1kW Xenon Arc Tank Light

[IdahoMan]

1kW Xenon Arc Tank Light

Oldie but a goodie. This guy got himself a 1kw Xenon Arc searchlight: the "AN/VSS-3" The Thread is well known and the guy talks about his setup and costs.

The beam pics are very impressive.

"What's neat about it though is how tiny and portable it is,
and the insanely collimated beam in produces. It just never
spreads out."




How do you get a beam so well focused? Are there some formulas/calculations you can make for parabolic dimensions and lamp brightness? 

[jh15]

Be good for having in your rear window when someone is behind you with their high beams on.

[Alex Eisenhut]

I thought I was badass with my GE 650W PAR36 lamp. Hard to believe my parents had that thing around to film in Super 8.

[Zero999]

They look like lasers.

Is there a big fan in the back?

[mikeselectricstuff]

How do you get a beam so well focused?

Very small initial source

[Gyro]

The original thread makes referece to it having IR mode. Later on it talks about an IR tube actuator, presumably a cylindrical filter that gets moved up around the lamp.

That must be some filter! Not to mention the issues of preventing light leakage.

[RobK_NL]

Meh, the CEO at one of my clients has one of these:

(something very similar, at least)
 

[daqq]

Meh, the CEO at one of my clients has one of these:

Bruce Wayne?

[Kjelt]

I got two 140W HID spots in my garden highlighting the trees from below and I am already worried that some pilot will think it is the start of the runway 

[Benta]

Very small initial source

Exactly. The Xenon arc is almost a perfect point light source (as opposed to filament lamps), enabling precision optics.

[SeanB]

I remember looking at some 707 landing light assemblies in the stores once, and the spec calls for a really long beam, 8km IIRC, and I was thinking just how I could both mount them in a car, and just how I could shoehorn in a truck alternator, regulator and the 2 extra 12V batteries to power them. Also, how to run that 0 gauge wiring they need for power.

Biggest drawback was that they were A class spares, not C class, even though the entire assembly was a spare part that was changed, lamp, housing and cable loom when the lamp in one failed. The Cessna landing lights next to them ( half the size) were 12V though, and were C class as well, just they were C Accountable, like drill bits, files, pens, hacksaw blades and sandpaper, where you had to return some bit to the stores to get a new one. They did not believe I wore a file smooth though, and that the hacksaw blade was detempered so much that I was able to tie it into a knot without it snapping.

[Zero999]

I remember looking at some 707 landing light assemblies in the stores once, and the spec calls for a really long beam, 8km IIRC, and I was thinking just how I could both mount them in a car, and just how I could shoehorn in a truck alternator, regulator and the 2 extra 12V batteries to power them. Also, how to run that 0 gauge wiring they need for power.

Biggest drawback was that they were A class spares, not C class, even though the entire assembly was a spare part that was changed, lamp, housing and cable loom when the lamp in one failed. The Cessna landing lights next to them ( half the size) were 12V though, and were C class as well, just they were C Accountable, like drill bits, files, pens, hacksaw blades and sandpaper, where you had to return some bit to the stores to get a new one. They did not believe I wore a file smooth though, and that the hacksaw blade was detempered so much that I was able to tie it into a knot without it snapping.

What type of bulb was in that light? Was it halogen? Xenon or any other kind of arc lamp would've needed a switched mode power supply.