, actuator stops and lock. Right before the donut kicks in, there is actually a very useable offset that may come in handy some day. 
And the other thing, as the video also show, it don't get really dark anymore up here in the north. So I'm not able to take any long distance beamshot or videos until August, sorry!



Edit: Reason for 2 video links is that only one show on mobile devices:

https://vimeo.com/126449814


----------



## ThirstyTurtle

Freaking awesome! Can't wait for a video


----------



## PolarLi

Video added :wave:


----------



## ThirstyTurtle

The focusing video looks like the world's biggest Maglite with that donut hole! So cool! Jeez I wish I could see this thing in person. Shine it southwest tonight and maybe I'll see it from the NC coast


----------



## kj2

That's just AMAZING!!!!  - lovecpf


----------



## PolarLi

Thanks! It was more fun hitting that switch than I thought it would be


----------



## G. Scott H.

*Re: 14&quot; 70.000 lumen spotlight project (with beamshots)*



Mr. Tone said:


> It's so compact you hardly notice it's there :naughty:



Totally. The perfect keychain edc.


----------



## windstrings

That will be perfect for my motorcycle 😈


----------



## Capolini

mispost!


----------



## PolarLi

Hmm, something new?


----------



## Capolini

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Looks like a BIG pot of soup!!,,,,,my Crespelle M' Bosa,,,,,,,,,My Italian specialty!! :thumbsup:


----------



## PolarLi

No soup for you! 
But something else is cooking...


----------



## Capolini

^^^^ lol!! I see,this ones beam will travel 30KM!


----------



## Capolini

A GLITCH AGAIN!


----------



## WarRaven

I saw a show last night where they said a IMAX bulb on the moon could be seen from your back yard..

I imagine that statement would be applicable here too.

Nice work.


----------



## PolarLi

The IMAX lamp is insane, 15.000 watt I think 

___________________________


I guess the two pictures I posted yesterday was a bit ambiguous, so here is a more obvious hint about the latest feature:

Edit, Scroll down for the video


----------



## idleprocess

Capolini said:


> A GLITCH AGAIN!


Did you know something in advance?



PolarLi said:


> The IMAX lamp is insane, 15.000 watt I think
> 
> ___________________________
> 
> 
> I guess the two pictures I posted yesterday was a bit ambiguous, so here is a more obvious hint about the latest feature:



It's a Glitch alright - _The Glitch Mob_ "Bad Wings".


----------



## PolarLi

I swear it was not intentional, but you're right! Apparently Capolini is looking into the future :green:


----------



## Capolini

PolarLi said:


> I swear it was not intentional, but you're right! Apparently Capolini is looking into the future :green:



lol!! CAPO my Siberian can predict the future!! Capo told me the fine "OP" would welcome one of his many Husky GQ pics!


----------



## jmoyat

PolarLi said:


> The IMAX lamp is insane, 15.000 watt I think
> 
> ___________________________
> 
> 
> I guess the two pictures I posted yesterday was a bit ambiguous, so here is a more obvious hint about the latest feature:
> 
> 
> https://vimeo.com/129140011




Wow, an aurora borealis in your living room 
This is simply GENIUS, the light, the photos, this is one of my favorite thread!!
Thanks for making such a fascinating project


----------



## PolarLi

So here is the details about the extra lights. 5050 RGB LED strip with WS2811 IC, driver/controller with 300 different modes and 14 key RF remote. The install was simple. Cut to length, peel and stick. Already had the hole where I put the DC socket, so I just soldered on two wires, stuck the controller on a piece of 3M VHB (awesome tape btw!) and put the glass back in. 
And hey, now I have a LED-HID hybrid. Not to many of them around 











The controller is tiny oo:





New video that show random effects from the front. I also put in the other vid, plus an old cell phone vid from April that show the actual light. 

https://vimeo.com/129217076


----------



## Mr. Tone

Nice, that is definitely a unique super-thrower :naughty:


----------



## PolarLi

Mr. Tone said:


> Nice, that is definitely a unique super-thrower :naughty:



Ready for Xmas :laughing:


----------



## jmoyat

Absolutely love it!


