# One Mile Ray Spotlight Modification



## maddmatt21 (Apr 9, 2018)

Hi all, new user in need of some advice/suggestions.

I recently came into possession of a '1 mile ray' marine spotlight from a coast guard ship. It had been converted to run off of AC power, but the job done was absolutely terrible. Looks like all they did was stick in an old incandescent headlight bulb socket into the reflector and it doesn't throw very much light at all. I thought I'd buy a handheld spotlight, pull out the 'guts' and replace this to make a decent static position light thrower for my back porch. What I'm looking for is if anyone has any recommendations on spotlights I should buy to use the parts for. The reflector on this is 8.5" across, and the socket is 0.5" across. I figured my price range on a 'donor' spotlight would be maybe 200 bucks. I don't want to spend a ton of money on something I'm just going to rip up mostly.

I thought I could use the same reflector, so from the 'donor' spotlight I guess all I need is the bulb socket and whatever electrics/ballast are in there. 

Appreciate any suggestions anyone might have to get this thing back up and throwing light again!


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## FRITZHID (Apr 10, 2018)

Well, depending on your usage, HID may fit your bill, but keep in mind that HID prefer to be run for a while, not turned on/off repeatedly in short intervals. Otherwise LED upgrade but that will be a more complicated build.


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## maddmatt21 (Apr 10, 2018)

My usage would really just be for spotlighting off of a deck, to a treeline approximately 500 yards away. It would just be on for 15-30 seconds probably at a time, not really very long. For an HID, what's the 'damage' done by quick on/offs, just a bulb replacement faster? What kind of frequency would we be talking about here? 

Is there a particular HID spotlight in the sub 200 dollar range that you'd recommend?


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## PolarLi (Apr 11, 2018)

I assume you have AC power available, but did you want to run this on battery? Either way, a simple mod would be to install pin based G, GX or GY 6.35 halogen lamp 100-200 watt. Both lamps and bases are quite easy to find. Both 12-24VDC and 120-240VAC. With a mains voltage lamp, you obviously don't need a transformer or battery. A mod like that would only set you back $10-20
As for HID, as already mentioned, they don't like to be used in short intervals, and the damage is done on the lamp over time. But they will survive many cold starts and partially warm ups, like several hundred. Exactly how many, is close to impossible to say. It depends on the lamp and ballast quality. But the other issue with so short run times, is that you barely get full output from a HID lamp, and you can just as well use halogen and get full output from the first second. And if you keep the runtimes below a minute or so, you can easily run a 300 watt lamp and get a nice fat beam.

EDIT: I removed my suggestion with the H1 lamp. Not easy to install without access from behind the base


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## maddmatt21 (Apr 11, 2018)

I do have 120v AC available, and I did not want to run it off of a battery. I planned on this being a 'fixed installation' likely living out in the weather if that matters at all. I figure it was on a coast guard ship, so some rain and sometimes snow shouldn't matter much right? Regarding the halogen, you're saying buy something like this: https://www.platt.com/platt-electri...olders/Satco/90-1590/product.aspx?zpid=686560 https://www.bulbamerica.com/products/64514-bulb-osram-sylvania-300w-120v-gx6-35-halogen-light-bulb Then wire the sucker up to 120v and stick in a switch somewhere along the way? I assume this is what you mean but I thought I'd make sure.


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## PolarLi (Apr 11, 2018)

Yep, spot on! And the light is definitely weather proof, but I would check that gaskets and cable glands are in good condition.
The lamp you picked is a good one, but I found one that I think should give you more throw: https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/809269-REG/Ushio_1000974_JCV_Lamp_300W_120V.html 
Is has an axial filament where you can focus the center part. If you look at the filament on the Osram lamp, you will see it's in two parts, and there is some space between, so you can only focus one of the filament rows. Now, an even better lamp than both of these would probably be this: https://www.bulbamerica.com/products/ushio-jc-300w-24v-halogen-lamp It has an even more compact filament, and you would put more light in the small focus point of the reflector, in other words, you would get more throw. The downside is of course that the lamp is 24V, so you need a power supply. The bonus with a low voltage/PSU setup is the possibility to overdrive the lamp. If you search for some of the old "hotwire" threads here, you fill find a lot more info on the subject.

