Stanley HID Technical discussions...

[krazykevin76]

Stanley HID, have questions. Forgive the noobie

Bought a Stanley HID at walmart yesterday. This is my first HID and I have a few questions.

I seem to have the few minutes after a hook it up the charging LED goes green. BUt when I pull the trigger it goes straight to red. Is this normal for a new light?

Also, when I pull the trigger the light is super bright, but a few seconds later it dims down. The initial brightness is awesome. Then once it dims, I'm not so impressed. Is it supposed to stay bright?

Lastly, the dim switch doesn't seem like it does anything at all. When I pull the trigger, the light is super bright. Then it dims considerably. Then if i move the dimmer switch its the same dim light. Nothing I can see changes. Overall I'm kinda disappointed in the light. Maybe my expectations were to high, but after hearing my brother rant and rave about the stanley 5w led light that is used, I thought this had to be just 100x better. I'm not so for sure now.

 

[krazykevin76]

Does the Stanley HID start up super bright and then dim down after a few seconds? Is this normal? Also, the dimmer switch. Mine doesn't seem to work, or the difference can't be seen with the human eye?

 

[shilent]

Yes, it overvolts at first so it starts off brighter. As for the low setting, I can't see the difference either.

 

[kramer5150]

Does the Stanley HID start up super bright and then dim down after a few seconds? Is this normal? Also, the dimmer switch. Mine doesn't seem to work, or the difference can't be seen with the human eye?

Yes both of those conditions are normal. The stanley starts out overdriving the bulb for a couple seconds in an effort to bring the "lamp" up to operating temperatures. As opposed to other HID lights that take longer to stabilize color tints and lumen output.

The dimmer switch is very subtle and a gradual increase / decrease. I can just barely detect it doing a ceiling bounce. I can not tell a difference in the field.

 

[SunFire900]

Does the Stanley HID start up super bright and then dim down after a few seconds? Is this normal? Also, the dimmer switch. Mine doesn't seem to work, or the difference can't be seen with the human eye?

I found that the best way to see the difference in brightness is to lay the light down on something while pointing it at a wall from a distance of about 2m.....Set the light on the Low setting and lock the light on..... Wait about a full minute for it to settle out completely......Now, switch the selector to High and watch the spot on the wall....You should see the brightness increase in 10, yes 10 subtle, but noticeable steps (each step is about 2 seconds apart)......Even if your eyes can't see the "steps", you should be able to notice how much more blinding the light on the wall becomes.

The process is reversed when switching the light back to the Low setting.

Sooo, it takes about 20 seconds to go from Low to Hi and the same to go from Hi to Low (ten 2sec. steps each way). It is not an instant change and that makes it hard to see, but the difference between high and low is, ultimately, very noticeable.

Most all HID spotlights have but one setting...High. Having one that has a Low setting is a plus in my book. Book? What book?

In contrast, my Oracle dual-mode 35w HID switches immediately from high to low. It depends on how the ballast was designed.

 

[kramer5150]

Re: Stanley HID, have questions. Forgive the noobie

Bought a Stanley HID at walmart yesterday. This is my first HID and I have a few questions.

I seem to have the few minutes after a hook it up the charging LED goes green. BUt when I pull the trigger it goes straight to red. Is this normal for a new light?

Also, when I pull the trigger the light is super bright, but a few seconds later it dims down. The initial brightness is awesome. Then once it dims, I'm not so impressed. Is it supposed to stay bright?

Lastly, the dim switch doesn't seem like it does anything at all. When I pull the trigger, the light is super bright. Then it dims considerably. Then if i move the dimmer switch its the same dim light. Nothing I can see changes. Overall I'm kinda disappointed in the light. Maybe my expectations were to high, but after hearing my brother rant and rave about the stanley 5w led light that is used, I thought this had to be just 100x better. I'm not so for sure now.

When my light was brand new the LED would never light up green, even after a fresh recharge. I never noticed any performance shortcomings during this time. Then after 4-5 deep discharge cycles of the internal SLA, now it lights up green for the first few minutes.

The initial brightness is the ballast overdriving the bulb during the warm up period. Stanley designed it this way to bring bulb temperatures up faster, as opposed to other HIDs that need longer to stabilize. That is normal.

The dimmer switch is subtle. Its not an instantaneous change either, its a gradual stepped increase up or down over a ~15 second time period. The only time I notice it is on a ceiling bounce, where I can just barely perceive the lumen change. In the field I can not tell.

 

[Mjolnir]

Killerwhale, it seems like you essentially doubled the runtime on high! Does that pack fit inside cleanly? How are you charging it with the battery wired up? Is the battery in the link the exact one that you used?

 

[Mjolnir]

Re: Stanley HID, have questions. Forgive the noobie

If you read the original thread on the Stanley HID, all of your questions will be answered. The search function is a powerful tool...

Although the brightness that the stanley settles down to after the initial "turbo mode" might seem relatively dim, it is still very bright; MUCH brighter than any LED light out there, at least in terms of throw. It can easily put a useful amount of light on something 1000 feet away (enough light to easily identify something).

