I found a great alternative cyclotron light on the cheap. Real cheap. These spinning beacon lights were in the dollar section of my local Target store. They take 3 AA batteries. They spin at just about the perfect speed. I did a little testing and I glued a piece of foil inside of one of the reflector cones to close it off. The resulting light looks kind of like a fast spinning red lighthouse. I’m going to mount the light on my motherboard right in the center of the cyclotron. Hopefully the spinning red light will look pretty convincing. If you can’t find them at Target they are also at the Oriental Trading Co. for $3.99 Here’s the link.
You sure that will fit inside the cylcotron?
sure. The total height of the Cyclotron and Spacer combined is 4.75 inches.
Well.. that sure is creative!
It will look more mechanical vs. electrical.. which I think is cool.
My question is how will you turn it on and off when it’s inside your pack? I’m assuming it has some kind of switch on the bottom?
Does look cool! not to take anything away from this idea but with the holidays coming up, I haven’t put these in a pack but I have them and they look really good IMO, just need to mount the control switch some kind of way.
If some one can figure out a good external control switch, I’ll be all over this. I’m working on a pack for my brother and the site that sold the chaser lights that I used for my pack doesn’t sell them anymore. This could be an awesome alternative.
My suggestion would to be simply cut a hole the size of the base in the back of your pack and stick it in there leaving about 3/4" of that base sticking out and glue it in. That way you can just non chalantly slip your hand behind you and flip it on and the batteries are easily exposed.
Edit: i have one of these from years ago from one of those candy fund raisers. They actually make a motor sound so could add some sound affects for you too. I use to use it for a studio “recording stay out” light but kept picking up the motor on my mics.
Yeah. I figured the motor sound would sound like a cool muffled rumble from inside the pack. For the switch, ill probably just cut a finger-sized hole in the motherboard so i can get to it.
I picked up a few of these from Target and they were crap…they could hardly light a dark room. I just don’t see how these could work…
Just my personal few…
Trey 
Yeah, I saw these at Target too and wasn’t too impressed with them either. Aside from looking very weak powerwise, the lights are on the sides so, if the unit was mounted in the center of the cyclotron, the lenses would barely pick up the glare.
It seems like it would work but just not enough impact for the effort.
Not sure if they’re the same, but I have one that I got at a dollar store for a dollar (duh!) and they are cheap, they rattle, and the speed isn’t very constant. It spins pretty fast too.