# Carbon Arc



## Team Member (Nov 28, 2009)

I just happend to run across a guy that had bought a small light just a few hours before I met him...

Here are a few teasers 













I think I took some 50-60 pics on this amazing piece of history in just 20 minutes..
This is some amazing stuff, more pics to come...


----------



## BVH (Nov 28, 2009)

I'm not a linguist but is that German, making this the German variant of the US 60"? I have read just a little about some being made in Europe/Russia.

Ill bet it's even harder to get parts for this light than our US made version. Is it in working condition? Would love to see some of the other pics you took and one of it working if it does. I'll supply my email.


----------



## Team Member (Nov 28, 2009)

Yep, it´s a German version with a 60'' reflector.

It´s said to be working, but I don´t know for shure. 


He did get 2 tons of rods with it....


----------



## BVH (Nov 28, 2009)

WOW! that's a lot of rods! Can you find out the + and - rod diameter and if it looks like they are core filled with a different material? The US machine rods (the originals) are filled with Cerium to enhance brightness. + is 5/8" and - is 7/16"


----------



## Patriot (Nov 28, 2009)

My gosh, look at that thing! Typical German construction with everything over built to the hilt. Did you say "two tons of rods!?" haha...that's amazing.


----------



## Juggernaut (Nov 28, 2009)

The moment I saw those wheels I yelled out German:laughing:! That thing is sweet, hope to see some pics of it up and running:twothumbs.


----------



## Illum (Nov 28, 2009)

Flakscheinwerfer!

reminds me of this pic




Also check the searchlight pics in this thread: http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/showthread.php?t=87940
Rehosted here


----------



## Kuryakin (Nov 28, 2009)

The German ones are somewhat more powerful than ours (naturally, they had more to worry about), at 200 amps and about 100 volts at the arc. It used a 24 KW generator powered by an 8 cylinder engine. 

They also had 200cm units, with 450 amp burners and were powered by 120 KW generators! No idea if any of those exist, much less operate. They also had seriously large carbons! 

Our GE and Sperrys are pretty cool, and also well made, but they pale in comparison to the German machines. 



BVH said:


> I'm not a linguist but is that German, making this the German variant of the US 60"? I have read just a little about some being made in Europe/Russia.
> 
> Ill bet it's even harder to get parts for this light than our US made version. Is it in working condition? Would love to see some of the other pics you took and one of it working if it does. I'll supply my email.


----------



## Team Member (Nov 29, 2009)

Yes, 2 tons of rods 

Info taken from my memory..

The average lifespan of a search light during WWII was 30 seconds in Germany. Then it was shot or bombed....oo:



This one has been standing outside since 1945 and still works...to do so it needs to be overbuilt. 

I will put up some more pics later on. I took some from the inside showing the mechanism that feeds the rods.


----------



## Kuryakin (Nov 29, 2009)

So, got any pics of the generator? Inside the can? The rig as a whole? Where was this located? These and more questions, As The Searchlight Turns...



Team Member said:


> I just happend to run across a guy that had bought a small light just a few hours before I met him...
> 
> Here are a few teasers
> 
> ...


----------



## IMSabbel (Nov 29, 2009)

This made me curious, and i found this page:
http://www.zweiter-weltkrieg-lexiko...onen-FlaK/Scheinwerfer-150-cm-und-200-cm.html

There is a pic of a 200cm light on it.

Plus some production Numbers: as of 1944, there were >7000 150cm and >2000 200cm


----------



## Anders Hoveland (Jan 24, 2015)

Just a little bit of information about carbon arc lamps that may be of interest-
The most efficient ones are around 36 lumens/Watt. They emit true Black body shaped spectrum at about 4000K, so I could suppose one could say they have near perfect CRI. I would not want to use one for lighting my bedroom though, they give off a tremendous amount of violet and UV light.

For comparison, the color temperature of the sun from space is about 5,900 K, before it passes through the atmosphere and gets attenuated down to a lower 4000-5400K correlated temperature. (btw, 4000K attenuated sunlight does not quite have the same spectral distribution as a true unfiltered 4000K black body, which would be more hazardous on the eyes)


----------

