Planetarium Machine Question -- replacing a 300W XENON with a laser; please advise!

[robertmallory]

Hello,

I am currently working on a film in which I need to get a vintage planetarium star machine up and running. I am running into problems with the XENON 300W power supplies, so I am pursuing a laser replacement for the XENON bulb.

In the current design of the machine, the bulb hits a mirrored hemisphere, around 2.5" in diameter -- the light then refracts to show the night sky. I am looking for a laser (ideally in a white color) that can run off 110V and can be lensed to have a finishing point around 2.5"-3" in diameter. I'm looking for something powerful, comparable to the XENON bulb.

I don't have a background in this at all and am at a loss of how to move forward. If anyone has any guidance, it would be very appreciated.

Please note that I'm on a relatively short timeline as the filming of the machine is on 2/17-2/22 of February.

Thanks,
Robert

[swamidog]

i don't think a laser will do what you expect. a better choice might be LEP (laser excited phosphor bulbs).

https://www.amazon.com/stores/Weltoo...A-67DB8CC22088

Hello,

I am currently working on a film in which I need to get a vintage planetarium star machine up and running. I am running into problems with the XENON 300W power supplies, so I am pursuing a laser replacement for the XENON bulb.

In the current design of the machine, the bulb hits a mirrored hemisphere, around 2.5" in diameter -- the light then refracts to show the night sky. I am looking for a laser (ideally in a white color) that can run off 110V and can be lensed to have a finishing point around 2.5"-3" in diameter. I'm looking for something powerful, comparable to the XENON bulb.

I don't have a background in this at all and am at a loss of how to move forward. If anyone has any guidance, it would be very appreciated.

Please note that I'm on a relatively short timeline as the filming of the machine is on 2/17-2/22 of February.

Thanks,
Robert

[VDX]

... what's the expected "life-time" of the phosphorus crystal ind the LEP lamps?

I have some phosphor-wheels of the Casio-beamers, where they were used to convert the blue beam (24x blue 1.5W-diodes) into "green" ... could be a good idea for DIY LEP

Viktor


*** EDIT *** - if the energy density or heating is a problem, then some sort of "mechanical oszillating" with rotating the disk forth and back over 270deg (to avoid the "window") could do, to distribute/remove the heat ...

[kecked]

Hello,

I am currently working on a film in which I need to get a vintage planetarium star machine up and running. I am running into problems with the XENON 300W power supplies, so I am pursuing a laser replacement for the XENON bulb.

In the current design of the machine, the bulb hits a mirrored hemisphere, around 2.5" in diameter -- the light then refracts to show the night sky. I am looking for a laser (ideally in a white color) that can run off 110V and can be lensed to have a finishing point around 2.5"-3" in diameter. I'm looking for something powerful, comparable to the XENON bulb.

I don't have a background in this at all and am at a loss of how to move forward. If anyone has any guidance, it would be very appreciated.

Please note that I'm on a relatively short timeline as the filming of the machine is on 2/17-2/22 of February.

Thanks,
Robert

there are white light LEDs in the kw range. Just search white light high power LEDs. They need cooling but can easily replace a 300 watt xenon lamp. That seems low power to me I think you must Jp have multiples. A 100w might work fine. They are not expensive.

- - - Updated - - -

Hello,

I am currently working on a film in which I need to get a vintage planetarium star machine up and running. I am running into problems with the XENON 300W power supplies, so I am pursuing a laser replacement for the XENON bulb.

In the current design of the machine, the bulb hits a mirrored hemisphere, around 2.5" in diameter -- the light then refracts to show the night sky. I am looking for a laser (ideally in a white color) that can run off 110V and can be lensed to have a finishing point around 2.5"-3" in diameter. I'm looking for something powerful, comparable to the XENON bulb.

I don't have a background in this at all and am at a loss of how to move forward. If anyone has any guidance, it would be very appreciated.

Please note that I'm on a relatively short timeline as the filming of the machine is on 2/17-2/22 of February.

Thanks,
Robert

there are white light LEDs in the kw range. Just search white light high power LEDs. They need cooling but can easily replace a 300 watt xenon lamp. That seems low power to me I think you must Jp have multiples. A 100w might work fine. They are not expensive.

[VDX]

... the problem for replacing the 300W Xenon-lamp could be the needed emitting size -- while a Xenon (or halogen) "spot-light" could have an light-emitting volume of 3x3x3mm, the 100W and stronger LED's are more like 40x40mm or even bigger square area ... so not really usefull to project small spots like Stars or planets

Viktor

[laserist]

Viktor is right. I'm guessing this is a Spitz projector and they're mostly brute force. The size of the light source emitter matters. It might be worth doing the stars in post production rather than "focusing" on fixing up one of the lowest end planetarium projectors ever sold...

[laserist]

Oh, if it is an old Spitz, Ash Enterprises has an LED upgrade...

[VDX]

... then better go the LEP-route, as pointed out by swamidog - here the "size" of the light-source could be as small as 100 microns (spot of a common 10w blue "doubled" laserdiode) or up to 300 microns, as with one of my "optimized" 8x4.5W (36W) blue LD modules from a beamer laser-bank ... an there are even bigger/stronger ones recently

Viktor


*** EDIT *** - some thoughts for the "100/300 microns spot-size" -- the resulting "light-source" should be bigger, as the activated/fluorescence volume is bigger, than the spot itself ...

[mixedgas]

I have excess 175 watt Xenon PSUS and Lamps, contact me via PM.

Steve