# Blitz Short Arc: The Moon Blaster



## ma_sha1 (Jan 15, 2011)

*Blitz Short Arc: The Moon Blaster with 20 Million Beam Candle Power*

This is my 2nd Short Arc Mod, a *sequel to the Mega Blaster as seen here*: 
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb...t-arc-mod-MegaRay-style&highlight=megablaster
*
This light has approximately 20 Million Beam candle power, the second longest throwing spotlight behind Ra's lengendary Maxa Blaster! *Exact CPs to be measured at 100 meters distance coming this spring 

I wanted to keep the name in the MB family, The *Moon Blaster* name
was inspired by this thread Maxa Beam vs. the Moon:
The photo was amazing: http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/...d.php?t=199795

*

Since the Mega Blaster did 6 Million cp on 4.5" lens, the Blitz is 9" reflector,
when you double the diameter, you get roughly 4x the CPs, thus the performance for the Moon Blaster Target over 20 Million of real CPs, at ~7000 Lumens, itll blow even the enhanced version of Maxa Beam (12 million cp version) out of the water with both throw and lumens! 



The host:*

I know I wanted to go with 9" reflector host. Not sure which one I want to go with, I got both. I compared the popular 15Millip CP Thor style host (A Camo Thor clone in the photo) Lightforce Blitz 240 before deciding to go with Blitz for 3 reasons:


1, It looks a lot smaller than the Thor 15 Mil type
2, The reflector looks like much better quality
3, It has Focus ability, at this level of CPs, a proper re-focus upon target distance change can easily gain a few million cps. 







*The Ballast:*
Again, I am taking the Ballast from DLP Projector. Instead of short the lamp On signal, I wired a switch to it, so I can shut the lamp keep the fan running for the after-cool (the red yellow Wire). I also kept the small board above the ballast that supplies 12v to the Fans kept the two fans for collling the ballast. 





I used the same switch as factory one mounted at where the VGA port used to be to make it look natural (The Switch on Top)





Testing with the Factory P-VIP lamp that came with the Projector: Everything works! :devil:





One more thing I should mention: MY ballast has two Lamp control Signal
that need to be tricked. Besides the one I wired a switch on (Jumper the out put legs of Opto coupler), there was another trigger that was originally wired to a factory momentary switch. That switch will only be pressed when the OEM lamp is installed. When lamp door is open, it wont fire up. A safely feature I suspect may be on quite a few DLP projector models. I cut the wires soldered them together (The white piece with two brawn two blue wires, the momentary switch has two set of wires, no idea why). 










Tricking the DLP projector ballast for me has been hit or miss. Here is 

one that I was not able to trick: *I was not able to fire up the ballast after taken everything apart neither was I able to put it back together* 







*The lamp:*
This is the same lamp as used in the Mega Blaster, 120W P-VIP P24 1.0mm short arc lamp, 
So I am not go to repeat the specs here. However, for use with Blitz, I must take the bulb out of the built-in reflector.

The two Bulb I peeled: left Philips UHP 120W, Right Osram P-VIP 120W
I'll be using the P-VIP as it has a smaller arc cleaner arc chamber, possible less hours on it (Both lamps were used with unkown hours) 






The Blitz Blitz 100W lamp holder is Bi-Pin, I needed to re-mount the P-VIP lamp with a ceramic holder. After extensive internet ebay search: Look what I found: A Ceramic Tube Socket that I think its going to work!

I got the 12 Pin style that has an diameter almost perfect fit for the Blitz,
took some pins out, kept a few to allow me to pull adjust while testing it. 





Before I mount the lamp, I wanted to make sure it's still working. 

I had used needle nose plier to break the glass reflector (*I did this with a full face shield on, safely first! The Lamp can explode, this is dangerous! Search projector lamp explosion on U-Tube see for your self, some dudes got bloody*) 

Testing the bare lamp with the help of alligator clamp, Yeah still works! :devil:







Test fitting making sure the Arc location is where the factory bulb filament used to be, so I know its within factory focus range. 





The lamp is potted to the center hole using Automotive Exhaust Potty with a home made aluminum spacer. Now, I need to let it cure overnight. 









to be continued...

