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AN/TVS-3 20kW searchlights

sfsearchlights

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Location
San Francisco, CA
I have a collection of AN/TVS-3 searchlights (20kW, water cooled xenon short-arc, 400Hz power) we're restoring to operational for city-wide public art projects in San Francisco. This is turning into a technical endeavor requiring dielectric coolant formulation, reanimating old Hol-Gar/Hercules SP-HF-15 gensets, custom radiators, finding special 4/0 cable suppliers (19x7x64/36) to repair units vandalized by copper thieves.


Questions:

  • Does anyone on the board have one of these AN/TVS-3 units? Operable? What do you use for coolant? Lets talk!

  • Would anyone be interested in an AN/TVS-3 refitted with a commercial bulb (120/240 VAC 60Hz) or possibly VSS-1 or VSS-3 components for 28VDC power?

I expect to end up with 4 units that can't be made operational with the original 20kW bulb and electronics. The enclosure and reflector are complete, though. We're considering adapting them to use more standard bulbs, so it would look good and put out a good beam (30" reflector!) even with 1kW, but not have the 20kW water cooled and 400Hz headaches.


 
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