# 75 Watt Pichel Industries Rare Handheld Short Arcs. Military Quality



## BVH (Jan 14, 2017)

It looks like a predecessor of the MaxaBeam. Any input Robert from PeakBeam?

Edited since I have more info now.

I got these lights and 1 battery charger for them off of Ebay. Pichel Industries, the manufacturer, is no longer in business and my searches yielded not even a mention of this light. Might be nice if better searchers than I could try to find any info on these. There was mention of Pichel Industries working on a fix for the VSS-3 tank light reflector problem. If I'm reading it right, Pichel just recently went out of business and they started back in 1967 in Rancho California, CA.

These are tethered lights that probably ran off an operator worn battery pack. The quality of construction is up there with Military hardware. I've not been able to find any documentation whatsoever. I have not attempted to fire them up yet because I need to determine what input Voltage is required. Typically, a small Wattage Short Arc handheld would probably require a 12VDC input. The lowest Voltage rated component I can see is 32 VDC. The label on the Pichel Industries OEM charger says it's a 24 Volt unit. I confirmed this by measuring an unloaded Voltage of 33.45. When attempting to charge an 8S LiFeP04 pack resting at 26.6 Volts, when connecting the charger, I saw a .1 Volt increase and a current flow of only .345 Amps. A 2S SLA pack resting at only 26.6 should call on full charger Amperage delivery I would think. So the charger is probably not working correctly but would tend to confirm that the battery used to power these lights was a 24-28 Volt pack. I don't have any of the OEM packs. 

Beyond that, The reflectors are in great condition and I'm fairly sure they are Rhodium plated. I don't know if the lamps are good. They are not physically broken. So do I "hit" it with 25 VDC and see what happens?


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## PolarLi (Jan 15, 2017)

*Re: It's a.....? Scored A Couple New-&-Unknown-To-Me Lights, Who Knows What They Are*

Isn't that a maxa...? No, wait :thinking:


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## Syncronisator (Jan 15, 2017)

*Re: It's a.....? Scored A Couple New-&-Unknown-To-Me Lights, Who Knows What They Are*

A "pre-Maxabeam"???


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## BVH (Jan 15, 2017)

*Re: It's a.....? Scored A Couple New-&-Unknown-To-Me Lights, Who Knows What They Are*

You beat me to it. Pics and text added.


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## Parker VH (Jan 15, 2017)

*Re: It's a.....? Scored A Couple New-&-Unknown-To-Me Lights, Who Knows What They Are*

I saw them on Ebay. I couldn't find anything on the brand etc. either.


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## Syncronisator (Jan 15, 2017)

*Re: It's a.....? Scored A Couple New-&-Unknown-To-Me Lights, Who Knows What They Are*

And I just wondered where all the pics are coming from...:thumbsup:


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## BVH (Jan 15, 2017)

*Re: It's a.....? Scored A Couple New-&-Unknown-To-Me Lights, Who Knows What They Are*

Inside the charger is a 115V - 230VAC input voltage switch so now correctly switched, the charger puts out about 33 Volts unloaded. Loaded on a 26.4 VDC pack, it only raised charging Voltage by .1 Volts over the static voltage with a current flow of only .345 Amps so it's probably not working correctly. But that does give me a clue as to the operating voltage of the lights assuming this charger was used to charge batteries for this light.


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## FRITZHID (Jan 15, 2017)

*Re: XX to XXX Watt Pichel Industries Rare Handheld Short Arcs. Military Quality*

::::


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## IlluminatedOne (Jan 15, 2017)

*Re: XX to XXX Watt Pichel Industries Rare Handheld Short Arcs. Military Quality*

ooh interesting, you find all the best things on ebay BVH .

It really does look very Maxabeam like, will be interesting to see what wattage and bulb it uses.


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## Str8stroke (Jan 15, 2017)

*Re: XX to XXX Watt Pichel Industries Rare Handheld Short Arcs. Military Quality*

That is neat. 
My first thought would be to start 14.4 volts and work your way up. Do you have a adjustable power supply? Looks like you may have all kinds of cool gear on that bench.