 

[SunFire900]

Re: Stanley HID, have questions. Forgive the noobie

+1 on that!

There are just too many new threads opened on this one subject. Can't hardly keep up with them.

Kevin.... First of all...the Stanley is anything but dim.

The light on the Stanley HID is Green ONLY when fully charged and hooked up to the charger.

When the light is in use, it is Red.

When the battery is charging, it flashes Red.

That's pretty much the extent of it.

Get used to the light. It is many times brighter than the 5 watt Stanley LED. It's a joke to compare them to each other. Enjoy.

Oh, by the way...:welcome:.............

 

[kramer5150]

Re: Stanley HID, have questions. Forgive the noobie

Mods please feel free to merge this with my "Stanley HID technical discussions" thread. The problem with the first 2 original threads is they are HUGE and the technical information is lost in a maze of sale, pricing, availability, wal-mart, Amazon, shipping, part number ....etc... discussions.

 

[liteitup]

Re: Stanley HID, have questions. Forgive the noobie

+1 on that!

There are just too many new threads opened on this one subject. Can't hardly keep up with them.

Kevin.... First of all...the Stanley is anything but dim.

The light on the Stanley HID is Green ONLY when fully charged and hooked up to the charger.

When the light is in use, it is Red.

When the battery is charging, it flashes Red.

That's pretty much the extent of it.

Get used to the light. It is many times brighter than the 5 watt Stanley LED. It's a joke to compare them to each other. Enjoy.

Oh, by the way...:welcome:.............

ooooops wrong info...... here's whats up.

the light is green when fully charged and green for the first few minutes of operation. Sometimes it takes a few cycles of the battery for it to stay green for the first few minutes. The led then goes to ORANGE(its orange for the majority of the time) and then finally to red(last 3-4 minutes in my experience). The red/orange can be hard to notice if your not looking for it. The time the green light stays on after a full charge depends on the condition of your battery....

To confirm this for yourself hook up your 12v car adapter and notice the led will be green during operation (because a car when running will put out 14 volts). the led color is just a basic voltage guide....

 

[killerwhale]

Killerwhale, it seems like you essentially doubled the runtime on high! Does that pack fit inside cleanly? How are you charging it with the battery wired up? Is the battery in the link the exact one that you used?

No, the pack did not fit cleanly inside, it's about 5 mm too long. And yes, the pack appears to be the same as in the link (12x18650 + PCB). Had to cut the metal strips leading to two 18650s and solder wires to them.
The battery is charged through the barrel plug connection that I wired directly to the battery.

 

[bradpr]

I've been enjoying my HID for several months, but I'm worried its busted now. I put it on the charger tonight and after 2-3 hours, the charging indicator was green. I disconnected the charger, and pulled the trigger to make sure it was good. To my displeasure, the light didn't fire,and the led flashed red. What does this mean? It appears to indicate a system problem.

I hooked the charger back up, but it was again green within 5 minutes.

Can someone tell me what this flashing LED (when not on a charger)means?

 

[Overton-AR]

OK, I need to ask a question about the battery. Can I remove it all together?? I just want to run the Stanley HID 3000 with the cord ONLY. I need to shed some serious weight on this light. Can it be done, and how do I do it??

Any help. Thanks.

 

[jcw122]

OK, I need to ask a question about the battery. Can I remove it all together?? I just want to run the Stanley HID 3000 with the cord ONLY. I need to shed some serious weight on this light. Can it be done, and how do I do it??

Any help. Thanks.

From what I read in the big Stanley thread, the DC adapter wiring runs through the battery, so you couldn't remove the battery without rewiring I guess.

 

[liteitup]

you can remove the battery. just take care of the leads going to the battery as they will be hot... the connections are all parallel if i recall correctly so you should be able to remove the battery and just tape up the connections inside..

 

[shilent]

I've been enjoying my HID for several months, but I'm worried its busted now. I put it on the charger tonight and after 2-3 hours, the charging indicator was green. I disconnected the charger, and pulled the trigger to make sure it was good. To my displeasure, the light didn't fire,and the led flashed red. What does this mean? It appears to indicate a system problem.

I hooked the charger back up, but it was again green within 5 minutes.

Can someone tell me what this flashing LED (when not on a charger)means?

I'm having a similar problem. I purchased mines a little over a month ago and it's been working great until tonight. Right off the charger, the light works, but when trying to turn it on again, it doesn't work and all I hear is this noise like it's trying to start, and the LED is blinking red.

Hooking it back up to the charger, brings it to green in about 5 mins and the light works again, but won't on the 2nd try.

Update: Looks like my bulb burned out, it flickers a little when I try to turn it on and it smells bad heh. Guess that's what happens when you buy really cheap bulbs from ebay.

 

[liteitup]

make sure the leads are not shorting out inside... how well did you insulate the bulb connections?

 

[shilent]

make sure the leads are not shorting out inside... how well did you insulate the bulb connections?

about 5 layers of electrical tape, I'll check it tomorrow when I have time.

 

[shilent]

Yup, turns out it was the bulb. I got the stock bulb back on for now.