Re: [PSUBS-MAILIST] home-built strobe location beacon

[Jim Rudholm <jimrudholm@gmail.com>]

Check out this product from All Electronics:

http://www.allelectronics.com/make-a-store/item/STROBE-3C/12VDC-STROBE-CLEAR/-/1.html

Jim

On Sun, Jan 10, 2010 at 3:57 PM, Alan James <alanjames@xtra.co.nz> wrote:
> Well done Jon,
> Now all you need is a submarine to stick it on.
> Alan
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jon Wallace" <jonw@psubs.org>
> To: <personal_submersibles@psubs.org>
> Sent: Monday, January 11, 2010 12:06 PM
> Subject: [PSUBS-MAILIST] home-built strobe location beacon
>
>
>>
>> Someone made the mistake of not supervising me this weekend, and so I
>> decided to build a prototype Strobe Surface Location Beacon for use on small
>> submersibles.
>>
>> This project came about after the latest version of ABS rules were
>> released which requires a surface location device be installed on all
>> submersibles.  Since strobe lights typically have high intensity output they
>> seem like a good choice to aide in surface detection of a vessel as long as
>> some way can be achieved to make them not only watertight, but also resist
>> the water pressure obtainable by a typical personal submersible.   I began
>> to ponder what existing products could be modified for use on PSUBS and
>> shared some email with Vance Bradley on various options.   My first thought
>> was to use an aircraft beacon which are easily obtainable from various
>> markets.   However, I couldn't find an aircraft beacon that was manufactured
>> in a small enough format to transfer well to underwater applications.   Most
>> are either rather bulky or specifically packaged to the physical
>> requirements of a particular aircraft.   Additionally, the lenses for most
>> aircraft beacons are irregularly shaped for aerodynamic purposes or to fit
>> the shape of a particular aircraft.  Also, no specifications exist for those
>> lenses which makes it impossible to project (without field testing) how much
>> external pressure a particular lens would be able to resist.
>>
>> I turned my attention to strobes used for emergency vehicles.   Light bars
>> and roof beacons are typically too large for a submersible application and
>> again, the resistence of their lenses to external pressure is a complete
>> unknown.   However, strobes designed to fit within the headlight and
>> tailights of vehicles (hide-a-way) did hold some promise and so I began to
>> concentrate my efforts on these units.  I have found as a general rule that
>> most products associated with emergency vehicles are inherently expensive.
>> This proved true with hide-a-way strobes as well since most of them are sold
>> by emergency equipment suppliers or automobile safety shops.   I did a lot
>> of web research in an attempt to locate the brightest strobe for the least
>> amount of money.   Most of the strobes I came across advertised an output of
>> 25-40 watts and cost $100.00 or more.
>>
>> I finally came across www.autodirectsave.com who were advertising a 12VDC
>> strobe kit with an output of 100watts for only $49.99, plus shipping of a
>> bit more than $14.  So for $64 and some change, I purchased the kit which
>> consists of two strobe lights and a multifunction control box.  I attached
>> the kit to my car battery and was somewhat disappointed with the light
>> output.  While bright enough to be highly visible in daylight, it still
>> doesn't look like 100 watts to my untrained eye.  I noticed that the
>> packaging box had lots of information about the multi-function capability of
>> the control box, but not a word about light output.  I contacted
>> AutoDirectSave and told them I was disappointed in the light output and that
>> since the manufacturer made no claim about light output on the packaging
>> that somebody somewhere must have over emphasized the 100 watt output.
>>  Their response was "everyone says these are the brightest ones".  Ok,
>> whatever.  They offered to take the unit back, but since I paid $14 to ship
>> it to me, and would require another $14 to ship it back, I decided that
>> rather than losing half my money I'd just keep it.  In any event, they are
>> certainly bright enough to spot easily in daylight.  I was just hoping for
>> something incredibly, dastardly, blindingly, bright...all for $50.  Of
>> course, it later dawned on me that I had viewed the strobes through my
>> sunglasses, but please don't repeat that to anyone.
>>
>> As I was researching some suppliers of acrylic tubing, I came across a
>> company Harvel who manufactures clear PVC.  This seemed like a reasonable
>> option to follow since the pipe properties are identical to regular PVC,
>> just clear instead of colored.  Well...almost.  It turns out that clear PVC
>> is not really clear, but has a bluish tint to it.  A very light tint, but
>> still, not clear.  It did however turn out to be clear enough for this
>> purpose.  I was hoping it would be "clear" in the strictest sense of the
>> word since any pigmentation would reduce the light output.  I was able to
>> find a local supplier and picked up a 10 foot section of clear PVC pipe and
>> two clear PVC caps.  The PVC pipe was $2.50 per foot which wasn't TOO bad,
