I just acquired this spotlight and am looking for some advice from the HID/Spotlight modding crew here:
The C8 is included in the picture for a reference size. This is the typical cheap spotlight and is labeled as a "PowerCraft Pro 20 Million Candlepower Rechargeable Halogen Spotlight". It has a 8" metal reflector, glass lens, and is powered by a pair of series-connected 6V 4AH SLA batteries. The bulb is the common automotive H3 base.
Is there potential to make an awesome light from this? I assume that LED wouldn't be a good direction to go; is there the possibility of a simple, easy, budget HID mod? There is a good bit of room inside for a ballast. If necessary, I can move up to a larger SLA externally connected and just route a power cable into the light.
I have the same exact light I picked up from Tractor Supply. In stock form the light sucks. I modded mine with a 100W HID kit from alibaba. Right now I'm just using a car cig plug for power because I've been too lazy to get some upgraded batts for it.
I have a spotlight exactly the same as that, had it for several years.
Found a spare HID kit at work, and I've installed the bulb to test it. It is BRIGHT!
The 2 6v SLA batts are probably a bit old, and sag a bit under load. Also, the switch is broken, so needs replacing with something beefier. The plus point is that the HID balast will fit inside the light, between the reflector and the batteries.
Not sure I can really be bothered to finish it though.
I know it might seem like a "budget mod" but it's going to be expensive. You are probably looking for $25 for a good bulb, $50 for a good ballast, and who knows how much for a battery pack/charger combo. You can either use the factory SLAs at 12V for free but have a really crappy run time, most likely around 15 to 20 minutes. You can make your own customer Sub-C pack, NiMh D Pack, or get a lithium-polymer pack. Then you may or may not need a charger for that pack as well. It all depends on how much room you have to work with and how much you want to spend.
When I started modding these, I thought - wow, this is cheap to mod. Then when you add it all up, I don't think I have one modded HID that cost me less than $100.
Yeah, but storebought HID spotlights are high $$$... I probably wouldn't use the factory battery pack, but would use an external SLA; I have a connection where I can get my hands on some higher-capacity used ones that should work okay for this. And this will probably be the only way I'll ever be able to out-throw my aspheric mag-mod...
I've been looking at eBay and have found that I can get car HID kits that are in an H3 package so it should be a direct replacement, right? There's plenty of room inside this host for a ballast, especially if I ditch the built-in power source. But eBay car kits always come in pairs, and I only need the single ballast/bulb. I guess I'll just have to keep one for a spare...
Mine pulls 5A initially, but settles to nearer 3A, which makes sense going by the 35w rating of the HID kit. If the standard batteries are any good, this should equate to about an hour of runtime.
Automotive HID kits here in the UK can be had for ~$44, which include 2 ballasts and 2 bulbs. They're cheap, but have survived in several of my cars, so I can't see them failing in a novelty flashlight.
In all probability, I'll leave mine in the car,take the batteries out, and just leave a long lead which can plugged into the cigarette lighter when needed and stowed in the battery cavity when not.
I would question the "100w" rating. If their own specs are to be believed, I make it about 70w.
The usual approach as far as I know is that 35w HID bulbs are considerably brighter than 55w halogens. I've seen 55w HIDs, and they were blinding. I can't imagine what 100w looks like!
2100 has done extensive use/testing of these kits and could probably chime in with his results. Something around 85W seems to come to mind but I could be wrong. Either way its extremely bright.
It all depends on the geometry of the reflector dish, and the flexibility in the "H" mount. I have seen some incan spotlights that do not allow the HID lamp to be shimmed forward enough to put the spot source at the focal point in the parabolic dish. For designs like this, they are intended to be area flood lights and thus you are hosed and an unfocused beam is the result. I have never seen anyone successfully HID mod a design like this.
If it has a nice tight focus beam with the OEM incan H3 lamp you are in really good shape for starters. Its an automotive standard for "H" lamps (incan or otherwise) to have the filament point source be at the same height location relative to the mount base.
That dish in particular has a LARGE flat reflective area at the base of the lamp. This will result in a very bright, ringy side-flood. The light emitted "rear-ward) from the bulb hits that flat area, and scatters out to the sides.
The spot-throwiest lights have a reflector design with minimal (or no) flat at the base of the parabola dish.
I'll try to check it out tonight at home. If I have to, I'll jumper to a car battery directly and see what I can light up. I found this thread while trying to find info on the light...
Also, I'm not sure how picky you are about beam quality. It's most likely going to have an "ugly" beam with that type of reflector. You'll have to spend a bit of time shimming the bulb to get it to focus right but you may never be happy with the beam and it's artifacts.
I've also found that you get about 1/2 of what the battery is rated for when you discharge at 1C. If your SLA battery is rated at 7AH ( 0.1C rated) then you will be able to pull 7A for about 30 minutes (at 1C discharge rate). Something to keep in mind when you're picking your pack out.
Gotten myself a Peak Performance 2.5 Million Halogen handheld flashlight for Christmas. Do u think it will fit the 55w ebay HID ballast in there? The measurements are… 67mmx45mmx92mm battery with a 60mmx45mmx40mm wall mount plug inside. Measuremetns are approximately +/- 2mm off at most.
As Kramer suggested, the reflector is not the best for HID. Being shallow, you may not be able to shim the bulb forward enough before you hit the glass lens and that large flat in back will adversly affect the beam. After buying all the components, it will be close in price, to what you can find on Taobao. I have seen many similar spotlights like that, but for HID, with better reflectors.
In other words, you may not like the results, but you can always use the ballast and bulb for something else.
Thanks Old for your insight. I did measure the reflector it’s approx 10.2 cm and 4 cm deep. I forgotten to measure the bulb but others of the H3 kind are 1.5 inches long. Which means it has approx. 1.25 cm clearance to the plastic lens. At first I kinda laught at it myself. Omitting an orange street lamp color (3000k?). But as I took it outside it actually light up some the tree line @ 160 meters. Pretty darn good considering it’s rated at 230 lumens by the manufacturer.
It’s going to be my first HID conversion project so I don’t’ mind if it’s not gonna be as good as those Thors, Stanley or other monster HID conversions I’ve seen. I guess being able to operate it with 1 hand kinda keeps it in the portable flashlight territory without going overboard to the ‘floodlight canon’ calibers. The hotspot is approximately 12 inches @ 1 meter to my bedroom wall. About 12-15 feet spread @ 1 meter, so it has a very similar beam profile as my ebay 85w HID (~70mm). From just rumors along switching from halogen to xenon bulbs would give me a 30% increase in brightness. I’d take anything I guess over stock.