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## Ra (Jan 15, 2017)

*Re: XX to XXX Watt Pichel Industries Rare Handheld Short Arcs. Military Quality*

You look nice in that reflector Bob.. Indeed you always manage to find the rarest gadgets..
I'm looking forward to that 'first light' moment..

Thinking... Military lights like MaxaBeam also are made to run on car batteries if needed, so that gives two possibles in my eyes, 12 volts (14 max??) Or 24 volts (28 max ??). Indeed seems like 24 volts in your case.
But I can imagine you want to be careful with these..


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## BVH (Jan 16, 2017)

*Re: XX to XXX Watt Pichel Industries Rare Handheld Short Arcs. Military Quality*

Yes, I wanted to be careful but darn if I didn't go and make myself very mad at myself!!! I tried 4 LiFeP04 cells form my 50 AH 9-cell pack first, 13.2VDC). Nothing. Then 6 Cells (19.8) VDC. I saw one flicker. I tried 8 cells (26.9 VDC before the load) I saw light from light for about 3 or 4 seconds and then it went out. I tried re-ignition quite a few times with no luck. By the way, the On-Off switch is just that - there is no 3rd position momentary or separate switch for ignition so there must be some type of automatic cut-off of the ignition.

On to the 2nd light. Since 8 cells worked, I tried it again and the second light lit up after a short delay to charge the cap, I think because I could hear the increasing frequency whine. As soon as it lit, I read 20 Amps current flow and quickly hooked up my Volt meter as I saw the current reduce. Buy the time I got the reading and did a quick calc for Watts, I heard the dreaded "Ping" and the lamp was blown. I read 15 Amps and 26.5 Volts for a whopping 400 Watts. WAYYY TOO much for a Maxabeam sized lamp. But I was not fast enough once I saw that number.

I've been talking bad to myself all evening. The only saving grace is that the damage to the light is fairly minimal. Close examination of the good lamp which I removed did not reveal any markings using a low power mag glass. After taking macro closeups and looking at the pics, I felt a bit of excitement when I barely could see "ABC" on the Anode base. Well of course this is actually ARC for A.R.C in San Jose CA. The guys I have worked with for all my lamp needs. So I fired off an email just now asking if they have any of these or can make them from their original specs.

If I can get new lamps, I guess I will take it much slower and give the light time to ignite at lower voltages because there seems to be a longer delay that I would think for these to ignite even at the higher input voltages. I may have jumped the gun going to the higher Voltages. But it's still mystifying why the battery charger puts out Voltage for charging 2 SLA's

Hopefully the guys at ARC will be able to give me some info on the lights since they made the lamp.


The lamp is 3.120" long and the Arc Chamber is about .410" in diameter. Arc Gap is about .5mm - .6mm.


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## FRITZHID (Jan 16, 2017)

*Re: XX to XXX Watt Pichel Industries Rare Handheld Short Arcs. Military Quality*

golly gee that looks ALLOT like one of those good Osram round maxabeam bulbs! 
glad there wasn't total meltdown! hopefully the electronics survived! (P.S. i SAID "variable PSU in 5v increments", NOT LIPO standard hack stepups!) :duh2:
hopefully there are no issues from here on in. i'd love to see a beamshot! who knows, this might be a 100w maxabeam! (grandpabeam? lol). GL bob!


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## Mr. Tone (Jan 16, 2017)

*Re: XX to XXX Watt Pichel Industries Rare Handheld Short Arcs. Military Quality*

Another cool find by BVH. It's funny Ra mentioned your reflection, I was thinking the same thing. Hopefully you can get a proper replacement lamp and figure out the correct input voltage as well. Come on BVH, no picture of the  lamp? Did it damage the reflector at all?


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## PolarLi (Jan 16, 2017)

*Re: XX to XXX Watt Pichel Industries Rare Handheld Short Arcs. Military Quality*

So I found this, a patent for the reflector and lamp cooling: https://www.google.com/patents/US3639751 The inventor Marlowe Pichel, passed away in 2010. His obituary mention this: _"Marlowe was an engineer whose many accomplishments included designing the Sky-Tracker search light. At the 2000 Academy Awards he was honored with a Scientific and Engineering Award for the Development of the process for manufacturing Electro-Formed Metal Reflectors which combined with the DC Short Arc Xenon Lamp, became the worldwide standard for motion picture projection systems" 

_I doubt any of this really helps you, but I figured it was a interesting piece of history.