>> but the caps were $7 each which is outrageous.  I'm going to call the
>> manufacturers rep this week to find out if the plumbing supplier had the
>> wrong price attached to the PVC caps.  Given that white PVC caps are about
>> 50 cents each, I find it hard to believe the clear is that much more
>> expensive.  In any event, this is a prototype (and I'm unsupervised) so I
>> just bit my lip and payed it.
>>
>> I ended up using eight inches of pipe for the prototype which translates
>> to about $1.75 when the cost of the 10 foot length is pro-rated.  A couple
>> of other regular PVC fittings account for another dollar or two, so the
>> entire prototype (pro-rated) ended up being about $83.00.  I created a photo
>> journal on the website to document how I fabricated the unit, and the
>> prototype is for sale to anyone who wants to install it on their sub.  I did
>> this for proof of concept and am satisfied with the results, with the
>> exception of the price for the 1 inch PVC caps.
>>
>> While acrylic tubing is an alternative option for the housing, PVC is just
>> easy to get and easy to work with.  According to Sched 40 specifications,
>> one inch pipe (which is what I used) can survive up to 900 psi of external
>> pressure which makes it applicable to almost every small recreational sub we
>> might encounter.  I offer this project as a solution for sub owners to
>> install a low-cost strobe location device on their vessel in compliance with
>> ABS standards, and also as an incentive for others as a starting point in
>> hopes they can achieve a better and/or lower cost "cookbook" solution.
>>
>> The project photos are on the web site.
>> Go to http://www.psubs.org
>> Select "PSUBS Community" from the top menu.
>> Select "Projects & Photos"
>> Select "Jon Wallace" from the left menu
>> Select "Strobe Light Project" from the right page
>>
>> Or just go to:
>> http://www.psubs.org/projects/1234567801/strobelightproject/
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> ************************************************************************
>> ************************************************************************
>> ************************************************************************
>> The personal submersibles mailing list complies with the US Federal
>> CAN-SPAM Act of 2003.  Your email address appears in our database
>> because either you, or someone you know, requested you receive messages
>> from our organization.
>>
>> If you want to be removed from this mailing list simply click on the
>> link below or send a blank email message to:
>> removeme-personal_submersibles@psubs.org
>>
>> Removal of your email address from this mailing list occurs by an
>> automated process and should be complete within five minutes of
>> our server receiving your request.
>>
>> PSUBS.ORG
>> PO Box 53
>> Weare, NH  03281
>> 603-529-1100
>> ************************************************************************
>> ************************************************************************
>> ************************************************************************
>>
>
>
>
>
> ************************************************************************
> ************************************************************************
> ************************************************************************
> The personal submersibles mailing list complies with the US Federal
> CAN-SPAM Act of 2003.  Your email address appears in our database
> because either you, or someone you know, requested you receive messages
> from our organization.
>
> If you want to be removed from this mailing list simply click on the
> link below or send a blank email message to:
>        removeme-personal_submersibles@psubs.org
>
> Removal of your email address from this mailing list occurs by an
> automated process and should be complete within five minutes of
> our server receiving your request.
>
> PSUBS.ORG
> PO Box 53
> Weare, NH  03281
> 603-529-1100
> ************************************************************************
> ************************************************************************
> ************************************************************************
>
>



************************************************************************
************************************************************************
************************************************************************
The personal submersibles mailing list complies with the US Federal
CAN-SPAM Act of 2003.  Your email address appears in our database
because either you, or someone you know, requested you receive messages
from our organization.

If you want to be removed from this mailing list simply click on the
link below or send a blank email message to:
	removeme-personal_submersibles@psubs.org

Removal of your email address from this mailing list occurs by an
automated process and should be complete within five minutes of
our server receiving your request.

PSUBS.ORG
PO Box 53
Weare, NH  03281
603-529-1100
************************************************************************
************************************************************************
************************************************************************