.


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## ma_sha1 (Mar 26, 2011)

*Well, it didn't take me 2 month to finish the light, the rest of the posts were lost during CPF crash, I finally got time to repost the second half...*

*I bored out the Blitz metal socket *so that I can sit the Ceramic socket in it,
This way, the lamp can sit 1/4" more forward & fall into the Reflector focus zone. 






*Extending the filament: *

This is a challenge I had to over come, the exotic metal lead wire is too short as it was originally connected for tiny reflector side walls. I need to extend it. I don't think copper or alu. wires can withstand the 200F heat right next to the 
arc, so I decided to sacrifize one of my 75W HID bulbs & the Ceramic wrapped lead wire:
I had to break the HID bulb but it's not under high pressure as the UHP/P VIP bulbs are, so it won't explode. 





the finished lamp inside the Blitz reflector




*


Finally, it's all done & * *ready to do battle with the Maxa Beam:*
Left is *Moon* *Blaster* & Right is *Maxa Beam*:






The Beam shot is taken at 10 meters (33 feet) & exposure is set at 1/1000 of sec super low exposure so that I can avoid over exposure & tell the spot intensity apart.

*Left=Moon Blaster, Right= Maxa Beam* (*On burst, 75W mode*)
The *Moon Blaster *spot is so much more intense than Maxa Beam, it's not even funny. 






Zoom in to see the spot better: The Moon Blaster hot spot core is smaller than the Maxa Beam's with much higher intensity. It has some corona, I think due to the reflector quality is not as good as Maxa Beam reflector. High precision shiot-arc reflectors can collinmate all lights into the spot. The Blitz reflector, although much better than other spotlights, its still not a perfect 4th degree parabola & thus can not collinmate 100% of the lights into the spot, but it does a pretty good job considering the cost. Precison short arc reflectors in this size will cost $600 to $800 alone.





*Here comes the burning question: Did I meet my design target of 20 Million real CP? *
*Well, sort of. * As RA pointed out many times. A light of such high intensity need to be measured at 100 meters not 10 meters to get the true CP measured. 

The 10 meter lux measurement came out to be 16.7 Million Lux @ 1 meter. With the focus adjustment function, I have no doubt that I could get over the 20 Million mark when I get to measure it at 100 meters our in the Spring.

The spot is so intense that it was hurting my eyes looking at it 33 feet away & when I put the lux meter on the wall into the hot spot, I could feel the heat in the beam, that was coming from the source at 33 feet away. After I was done, I put my hand on the wall & I could feel the part of wall warmed up a bit ...


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## ma_sha1 (Mar 26, 2011)

Well, The Spring is almost here in Maine, Snow has melted & its a beautiful Sunny Day.
I went on an adventure to look for a suitable place for 100 meter Lux measurements.

I find this rail road track place, the ledge under the bridge, 3ft off the ground is ideal to place for my Extech EA30 lux meter on. The EA30 is one of the more accurate Lux meters & It has a *Perak Hold* Function, Which is critical for my One man lux reading adventure . As even with my monocular, I can't reed lux meter reading at over 100ft, no way for 100 meters which is 328 feet.





I walked along the track while measuring distance with my 100 feet tape measure, by the time I get to this railroad light, it's 259ft. This photo is 259 ft away from my Lux meter spot. I also took my branch cutter & cut some tree branches alone the way that might block the light path.





Finally, I have reached to my 100 meter spot, which is 328 feet. This photo is taken from the 100 meter spot,which I marked it down so I don't need to fiddle with tape measures at night.





Now, its just a matter of waiting for the sweet darkness to fall upon...


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## BVH (Mar 26, 2011)

Looking forward to your shots!


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## Walterk (Mar 26, 2011)

:naughty:


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## Throwjunkie (Mar 26, 2011)

Beam us up Brother cant wait to see some beams. 