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## BVH (Jan 16, 2017)

*Re: XX to XXX Watt Pichel Industries Rare Handheld Short Arcs. Military Quality*

Thanks PolarLi. I really like knowing the history of my lights so this is great info. The damaged lamp is out and it was an Osram replacement - the XBO 75W/2 OFR which can still be found. I'm surprised they are as expensive as they are for a tiny 75 Lamp. I'd like to have originals and will wait to hear back from ARC. The Osram arc gap is .85mm or .036" I don't know how that compares to the Maxabeam lamp. The reflector looks pretty good having gone thru an explosion. I can hardly see any difference between the two. Now hopefully the circuitry is ok. The front mounting system on my lights are exactly like the patent drawings. The rear is a bit different in that the Cathode base slides into and is fully supported by the ignition coil.


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## Walterk (Jan 18, 2017)

*Re: XX to XXX Watt Pichel Industries Rare Handheld Short Arcs. Military Quality*

Interesting design! 
Whats the story here... its a small world? Or just again good artists copy, great artists steal?

There also is the patent Pichel 1966 - US3675078 for the ballast/driver.

And the one Get-lit alreadt brought under attention; Pichel 1970 - US 3639751 - Thermally dissipative enclosure for portable high-intensity illuminating device, for comparison with McManus 1991 - US5072347 MaxaBeam


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## BVH (Jan 18, 2017)

*Re: XX to XXX Watt Pichel Industries Rare Handheld Short Arcs. Military Quality*

Great find Waltrek! This could be very helpful if I've damaged any of the circuitry. I do see one "24v" on one of the drawings but have not looked in-depth yet to see if that is input Voltage. Again, thanks!


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## BVH (Feb 3, 2017)

*Re: XX to XXX Watt Pichel Industries Rare Handheld Short Arcs. Military Quality*

Just an update. Both lights were originally pulling about 20 Amps when started settling to about 15 Amps at about 1 minute for a total input power of about 360 Watts. Way too much power for the 75 Watt lamp. With the coaching of FritzHID, we thought maybe the reed switch was not opening after startup which would cut out any boost circuit on the board. I ran both lights off my Sorensen 32V/95A power supply in current limiting mode and tried currents from 3.5 to 5.9 Amps. Input Voltage settled at about 15.5 and they ran ok at these levels. I ended up replacing almost all components on both boards of both lights. Resistors, Diodes, reed switches and caps. I then bought two cheap 12V/7AH SLA's to run them from. This was most likely how they were originally powered - 2 in Serial for 24 Volts. The thought was that these small batteries might see a significant voltage sag which would limit overall power to the light. Unfortunately, they both still pull the same 20 Amps settling to 15. So I've ordered some higher value ballast resistors to swap out with the 1 Ohm resistor on the board. This should limit input current to around 4 Amps, giving about 95 Watts total input.


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## BVH (Feb 13, 2017)

*Re: XX to XXX Watt Pichel Industries Rare Handheld Short Arcs. Military Quality*

Another update: After really tracing out the board, I, with the help of FritzHID determined that there is No Current Limiting happening on the PC board. No components to do so, not even a "ballast resistor". Input power + lands on the spade terminal, goes thru the small copper coil (which operates an ignition controlling reed switch) to the main power Diode, thru the diode and out to a trace that goes to the spade terminal where a wire from the main ignition coils lands and thru that wire direct to the ignition coil windings and then to the lamp Anode.

