Improving a strobe

[Oznog]

I need to power a strobe tube, one of those that makes basically 1.5 turns. Sorry I don't know of a standardized name for it. I only need a flash every 2 sec or so but it's going to be an aircraft strobe for my ultralight so it would be wise to make it as bright as it can.

I saw there's a bunch of 12V strobes on the surplus market, they power a little tube maybe 1" or so but at 90 flashes/min.

If I recall correctly, these circuits blindly charge a capacitor until a set voltage is reached, and an SCR fires a trigger pulse to the tube. Can I beef up this driver's cap or maybe change the trigger point to drive a different tube slower? Or is the tube voltage going to be too different? Does the transformer design have a fairly fixed voltage output? I know it does some funky stuff with self-resonance so it changes freq over a very wide range.

 

[chemelec]

The 12 Volt Strobe Circuit on my site can give a Bright Flash at Slower rates.

But depending on how bright, you may need to use a More Powerful Xeon tube and Trigger Transformer, as well as larger capacitors for the DC Storage.
(Also, Smaller Xeon Tubes also won't Last long With Higher Power. Most tubes are Rated at X number of Flashes, For X Amount of Power. Increasing Power can Greatly Reduce Life Expectancy.)

My Site:
**broken link removed**

Take care.........Gary

 

[Sebi]

In the middle of 70's i've made a strobe-light for stage use with five tubes, sequential work. The tubes in this construction can work over 200 hours. The previous version - with only one tube - can't working over six hours! (the flashing periods was about 1min both case)

 

[Oznog]

The 12 Volt Strobe Circuit on my site can give a Bright Flash at Slower rates.

But depending on how bright, you may need to use a More Powerful Xeon tube and Trigger Transformer, as well as larger capacitors for the DC Storage.
(Also, Smaller Xeon Tubes also won't Last long With Higher Power. Most tubes are Rated at X number of Flashes, For X Amount of Power. Increasing Power can Greatly Reduce Life Expectancy.)

My Site:
**broken link removed**

Take care.........Gary

It is a bigger tube often used for aircraft strobes:
https://www.allelectronics.com/cgi-bin/category.cgi?category=search&item=FLT-8&type=store

And this is the strobe driver I might want to modify:
https://www.allelectronics.com/cgi-bin/category.cgi?category=search&item=STROBE-3A&type=store

 

[Oznog]

Ah, I think I found the specs for this type:

FT-118, 1-1/2 turn tube 45 mm tall 26 mm wide 6 mm tubing
Available from Mouser Electronics with the catalog number 361-0118.
Nominal anode voltage 450 volts, should work from 400 to 800 volts.
Maximum flash energy 125 joules according to Mouser. I would derate this proportionately with voltage below 450 volts. Energy handling should be good to much higher voltages, at least 700 and probably 800 volts.
I estimate average power handling to be 15 watts, and this prefers higher voltages.
Estimated capacitance needed to get a daylight-like spectrum 220 uF. My recommended voltages for use for photoflash (daylight-like spectrum) 450-550 volts.
Estimated energy required to get half the ultimate efficiency 4 joules.
Approx. arc length 125 mm, tubing bore 4 mm, estimated Ko 28 ohms-amps^.5.

 

[Oznog]

Think I found a different spec, there are photographic and signalling parts which are very similar, but slightly different dimensions.
I think I'm looking at one with a voltage of min 260, typ 300, max 360, 6 WS max per pulse.

That looks very similar to the voltage of a normal strobe tube, just more capacitance. Promising! How much capactiance would I use?

I sort of want to do something spiffy too. If I use 3 strobes with red, green, and blue filter, I'd be able to flash unusual colors. I'm aware they'd each need their own cap, although I think I can use diodes so they can be fed off the same power supply.

Any ideas as to something to use for color filters? I'd want to do something with some basic quality, not injet transparencies or anything. They'd need to be fairly small, and arranged so that one is not in front of the other. They'd probably need to be stacked vertically.