----------



## PolarLi

Thanks! But I promise, no more new features now 

However, I might have another short arc project coming up in a few months. A restomod, so not anything like this. I'll make a new thread for that when or if I get all the parts.


----------



## RoBeacon

This is simply amazing. Your craftsmanship was spot on. Where would I buy a reflector like that?


----------



## PolarLi

:thumbsup: This reflector is from Phoenix Electroformed. Great guys to deal with! I think they are a site sponsor too. Opti-forms is another alternative.


----------



## PolarLi

Well, I had to do the classic fog shots! :naughty: Got a nice view of three different focus settings and the halo (or what you want to call it)
In other news, I'm working on a new short arc project. It's a 8" Francis marine searchlight. Will make a project thread for that later. Yeah, I got the short arc virus


----------



## BVH

Very nice shots!


----------



## xcon

Wow, very nice beam shots!


----------



## vestureofblood

*WHOA. That blows my mind! *  Unbelievable craftsman ship. And focusable too. Not to mention some of the best beam shot and aurora borealis pictures I have ever seen. Your camera probly cost more than my truck!! 


Where did you get that reflector from?


----------



## NoNotAgain

delete


----------



## NoNotAgain

vestureofblood said:


> *WHOA. That blows my mind! *  Unbelievable craftsman ship. And focusable too. Not to mention some of the best beam shot and aurora borealis pictures I have ever seen. Your camera probly cost more than my truck!!
> 
> 
> Where did you get that reflector from?



:thumbsup: This reflector is from Phoenix Electroformed. Great guys to deal with! I think they are a site sponsor too. Opti-forms is another alternative.


----------



## PolarLi

vestureofblood said:


> Unbelievable craftsman ship. And focusable too. Not to mention some of the best beam shot and aurora borealis pictures I have ever seen. Your camera probly cost more than my truck!!



Thanks! 
All the build pics and most of the beamshots are actually with a Panasonic LX3 compact. It currently goes for like $150 on ebay. The Aurora (and the fog shots, handheld btw) are with a Nikon D5100. I paid $300 for it used, and $330 for a tokina lens, plus a really bad $15 tripod. So when that is said, it's my personal opinion that you may need a new truck! 
Anyway, you have probably heard that the key to good pictures is good light? Well, I have _good_ light, so to speak. And I live in the 'epicentre' of Aurora B activity, so that helps, a lot.


----------



## Gizer

Really cool stuff, i' m impressed. Does anyone know, is there any restrictions for using such lights? This thing is dandgerous, it can be used as an AA cannon ))


----------



## PolarLi

Well, that depends where you live. I know it's been discussed here a few times before, and most places and countries has no laws that stop you from operating a light with a certain amount of candlepower or over a certain power rating. (often opposed to lasers) However, if you endanger anyone, point the light in someones house or heaven forbid on a aircraft or vehicle you are obviously breaking the law, but that goes for any powerful light, even a big flashlight.


----------



## windstrings

True, goes for rifles, pistols too, but common sense is not so common in the hands of stupid.


----------



## Capolini

windstrings said:


> True, goes for rifles, pistols too, but common sense is not so common in the hands of stupid.



What is your point?? Do you think there is a large access of these kinds of lights with irresponsible people at the helm?!

If Joe Shmoe wants to commit mass murder how do you stop him?


----------



## PolarLi

Well, It's been over a year since I posted in this thread. I guess it's time for an update!
First, some may not have noticed, but I got a light meter and measured the lux, and it clocked in at 62,000,000 candela :thumbsup:

Last winter, I was also working on a spill light shield for the lamp. It had a very noticeable effect, as you can see on the pictures.
But it needs a few tweaks, and I haven't finished it yet.










Other than that, I don't have that much to report. The light is working good, and I actually fired it up tonight.
It was a nice northern light display, and when the sky is green, you guys know what happens.. I return the favor with some blue


----------



## IlluminatedOne

That looks amazing, thanks for the pics .


----------



## GODOFWAR

*Re: 14" 70,000 lumen spotlight project (with beamshots)*

Now just make it smaller for EDC! And I will pay you 1000000$!