I can't very well carry along my 40lb Sorensen power supply to the field so I set out to find a current regulator. Member FritzHID suggested member DIWDiver who suggested TaskLED's H6CC tiny round 6.7Amp CC driver made for driving LED's. I bought one from George, mounted it to a small heatsink, wired it up to my PS and my electronic load so I could preset output at 5.7 Amps and then temporarily hooked it to both my lights, one at a time and it works perfectly from the PS and from a 6-cell LiFeP04 battery. 5.6 Amps gives me 77 Watts to the lamps. I just spent about 2 hours aligning and focusing the lamp on light #2. It's difficult to move the lamp 004" or 006" with your fingers. Its not that far off from my Gen3 MB

So somewhere in or on the original battery vest/pack, they utilized some type of current regulator. I wish the lights would have come with at least one setup. So now I need to design and build a battery pack with integral TaskLED current regulator. Probably around 9AH for about 70 minutes of run time. I'd like to do a comparison beam shot with my Gen3 Maxabeam with enhanced reflector running at both 75 and 80 Watts. But I need to find a new test range.


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## FRITZHID (Feb 13, 2017)

*Re: XX to XXX Watt Pichel Industries Rare Handheld Short Arcs. Military Quality*



BVH said:


> Another update: After really tracing out the board, I, with the help of FritzHID determined that there is No Current Limiting happening on the PC board. No components to do so, not even a "ballast resistor". Input power + lands on the spade terminal, goes thru the small copper coil (which operates an ignition controlling reed switch) to the main power Diode, thru the diode and out to a trace that goes to the spade terminal where a wire from the main ignition coils lands and thru that wire direct to the ignition coil windings and then to the lamp Anode.
> 
> I can't very well carry along my 40lb Sorensen power supply to the field so I set out to find a current regulator. Member FritzHID suggested member DIWDriver who suggested TaskLED's H6CC tiny round 6.7Amp CC driver made for driving LED's. I bought one from George, mounted it to a small heatsink, wired it up to my PS and my electronic load so I could preset output at 5.7 Amps and then temporarily hooked it to both my lights, one at a time and it works perfectly from the PS and from a 6-cell LiFeP04 battery. 5.6 Amps gives me 77 Watts to the lamps. I just spent about 2 hours aligning and focusing the lamp on light #2. It's difficult to move the lamp 004" or 006" with your fingers. Its not that far off from my Gen3 MB
> 
> So somewhere in or on the original battery vest/pack, they utilized some type of current regulator. I wish the lights would have come with at least one setup. So now I need to design and build a battery pack with integral TaskLED current regulator. Probably around 9AH for about 70 minutes of run time. I'd like to do a comparison beam shot with my Gen3 Maxabeam with enhanced reflector running at both 75 and 80 Watts. But I need to find a new test range.






It's alive..... ALIVE! WooHoo!
'Gratz B.! glad it's work'n! 
I Can't speak for TaskLED or DIW but we're all here to help each other so i'm glad we could assist in your revival!


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## kuna (Feb 21, 2017)

*Re: XX to XXX Watt Pichel Industries Rare Handheld Short Arcs. Military Quality*

Now that is cool. Definitely very similar to a Maxabeam, a proto-Maxabeam I guess. I recognized the company Pichel industries right away, as they are the company that first designed those four-beam skytracker systems we're all aware of, back in the late 70s I think. If you ever get it working smoothly it would be cool to see some beamshots


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## BVH (Feb 22, 2017)

*Re: XX to XXX Watt Pichel Industries Rare Handheld Short Arcs. Military Quality*

They both ignite and run perfectly using the TaskLED current regulator and the new $10.00 Chinese Ebay larger current regulator i just received and set up. Now I just have to efficiently package the regulator and either a 3S/4200 mAh LiFeP04 pack or 2S/8400 LiFeP04 pack to wear on my person. I should get either 45 minutes or an hour of run time to 80% DOD.


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## PolarLi (Feb 22, 2017)

*Re: XX to XXX Watt Pichel Industries Rare Handheld Short Arcs. Military Quality*

That's great news!


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## BVH (Feb 22, 2017)

*Re: XX to XXX Watt Pichel Industries Rare Handheld Short Arcs. Military Quality*

Here's a couple of comparison shots at about 100'. First is with Maxabeam at 85 Watts and 2nd is Maxabeam at 75 Watts. Of course Maxabeam is on the left.

The 4 hotspots are a little optimistic as compared to what i saw but are good relative shots. Overall lighting is very representative of what I saw.


