I'm building a super strobe bar! It has 8 strobe tubes under computer control. (Actually a PIC processor, but hey, computer is a computer.) I have all the stuff done except the control section, and I only have 2 of the 8 strobe units done due to the fact that I haven't found any more cheap cameras at the thrift store! (One Saturday morning's worth of garage sales and flea markets would remedy that! --- sam). It runs on 12 V, at up to 6 A, and can fire the tubes at a rate of about 8-10 times per second. The storage cap is a 210 uf, 330 V model; it gets to about 250 V to 300 V before firing; depending on how long it has had to charge.
Because of this high speed, the tubes get shall we say, a little warm. (Well, maybe a lot warm --- sam). I have it set up at the moment driving two alternating 5 W-s tubes. I'm pumping them quite a bit too hard, as the electrodes start to glow after oh, about 5 seconds or so of continuous use. I know, a high class problem, indeed! My final assembly will have 8 tubes spaced ut 8 inches apart on a 2x4, with a Plexiglass U-shaped enclosure with a nice 12 V fan blowing air through one end of the channel to cool the inverter and the tubes. Stay tuned.
Sourced By: Kevin Horton
Inverter - High power 12 V to 300 V inverter for high repeat rate medium power strobes. Schematic
Trigger - Opto-isolated logic level trigger for general strobe applications Schematic