----------



## staticx57

*Re: 14" 70,000 lumen spotlight project (with beamshots)*

This is something amazing!!!


----------



## PolarLi

*Re: 14" 70,000 lumen spotlight project (with beamshots)*



GODOFWAR said:


> Now just make it smaller for EDC! And I will pay you 1000000$!



Well, I only use a AAA for EDC. Who would have thought? Then again, you don't always need an EDC with this light. 
For instance, you can aim it down a long deserted road, go on a walk for 1 hour, and you still have enough light  
Just remember to bring a welding mask for the trip home :laughing:


----------



## GODOFWAR

*Re: 14" 70,000 lumen spotlight project (with beamshots)*



PolarLi said:


> Well, I only use a AAA for EDC. Who would have thought? Then again, you don't always need an EDC with this light.
> For instance, you can aim it down a long deserted road, go on a walk for 1 hour, and you still have enough light
> Just remember to bring a welding mask for the trip home :laughing:



What an awesome man you are![emoji363][emoji1303][emoji1305][emoji1319]


----------



## PolarLi

*Re: 14" 70,000 lumen spotlight project (with beamshots)*

No matter what we do, we should all aspire to become more awesome.
It's not going to be good for anyone or anything, being grumpy all day.

Alright then, enough with the PC stuff 

If anyone was wondering how this light looks like on the receiving end, 
I found this short clip that I just uploaded. I was about 1800-1900 meters away. 
It's really a pointless video, but it's still a little fun to compare it to the car on the left with the high beams on.


----------



## Alex1234

*Re: 14" 70,000 lumen spotlight project (with beamshots)*

when i see this I feel like the new tn42 with a record 700,000cd in a stock led flashlight is weak  

The tn42 has only 1% of the throw that beast has. Short arc is king !!!


----------



## Lexel

*Re: 14" 70,000 lumen spotlight project (with beamshots)*

A 150W HID with battery backpack might be good comparing to this but not really handy


----------



## Enderman

*Re: 14" 70,000 lumen spotlight project (with beamshots)*

Great job  I love this light, beautiful beam.
Has anyone considered making a 6 or 10m diameter reflector in their back yard and using a 24kW HMI bulb for 2.3 million lumens?

I think that would help make the beam more visible from a far distance...
In your video you can't really see a beam, just a point of light.


----------



## PolarLi

*Re: 14" 70,000 lumen spotlight project (with beamshots)*

The beam itself is visible with the naked eye a few km away with low light pollution. But what is visible on a lot longer distances is the actual spot you put on a mountain, the skies or whatever. And because you don't see the actual beam, people have no idea where it's coming from or wtf they see  Well, atleast for a while. I think people around here are getting used to my beam antics.

6-10m? In practice, I'm pretty sure the upper limit for a good beam is a lot less, unless you plan to focus a bonfire. -Which actually would be pretty cool when I think about it... But I would be happy with a 76 cm electroformed and a 7 kW Xstage lamp


----------



## Enderman

*Re: 14" 70,000 lumen spotlight project (with beamshots)*

Well the 24kW lamp is about the size of a fist, so compared to the size of lamp that you use, which is maybe like at least a tenth (where the arc is) then a 14" reflector equivalent would be about 140 inches, which is about 4m...
But I think the arc of your lamp is probably smaller than a tenth of a fist 

Anyway, I really like being able to see a beam from a distance, and to be visible it needs to be very thick too, like this one:


----------



## Ra

*Re: 14" 70,000 lumen spotlight project (with beamshots)*

Now I'm jealous !!! Not so much for that amazing light.. More for that place where you live !! Please don't get me wrong, I very much like that light, but I so much like snow and northern lights...


----------



## Alex1234

*Re: 14" 70,000 lumen spotlight project (with beamshots)*



Ra said:


> Now I'm jealous !!! Not so much for that amazing light.. More for that place where you live !! Please don't get me wrong, I very much like that light, but I so much like snow and northern lights...


 how would your maxablaster compare to this light in terms of throw?


