[quote=“tweety,post:39,topic:26223"”]
…we could all go back to the 60’s- yeah baby…
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Most people on here dont remember the 80s LOL with the exception of AWDrifter
Tweety -
We’re using a 0.5mm diameter x 4mm long arc, ~1300 lumens. Out largest issue is high-voltage leakage at 40kft operating envirnments. We solved it, but it took some interesting tweaks.
As for LED headlights… We are actually in the process of developing (have optics designed, and doing the prototype right now; for a LED based aircraft Landing Light… And if that’s do-able, then the LED headlights are a piece of cake in comparison. Just have to control the cut-offs a little better, but that’s all optics, not light generation.
I’m doing a bunch of work on LEDs too, I’m desperately trying to get away from lights but I keep getting dragged back in.
the last big Xenons I played with were 5KW projectors, but if you want high voltage problems try to hot restrike an 18KW HMI on a damp day- now that’s a trick…
We’re doing hot-restrike with full brightness in less than 5 seconds at 40Kft, We’ve also got a 90% brightness within 15 seconds of a cold start.
Yea, I’m trying to get away myself… it’s been fun and for personal stuff I’ll play with them, but I’m kinda sick of the place I work for.
Nah hot restrike as in INSTANT, the film boys don’t go for lamps that are off, time is money.
Actually somewhere around here I have the original ‘old sparky’ lamp ballast with the hot restrike ignitor man what a thing that is, connect up a 575 watt HID, cut and strip one of the wires leading to the lamp holder( no need for high voltage cable here!) . Swiitch it on and let it warm up - obviously being next to one of these lamps is something of a hazard because of all the UV, but that shit’s for wimps. Then grab the wire you’ve cut with both hands and pull it apart at the joint, this produces many sparks and a lovely big arc between the ends and everytime you touch the wires together and complete the circuit the lamp switches on instantly. You can actually strobe the lamp.
If you really wanted to scare people pull the hot terminal off the the 50KV ignitor and wet you finger and put it on the terminal, then pull it away and make a little spark- the trick there was to make sure you weren’t grounded- LOL.
Ah the silly things I did to impress people, awesome ballast technology though, next came the high frequency ballast stuff, driving lamps at 550kHz, then you got a 150watt ballast that was about 100mmx100mm and 30mm high with the ignitor attached. I got that thing UL approved- although that was a saga I never wish to repeat.
Aircraft landing lights are a giggle we used them in the rock n’ roll lighting business to make strings of strraight beams, the regular ones are 250 watt 28 Volt so you’d put 4x PAR 64’s together in series for 120 V and series a second set for 240 V operation, looked cool. They make bigger ones also, 600w &1000w, some even had dual filaments, so you had high and low beams, all very short life, high output lamps though- they only live for 25 hours - from memory
As for making an LED one ouch you’ll need a bunch of LED to get that kind of output, I’ve been working with some guys on some nano-enhanced whites , but to get any kind of life and consistancy from them you’re still not looking at many lumens per watt, despite the #'s the manufacturers publish.
Plus the colour rendring of LEDs is hopeless, it’ll get there eventually - enough people are throwing enough money at it. But the reality is if you want to light up a big area, then you have to throw a load of light in that direction, LEDs are not good for that, they are bright if you are looking into them- light a car tail light- excellent use of techology.
The rest- hum we shall see.
As for the 80’s jeez I saw the Sab’s in Birmingham in the 70’s shit I am old- WTF happened, still I own my first ever Japanese car, so there is still hope for me- tee hee.
And I think it could be time to interview potential new queens for my castle here in sunny Salt Point NY, as the present one has gone insane and needs to be removed- ho hum.
I must start a seperate thread of funny stories, while I can still remember them…
Nice writeup, i have projectors but i dont have HID’s in them, ill have look into that.
I’m starting to wonder if a nice toroid shaped lens might be useful here, for sure we can make a reflector thatn works better than the the OEM one.
, When I get 5 minutes I will see what I can do with the R32 headlamp set up- more to follow
s2k headlights are the best.
i had HIDs in my 99 saab and i think they were halogen, but they were adjustable, so i was able to control both cutoffs. they were also high and low beam in 1 bulb. they were pretty sweet
http://www.abbottracing.com/2003/index.htm
the kit consisted of 8k bulbs and power ballasts.
just a quick note, HID is High Intensity Discharge & Halogen lamps have filaments.
I dug the spare Skyline headlamps out and my word they are crude , just a simple reflector and a lens with a plate that acts as a mask to chop the beam, all very Victorian!
I see the Canadian’s are getting into trouble with the local DOT for not having head lamps that comply with regulations. I suppose I should really get up off my ass and make a properly converted right-hand drive to left hand drive HID kit.
The reflector in there sucks and would need to be re-designed to work better with that little arc and the lens is a cheap POS ( I think I know who made it)
Problem is will these penniless skyline owner be prepared to pay for the R+D, hum probably not ? and do I want a pair of $5000 head lamps - er no.
answer 90na300zxs Q…how would the HIDs work out in our Zs? 
Are they an elliptical reflector like the Skyline- if they are and IF you can get the lamp centred correctly they should work just fine. The problem is that lamp alignment is critical and the old Halogen lamp holder is very different in size and shape to the HID one.