W.I.P. - The "Enhanced Galvanick Lucifer" (fuel tank built & glowing!)

[Alexander Edmund Clough]

Dear All

Firstly, I have managed to obtain one of these:

It is an "18 million candlepower" portable flashlight. No it does not actually put out 18m candlepower, but it does have a 130W bulb running off a 12V sealed lead acid battery. To give some sense of scale it is about 44cm long from end to end, the front of the light is 27cm across and it weighs about 11lb!

Secondly, I plan on modifying it by replacing the bulb with an HID (High Intensity Discharge) Xenon arc lamp being driven by a 50 35W ballast (which should put the light output closer to the 200W equivalent mark apparently). This probably qualifies as mad science, because the ballast has to provide several thousand volts to the ignitor to get the arc started and them maintains the arc at about 85V or so. This should make it go from "stupidly bright" to "insanely bright", while simultaneously have the bonus effect of giving me over an hour of battery life instead of the 30 minutes or so with the standard bulb.

Thirdly, once it's already impressive light output has been boosted even further I wish to thoroughly steam-ify it!

Thing is, it's already pretty heavy at the moment and I would ideally want to keep it portable (even if that is only with a carrying strap) so I've already scrapped my first idea of removing the whole thing from the existing case and building it into a wooden box with nice brass furniture and with the lens at one end peeking out through a brass porthole fame and a nice big knife switch (only needs to carry 12V at up to 10A) to turn it on and off.

I still love that idea, but I'm worried that the wooden case would make it just too damned heavy to shift!

Anyone got any suggestions they might wish to pass on as to how I could still make a wooden cased lumen shifting monster while not ending up with something impossible to shift?

Thanks awfully!

P.S. when I powered up the unmodified lamp and shone it down the garden, illuminating the entire garden and the whole front of the house opposite us (down the garden, across the road and down their front garden, so approx 200 feet away), I must confess that I succumbed to cackling, nay maniacal, laughter. Have I succumbed to "mad scientist syndrome"?

[CapnSamwise]

There are times I regret dropping electrical engineering as my major. :-/

[Alexander Edmund Clough]

There are times I regret dropping electrical engineering as my major. :-/

I'm hoping that stage 2 will not require more than basic electrical skills as I am planning on using a commercially available "HID conversion kit" for turning car headlamps  into Xenon HID lamps. They're thoroughly illegal here in the UK to fit to your car unless you also replace the headlamp reflectors for proper HID lamp ones (so you don't blind other drivers), but seeing as I'll be building it into a flashlight, that's not a worry.

It should be simply a case of wiring the ballast's power in to the existing power switch instead of running it to the existing bulb as-is and then connecting the HID bulb to the ballast. Hey presto, you throw the switch on the power switch, the ballast gets power and the light comes on.

Well that's the theory anyway!

[Otto Von Pifka]

vinyl woodgrain self stick paper to cover the flats of the body (the green in the picture) the compound curved parts may be too hard to cover.
your enemy will be heat, especially boosting the output. the head of the lamp and possibly even the battery will run hot, maybe too hot for the case as it is.

[Alexander Edmund Clough]

Good point re heat old chap, although my researches indicate that the HID lamp should actually run slightly cooler than the orginal incandescant bulb by virtue of the fact that the HID is running at 35W or 50W while the original halogen is at 130W.

I do quite like the woodgrain idea although what is not apparent from that photo is that the green casing itself has quite a lot of awkward curves as well.

Of course, building it into a wooden case makes improving cooling a piece of cake - plenty of room for cooling fans behind nice brass louvres!

But then we're back with the added weight.

Although I wonder how much the currently plastic and metal chassis weighs. Hmmmm.... *ponders*

[Destichado]

My first thought was to build a tin and brass shell to replace the plastic.  Which would look stunning if you could manage to *build* it.  Great thought, not so great in practice.  I'm not even sure I could pull it off in my shop, you'd need to spin the reflector over a form on the lathe...  *shudder*  Big project.  Too big.


The first thing to do, certainly is remove that handle, and replace it with something else -a hinged briefcase handle or an exterior door handle sans latch. 
You might try metallic spray paint and see if it bonds to the plastic.  It probably won't by itself, so you'll need a bonding primer. 
Rivet pierced panels onto the sides.  Unless you have a bichorn you can use to get deep into that houseing, I use pop rivets.

[Hieronimous Stonebender]

The light sounds really cool

How about mounting the innards in an aluminum cylinder, and keep the brass porthole idea...

It would keep the weight down, and make heat a minor issue.

I tried rendering what I mean

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

[markf]

The light sounds really cool

How about mounting the innards in an aluminum cylinder, and keep the brass porthole idea...

It would keep the weight down, and make heat a minor issue.

I tried rendering what I mean

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Your design is VERY nice.  markf

[Hieronimous Stonebender]

Thank you...

Feel free to use it 

[CapnSamwise]

Thank you...

Feel free to use it 

I've got a Sanka can and a few LED's just hanging around. . . >.> Wonder if I kept any of my soldering skill from freshman year. . .

