As with the maxabeam, proper searchlight reflectors are optimized to work with a specific light source and dont mix and match very well. All applied theory aside, its going to be hit and miss trying to find out which ones provide the best results and culminate a narrow beam, unless someone has already blazed the trail for you. Your reflector might not be suitable in creating a narrow beam HID searchlight. The money to find out could buy a VS3 (I linked above), which provides a ruggedized, fully engineered solution with high tech guaranteed results, and with a timelessly high resale value. However, you’d still need a way of powering it.
Whatever path you take, I wish you the best of luck.
Okay so for 2 week I have been getting the run-around on the ballast. They sent me the pricing and all and I told them the address to ship to and what all I needed. They told me they would get back with me with a shipping quote and 2 days have gone by and still no word from them. Can't call them because they in another country plus I cant speak Italian Hopefully Ill get something from them soon.
Anyway I got one of my cooling fans in. 12volts brushless 92mm 175cfm! This fan is a serious powerhouse but its super noisy! Now I have to buy a 120->12volt voltage converter to power the fan. Also have to built a regulator for the fan as I doubt the bulb will generate enough heat to require this fan to run at full power continuously.
My current idea of cooling is having this fan at the rear of the housing blowing compressed air into the housing and circulating it around.(Mind you the housing is very small for a fan that blows this much air) There will be a smaller fan right near the bulb to remove hot air. If that does not work sufficiently I may have to reverse the order. The small fan next to the bulb blowing air in around the bulb while the big fan in the rear blows the hot air out. Can't do much testing with airflow yet as I can't complete the housing without have the bulb socket though.
Im also having a tough time finding someone who has the bulb socket in stock. Bulbtronics should be getting back with me soon but the representative told me something I didn't understand over the phone. Something about them having not sold any of the bulb sockets since 2014 and them having to bid on them to get a price....I have no clue what he meant. Either way the most difficult part of this build so far has been simply sourcing the parts. If I could just get a hold of the parts I could have had this build finished by now LOL!
So after nearly 3 weeks of back and forth emails with the manufacturer and their dealer I have finally gotten everything finalized for purchasing the ballast and quite a few accessories for it. Problem is I got hit with a massive $167 VAT tax and that has me temporarily held up on actually placing the order. Anybody know if there is a way to get this tax refunded for internet purchases?
My understanding of VAT is that a company can void it if the goods are being shipped outside the EU since the VAT is specific to “end-users” within the EU only. I’ve had companies waive the VAT when shipping to me and only a few times has the vendor refused to take it off. I would politely ask that they not charge the tax and see if they honor it.
I asked the distributor about it and was told that only businesses were exempt from the tax. Everyone else has to pay it. Seems to be different from everything I've read online.
That’s partly true, but like most things tax wise there’s always more to it.
Anyway it’s sounds like they either don’t know the rules or more likely couldn’t be arsed as it evolves form filing on his or her end.
If you were in the EU and you bought it in person, you would pay the tax, then when you got to the airport you would go to the tax desk ( it’s probably called something else) fill in a form make a declaration that your a returning to the US with your purchase, show your passport, airline ticket etc, they then refund you the tax/vat
As you bought it over the phone/Internet, and the seller shipped it to the US, the seller should have simply not charged you the tax/vat on the item, and filled in a form stating as much and sent it to the relevant tax authority
The seller is probably confusing the rules differentiating between charging VAT for “goods” vs charging VAT for “services.”
General consumers in the US can be charged VAT for services provided by UK based merchants if they meet certain criteria, but goods are not subject to VAT.
I think they probably don’t want to do the small amount of extra paperwork that’s required when VAT is exempt. the good news is that you (consumer) can file a claim to recoup the collected VAT. I don’t know how long that takes before you’re reimbursed, but I imagine it’s a streamlined process by now.
I have not placed the order just yet. I emailed the Italian consulate in Miami FL and am going to see what they say about getting the VAT returned before I place my order. Im sure that if I can get it returned they will also have all the required forms that need to be submitted to do so.
Thanks so much for yalls help! Eager to get this light finished.
Ballast and bulb have been ordered!! Also bought the OEM cooling fan, the 4 segment display, and both hot and cold restrike ignitors so that I can run multiple different bulbs from the same ballast. Ballast has a variable output from 381watts to 1000watts so if for whatever reason I have problems with the 1000 bulb running too hot for my reflector I can scale back to something with a more manageable heat output.
After 3 months of back and forth discussion with the MFG and having them accidently ship the ballast to the wrong country and getting all the problems corrected the ballast finally arrived. After all its escapades it arrived in pristine condition! Lamp should arrive soon too but sourcing the lamp holder is still a problem. I may be able to power it up without the lamp holder though. To be continued....
Oh yeah. I think a mile will be an easy target for this light. We'll see though and we don't have much longer to wait before its fired up. Bulb arrived today.
Decided to test everything out just to ensure everything works as it should. After firing it up I quickly found out its best not to run this light in the house LOL. I wouldnt recommend doing that again.
To give you an idea of how bright it is here it is compared to a standard 60watt incandescent bulb.
Everthing worked perfectly except the 4 segment display. I never could get it to come on. I should have been able to dial down the wattage to run a much lower wattage bulb but since the display doesnt seem to work I may have to get the MFG to send me a new one or buy a DMX controller to control the ballast.
Also I'm not too sure how my reflector is going to handle that much heat. Out in the open my fan can easily keep the bulb cool. The ceramic base never exceeded about 150F but I could feel the heat from about 2-3 ft away, and those desk covers under the light started to melt. Inside of an enclosure I'm going to have to have some powerful air circulation going on to keep the bulb and reflector from getting damaged. The heat is actually much greater than I had anticipated...
Well, now you know how 85000 lumens on your desk look like :bigsmile:
Btw, if you don’t get that display working, just get yourself a clamp ammeter. Measure current*volt to the lamp, and you know the wattage.
I dont know whether there is a such thing as being scared of light but I certainly know I was pretty "scared" when the lamp just kept getting brighter and brighter and showed no signs of slowing down Lol! Even people who were in my house who know nothing about lights were like "What in the world are you doing!!!".
Polari do you think its safe to measure the voltage at the bulb while the bulb is running? I know the starting voltage is in the order of several thousand volts, but the running voltage is, if I recall correctly, about 85 volts. Multimeter should be able to handle that i think.
Just measure voltage and current between ballast and ignitor, and yes, should be around 85 volt on max power (when the lamp is warmed up) and approx 300 volt for a brief second during the ignition, so totally safe for a multimeter. For the current, around 12 amp on max. A clamp ammeter will definitely save you some hassle.
And no, do NOT hook up anything between the ignitor and lamp before ignition
Took these pics a while ago before I blew the bulb by trying to hotrestrike it lol! The bulb was just sitting in the reflector. Not sitting straight at all which means when it is properly aimed it will be a much tighted beam. Walked about 400ft away from the light and from that view I could see that the entire sky was lit up!! Beam extended as far as I could see. Camera couldn’t capture how impressive it was.
Hopefully Ill get something from them soon.
Short-Arcs can sheer out some real KCDs, and in a reflector of that size i can see it shoving a beam well past a mile.