Joe


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## ma_sha1 (Mar 26, 2011)

Guys, This is not the beam shot night, it's lux reading night only. Sorry, 

I will have beam shots before summer to that island a mile away from shore, but for now, 
I need to take care the 100 meter lux readings. RA beat me up every time I post a 10 meter lux reading 
Railroad track is not where I want hang around at night, I got to do it quick, plus 328 ft is way to close for beam shots. Just got back from the trip, 4 short arc lights in one night, quite a feast on beams up in the air, I am pretty beat. I am going to open a separate thread dedicated to Short Arc & HID lux readings. 328 feet round trip x5 & I forgot to change shoes, went out with my business dress shoe ...


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## ma_sha1 (Mar 26, 2011)

I have posted all theses 100 meter lux readings in a new thread, however, I'd like to add some more comments here as that thread is going to be numbers only for reference use. 

There are several surprises. I was told over & over again that 10 meter lux reading is useless for short arc, which did not turn out to be the case in my hands. There are un disputable correlations between 10 meter and the 100 meter lux readings on 3 of the 4 short arc lights below. In fact, they are very close.

There are some increase from 10 meters to 30 meters in lux reading on Maxa Beam, but identical from 30 meters to 100 meters. I think 30 meters (100 feet) lux readings would have been enough for most of the short arc spot lights & that would have saved me lots of efforts, as my drive way is 30 meter long.

Another surprise is the Military 150W short arc, which in my separate post of 5 meter beam shots, the spot definately looked a lot brighter than Maxa Beam. However, the 100 meter lux readings are much much less than Maxa Beam. When I looked at the beam in the air, I realized that the 150W light has limited it focus travel & it can not focus down to the same small spot at long distance. the 6 meter or so is where the narrowest point of the beam is & after that, it starts to spread out.

The beam goes narrow & then reverse turn into a broader beam angle, in the end, at 100 meters, it had a large perfectly round & even spot but look 10 times larger than Maxa Beam spot.

My conclusion is that the designer of the light limited focus travel in exchange for bigger area coverage. 

I imagine that some modifications to the focus system should be able to allow further focus to smaller spot & release the true throw of the 150W xenon short arc system. 

*
Moon Blaster: 120W Hi Pressure Mercury short Arc, 9" reflector -**16.1 Million CP*
(Measured by ma_sha1 @ 100 meter distance)16.7 Million CP when measured @ 10 meter distance

*Mega Blaster: 120W High Pressure Mercury short Arc, 4.5" Aspheric lens-**5.0 Million CP*
(Measured by ma_sha1 @ 100 meter distance) 5.5 Million CP when measured @ 10 meter distance
*
Maxa Beam: 75W Xenon short Arc, 5" Hi End Reflector --**2.3 Million CP*
(Measured by ma_sha1 @ 100 meter distance)
2.3 Million CP when measured @ 30 meter; 1.9 Million CP when measured @ 10 meter. 
*
Military short Arc: 150W Xenon short Arc, 6" Hi End Reflector --**0.8 Million CP*
(Measured by ma_sha1 @ 100 meter distance)1.1 Million CP when measured @ 10 meter distance


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## Walterk (Mar 27, 2011)

Now we are talking! 
Very interesting all the measurements together!


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## Ra (Mar 30, 2011)

Very interesting indeed ma_sha,

Whoww, You finally did it ! And? did it hurt..? (LOL...)

The fact that your measurements at 10m do not differ much from the ones at 100m does not mean that any measurement at 10m will be sufficient in the future!
It all has to do with the arc/reflector-size-ratio of the several lights. your Maxabeam would have given a bigger difference if it did not suffer from optical arc displacement.
Another matter that could explain the small differences in your measurements : I do not focus my lights at 10m when I measure them, because not all of my lights can be focused.. you probably do.
When I would focus my Maxabeam at 10m, the difference between 10m and 100m readings would also be much smaller.
With short arcs, you need to measure at least at a distance where you are sure that the reflector totally plays along.

My Maxabeam measures 13.8 Million CP at 100meter... Surprising to see the 9" Moon Blaster does not go that far beond...


Regards,

Ra.


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## Ot10St (Mar 30, 2011)

Dear Ma_Sha1, dear Ra (light god?)

How do you measure the brightness or wich equipement do you use for this?