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## BVH (Feb 22, 2017)

*Re: XX to XXX Watt Pichel Industries Rare Handheld Short Arcs. Military Quality*

Double post


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## PolarLi (Feb 23, 2017)

*Re: XX to XXX Watt Pichel Industries Rare Handheld Short Arcs. Military Quality*

I'm a little surpriced it appears to be that big of a difference. How does the beam look on the Pichel if you widen the hotspot a little?
Also, do you know if the Maxa run enhanced rhodium or a protected aluminium reflector? You mention Rhodium for the Pichel, and that was my initial thought too. That would give it 75-80% reflectance. But could it actually be a bare nickel reflector? That would only reflect 55-75%


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## BVH (Feb 23, 2017)

*Re: XX to XXX Watt Pichel Industries Rare Handheld Short Arcs. Military Quality*

Focusing is a pain in the backside. Loosen a tiny set screw and then use two or three fingers to try to move the lamp and it's bases a few thousandths. Re-ignite the lamp and see the results. Repeat, repeat, repeat. I ran the MB through it's focus movement to try to guide me in focusing the MN. The front lamp base slides back and forth within the Spider hub which is also the electrical conductor. Once, I carefully tried to move it with gloves on when running but the lamp went out I quickly got out of the way expecting a re-strike and an ignition pulse. I was focusing at 8' or so but would like to try the same thing at the 100-300' distance at some point. It could be Nickel? If reflector materials have "color" to them, the MN reflector is darker than the MB and my NightSun by comparison.


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## FRITZHID (Feb 23, 2017)

*Re: XX to XXX Watt Pichel Industries Rare Handheld Short Arcs. Military Quality*

that reflector "color" sounds more like a nickel/chromium dep to me. was common then for spot PAR lamps. they darken some in oxy/heat. almost looks like a smoked mirror.


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## PolarLi (Feb 23, 2017)

*Re: XX to XXX Watt Pichel Industries Rare Handheld Short Arcs. Military Quality*

Well, I can see why you keep your hands away if the lamp has the potential to lose contact/go out when you mess around inside it... If that ignition pulse hits you, it will probably not be the *highlight* of the day. On second thought, it will probably be exactly that... 
I looked at the reflector pics again, and it don't seem to have the yellow hue pure nickel have, so it's hard to say for sure. If it's not Rhodium for some reason, maybe some variation of "bright" nickel. Either way, the hotspot is tiny, so i'm sure it put out some lux!


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## Limbo (Feb 7, 2022)

BVH said:


> It looks like a predecessor of the MaxaBeam. Any input Robert from PeakBeam?
> 
> Edited since I have more info now.
> 
> ...


Hello,
My name is Linden Black. I worked for Pichel Industries from 1980 to 1987. Strangely my uncle also worked for them as a sales rep when they were still in Pasadena. He and I never knew the connection until he asked where I was working. When I told him, he took me in his garage and produced a Mini-Nova and gave it to me. They were rated at 24 volt since they were sold to the military. I still have a manual from my days at Pichel. I also have a VAR 100. A halogen lamped version with a focus knob on the back which moved the lamp.
They are very similar to the Maxa Beam light produced by Peak Beam Systems.
The thing that makes both lights so good is the 75 watt xenon lamp coupled with the very accurate electroformed reflector, both with a 10mm focal length. We produce the very same reflector here a Phoenix Electroformed Products.


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## BVH (Feb 8, 2022)

Hi Linden. Good to hear from you. You made a couple 14" reflectors for my ORC 500 Watt Gunfire Simulator Short Arcs a while back. Could I persuade you to make me a copy of the MiniNova manual? I'd pay all costs and for your time

Does your MiniNova also not have a mechanism for focusing? And do you simply feed your light 24+- Volts DC with no current regulator/special power supply prior to the light? As I posted above, feeding unregulated power to my light destroyed the OEM lamp in short order. Boy, did it burn bright for a few seconds!


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## BVH (Feb 11, 2022)

For continuity purposes. Linden indicates that in the original battery pack for the MiniNova, there was a large ballast resistor in the input power circuit. This would be the elusive current regulating device that I have always thought had to exist somewhere. Finally, mystery solved! I'll soon have some documentation/manuals. Thank you, Linden!


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