----------



## PolarLi

*Re: 14" 70,000 lumen spotlight project (with beamshots)*

Ra, Thank you for the kind words! And speaking of snow, not to much of that left. Been raining now and then for a week now, and late tonight the temp peaked at 13C :fail: That's crazy this far north, in december.


----------



## Ra

*Re: 14" 70,000 lumen spotlight project (with beamshots)*

Oopss.. So almost summer temperatures there !! Well, we will see that more often as a cause of global warming.. Extremes will get more extreme.

@Alex: Just a week ago, I brought new life in Maxablaster, for years the batteries were completely dead and needed to be replaced, which was a painstaking job.
It now has LifePO4 cells, which have great advances over the old nickel metal hydride cells.
12 cells now replaced the old 54 cells, making Maxablaster some 1,5 kilogrammes lighter..
I measured a mere 58 million CP after re-aligning the reflector, so in terms of throw there will be not much difference. But with 'only' some 4000 lumens from Maxablaster there is quite a difference in lumens output.
But I still am very fond of the portability of Maxablaster, and having lost some weight (no, not me!!) it even feels light compared to its size.
I now have a decent 90 minute burntime on one charge, I think I claimed the same with the old batteries back in 2006, but never came close to some 45 minutes due to rapidly increasing internal resistence in the battery pack, which is solved now.


----------



## Alex1234

*Re: 14" 70,000 lumen spotlight project (with beamshots)*



Ra said:


> Oopss.. So almost summer temperatures there !! Well, we will see that more often as a cause of global warming.. Extremes will get more extreme.
> 
> @Alex: Just a week ago, I brought new life in Maxablaster, for years the batteries were completely dead and needed to be replaced, which was a painstaking job.
> It now has LifePO4 cells, which have great advances over the old nickel metal hydride cells.
> 12 cells now replaced the old 54 cells, making Maxablaster some 1,5 kilogrammes lighter..
> I measured a mere 58 million CP after re-aligning the reflector, so in terms of throw there will be not much difference. But with 'only' some 4000 lumens from Maxablaster there is quite a difference in lumens output.
> But I still am very fond of the portability of Maxablaster, and having lost some weight (no, not me!!) it even feels light compared to its size.
> I now have a decent 90 minute burntime on one charge, I think I claimed the same with the old batteries back in 2006, but never came close to some 45 minutes due to rapidly increasing internal resistence in the battery pack, which is solved now.




That is fantastic news. Long live the Maxablaster !!!. Awesome battery choice. 
Wow 58million cp in a portable light. Quite amazing. I have so much respect for that light you have no idea. That beamshot with the maxabeam really peaked my interest in throw. Now with my not so large budget my strongest thrower is a 55w hid i got for 60bucks. Does a about 1 million cp. Some of my led flashlights push over 700,000cd. 

Thats one thing i was always curious about. Why do people measure hid lights with candlepower and led lights with candela. It seams both units are mostly equal to eachother. A 1 million cp light would also be 1 million cd and vis versa. Its just something i been wondering about.

One day i will own a short arc.light. i just wish they weres not so expensive. Nothing like a laser beam of light like. Short arc. It juat blows my mind at how well they can focus. Talk about surface brightness...


----------



## PolarLi

*Re: 14" 70,000 lumen spotlight project (with beamshots)*



Alex1234 said:


> Thats one thing i was always curious about. Why do people measure hid lights with candlepower and led lights with candela. It seams both units are mostly equal to eachother. A 1 million cp light would also be 1 million cd and vis versa.



Old habits? Personally, I only use candela. But I'm not here to judge the candlepower people :laughing:
I assume that searchlights, that still happens to be mostly HID or incan, was the first type of lights they needed to measure the range on. And searchlights has been around long before the candela standard. BTW, *1 candlepower is actually 0.981 candela. *But that is well within measuring or meter error for hobbyists, so it doesn't really matter.


----------



## hahoo

*Re: 14" 70,000 lumen spotlight project (with beamshots)*

total cost of project , if you dont mind ?