Edit: here is an even better one: https://www.bulbamerica.com/product...75w-24v-g6-35-single-ended-halogen-light-bulb Again, it's 24V, but with a 10-14% voltage boost, it would be hard to beat. (and cheap to replace..)


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## 1pt21 (Apr 12, 2018)

Very cool project!! Following this thread :thumbsup:


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## maddmatt21 (Apr 12, 2018)

Thanks a ton for the help, I think I'll go with the 24v - both because the lamp is better and also because it seems a bit safer to have 24 volts out at the lamp rather than 120v AC. I searched for 'hotwire' here (is it in this forum?) but search seems to be disabled. Maybe my post count is too low. I'll find it at some point I'm sure. If you happen to know a supply that's easily boostable I'll buy that one, otherwise I'll keep looking for the threads once search is possible again.

One more question if you don't mind. From your comments about the point specific location of the light I'm assuming that the source point location is a big deal to get perfect. Do you have a rough idea of how deep into the parabolic reflector usually the light source needs to be? I ask because the way the reflector is built I believe I'll need to build a 'plug' that slides in and out (maybe out of polyurethane or UHMW?) attach the socket to the leading face and thread the wires down the center. I'll need to make the 'plug' long enough so that it can stick out into the reflector the correct amount.

Couple of pics of the back of the reflector, the way the 'sleeve' in the middle is set up.


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## PolarLi (Apr 12, 2018)

A MeanWell LRS-350-24 should be good match. And you can turn up the voltage 20% to 28.8V. They seem to go for approx $45. Since it's not waterproof, you obviously want to place it indoors and try to keep the cable to the light as short as possible. And when tuning it, always measure the voltage at the light to account for loss in the cable. 

Making a plastic plug seems like a good idea, but be aware it will be pretty hot back there, so Acetal/Delring is probably better, or if you want the best, PTFE. But if you have something else laying around, you can always try it out first. Btw, does the light have an focus adjusting knob or screw in the back? Regarding the focus point, let me know the diameter of the reflector not including the outside flange, and the reflector depth, not including the sleeve, and I can just fill it in a parabola program and get pretty close.

I found a relevant thread here, Check out the two last tests/pictures in the first post. http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb...lb-Tests-Updated-8-27-2010-(Newer-Info-Added) One is the 275W lamp I linked to, the other one is a 250W that seemed to take even more power.


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## maddmatt21 (Apr 14, 2018)

The light does have a focusing knob on the back, it turns the bolt seen in the third photo down there. I'll attach the flange thing it screws into to the new PTFE plug I'm putting together so it can move in and out. Bit crude, but I'll make the ptfe plug fit as tightly as I can so it doesn't shift side to side much.

For the reflector, it's 4.25" deep and 8.75" across. 

Looking at that thread it looks like the 250w bulb actually is a bit better almost, in terms of bulb life at the 15k lumen mark. I'll buy a couple of the 250 and a couple of 275 bulbs and see what it looks like in a real world test. I'll also get the power supply you mention and this socket, because it looks like it'll be small enough to fit on the face of the PTFE plug properly.

https://www.1000bulbs.com/product/6...AVm-7In4ON9V3ylmlUWvNeKx9tM8VaPgaAiXGEALw_wcB

I'm glad to take any other advice you might have, I think you've definitely got me pointed in the right direction. I'll take some pics once I'm done and it's all set up.


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## PolarLi (Apr 15, 2018)

The focus point should be 81 mm from the front, or 28 mm from the back. (sorry, not sorry for the metric system ) You obviously need to fine tune it after install. Another way to find the focus point/focal lenght and also check the condition of the reflector, is to use a small lightbulb. 10-20W G4 halogen is perfect and easy to find, but you can also use an old flashlight bulb. Then just tape the lamp at the end of a stick, a pencil etc, apply power, and stuff it in the reflector that you have propped up and aimed at a wall some 20-30 ft away. Because there is a sleeve on this reflector, you can also wrap the stick with some tissue paper, and it will be easier to center the lamp. When you have the best looking beam, just mark the stick with a pen, and you know exactly how far in the big lamp needs to go.


