Hid Mod. First project. Need help and recommendations.

[birdman3131]

Howdy y'all. I am looking to try to do a HID spotlight conversion mod. I ran across what looks to be a good host while cleaning out a closet the other day for a friend and he gave it to me. The reflector is polished metal (Steel as far as I can tell) and the lens is glass. The current bulb is a 100W 6V H3 bulb. The handle also has a nice 2 position mode.
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/5tfr01rv73pct63/YX2uyc9m1h

I am looking to use the light at storage auctions. These usually occur during the day so I need quite a bit of light.

I am thinking of a 100W HID kit but am not sure which one to buy. Any recommendations? I am also completely unsure as to what battery to go with. I can fairly easily cut off the back of the light and add my own battery box and probably will to get more than 5 minutes of run time. http://www.atbatt.com/product/8020.asp does not look too bad but I really have no clue on the battery.

I will probably be mounting the ballast to the outside of the light.

I would like to keep the cost around $100. Less if possible but I doubt it.

 

[BVH]

I am looking to use the light at storage auctions. These usually occur during the day so I need quite a bit of light.

I don't quite understand this? By storage auctions, do you mean rooting around in those 10 x 10' give or take, rooms indoors?

I am thinking of a 100W HID kit but am not sure which one to buy. Any recommendations? I am also completely unsure as to what battery to go with. I can fairly easily cut off the back of the light and add my own battery box and probably will to get more than 5 minutes of run time. http://www.atbatt.com/product/8020.asp does not look too bad but I really have no clue on the battery.

WOW, 100 Watts! If you're using it in the 10 x 10' rooms, you're gonna blind yourself. It's going to have a very, very bright hot spot and you'll find yourself squinting all the time.

Please describe "use the light at storage auctions" in more detail. If I needed a light for rooting around 10 x 10 indoor rooms, I would not want a big, bright and heavy light. Even a 4-5 lb large light is going to be a big burden after a short time. I'd go for a small to medium conventional style, multi-level LED light.

 

[birdman3131]

I don't quite understand this? By storage auctions, do you mean rooting around in those 10 x 10' give or take, rooms indoors?



WOW, 100 Watts! If you're using it in the 10 x 10' rooms, you're gonna blind yourself. It's going to have a very, very bright hot spot and you'll find yourself squinting all the time.

Please describe "use the light at storage auctions" in more detail. If I needed a light for rooting around 10 x 10 indoor rooms, I would not want a big, bright and heavy light. Even a 4-5 lb large light is going to be a big burden after a short time. I'd go for a small to medium conventional style, multi-level LED light.

I buy storage units at auction. A lot of them are 20' or more to the back. Most of the time it is during a bright sunny day and outside so my current light (A xml T6 single 18650) is pretty much useless because of the large amount of ambient light. I need a lot of light to overpower the sun.

 

[BVH]

OK, I understand better now. How do you plan to charge the battery you decide upon?
Do you have an RC type hobby charger that will charge any battery chemistry or are you looking to stay with a simple wall wart?
That 9 AH SLA is going to be very heavy. Will it physically fit in the housing?
How long do you envision having to hold and use the light each time you need it?
Lots of on and offs will not be good for any HID setup.

Just trying to get a better idea of your usage pattern and your technical skill level (possible use of lighter and smaller Lithium batteries that require special chargers)

 

[birdman3131]

OK, I understand better now. How do you plan to charge the battery you decide upon?
Do you have an RC type hobby charger that will charge any battery chemistry or are you looking to stay with a simple wall wart?

I would probably have to get a charger seeing as the only ones I really have access to is my 18650 2 battery charger and a handful of car battery chargers at work.

That 9 AH SLA is going to be very heavy. Will it physically fit in the housing?

I would have to modify the housing but that will be extremely easy. Working in a machine shop has a couple perks. As for the weight that battery is only 6 lbs so the overall weight will not be an issue. Im not entirely sure about the balance though. I think that will pull too far back on the light at least as far as I can tell from putting that much weight at the back of my light.

How long do you envision having to hold and use the light each time you need it?
Lots of on and offs will not be good for any HID setup.

