Apparatus and method for operating a portable xenon arc searchlight

摘要

A xenon arc searchlight incorporates a high frequency/high efficiency electronic circuit that allows lamp ballasting and charging of the system battery to occur over a wide range of external DC power supplies. The xenon arc searchlight has a converter circuit coupled to both the battery, the ballasting circuit and the arc lamp for converting DC voltage from the battery to pulse width modulated switched current to the arc lamp in which the DC voltage is switched by parallel switching transistors. The ballisting circuit is controllable by a switch to vary current supplied to the converter circuit and hence intensity of the lamp which discrete steps in intensity of the lamp are not visually perceptibly different between one step to a next step in the sequence of steps of the current to the lamp. The lamp, ballast, battery and charger are provided in a single rugged package.