[Captain_Minty_Gearhertz]

Give in to the Mad Science, You know you want to...

[Doctor Trakov]

we have an 18m candle power beast in the car.The lens heats up to unbearable temperatures very quickly, and I can shine it on the clouds at night.
It is rather awesome.

[Alexander Edmund Clough]

Aha! BG is back! I can reply!!!

Hieronimous - I love your design. Very nice stuff! Have come up with a new idea though to split the weight a bit having had it apart to plan modifications...

Doctor Trakov - it does get rather hot, doesn't it? The lens on my one gets too hot to touch in a minute tops. Just went outside and did some cloud shining, and was giggling like a madman at the beam shooting skywards. The HID modification should help with the heat though...

AND NOW, THE NEW DESIGN IDEA!

*ahem* excuse the lack of drawings, I have yet to convert my moleskine'd doodles into something useful, so you'll just have to use your imaginations...

1 - Remove the battery from the body of the lantern itself. It's the heaviest component here.
2 - Make an "aetheric power conversion pack" with canvas waist belt and shoulder straps. This will be a wood & brass box to house the battery along with a few prop devices to hide said battery and will be worn on the lower back. Perhaps to include Blue cold cathode lighting hidden inside to add a mysterious glow... Have yet to decide on a suitable buckle method to join the 4 straps together, a racing harness style "lift and twist" buckle to take the ends of the 4 belts might be cool...
3 - The master power switch and power connector for the lantern will be mounted on an auxilliary box on the side of the belt. Master power switch will turn on the power socket the lantern connects to and also activate the blue lighting inside the power pack. Connected to the "power pack" with the same "armoured cable" as below...
4 - "armoured power cable" connects to item (3) and runs to a connector on the lantern unit. This will probably be a length of metal shower hose if I can find one in brass finish, with 18awg copper wires running through it to convey 12V to the lantern. Power cable is permenantly fixed to the lantern body, but can be unplugged from the "power pack".
5 - Lantern body. Wooden frame, clad perhaps in sheet aluminium (as a nod to hieronimous's wonderful raytracing) with the reflector, HID ballast, HID bulb and glass lens mounted in it. I'm thinking sort of like a "bulls eye lantern" kind of feel, so a rectangular body, with the reflector possibly mounted in a short protruding tube. or maybe just flush on the front.

Large fixed handle between two posts (like an upside down U) on top with a rear suitcase style handle to let you hold it two handed and aim the light. Porthole on front made of MDF (painted and laquered to appear brass) with large bolts holding it in place to hold the lens and reflector in place. Rear door (opening with a key lock) to allow you to get inside and change the bulb. Brass ventilation louvres with a concealed 12V 80mm PC case fan mounted inside for added cooling. Have yet to find a suitable power switch. 2 x brass hooks and one dummy power socket to accept the end of the power lead on one side of the lanternt to allow the cable to be wound up for storage.

So, what do folks reckon?

[Hieronimous Stonebender]

That sounds so totally awesome, I wish I'd come up with it...

Don't dawdle good sir... get tinkering

[Alexander Edmund Clough]

That sounds so totally awesome, I wish I'd come up with it...

Don't dawdle good sir... get tinkering

Thank you good sir! Very kind of you to say so!

I shall commence tinkering properly once the HID bits arrive so I know exactly what needs to go into the lantern body so I can plan the scale correctly, but I have made a start by converting my doodles into something a bit more understandable...

Behold!

The first image of the design that I laid out as text in my above post!!

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

[Alexander Edmund Clough]

Hmmm. Pondering upon that design, I think I shall move the pressure valve onto the waist pack, and add a short length of pressure hose to it for the sake of "realism"

Either that, or run it up over one of the shoulder straps like a diver's pressure meter.

Oh hang on. I can make it functional too!

All I have to do is get a 0-12V needle guage voltmeter and remove it's cover, so I can replace the scale with a "pressure" guage.

Then as the lamp is used, the "pressure" will actually decrease! 

Mental note added to "make it so"

Actually, I'm not sure about the pressure vessel thing now...

Going to retain the waist pack with cooling vents, but am open to suggestions about what to add for the visible bits of the power source...

Only problem is, I don't want it ending up looking like I might have some sort of bomb strapped to me! So exposed wires and cylinders ("leyden jars") are probably not a good idea!

[Tiny5th]

That sounds so totally awesome, I wish I'd come up with it...

Don't dawdle good sir... get tinkering

Thank you good sir! Very kind of you to say so!

I shall commence tinkering properly once the HID bits arrive so I know exactly what needs to go into the lantern body so I can plan the scale correctly, but I have made a start by converting my doodles into something a bit more understandable...

Behold!

The first image of the design that I laid out as text in my above post!!

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

very nice design, that is exactly what i thought of when i saw the torch in the first post

[Siliconous Skumins]

Word of warning - the heat will be around the same or even more than the 130W bulb (I have experience with HID lamps) so make sure that everything in close proximity can deal with the heat (note, the original lamp is only supposed to work for no more than 8 - 10 minutes continuous duty).

