Cool photo! 
K75 over 2km to the train.
Your going to get in trouble. 
It has started to draw attention but I think it is more curiosity than anything. On the weekend at home I mounted the searchlight mirror on a frame and tested a 100w HID and a CMT-2850. The police drove past but didnt stop and you can see the beams 1km awayand that is in town. According to Endermans calculator CMT-2850 should still give me 19km.
CMT beam shots w30 on the right
The HID creates lots of front spill so I knocked up a quick hemispherical reflector to block it and redirect the light back to the bulb.
Yes it works
w30 is on the right again.
This makes me think about a 4kw short arc or even a TIG welder with high frequency start to run as a light engine. But that would have to run with argon and the actual light could be dangerous ray burns and arc eye.
I think its about time you changed your user name. Something along the lines, gone mad grinning. You have certainly never fail to surprise and put a grin on my dial. Love your work.
Now that’s enough of that………… you know you’re going to ignite the atmosphere soon!
Next mission the space station………… 
408km
I just hope the aliens dont start shooting back
.
Good idea, maybe we could have a name suggestion thread for ” grinn “.
I do believe we are in danger of being located by a possible unfriendly Alien World a few light yrs away from his lights. Or maybe knocking down a few satellites soon. Either way , we are enjoying your pics grinn and grinning too. 
That’s what I like to see, and engineer in flip flops! (and the lights are great too! )
Must be warmer in the Hunter Valley than here. 
Nice pic grin.
I dont go near the lathe without boots on now, I learnt that the hard way. Couldnt believe that another forum member who live near me has a GT4 prototype and how similar my comp build is.
This photo taken last night gives a bit better idea how big the searchlight mirror actually is. It also needs cleaning.
So I got home today and made up a jig to mount the light engine in front of the mirror and set the focus at 400mm with a tape measure, flicked the switch. The mirror then got a clean with alcohol wipes and polished with paper.
what a difference!!! “100w” HID
The light was moved out 10mm.
1km
2-3km or other side of town
The beam is actually twice what you can see in the photo
With Cree CMT-2890
Thats crazy grin.
That is the envy of us all
I love watching your builds. Looking like a WW2 search light
Thanks,
sometimes I do things for no real project in mind but a 4s1p 26650 battery carrier would be handy wouldnt it? You never know when you might need one and it does fit into 3inch ali tube.
That searchlight that you can see 3km away is a budget light in that configuration.
Mirror $250
A rallyexpress “200W” HID headlamp those crazy ones.$80
4x38120 3.2v lithium batteries about $100
Frame screws cable and other stuff say $150
I made the light mount
So AU$580 or US$400
I found that there was a military agreement to have a common standard around WW2 and the metric system has been around a long time. The numbers on the mirrors correspond to metric, 90cm aperture, 408mm focal length. So with that bit of information I have narrowed down the light they were used in.
I couldnt find any detail as to how they were originally mounted but now it appears to to be fixed and the light is on a pedestal and the arc is moved.
The more I find out about them the more I am drawn to building them with the original in mind. The rails on the side look like they would make it simple to balance it.