where's that pack of 3904's? I've got "blink.pde" all loaded up...
where's that pack of 3904's?
Shouldn't be hard to find: a pack that big would have its own ZIP code...
I wonder if that search light is using the old carbon arc element to create the light, or some newer method?
Lefty
Carbon arc. It's a mobile searchlight unit with two heads. Was being used last night to attract attention to a car dealership who was hosting a publicity event.. though I've seen it used at other events in the area. FWIW, if you are a fan of 70's and 80's stuff, John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band was the "draw"..
Each head was running about the same, around 90-100v at 100-150amps. I suspect the operational spec for the unit of two is 25kW. Wonder what the spike has to be to strike THAT arc...
Here's a really cool arc projector that's a favorite.. the projector was left behind, from an abandoned drive-in that's a photographic haunt of mine.. I'll dig through some of the older shots, I have a couple of the capacitor bank and power supply for it too. Even better, the power supply room had clearly been redone after what was obviously a large electrical fire...
That mobile rig (and yep, big ole gennie on the trailer with it) is obviously of that era, and is pristine. I love seeing that kind of equipment.. I was a military brat, Navy, so I got used to BIG. You really don't "get" how big a Carrier is (or even a Destroyer) unless you've been on one, and after that, your scale references tend to change.. and I gained fascination for the entire "world" of Just How Big some things are. I've got an invitation to to do a photoessay on the Hanover Theatre Organ, a full pipe organ hand made from the salvaged innerds of a dozen organs across the globe, by a small group of obsessed musicians and engineers... played nightly as the theatre's music. It's stunning.. you can easily stand inside the bass register pipes, some of them thirty feet high. Worcester and Boston sometimes see some really interesting things preserved.. just this morning a biplane was doing touch and go at the little airstrip up the street-- you know that's someone's baby. You can sometimes find just the right cross of arts people and techies in this area, and sometimes that yields awesomely restored oddball things. I tend to look for things you don't see every day with my photos if I can.. still find the big stuff and industrial/military impressive and great photo subjects.. whether preserved pristine or now fallen into decrepitude.
I also got the searchlight operator's number and chatted with him. Thinking of stacking a couple ND filters or possibly a couple layers of welding glass, would love to get a couple of high-speed macro shots of the arc being struck on one of those monsters.. in this case it's not trying to get enough light.. it's more like preventing the entire camera from bursting into flames.... I think I remember a project someone put up about freeze motion photography using a carbon arc as a flash because Xenon lasts too long...
Here's a bit of obscure trivia...
http://www-cs-faculty.stanford.edu/~uno/organ.html
...Dr. Donald Knuth has a pipe organ in his house!
Could you control that with an Arduino?
I don't know how to play one, but I'd love to have one in my house. Well, I'd love to have a house where I could put one too. Preferably, a reproduction of the Arp Schnitger organ on Pelworm.
Dark Roasted Blend -- scroll down for on-topic photo.