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## PolarLi (Apr 15, 2018)

Btw, I checked some specs on these lamps, and there is another thing that will help you plan the placement of the lamp, and that is LCL - light center length. On the 250W and 275W Osrams it's 33 mm. This is measured from the end of the pins up to the center of the filament. That means a part of the lamp socket has to fit inside the sleeve on the reflector. So you may end up having to grind a few mm off the socket to get it to fit, so be aware of that.


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## maddmatt21 (Apr 15, 2018)

Thanks, I figured the reverse of what you'd said actually which was that I would need the socket to be inside the reflector of the lamp.

Either way, I'm hoping that 'mini' one I picked out is small enough to get inside the sleeve part, otherwise yeah I'll need to get down to some Dremel work. I ordered all the stuff, so once it gets here I'll get to work on the assembly.


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## maddmatt21 (Apr 28, 2018)

I finished getting this together so I thought I'd share some photos of how it went together. The mini socket I bought was the perfect size, fit pretty precisely in the reflector socket hole. The PTFE rod I bought was also the perfect diameter, barely able to fit in the socket. I drilled through the center of the PTFE rod to thread the socket wires, then secured the socket with a couple of small #4 screws. Put it in the reflector, powered it on and spun it around by hand to decide where the best 'focus' point was in case I was a bit off in one direction or another off center. Once I found the best focusing point, I marked and then added the adjustment bracket to the side of the PTFE plug so it could be pulled in and out by the focus screw in the housing. I used an old outdoor extension cord for the wiring and soldered it to the socket and threaded through the housing. After that it was just putting everything together. I bumped up the power supply to 27.9v measured at the socket pins. I'm going to mount it to this old stool I have. Still need to drill a hole in the top of the stool to thread the power wire down through and attach it to the inner leg, but I don't want to do that until I've transported it.

Unfortunately I'm stuck in the suburbs until the end of may, when I can be back out at my place. I took a poor beamshot and light shot but there's not really any distance I can get from anything where I am, at least not with a 120v socket to plug into nearby. I'll have to redo these once I'm out in the woods again and I can get a picture with some distance, and also where it's actually DARK instead of somewhere with a streetlight right outside that's on. 

Is there anything I can do to get the reflector cleaner? It's got some tarnish spots on it, is there something that would help take those out that won't screw up the surface?


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## PolarLi (Apr 28, 2018)

That looks real good! Talk about perfect fit with the socket :thumbsup:

Unfortunately, there isn't much you can do with the reflector. Those spots looks like corrosion? But if it's just dirty, you can try to wash it in lukewarm water with dishwasher soap, and a light touch with clean, wet, soapy fingers. Then rinse of good with tap water, and then rinse that off with distilled water. Shake off most of the water and just let it air dry. If you have compressed air on a can, you can speed up the drying with that. However, judging by the picture of the reflector in your first post, it doesn't look that bad, and I doubt you would see any difference in performance.


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## maddmatt21 (Jun 1, 2018)

Hi all, Just wanted to come back with an update and some better beam/light shots since I got up to my cabin over the Memorial day weekend and it was dark enough. Tried to take some shots to show the beam and one of the distance after reading a bit of the 'how to take a beam shot' thread here. I like the light it throws, I hooked it up to a remote switch that I attached to the wood stool I used for the base. I did manage to spot an elk out there one night, but didn't have my phone for a pic of that one. I think I blinded him.


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## PolarLi (Jun 1, 2018)

Thanks for the update. The beam looks impressively tight for halogen, great stuff :rock:


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## 1pt21 (Jun 2, 2018)

Dude.. This project came out amazing!!!

Awesome results for your first attempt.. Honestly I'd leave it as-is :twothumbs


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