One thing to note for H4 bulbed lights, like the Cyclops Thor Platinum what 15 mil spot and maybe this version as well, is that you’d probably need a few aluminum washers from the hardware store to act like spacers…to move the bulb backwards of about 2-3mm.
The SM5200 (H3) is more or less fine in stock form. But if you have time you can play with some spacers or adjust the bulb manually (be careful, it is hot and somewhat fragile as it is quartz, but if you use dual layer rubber gloves you should be fine…the 22kV starting voltage won’t jump/arc beyond the sockets as after that it’d be approx 80Vac)
As for UV-A, the aliexpress/ebay ones transmit the most, probably the glass does not cut and could be due to the quartz envelope.
The SM5200 does not have much, it’s easily 50% lower in UV-A due to the glass + quartz envelope. The quartz envelope of the bulb is supposed to cut, but you know these are chinese bulbbs.
I use my transition lens spectacles to gauge.
Pls do not stare at the bulb? :nerd_face: Maintain a 5m distance from the hotspot and you should be fine even if you get accidental hit by the beam.
Further side note… HIDs are opposite from LED in that the warmer color temps GAIN bulb lumen efficiency. I have always preferred 5000K, but a 4500K might be a nice change of pace for my next build.
Heres an old white wall beamshot to show color temp
Left = MAG 1185 incan build on the far left, about 450-500 OTF lumens. At the time this was my brightest hand-light.
Middle = 55W HID, 5000K
Right = Stanley 35W HID, 6500K
As far as shimming the bulb, I used low carbon galvanized pre-plate steel sheet and fabricated bulb shims of varying thickness. They slip right into the H4 lamp socket and position the point source right at the “F” of the parabola.
Of course this pushes the H4 lamp base farther “out” so I had to make some new clips using thin music wire. Theres going to be some degree of heat generated here so you want to make sure to use metals and materials that are heat resistant.
I did a similar shim on the stanley HID, using copper pipe coupling. I think they purposely de-focused the lamp in this light. The stanley uses an H1 bulb mount… smaller than the H4, but its the same concept.
Sorry for the thread hijack… this is a fun trip down memory lane. These HIDs are still my brightest and farthest throwing lights. EDIT Image shack is F’d again and not loading all my images. heres the direct links
I don’t have any pics of it but the last thing I did was break off the ceramic “tube” from round the cathode (or anode whichever it is). It obstructs some bulb lumens and makes a pie-shaped (pacman) looking beam artifact.
Some H4 lamps have a low-beam shield, like the pic below… remove that and discard (for obvious reasons).
So I’ve purchased this:
