What Is The Brightest Lightbulb..

[Generic Box Of Cookies]

I live in the desert. At night, the desert is relatively free of other vehicles, and full of animals. My current car has crappy highbeams, but a beefy alternator.

I want to build some DIY fog lights for my car. I have some reflectors which I scrapped off an old vehicle. I want to utilize them. Sure I could just buy some foglights, but I want..OVERKILL. I don't want to see potential roadkill animals. I want to vaporize them, leaving nothing but a crispy hollow carbon effigy which turns to dust when I drive past it. When assholes won't turn their highbeams off, I want to bleach their retinas and conflagrate their tyres.

This bulb is rated at around 4k-5k lumens. (http://www.wickedlasers.com/lasers/The_Torch_Light_Bulb-76-29.html)

This one is rated at 10k lumens (http://www.lightbulbemporium.com/ushio_1000287_ehd_jcv120v_500wbh.asp)


I think lowbeams are around 700 lumens, and highbeams are around 1400 lumens. I'd replace the highbeams with the brighter lights, but Im not sure if my headlight covers would catch fire? This would certainly be a step up from what I have.

I think the lights will sit nicely behind the grille. It would be a simple chore to fabricate/fit one made from an expanded metal sheet. The plastic one might burn up, and that is unacceptable.

It would be pretty cool if I could control the orientation of the lights from within the vehicle. I don't know if it would be worth wiring up servos, so maybe just having separate lights would work. Maybe have two facing directly forward, with one aimed slightly higher. Then have two more facing off to the sides a few degrees, but on a separate switch. A high-amperage potentiometer would be a nice touch.

What would the cheapest, most powerful and suitable bulb be?
How could I cool the bulbs, if necessary?

[KeepOnTruckin]

I dont know about lumens, but if you go to a event-supply joint that rents speakers, stage lights and such, ask for some 1000 watt PAR 64s you will get thes big cans with a selfcontained bright-ass spotlight int eh back of it. some Jeeps and older cars have headlights taht look just like it. Hook these up. 1,000 watts is very bright.

[rustyshackleford420]

I don't have anything to add but that's a sweet idea.

[Knight of Blackness]

http://img123.imageshack.us/img123/4874/lightcz2.jpg

[Struwwelpeter]

One thing is for sure: pizzanazi, yggdrasil, skyclaw, crazzyass, rust, zay, killswitch_jew, fish, justanotherasshole, azure, and some other units I forgot to mention are definitely not the brightest bulbs you want to be putting in your sockets.

[Struwwelpeter]

And if you want to keep the critters away from your car I recommend you just tape a couple of strobe-lights to your hood or to that ram gate on the front of your cruiser, that will scare them off.

[Yggdrasil]

One thing is for sure: pizzanazi, yggdrasil, skyclaw, crazzyass, rust, zay, killswitch_jew, fish, justanotherasshole, azure, and some other units I forgot to mention are definitely not the brightest bulbs you want to be putting in your sockets.

Now, for the list of who does want it stuck up the socket...

JFLC
El Monstruo
Phinehas
Azure
Bigg_LG
LSA King... sometimes...
Other bigoted fags

[Struwwelpeter]

You run a Zoklet search on your username every two minutes don't you?

[Generic Box Of Cookies]

You run a Zoklet search on your username every two minutes don't you?

What?

[Azure]

Now, for the list of who does want it stuck up the socket...

JFLC
El Monstruo
Phinehas
Azure
Bigg_LG
LSA King... sometimes...
Other bigoted fags

How in the fuck am I a bigot?

Don't lump me in with those- mostly- barely literate imbeciles.

[Hyper-dimension]

I dont know about lumens, but if you go to a event-supply joint that rents speakers, stage lights and such, ask for some 1000 watt PAR 64s you will get thes big cans with a selfcontained bright-ass spotlight int eh back of it. some Jeeps and older cars have headlights taht look just like it. Hook these up. 1,000 watts is very bright.

Lumens are a measure of light output, whereas watts merely tell you apparent power usage(true power usage in the case of incadescents). Any respectable lighting expert will mostly deal in lumens and nanometers in terms of the actual light being produced.

Anyways, OP, if you really want to be seen from space, look no further than low-pressure sodium bulbs. They have the highest luminous efficiency of any type of bulb(higher than high-pressure sodium, and metal halides even), with an efficiency rating of 200 lumens/watt not uncommon. Meaning, a 500W LPS would output roughly 50,000 lumens.

The problem with LPS bulbs, though, is that they are monochromatic, meaning that they render color poorly. Everything would pretty much look orangey, but that wouldn't matter out in the desert, no?

They're also large as all fuck, so a custom roof mount, or something of the like would be in order.

[Hyper-dimension]

Check out some of the lights this site sells:

http://www.strongint.com/Products.aspx

Holy shit.

Another note: if you're just looking to improve visibility by means of color rendering, then look into HID's(xenons), they have a much higher CRI(Color Rendering Index) rating than standard headlamps, meaning colors are pretty crisp. They require new ballasts however, so you'd be looking at $300-$700 depending on the quality of the system you purchase.

[023]

I don't want to see potential roadkill animals. I want to vaporize them, leaving nothing but a crispy hollow carbon effigy which turns to dust when I drive past it. When assholes won't turn their highbeams off, I want to bleach their retinas and conflagrate their tyres.


Best thing I've heard all day. +1 to you good sir.