Stefan


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## ma_sha1 (Mar 30, 2011)

Ra said:


> Another matter that could explain the small differences in your measurements : I do not focus my lights at 10m when I measure them, because not all of my lights can be focused.. you probably do.
> 
> 
> My Maxabeam measures 13.8 Million CP at 100meter... Surprising to see the 9" Moon Blaster does not go that far beond...
> ...



I do indeed try my best to do Focus adjustment at 10 meter, 30, 100 meters whatever meters I measure it at. 

I am also surprised that it didn't go above 20 Million, given that the Mega Blaster is 5 Million @ 4.5", the 9" should be 20, but the spot is not as cleanly focused as the Mega blaster or Maxa beam, I think it's the reflector not being a perfect Parabola. 

As for the discrepancies between yours & my Maxa Beam, the only scientific way to solve the issue is reciprocation tests. You send yours to me & I send mine to you for testing, which will align our meter differences, but there is only problem, you might never see your Maxa Beam again


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## Ra (Mar 30, 2011)

Well, I have some secret inside information about the chance of an upcomming posibility of testing your Maxabeam anyway... In the nearby future... perhaps..maybe..



Ra.


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## Ra (Mar 30, 2011)

But on a more serious note: Aligning our meter differences is not a hard thing to do..

I can send you a cheap but reliable, homemade lightbox that produces an exact amount of light..
And you can check your meter with that box, comparing the measurment data with mine, measured just before shipping...
Sould not be that expensive.. Something we meight need to do when your creations come close to the 52 Million cp mark..


Ra


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## Ra (Mar 30, 2011)

Ot10St said:


> Dear Ma_Sha1, dear Ra (light god?)
> 
> How do you measure the brightness or wich equipement do you use for this?
> 
> Stefan



Hi Stefan,

With lights, you can measure the quantity of light, which is lumens output. Or throw of the light (the abillity of enlightening distant objects) which is cp output (or amount of lux measured at 1 meter)
You cannot convert cp to lumens or the other way around, they are two different things: A laser pointer has high throw and low lumens output, a CCFL tube has poor throw and high lumens output.

Measuring the cp-output is not very hard to do: With a common lux meter (not very expensive) you measure the lux at a certain distance from the torch, and if not measured at 1 meter,
convert the measurement data (simple formula) to lux @ 1m (equal to cp).
Measuring the lumens output is much harder: You need an integrating sphere for that, big enough to support your torch. EXPENSIVE! no... Many do what they call 'ceilingbounce' tests.
Most of the light is collimated in the main beam of a torch, directing this beam up towards a ceiling as white as possible, lights up the room with a certain intensity. You can measure this
intensity with the lux meter, measuring the 'amount' of light produced. But many losses and impurities in the way of measurement, make this a not very reliable way of measuring.
So you can only use this to say something about the difference in output of different torches, measured in the same room. Not about the actual output of each torch.. Unless you
have some sort of callibrated torch of which the actual lumens output is known..

Hope this somewhat answers your question..


Regards,

Ra.


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## Ot10St (Mar 30, 2011)

Hi Ra,

thanks for your answer. But I read that you measure the brightness in CP in a distance of 50meters / 100meters.(13.8million CP at 100m)I am sure that no Lux meter will survive such powerful light output in a distance of 1m. How do you calculate the CP in a distance of 10m or 100m? For example, if you measure in a distance of 100m 100Lux then is the CP output 100lux x 100m = 10000 CP? Because I will measue my flashlight too, to have a comparasion. How much Lux can your Lux meter detect? Could you tell me exactly wich Lux meter do you use. Sorry for the stupied questions but unfortunately I am not involved in light measurement.

Thanks Stefan


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## ma_sha1 (Mar 30, 2011)

Ra said:


> But on a more serious note: Aligning our meter differences is not a hard thing to do..
> 
> I can send you a cheap but reliable, homemade lightbox that produces an exact amount of light..
> And you can check your meter with that box, comparing the measurment data with mine, measured just before shipping...
> ...