Figure 1-4 minutes at a time for the auctions. (or longer if I am using it for other things. The auctions are not the only reason I want it just the main one.) Would it help if I left it on for longer? I could fairly easily just leave it on for the entire auction if that helps assuming that I can get ~30-45 minute run time.
Also is it the bulbs or the ballast at risk? Because if it is the bulb I found these that claim to be HID and if they are they are dirt cheap so replacement is easy. http://www.ebay.com/itm/160868934382 (If those are not hid is there a way to tell/ what would the cost of a 100w hid bulb be?)

Just trying to get a better idea of your usage pattern and your technical skill level (possible use of lighter and smaller Lithium batteries that require special chargers)

As for technical skill I have an associate's in electronics technology but I haven't really messed with projects like this since i got out of college. Most of the time I am either trying to diagnose some cnc machine that quit working or am being a system's administrator.
So I will be able to understand most technical terms you throw at me and such.

As for the batteries they are the part I am trying to figure out the most. I am trying to stay fairly cheap for now and am also not sure about lithium. I run them in my pocket carry light but it is a single 18650 and I have heard bad things about them in packs. I was looking at http://www.batteryspace.com/nimhbatterypack12v10ah2x5dfor12vdcportabledevices.aspx as well but that is way out of my current price range. I am open to suggestions but money is a factor.

Edit: I am willing to go a bit over the $100 to get a charger as well but not a ton over.

 

[birdman3131]

Well over a year later I am back on this project. And with money this time. Not a ton more but a little bit more. Enough to get a battery pack as well. I was looking at https://www.batteryspace.com/lifepo426650cell32v3300mah19.8arate10whunapproved.aspx for the battery. I can fit 8 26650's in the flashlight and was hoping to put them in two pairs of 4 series. What do I need to watch out for? Can anybody recommend a decent control board for this battery configuration? The ballasts I have been seeing call for 9A running current with probably 15 amps for the inrush current.
I was looking at http://www.ebay.com/itm/181339972769 and http://www.ebay.com/itm/181328055795?var=480338252262 for the ballast and lamps.

 

[rayman]

Did something similar a while ago. Here is my thread about it. I went with a 35W bulb and that was enough for me . Have fun with your project.

rayman

 

[birdman3131]

Did something similar a while ago. Here is my thread about it. I went with a 35W bulb and that was enough for me . Have fun with your project.

rayman

Your host from what I can tell looks very close to mine. I plan on putting the ballast on the outside of mine though. For one the 100W one is longer than the battery box.

Did you use 18650 batteries?

 

[Norm]

For your application HID isn't the way to go, you want instant on, HIDs have a warm up time, from what I've seen the viewing time is very limited. Have a look at a SolarForce S2200m more light than you will ever need for about $140.

Norm

 

[birdman3131]

For your application HID isn't the way to go, you want instant on, HIDs have a warm up time, from what I've seen the viewing time is very limited. Have a look at a SolarForce S2200m more light than you will ever need for about $140.

Norm

Well Im not really doing storage unit auctions anymore so the first post is flawed. At this point I don't have a real use for the flashlight I just want to build it to have it.

 

[birdman3131]

Well I got it kinda working off a 12v power supply. Took a picture last night of it. https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/36703262/WP_20140318_23_10_18_Pro__highres.jpg is a higher resolution image. https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/36703262/beamshot distance.png is an arial view of the area.

What sort of settings should I set my camera to to get good quality beamshots? The above was just auto off the cuff of my hand. I know for one that ill set it to output a RAW file as well which I forgot to last night. other than that I can set white balance, focus, ISO (100-4000), shutter speed (1/16000-4s) and one that I think is exposure (Ranges from -3 to +3 and defaults to 0)


As for battery I am back to thinking Lead acid but in a belt mounted system. Much cheaper.

 

[birdman3131]

Well it has been a long time but I finally got around to putting a battery pack on this thing. Took these beam shots tonight. https://www.dropbox.com/sh/3dcvtj4xog5ba5b/AAByDiF1C5DdbgZ-jIkhSe0va?dl=0

 

[FRITZHID]

Biggest thing to help your images, tripod. In low light, ANY camera shake will ruin pic. Even the heartbeat in your hand.