Carlisle & Finch Launches New LED Searchlight
This month, Carlisle & Finch will begin shipping 10-, 12-, 15- and 19-inch LED searchlights to the inland river industry. The searchlight uses an in-house electronic modular design, combined with efficient TIR optics that project intense bright light beams while consuming a fraction of the typical halogen lamp wattage.
The LED emitters have a long life and will provide tens of thousands of hours before necessary replacement, said the company. The electronics are a “modular multi-board design,” which provides redundancy should a board failure occur. The color temperature is pure white, similar to Xenon, and will incorporate strobe and dimming functions.
The new lights are offered in the same diameter as the existing halogen searchlights, enabling a simple field upgrade, while protecting the investment of the existing searchlight yoke, base and controls.
The 350-, 500- and 1,000-watt NightFINDER-LED searchlight product offerings use a unique and flexible LED “hybrid” solution that eliminates blind spots. Its LED beam illuminates wide areas nearer to vessels, shorelines, etc., which traditional narrower searchlight beams can’t service.
The dual LED module design uses two LED light modules powered by separate electronics, providing emergency backup if one fails. Low LED power consumption is just 43 watts per module—86 watts in total—giving 50,000 LED lamp-life hours.
The field upgrade with the company’s LED hybrid kit is mounted to an existing 19-inch halogen or 500- or 1,000-watt Xenon searchlight. The LED/IR upgrade strategically combines LED visible light and a long-range LED infrared (IR) beam, a powerful strobe and a low-light, high-resolution HD color day/night camera, within one versatile product.
Unlike other thermal cameras, the IR beam will penetrate glass, read names and numbers on vessels—that have no heat signature—and produce a clear and crisp video image. Battery backup can be run directly off battery power because of 12-VDC to 28-VDC voltage input.
This unique technology does not replace a FLIR system, but rather works synergistically with it to provide the customer a total system.
The LED hybrid searchlight combines the strengths of both LED and halogen technology into one flexible product. “Imagine if a passenger suddenly falls overboard on a marine vessel,” asked the company. “Using the LED hybrid searchlight, an operator can instantly direct a powerful wall of light wider than a football field—approximately 200 meters away.”
The LED beam has evenly spread illumination and a pure white color, pleasing to the human eye. Carlisle & Finch said the LED hybrid searchlight efficiently serves both short-range and long-range lighting applications, with the same versatile product.
Caption: The LED hybrid searchlight combines the strengths of both LED and halogen technology into one flexible product. (Artwork courtesy of Carlisle & Finch Company)