----------



## PolarLi

*Re: 14" 70,000 lumen spotlight project (with beamshots)*

I don't mind, but my wallet insisted on veto :green:


----------



## Enderman

*Re: 14" 70,000 lumen spotlight project (with beamshots)*

Probably as much as most advanced hobbies, between $1k to $10k I would guess


----------



## Mr. Tone

*Re: 14" 70,000 lumen spotlight project (with beamshots)*

Wow, fantastic new pics, PolarLi. I am very envious of your ability to see the northern lights. Only once in my life did anything even remotely like that appear in Illinois. It would be great to see that in person. Your beamshots with the northern lights in the background are very artistic. I think they need to be standard flashaholic screensavers :thumbsup:


----------



## PolarLi

*Re: 14" 70,000 lumen spotlight project (with beamshots)*

Thank you! I'm glad you liked them. The northern lights is a nice, albeit, cold bonus for living in the north.


----------



## irongate

*Re: 14" 70,000 lumen spotlight project (with beamshots)*



Mr. Tone said:


> Wow, fantastic new pics, PolarLi. I am very envious of your ability to see the northern lights. Only once in my life did anything even remotely like that appear in Illinois. It would be great to see that in person. Your beamshots with the northern lights in the background are very artistic. I think they need to be standard flashaholic screensavers :thumbsup:



Not to change the subject, but go up to Northern Minn, N.D or Mich. and you can can see them dancing away on certain days-really neat.

Yes that light is also very cool!


----------



## Mr. Tone

*Re: 14" 70,000 lumen spotlight project (with beamshots)*



irongate said:


> Not to change the subject, but go up to Northern Minn, N.D or Mich. and you can can see them dancing away on certain days-really neat.
> 
> Yes that light is also very cool!



That's good to know, thanks.


----------



## Nexxos1412

*Re: 14" 70,000 lumen spotlight project (with beamshots)*

Hello,
thats truely amazing . Really nice Job you did there. My question is where you get that Ballast and the Ignition Circuit ? Or did you Build the Ignition circuit on your own with an DC-DC HV Boost or an Neon Transformer ?


Best regards
Nico


----------



## PolarLi

*Re: 14" 70,000 lumen spotlight project (with beamshots)*

Thanks!
I got the ballast and igniter from rotec-gmbh.com. They have a pretty good selection.

---------

BTW, I forgot to add one more thing to my last update: A modified, old backpack for the light. A better option than the lanyard setup :laughing:


----------



## Nexxos1412

*Re: 14" 70,000 lumen spotlight project (with beamshots)*



PolarLi said:


> Thanks!
> I got the ballast and igniter from rotec-gmbh.com. They have a pretty good selection.
> 
> ---------
> 
> BTW, I forgot to add one more thing to my last update: A modified, old backpack for the light. A better option than the lanyard setup :laughing:





Duuude  please put an lanyard on it  i want to see it  
That solution with the Backpack is pretty awesome seems near as "compact" 

Lanyard for your light is omething like that






Thanks for that tipp with the Ballasts. In Germany these Lap types and Ballast are really rare

Best regards
Nico


----------



## PolarLi

*Re: 14" 70,000 lumen spotlight project (with beamshots)*

Ehm, page 4 I think


----------



## Nexxos1412

*Re: 14" 70,000 lumen spotlight project (with beamshots)*



PolarLi said:


> Ehm, page 4 I think



I saw it  Looks Pretty nice  I think the Categorie spotlight wo't fit at all is it your new EDC ? 

Do you also Driver it not stationary with an DC 12/24V -> AC 230V "sine wave" Frequency converter ?
i mean the true sine Wave converters are pretty expensive but the Ballast needs good clean sine wave as input or ?


Best regards
Nico


----------



## PolarLi

*Re: 14" 70,000 lumen spotlight project (with beamshots)*

I never asked regarding the power. It might handle square wave, but I have never tried it.
But I have tested it with a sine generator (Kipor IG2000) and that works flawless. The ballast has also a very gentle startup, so you don't need massive power reserves. My plug-in meter peaked at 960W on ignition, and settled at 940W warmed up.


----------



## Bushman5

*Re: 14" 70,000 lumen spotlight project (with beamshots)*

insane! love it. 

esp the housing.....


----------