Ra, 

Great plan. When my next light is done, I'll remind you of that. I am targeting the 50 Million CP mark


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## ma_sha1 (Mar 30, 2011)

Ot10St said:


> Hi Ra,
> 
> thanks for your answer. But I read that you measure the brightness in CP in a distance of 50meters / 100meters.(13.8million CP at 100m)I am sure that no Lux meter will survive such powerful light output in a distance of 1m. How do you calculate the CP in a distance of 10m or 100m? For example, if you measure in a distance of 100m 100Lux then is the CP output 100lux x 100m = 10000 CP? Because I will measue my flashlight too, to have a comparasion. How much Lux can your Lux meter detect? Could you tell me exactly wich Lux meter do you use. Sorry for the stupied questions but unfortunately I am not involved in light measurement.
> 
> Thanks Stefan


 
Ra, if you don't mind me answering this one, Feel free to correct me. 

Stefan,

Glad to see you are back in action!

If you measure at 10 meters, to convert to lux @ 1 meter, you take the lux times 10x10. 1000 lux = 100,000 lux @ 1 meter. At 100 meters, 1000lux measured translate to 1000x100x100= 10 million [email protected] 1 meter

I've used Deal Extreme cheap lux meter ($30) for a while, it reads low but consistent. I used DX lux +20% & it correlate well with EA30 meter. Recently, I got a the good lux meter, Extech EA30, cost about $160. it has a "Peak hold" function, I was able to do 100 meter lux by my self because of that. 

The most widely used meter on CPF is Meterman lux meter, which is about $80 & better than Dx meter but has more meter to meter Variations compared to EA30. I don't have personal experience with the Meterman meter.

In my experience, I find lux meter is a must for guiding progresses & any meter is better than no meter, hope this helps.


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## Ot10St (Mar 31, 2011)

Hi Ma_Sha1,

Thanks for the description, know I understand how to measure. 
And yes, any meter is better then no meter. Also the next what I need to have is a lux meter. The peak hold function is very confortable, but I think the Extech EA30 is to expensive for me, I will start with a cheaper one.

Greez Stefan


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## ma_sha1 (Mar 31, 2011)

Stefan,

You are welcome. Thanks again for the P-VIP ballast! I haven't made much progress on my next "secret project" except just finished tapping 300V DC from a 350W power inverter here:
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb...pping-450V-DC-out-from-12-220V-power-Inverter

Is it enough to fire up the 260W ballast? What's the range of DC accepted for the ballast?


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## Ot10St (Mar 31, 2011)

ma_sha1 said:


> Stefan,
> 
> You are welcome. Thanks again for the P-VIP ballast! I haven't made much progress on my next "secret project" except just finished tapping 300V DC from a 350W power inverter here:
> http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb...pping-450V-DC-out-from-12-220V-power-Inverter
> ...


 
Hi Ma_Sha,

Yes, I think the 350W power converter should be strong enough to drive the 260W ballast. You can estimate a loss for the power converter of 5 upto 10%. So you are in the rage of 350W. But, pls. be carefully with the ignition voltage!!! Otherwise the "secret project" will be your last project. The accepted DC range for the ballst is between 280-340VDC. Do not forget to cool the ballast at work and the UHP or P-VIP HID too. But I think you have enough experience to do this. I am look forward to here from your secret project! 

Regards Stefan


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## ma_sha1 (Mar 31, 2011)

Ot10St said:


> Hi Ma_Sha,
> 
> But, pls. be carefully with the ignition voltage!!! Otherwise the "secret project" will be your last project.
> 
> Regards Stefan


 
Thanks Stefan!

Well, actually, the "secret project" will indeed be my *last* short arc *project*, 
but I do plan to walk around with it after wards


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## Ot10St (Mar 31, 2011)

ma_sha1 said:


> Thanks Stefan!
> 
> Well, actually, the "secret project" will indeed be my *last* short arc *project*,
> but I do plan to walk around with it after wards


 
Dear Ma_Sha

Are you sure to want to do this? OK, in America you have much more freedom. In Germany you will get a free place in a funny farm if you will catch by the police

Good luck Stefan


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## Syncronisator (Sep 28, 2014)

Unfortunately ALL the pictures are gone... Is it possible to "reupload" them???


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