I had a little bit of time to rework my jetpack beacon light. I decided to try to replace the 12v LED setup with a 6v incandescent system. I never wanted an LED in there, but the 12v halogens ran so hot you would easily burn yourself if you touched the beacon metal after just seconds. It seemed to me 6v would work a lot better for this reason alone. I just wasn't sure if it would be bright enough. So I tried it out.
I got these simple car dash/console lights which are 6 volts and are conveniently bi-pin which works perfect for the beacon. I will be powering these from an outlet, but you could just as easily power them off of 4 AA batteries stored inside the jetpack.[ATTACH=full]210632[/ATTACH]
I inserted the bulb pins into the wires that connect to a 6v adapter. It took some time to get the bulb in the right position, then hot glued the wire into place so it would stay.
[ATTACH=full]210633[/ATTACH]
I was hoping to improve two things with this over the 12v 10w LED. First, I hope the more focused light of the incandescent bulb will create more accurate light casting of the beacon slits, showing the beacon slits cast onto surrounding objects correctly, and second, the light intensity will be more accurate. In other words, not so bright.
[ATTACH=full]210634[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH=full]210635[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH=full]210636[/ATTACH]
It's not perfect but it's also not bad. I think the discrepancies I see in these comparisons are due more to the inaccuracies of the Bobby Fett UK jetpack and Serenity beacon than the position or brightness of the bulb. I've been thinking about getting a more accurate jetpack for a while now. Just not sure if I want to paint another one. [USER=1532]KaanE[/USER] suggested putting a diffuser on it, which isn't a bad idea as long as I can find something that just takes the edge off, not obliterate the beacon slits.
But I think the 6v works better than the 12v setup. I still don't know what they had in the original, but 6v makes more sense. The bulb doesn't run hot at all. The beacon is warm, but there's no chance of third degree burns and it seems plenty bright. And although the incandescent won't have the lifespan the LED will, they're pretty cheap and with my system they're pretty easy to swap out.
