Xenon short arc ballast / General Science and Electronics / Forums

Forums

4hv.org :: Forums :: General Science and Electronics

« Previous topic | Next topic »

Xenon short arc ballast

1 2 next

Move Thread

LAN_403

haxor5354

Tue May 08 2012, 11:07AM

Registered Member #2063 Joined: Sat Apr 04 2009, 03:16PM
Location: Toronto
Posts: 352

I picked up a pretty large xenon short arc light box this weekend for ONLY TEN DOLLARS

and another a smaller bulb for 2$
the bowl reflectors are prabably worth way more than 10$
the whole unit is cooled by compressed air, and the power connectors are rather BEFFY. could prabably handle up to 200 amps
had no luck trying to power them up so far, i tried a 75W metal halide ballast and a 200W mercury lamp ballast
the closet i've ever got was just a few flashes with a 35W automotive HID ballast.
wikipedia says they need 20 to 50kV to ignite and around 50 volts DC to sustain the arc.

right now im thinking of using a flyback to ignite the arc and use a DC welder to sustain the arc.
would the HV feed back from the flyback kill a IGBT welder?

Pinky's Brain

Tue May 08 2012, 01:55PM

Registered Member #2901 Joined: Thu Jun 03 2010, 01:25PM
Location:
Posts: 837

No idea, but keep us updated ... so we know flying glass from an exploding bulb hasn't killed ya :)

PS. the welder would probably need a big inductor or diode string to protect it, is it current controlled?

Nik

Tue May 08 2012, 04:28PM

Registered Member #53 Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 04:31AM
Location: Ontario, Canada
Posts: 638

This guy >

< built his own short arc xenon lamp. Check it out, he has a lot of useful information.

hboy007

Tue May 08 2012, 05:55PM

Registered Member #1667 Joined: Sat Aug 30 2008, 09:57PM
Location:
Posts: 374

please use some doorknob caps and a sound triggered thyratron to do some nice high speed photography (that's what I'd love to do if I had such a lamp.

haxor5354

Tue May 08 2012, 08:52PM

Registered Member #2063 Joined: Sat Apr 04 2009, 03:16PM
Location: Toronto
Posts: 352

Pinky's Brain wrote ...

No idea, but keep us updated ... so we know flying glass from an exploding bulb hasn't killed ya :)

PS. the welder would probably need a big inductor or diode string to protect it, is it current controlled?

problem is, I don't even have a welder. i have a modified MOT that puts out 24V with 20 amps or so. and a have two 40V 100A diode bricks.
could it work if I put a ballast on the MOT then rectify the output to power the lamp? then again, the starting pulse might kill the rectifier brick :(

Nik

Tue May 08 2012, 09:22PM

Registered Member #53 Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 04:31AM
Location: Ontario, Canada
Posts: 638

If you watch the video in the link I posted and the follow up he built a circuit that protects the the high current supply from the HV pulse. You could probably run it at a lower current then it is rated for but I'll bet that it will be no where near the brightness you want or it might not be able to sustain the arc.

haxor5354

Tue May 08 2012, 09:26PM

Registered Member #2063 Joined: Sat Apr 04 2009, 03:16PM
Location: Toronto
Posts: 352

Nik wrote ...

If you watch the video in the link I posted and the follow up he built a circuit that protects the the high current supply from the HV pulse. You could probably run it at a lower current then it is rated for but I'll bet that it will be no where near the brightness you want or it might not be able to sustain the arc.

he didn't post the schematic :(

Forty

Wed May 09 2012, 12:18AM

Registered Member #3888 Joined: Sun May 15 2011, 09:50PM
Location: Erie, PA
Posts: 649

I used a similar arc lamp in my undergrad research as part of a solar simulator machine. Whole unit was about $10k. The front surface bowl reflectors are probably a couple hundred new, so good find. The bulbs in what I used look similar to yours, and I believe they were started with about 2.2kv. Here's a macro shot of the bulb I took for photo class (most of my shots were from the lab, the non-scientists were not amused.)

radiotech

Wed May 09 2012, 03:41AM

Registered Member #2463 Joined: Wed Nov 11 2009, 03:49AM
Location:
Posts: 1546

Our tiny local theater is facing extinction because movie distributors are insisting on digital
projection and current movies won't be available on film. High capital expenditure is required for
the projector approved for the format. This is hard to raise.

Will this mean the lamps, et al, will more and more be available as surplus?

Steve Conner

Wed May 09 2012, 07:02AM

Registered Member #30 Joined: Fri Feb 03 2006, 10:52AM
Location: Glasgow, Scotland
Posts: 6706

haxor5354 wrote ...

he didn't post the schematic :(

It's dead simple, you should be able to figure it out from the video. :p

Hint: It's a Tesla coil, but the Tesla resonator is replaced with a transformer wound on a couple of ferrite rings.

1 2 next

Moderator(s): Chris Russell, Noelle, Alex, Tesladownunder, Dave Marshall, Dave Billington, Bjørn, Steve Conner, Wolfram, Kizmo, Mads Barnkob