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Strobe "guns" ?

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Conundrum

Tue Feb 19 2008, 09:11AM

Registered Member #96 Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 05:37PM
Location: CI, Earth
Posts: 4061

Hi all.

Just saw a very interesting news article suggesting that a strobe gun (aka a device which generates a brilliant series of light flashes using either chained xenon tubes or LEDs) may have been used to assasinate someone by causing them to lose control of their car.

Has anyone else heard of this?
I did recall watching an article about such a device based on green lasers, to disorient people as an alternative to TASERs.

Thanks, -A

Mates

Tue Feb 19 2008, 12:07PM

Registered Member #1025 Joined: Sun Sept 23 2007, 07:53PM
Location: Czech Rep.
Posts: 566

Few years ago I was designing xenon and argon tubes based strong light source for stressing photosynthetic apparatus of plants. I can tell you that discharging 1000uF at 600V gives such a strong light pulse that unprotected eyes get blinded for very long time. I also got a very stupid idea which I luckily never realized. I thought of making xenon flash tube in a shape of fuck finger and place on the back window of my car and use it to imprint my message into the retinas of stupid drivers coming too close to my car-ass with their long range lights on

The reason why I never installed that device is the point of this whole thread. I totally believe that even a simple camera flash can make you blind long enough to loose control over the car.

However, I think the main reason why Diana died in the car was in the fact they drove the car in a dog-eat-dog style - so typical for the "higher" society and we can call it good luck that they killed only themself...

Conundrum

Tue Feb 19 2008, 05:17PM

Registered Member #96 Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 05:37PM
Location: CI, Earth
Posts: 4061

Mates wrote ...

The reason why I never installed that device is the point of this whole thread. I totally believe that even a simple camera flash can make you blind long enough to loose control over the car.

Ouch! Thats almost as bad as the muppets who leave their main beam on all the time, even during the day. I've had to pull over and stop the car before while my vision recovered.

High power camera flashes of any kind have no place in a vehicle, photography or otherwise.

/me dreads the chavs realising this and installing a flash bar from a large photocopier or half a dozen slave flashes on the back of their "Batmobile"...

That said, such a device based on Luxeon Flash LED's might make a good non-lethal TASER alternative?

-A

"Bother" said Pooh, as his conspiracy theory was shot down in flames...

teslacoolguy

Tue Feb 19 2008, 05:29PM

Registered Member #1107 Joined: Thu Nov 08 2007, 10:09PM
Location:
Posts: 792

i think if you were able to take a bunch of camera flashes from disposable cameras lets say 20 and make a 5x5 cube and somehow concentrated them all into a ruby rod you would have one hell of a blinding device or even if you skip the ruby rod 20 camera flashes going of at the same time is an unbeliveable amount of light

Conundrum

Wed Feb 20 2008, 10:39AM

Registered Member #96 Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 05:37PM
Location: CI, Earth
Posts: 4061

Been there, done that. Didn't work. (was trying to make a 100 flash firework simulator)

The problem is that the flash unit seems to depend on a very precise sharp pulse to stimulate the ignition of the tube.
Using triacs didn't work :( Â£45 down the tube (lol)

I had considered some sort of optical triggering system but it would be horrendous to build 20 of them.#

Just my $0.02 worth.

-A

"Bother" said Pooh, as the anomaly detector malfunctioned...

Backyard Skunkworks

Wed Feb 20 2008, 07:27PM

Registered Member #1262 Joined: Fri Jan 25 2008, 05:22AM
Location: Maryland, USA
Posts: 451

The camera flashes take about 10kV to trigger I think, if you look at the circuits you'll notice a small pulse transformer. Thats what ionizes the xenon, the ionized xenon then conducts and the 330V flash cap discharges causing that flash, no 10kV pulse, no flash.

Simon

Wed Feb 20 2008, 11:05PM

Registered Member #32 Joined: Sat Feb 04 2006, 08:58AM
Location: Australia
Posts: 549

Don't forget that the inverse square law has a big effect on range if you don't collimate well.

Conundrum

Mon Feb 25 2008, 02:45PM

Registered Member #96 Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 05:37PM
Location: CI, Earth
Posts: 4061

Hmm. Laser dazzler?

I seem to recall that these work by generating random noise in the form of rapidly modulated green flashes, this seems to somehow confuse the "anti dazzle" mechanism in the eye causing loss of vision. This is non permanent and rapidly fades when the beam ceases, but renders the subject virtually blind while it is trained on them.

Obviously there are reasons why this is a bad idea- epilepsy being one.

-A

ramses

Thu Feb 28 2008, 10:08PM

Registered Member #1208 Joined: Thu Jan 03 2008, 05:30PM
Location: Chesterland, OH
Posts: 154

teslacoolguy wrote ...

i think if you were able to take a bunch of camera flashes from disposable cameras lets say 20 and make a 5x5 cube and somehow concentrated them all into a ruby rod you would have one hell of a blinding device or even if you skip the ruby rod 20 camera flashes going of at the same time is an unbelievable amount of light

ummm... 5x5 =25, not 20. and if you were to make such a device, I would put all of the trigger switches in parallel across an SCR and just trigger that. and yeah, that switches into a trigger transformer with ~3kv out.

Conundrum

Fri Feb 29 2008, 06:58PM

Registered Member #96 Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 05:37PM
Location: CI, Earth
Posts: 4061

hmm.. what about using 20 identical 5 turn windings on a single transformer?

that might work.
-A

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