SF Hellfighter custom power cable? Cigarette adapter?

[illuminate]

Hi there,

I bought a Hellfighter without cable.

A friend of mine is a electrical engineer. She could build a cable for me.

But I need some parts.
The important part is the cigarette adapter. It must be heavy duty. Where can I get one of those?

Thanks

Best regards
Julian

 

[CKOD]

If you want to mount it on a specific vehicles, I'd say skip a cigarette adapter, and adapt something like an Anderson power pole for powering it. But if you want to use it as a handheld spotlight, http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/APP-001-20AMP/APP-001-20AMP-ND/2057904 appears to be rated for 20A, though I havent used it before.

Or you could put an Anderson power pole on it and use one of these http://www.powerwerx.com/powerpole-...cigarette-lighter-plug-powerpole-adapter.html That way if you ever want to power it from something else, youre not stuck with a big, ugly cigarette lighter outlet. The APP's are great for pretty much any DC power connection you'd need.

 

[illuminate]

Thank you.
I will try that.

If I want a portable device, if could use a 12V car battery or a lipo, right?
What kind of lipo can I use? How much mAh should I take to have a decent run time?
Maybe I will make a few different cables to cover all situations.

 

[CKOD]

Thank you.
I will try that.

If I want a portable device, if could use a 12V car battery or a lipo, right?
What kind of lipo can I use? How much mAh should I take to have a decent run time?
Maybe I will make a few different cables to cover all situations.

I'm not sure of the input voltage range on the hellfighter, but I do know they can run off the BA 5590 batteries ( http://www.batterystore.com/Saft/SaftPDF/BA5590.pdf ), So the voltage range includes at least 10-15V SF's website says they run for 1.5 hours on a single cell, so assuming it runs it in 12v mode, that means it pulls ~10A. A 15-18AH lead acid battery would work, but you wouldnt get the same runtime as the BA5590, because lead acid batteries lose capacity ad you draw power faster (peukert effect)

Either a 3S li-po (or Li-Poly) battery or a 4S LiFePO4 battery would work, with LiFePO4 being a bit more rugged imo.

http://www.batteryspace.com/LiFePO4...V-20Ah-256Wh-10C-rate-with-LED-Balancing.aspx would probably make for a nice battery depending on how "Portable" you want portable to be. Built in BCM to balance it too, and charge/overdischarge protection, So you could use a 2-terminal LiFePO4 charger, or a suitable automotive charger (15.2v max for the LiFe 4S battery corresponds with a 12V 'peak' charge nicely) Mostly end-user proof, but not totally idiot proof, obviously. Youre going to want at least 10AH/hour of runtime you want. I.e. you could run for 30 minutes on a 5AH 12v pack, or an hour on a 10AH pack.

If youre ok with using a RC hobby charger, then I'd check out some big-honkin packs on hobby king. Something like http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=20645 or http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=20845 would work, but they arent protected.

I'd definitely use an anderson power pole if you wanted to hook up a battery, (dont forget the inline fuse!) http://www.powerwerx.com/crimping-tools/tricrimp-crimping-powerpole-contacts.html The tri-crimp crimper works great on the contact too, $40 is a steal for it, as I'm used to stuff like molex or tyco crimpers which cost $200+. If you get the crimpers, it makes it so easy to put a connector on whenever you get an inkling.

 

[BVH]

IIRC, the HF is a 35 or 40 Watt HID light? If so, add 25% for ballast consumption and arrive at 50 Watts INPUT needed. (50 Watts / 12 Volts = 4.2 Amps current consumption during running) Less power consumption than a stock 55 Watt Halogen Thor with a 7 AH SLA. Obviously, more current is needed during the nano second strike but 7 AH SLA's handle this on my 35, 50 and 75 Watt ballasts all day long. A 7 AH SLA is theoretically 84 Watt Hours and they start and run many, many 55 Watt and 100 Watt Thors and Thor HID conversions with no trouble, including during starting. IIRC, stock 55 Watt Halogen Thors run for 45 minutes or better on one SLA charge. A single 7AH SLA should get you at least 40 45 minutes run time.

I'd look at HobbyKings Lipo-style (Not Lipo's) LiFePo4 packs. The 3S/4200 mAh unit. Buy two and run them in Parallel for an 8+ Amp pack. I'd guess you'd get a minimum of 60 minutes maybe up to 70 minutes of run time. And they're the safer LiFeP04 chemistry so no venting with flame as with Lipos. Still, use a fuse as CKOD recommends. Just add more packs in Parallel if you want more run time. They're not as light as Lipos but much lighter than SLA's.

EDIT: The HobbyKing Zippy Flightmax battery: ww.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__14069__ZIPPY_Flightmax_4200mAh_3S1P_30C_LiFePo4_Pack.html

I have about 8 of these but in the 4S config. They work great.

Chances are, a good 10 or 15 Amp Cig adapter will work fine.

 

[hoffmyster86]

side question about using cigarette lighters, isnt there resitors leading to the socket, they burn out if the current draw is too much? just a thought.

 

[illuminate]

I have a mil spec cable in order ... I will see, if it works

 

[illuminate]

The cables have been arrived ... but the don't fit.
I took 1 cable apart and build a connection with two pins (jumper) and the connector for the car battery.
All I need is the correct female plug.
I know, that I can get these from battaxx. But I would like to get it fast ... maybe a source from Europe.
Does anyone have a keyword for the adapter I need?

€:
I found this:
http://www.ebay.de/itm/SureFire-Hellfighter-/321089101800

Now I know, that I have to look for a Amphenol connector.
But the company is ATM in holiday.

Does anyone know the correct part no of the connector?

 

[illuminate]

I built a cable with a car plug and a 5A fuse inside. I replaced it with a 10A fuse. But it get's too hot after a little use.
I ordered new plugs without a fuse. It should handle 10A.
Could I destroy the HF with a fuse-less-plug?

 

[BVH]

You are more likely to leave your car's electrical system, up to and including the cig plug open to damage. In the scheme of things, having a fuse in the plug is not going to cause any more heating than with a plug with no fuse. The vehicles' lighter receptacle should already be fused. Why not run your own separate wire (awg 14 would work but I'd run an AWG 12) direct from the battery to a handy place under the dash to use? Include an in-line fuse.

 

[Echo63]

Why not run your own separate wire (awg 14 would work but I'd run an AWG 12) direct from the battery to a handy place under the dash to use? Include an in-line fuse.

+1

I am planning to run a few power plugs for my Maxabeam - one in the front passenger area, and one in the trunk.

i will be running fused, heavy gauge cable to the rear of the vehicle, and then fusing each plug individually with a fuse appropriate for the connector (so the MB plugs will have a 15A fuse, the big powerpoles will have 30A fuses)

I want to run a bunch of stuff in the boot, (ryobi one+ charger, engel fridge, maxabeam, small inverter, pelican RALS charger and an 8w flouro) and don't trust the cigar lighter plug (it keeps ejecting the plug for my ryobi one+charger)

 

[illuminate]

@BVH:
So I can use the fuse-less plugs for the build.
Did you ever heard from someone, that a HF damaged by using wrong plugs or just while heavy use?

I want to add a pressure switch. I placed the jumped cable on the outside. So it is no problem to work on the cable without opening the connector.
My broken Surefire pressure switch has only one thick wire. Could I install it anyway?

 

[BVH]

In further looking at my earlier post, A fuseless plug is fine if your are getting power from your fused lighter circuit receptacle. But if you're getting power from another source, be sure there's a fuse somewhere in the circuit.