my new light

got one of these at costco for £24 Electronics, Cars, Fashion, Collectibles & More | eBay
sorry i will try to find another picture
Amazon.co.uk

Wow....that sucker is nice, who are you trying to blind...lol. Seems to have longer runtime then my handheld spotlight.

Bit heavy to lug around but great fun. Lots of people have modded these for far more power - usually at the cost of a trailer load of batteries, but you can't beat a big reflector for throw.

It has a pretty good claimed runtime though I'm a bit sceptical of their claim. A 12V 7Ah battery can produces 84 watt hours theoretically. 120/84=0.7 hours 42 minutes on high - if the battery can actually give you 7Ah. Deep cycle use like that is tough on SLA cells and they tend to have less capacity at high drains. Still way better than the 12 minutes my 3 million candlepower device gave me when it worked. Mine tried to pull 200W from 2 6V 4Ah SLA cells. 16 amps. That is downright cruel to the poor batteries in it and the wiring wasn't up to the job. One day it'll get rewired with decent wire, and switches which will end up costing about as much as the light did.

But for £24 you can forgive a lot for the crazy brightness. Must get around to fixing my one.

Hi guys

it is a big beastie

but at the price [it was just under £24] i could not resist and i am impressed with run time

i tried it out to to see how long it would run as the last spotlight i had was utterly useless for more than 1-2 minuet bursts a 2M candle power 15-20 Min's and then 20 hours to charge

i charged it up and switched it no high fully expecting it to go in to meltdown as most of these lights state to only us for short bursts but the handbook on this one didn't say anything about this so of we went

it ran for 45- 50 mins on continuous full-power before starting to dim fast switched of and let cool check nothing melted i was surprised so charged it up 15 hours to full and of we go again

on low 1hour-15 mins so it is a very usable light with reasonably long run time and is not to heavy if used with the shoulder strap that comes with it

is it possible to charge the battery any quicker in these type of lights the charge time is the thing that makes lights like this most unpractical for me but for the price i payed i am pleased with it i may buy a second battery for it

Barrie

Do shop around for spare batteries - and never leave them discharged, especially when it's cold. SLA batteries don't like that. Most batteries should be stored only partially charged, but every lead acid type I know of prefers to be kept fully charged.

SLA (Sealed Lead Acid) battery prices vary a lot so it is well worth shopping around. Maplin do a 12V 7Ah one for twenty quid. That is a deep cycle battery intended to be fully discharged then recharged. There is a Maplin not that far from you in Cumbernauld. Their Yuasa (Good quality Japanese battery) is £35.

Regard Maplin prices as the most you should have to pay, Maplin are famously not cheap but they are handy when you wsant something right now.

On the whole, mail ordering SLAs gets expensive as they are heavy.

But for those sorts of prices the idea of going to Costco and getting a whole other light sounds more appealing.

there is a maplin here in Livingston your right about there prices being high

i only use them if it is something i want there and then or special offers

one of my cousins works for Ding-Bro automotive supplies i will get him to check if there is a motorbike battery that fits

But make sure it is a sealed one - battery acid tends to do bad things inside lights. If there's a decent electrical outfit nearby then try them - SLA batteries are often to be found in alarm systems and the like - some emergency lighting systems too.

If you ever find yourself in central Glasgow, try Tait Components in Couper Street - about 5 minutes on foot from George Square. http://www.tait-components.com. they do the Yuasa 12V 7Ah SLA for less than half what Maplin do. £12.93 + VAT is rather better. They do a next day delivery for about 4 quid + VAT and every time I've used it I've got stuff the next day. Thats where I get the supplies for building customer networks. I've spent quite a lot there in the last decade.

cheers that's more realistic prices than maplin

I would recommend Tait's to anyone - I've spent quite a bit of customers' money for them there.

Screwfix is also worth a look.

Saw your post over at CPF. You already want to modify it? There are many HID kits on E-bay, try to get a slim ballast setup with the same bulb type, the older style large ballasts won't really fit inside.

I'm in the process of either getting a similar light as yours and modding to HID (I've got older type hanging around the garage) and installing it external and/or finding one of the old twin beam Vector's and getting a slim ballast kit for it.

Which needs rewiring. Are you, by any chance, in the UK?

To charge that battery a tad bit faster you might want to get a hobbie grade charger....i know the MRC charger that i use in the pits are able to charge car batts. That is pretty good long time on high.....put that sucker in the back of your trunk for emergencies.

I'm not sure what i am going to do with it i only got it because it seemed a good price

i go on a mid week brake in a few weeks Forest Holidays: Our Cabins – cottage holidays with a difference: UK where they do zero light pollution around the site at night [although there is electric lighting in the cabins] so you need to take a torch or 2 or 3 or as many as i can fit in my car

i will take it and give it a good tryout we really enjoy these short brakes as we can take our dogs

peace and quiet fresh air and a bit of gentle exercise walking the dogs and a few

beers to finish of the day

Barrie

Well at least your going to be the one that brings the big one....lol. You can use that light as a camp light instead of starting a fire.....lol. Put some marshmellows on the top lens and make sure that you dont burn them.

Hope you have a great time when you get there. And if you take a camera we could get to see some beamshots?

Have a good one.

spot light torch is not my style

In any case, one should never trust ANY charger for loose li-ion cells on blind faith, one must always test the actual received item for oneself. Even an expensive PILA can and have charged cells too high.

ok i will continue the HID of this light here as the other post is contaminated with scary pictures

to those confused i was ( Barrie ) but now (scruffy dog) and it is the same light

i have fitted 1 of these 35W HIDs XENON HID CONVERSION KIT H4 H/L 6000K BRAND NEW IN BOX (110694458164)

(i have no conection with the seller it was the best price for a high-low HID kit i could get from a seller in the UK)

any way it was a compleat bugger to fit

ballist was bigger than i thought it would be

more wiring than i need not as much room in the head of the light as i want

any way 4 hours of trimming pruning and swering it is done

i have my first HID it is just getting dark so going to try it out

cheers Barrie

How did it work out? Sounds like a PITA to make it fit.

Keep meaning to replace the bulbs in my Vektor clone light with a couple of HIDs for fun. Never got around to it. Gave ten minutes runtime on the two 6V SLAs in it - which lasted for 4 charges. Replaced the SLAs but never got it to work again.

yep A PITA

it was not as straightforward as i thought

it is done now and like most things it is not a big issue now it is done

the bugger is bright (i wish i could do pics)

would i do another

you bloody better believe i would

and i have HIGH and LOW

cheers Barrie