A hacked-together flashlight that can shine for miles
By Gregory Mone Posted 01.29.2008 at 12:27 pm 15 Comments

Handheld Sunbeam Hans Pieterse
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Ralf Ottow was standing in front of his bathroom mirror one morning when he noticed that his forehead was sunburned. He hadn’t been out tanning—his homemade flashlight had fried his skin.

The 45-year-old Dutch optics engineer has been building his own lights since he was eight, but his recent 38-million-candlepower creation, the Maxablaster, is more like a miniature star. To start, Ottow stripped out the innards of a powerful commercial flashlight and switched in a mercury arc bulb, which generates light by creating an ultra-hot plasma between two closely spaced electrodes inside the gas-filled central chamber of the lamp. That results in a brighter, more focused beam but also kicks out more ultraviolet light (hence the sunburn, a product of early testing). So he added a specially coated reflector and designed, ground, and coated a new glass window that would trap UV rays while still pumping out light.

Powered by a pack of 54 batteries, the Maxablaster can put a bright spot of light on a cloud four miles high and illuminate a house from just as far. But Ottow doesn’t use it to spook his neighbors. “It’s not a torch you’d walk your dog with,” he says. “It would probably cook your dog.”

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15 Comments

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Srt252
01/30/08 at 7:56 pm

Coooooool

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Mandog

from Everett, WA

02/03/08 at 5:29 pm

You got it wrong, guys. It is actually 52-million-candlepower.

See here: http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showpost.php?p=2319026

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02/08/08 at 1:30 am

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alphabravo964
02/11/08 at 11:27 pm

That flashlight from u know where is amazing. Yet, it's downsides: it is as dangerous as holding a torch and has a HUGE amount of batteries. Watchout though, you may get yelled at from anyone with an aircraft. They are kind of finiky with those type of things. Though it may be heavy, this gets a thumbs up from a guy with his mouth open wide.

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03/04/08 at 8:38 pm

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03/09/08 at 6:41 am

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pat4027
03/09/08 at 6:41 am

that thing is so CooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooL

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jeffman99
07/01/08 at 4:14 am

These are very interesting information. Thank you for having published.
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jeffman99
08/19/08 at 3:38 am

It's very interesting !
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gena
08/03/09 at 2:43 am

He hadn’t been out tanning—his homemade flashlight had fried his skin. http://www.crazypurchase.com

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romaniamac1
10/21/09 at 4:07 am

Really cool and interesting, thank you

Maxson
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www.emailextractor14.com/?page_id=121

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