Also you MUST make sure the high voltage parts are well insulated - the arc strike is typically around 28000 volts!  double check everything twice!


And yeah, strapping something that looks like a bomb to yourself, is a sure way to get yourself mistaken for a 'Brazilian electrician'.... 

SS

[Alexander Edmund Clough]

Word of warning - the heat will be around the same or even more than the 130W bulb (I have experience with HID lamps) so make sure that everything in close proximity can deal with the heat (note, the original lamp is only supposed to work for no more than 8 - 10 minutes continuous duty).

Also you MUST make sure the high voltage parts are well insulated - the arc strike is typically around 28000 volts!  double check everything twice!

And yeah, strapping something that looks like a bomb to yourself, is a sure way to get yourself mistaken for a 'Brazilian electrician'.... 

SS

Thanks for the tips SS.

From talking to other flashlight junkies who've done this sort of modification I understood that heat wouldn't be too much of a problem swapping to a HID bulb for this reflector and lens, However for the wood and ally parts of the new lantern body I shall have to give it some tests and see if more thermal protection will be needed..

While the manual for my light states that it is good for "40 minutes of continuous operation after charging" I can well believe keeping it down to 8-10 minute bursts due to heat! 

That said, one of the loons on the lighting forum I'm on has put a 400W PAR64 metal halide (short arc) lamp inside one of these lamps (using the stock lens and reflector), and it hasn't melted yet!!! (he had to add a layer of insulative material between the reflector and the flashlight housing to stop it doing so). In light of that I would have thought the metal reflector would be fine with a 35W HID but I might investigate heatproof materials to insulate the lamp and reflector from the rest of the lantern!

I will be heatsinking the ballast with a good size PC heatsink (probably glue it on with Arctic Alumina thermally conductive epoxy) and adding an 80mm or 120mm 12V PC case fan inside the lantern to pull air in through vents in the base. Warm air will then exit the lantern via louvred vents in the sides (not shown in my drawing). I would have thought that that would help combat heat sufficiently?

The HID ballast is going to be mounted on a wooden board inside the lantern away from any risk of shorts, and the wiring to the bulb will be sleeved and cable tied in place to mounting eyes screwed into the lantern frame so there's no risk of a connector coming loose and hitting the case. I don't plan on getting a belt off of this thing!

All the 12V power connections will be soldered and heatshrinked and I'll probably use R/c "Deans" connectors to conect the battery (will be retaining the fuse that it currently has fitted).

To try and avoid the "suicide bomber look" I've modified the idea for the power pack, retaining the cylinder but moved it to the bottom of the power pack...



(that label should of course read "Pressure Gauge" not "Pressure Valve" but I can't be bothered to fix it! )

[Brass Monkey]

Very nice.... reminds me of the lamps in Journey to the centre of the earth....

[Alexander Edmund Clough]

Very nice.... reminds me of the lamps in Journey to the centre of the earth....

Thanks!

I'm still not sure about the whole pressure tank thing. Largely because I can't come up with a convincing rationale as to what it would be for!

Although, I suppose I could add a chimney and a boiler (perhaps illuminated with a nice flickering orange glow?) at one end of the box and add a second vessel with a filler tap on top - one for water and the other for "pressurized phlogiston"... Then the power unit could be a "steam driven electrical generator"

Damn. I really don't want to make the build any more complicated than it needs to be!!!

 

[Otto Von Pifka]

not that this has anything to do with your project but an old car of mine (1964 chevy corvair) had its high beam headlights replaced by the former owner...he used aircraft landing light bulbs that happened to fit into the round light bezels.
to say they were bright would be an understatement! they would cause pain to your skin at closer than two feet. probably could roast a marshmellow with them!
the car itself was in fairly poor shape, the high low switch on the floorboard was acting up and the lowbeams would conk out from time to time. the high beam in those lights wouldn't work either, only the landing lights would, as they were on their own circuit.
coming home one night, they decided to act up a block from the house, so I was forced to use the killer lights....no traffic (I thought) and one set of railroad tracks to cross and I was home....coming over the tracks, I noticed a police car only a few yards ahead, he flashed his high beams and dove for the curb, blinded by the intense light that just descended onto his vehicle like the hand of god.
I turned the next corner and headed up my driveway, expecting the officer to pull up behind and write a ticket.
he never appeared! In hindsight, I think it blinded him so much, he needed to sit and recover his eyesight.
by the time he could see again, I was gone from view, and he had no idea what kind of vehicle it was!
I replaced the switch the next day and the landing light bulbs burned themselves out, probably from a lack of cooling air when sitting still, the glass itself cracked on both lights almost simultaneously.
as far as power consumption, the engine would noticeably change pitch when I turned on those lights!

[Herr Döktor]

MADNESS!

Carry on!

[Captain_Minty_Gearhertz]

Huzzah! Killer light beams of doom! Harness the power of life giving light for your own nefarious ends!

[Sir Nikolas Vendigroth]

I wonder what the efefcts of that light would be if one were to boost the power output by 70% and focus it into a 1-inch circle...