I'm looking to find a DIY spotlight project that can be mounted to a roof and be seen for miles around. Anyone hear of a project like this? Looking at commercial spotlights are somewhat around 155,000 lumens. The cheapest thing I can think of would be to take 4 15 million candle power spot lights (the hand-held recharageable kind) and put them into a smooth drum of some sort to focus the beam.
I'm not really sure how to start on this one, any pointers would be helpful.
I'm not really sure how to start on this one, any pointers would be helpful.
DIY idea
Look for a 1000 Watt MH lamp and ballast. I have seen them pretty cheap on eBay, or places like goodmart.com & venture lighting. These are used in parking lots and street lamps.
High pressure sodium is even cheaper to buy and run, but the light will have a funny color. (Maybe you don't care?)
On the other hand, either of these take some time to warm up and restart. If you need "instant on", then a halogen lamp would be better.
Then get a big parabolic reflector from Edmonds for $40 to $78:
http://www.edmundoptics.com/onlinecatalog/displayproduct.cfm?productID=1364
Build a nice weather-proof housing with a small 120 VAC fan from Radio Shack, and you are in business. I would make the distance from the lamp to the reflector adjustable, so I could project a tight beam or a wider beam at will.
Look for a 1000 Watt MH lamp and ballast. I have seen them pretty cheap on eBay, or places like goodmart.com & venture lighting. These are used in parking lots and street lamps.
High pressure sodium is even cheaper to buy and run, but the light will have a funny color. (Maybe you don't care?)
On the other hand, either of these take some time to warm up and restart. If you need "instant on", then a halogen lamp would be better.
Then get a big parabolic reflector from Edmonds for $40 to $78:
http://www.edmundoptics.com/onlinecatalog/displayproduct.cfm?productID=1364
Build a nice weather-proof housing with a small 120 VAC fan from Radio Shack, and you are in business. I would make the distance from the lamp to the reflector adjustable, so I could project a tight beam or a wider beam at will.
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