# Police Helicopter lights



## NAW (Feb 10, 2007)

I'm sure you guys must have seen some police helicopters at low altitudes shining there mounted searchlight every now & then.

Would anyone happen to know what kind of lights these are? I'm assuming there high wattage Xenon lights?

Couple days ago I was out shining my Rayzorlite & a nearby police heli came & checked me out. I got a nice blast of there light and it was great. And no, I didn't shine back at them. I'm not stupid


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## Kwizatz Haderach (Feb 10, 2007)

My HTML skills are weak. Go to www.spectrolab.com and/or Google SX-16 Nightsun


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## Ra (Feb 10, 2007)

Yep NAW, Those are 1000-2200 watt Xenon short arc lights.

With 2000 watts, the arc is big enough to obtain the typical beam-pattern with a bright central spot.

They inspired me to build the Maxablaster, not reaching the lumens-output, but surpassing them on candlepower, Maxablaster has a more laserlike beam with less sidespill that stretches for miles !


Regards,

Ra.


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## spyderknut (Feb 10, 2007)

Our county PD flew in a chopper to a cubscout campout. The pilot did not say what kind of light it was but did say it was 30 million candlepower. Probably plenty when your eyes are adjusted to dark and you have a birdseye view.


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## BVH (Feb 10, 2007)

Back when I finished my trade school education in automotive tech, I interviewed at Spectrolab and almost took a job there. That was fully 31 years before I became a flashaholic. Interesting coincidence.


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## LuxLuthor (Feb 10, 2007)

This spotlight there looks bad ***!


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## ShortArc (Feb 10, 2007)

LuxLuthor said:


> This spotlight there looks bad ***!


 

Yea and it is only around $87K. Cheers.


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## NAW (Feb 10, 2007)

Thanks guys,

every time I saw thse lights in action, I always wanted to know what they were. According to the specs of some of the lights, it seems most are around 1500W, can throw 1 kilometer, and are around 30-40MCP. Although the only thing is they have no lumen ratings


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## Ra (Feb 10, 2007)

Ohh, I can enlighten you on that:

1000watts Xe gives about 30,000 bulb-lumens

1600watts Xe about 45,000 bulb-lumens.

My guess is that a helicopter-light with a 1600watts bulb gives about 25,000-30,000 torch-lumens, all projected into the main beam


Regards,

Ra.


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## NAW (Feb 10, 2007)

Whoa thats a whooper full of lumens! 

I also found out that at a distance of KM the lux is about 32. 

I totally underestimated these lights.


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## Ra (Feb 10, 2007)

And..

I get the impression that you do not know that when a light gives a lux-reading of 32 at one km, the cp-output is 32 million cp's (at least: due to absorbtions in the atmosphere the actual output is higher!)

A lux-reading at a certain distance is directly recalculateble to cp's:

The amount of lux at one meter equals cp-output.

At 10 meters, you must magnify the lux-reading with 100 (10x10) to calculate the cp-output.

So if you read about a light with 40 million cp's, you can already tell that it will give a lux-reading close to 40 lux at 1 km ! That is.. If they were honest about the cp-output of the light.

Don't try to get a lux-reading of 15 lux at 1 km from a 15mcp Thor !! You will be surprized with the outcome!! (about 0.35 lux tops !!)


Regards.

Ra.


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## search_and_rescue (Feb 10, 2007)

Ra said:


> Ohh, I can enlighten you on that:
> 
> 1000watts Xe gives about 30,000 bulb-lumens
> 
> ...


 
25,000 torch lumens. I can see the ad now: "...more than 50 times brighter than a six-Lithium cell flashlight..." :candle:


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## abvidledUK (Feb 10, 2007)

Trouble with all these lights is that the generator is a little large, and noisy..


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## NAW (Feb 10, 2007)

abvidledUK said:


> Trouble with all these lights is that the generator is a little large, and noisy..


 
It helps intimidate the suspects. :naughty:


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## jeffroalpha700 (Feb 12, 2007)

Spectrolab makes two main variants, the SX-5 and the SX-16. They are a division of Boeing. The smaller SX-5 (500 watt) is typically used on smaller craft such as the MD500. The SX-16 (1,600 watt) is typically on all the other craft. Hope this helps.

Here’s a direct link to their illumination page: http://ils.spectrolab.com/default.aspx.


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## jeffroalpha700 (Feb 13, 2007)

Whoops! Looks like this was already well-answered. Sorry!


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## search_and_rescue (Mar 4, 2007)

NAW said:


> It helps intimidate the suspects. :naughty:


 Last night I encountered one on the Fire Road.  Saw the beam before I heard the rotors. Same brightness as my Surefire M6... but from 1/2 mile away! Makes the Surefire M6 seem like a tiny Maglite Solitaire in comparison.


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## bill_n_opus (Mar 10, 2007)

ShortArc said:


> Yea and it is only around $87K. Cheers.


 
Lemme dig into my pocket change ...


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