Titanium Innovations Mega Illuminator modded to 80 watt HID

[Mr. Tone]

First off, I know all of you will want pics(so would I) of the mod and before/after beamshots but I can not help you out with that. I do not have a good camera and buying one isn't in the cards right now. With that said I just wanted to give everyone an idea of how it turned out and what to expect if someone else would want to mod this light.

Ok, so the HID kit I got was from distantextremes on ebay. They have personally measured the output to the bulb and it was 80 watts RMS even though they are labeled 75 watt. If any of you want more details on that I can give you links to the kit. The 75 watt ballast is huge compared to the stock 35 watt ballast. Also the bulb arc chamber is much larger than the stock bulb and seems way beefier. I had to remove the AC battery charger and stock ballast from the inside of the light to make room for the huge 75 watt ballast. Fortunately I can still use the 12 volt DC charging cord provided. So from the outside of the light nothing looks different other than the bulb.

So, how does it perform? Wooooooow!!!! First off, for those of you who have seen this light in stock form already know that it throws really well and blows away all the "so called" 10-20 million candlepower halogen spotlights. The stock Mega has been measured by someone on CPF and was just under a true 1 million candlepower. So with that said I would guess the modded Mega is now probably a true 2-3 million candlepower. I was lighting up buildings that were a verified mile+ distance from my location. The stock Mega output was not that impressive for being so large, especially since I have a N30 which is very impressive for it's size. That has all changed with the mod. There is so much light coming out of this thing now it is amazing. The spill, corona, and throw have all improved. It lights up huge sections of the farmland around where I live. The spill is so bright that it was brightly lighting up road signs a 1/4 to 1/2 mile away. Again, I am talking about the side spill doing that. The corona is huge and bright. It is many time brighter than before.

So to summarize, the mod from the stock 35 watt bulb/ballast to the 75 watt bulb/ballast(measured at 80 watts) increases the throw slightly, and greatly increase the corona size and brightness and also the brightness of the spill. My guess is that the surface brightness of the arc is not a whole lot more than the stock one but is just plain bigger. It makes the light much more useful now.

I hope you guys can still get something out of this even though I can't take pics. I really am sorry for that!

 

[BVH]

Did you play around with/check for optimal focus? A potential throw increase is possible.

 

[Mr. Tone]

Do you mean with shimming the bulb out? I did not try that. I just put it in. You have peaked my curiousity to try, though. The beam seams so tight right now I don't know if it could get smaller yet! What do you use for trying this? What thicknesses and material? My bulb is an H7 base FYI.

 

[BVH]

It may be focused good now or it may not. No way to tell unless you try moving it back in small increments. Use some copper washers. You can find them large enough and they're thin. Increments as little as .003" - .005" can make a difference. I've never had to go much beyond .010" - ,020". You need to aim it at a nice, flat surface 100' away or so with some type of reference (like a garage door with squares) so you can gauge hotspot diameter as you try different shims.

 

[Mr. Tone]

Thanks, I will have to try that in the future. I wouldn't mind a little more throw after all. After trying it out at my place last night I am thinking that there is very little difference in throw between the 75 watt and stock 35 watt bulb/ballast. It is very clear that there are considerabley more lumens coming out but I don't think I really gained much throw. I don't think I am ready to try short arc yet, although the idea of over 1 mile throw is very tempting.

 

[ma_sha1]

75W bulb has longer arc. Under given lumen output, the shorter the arc, the higher the throw.
Lumens per mm arc might be a good rule to go by when aiming at improving throw.

If you can get a good Philips 50/55W bulb & over drive it with the 75W ballast (75W ballast is rated by input, the actual output is about 60W),
it'll sure to gain some major throw in your set-up.

Don't use ebay 50/55W bulbs, I am not sure if they are any different than the 35W bulb, the arc is small so it'll throw,
but is probably not going to last long & may be dangerous to overdrive a cheap 35W bulb too much over spec.

 

[Mr. Tone]

75W bulb has longer arc. Under given lumen output, the shorter the arc, the higher the throw.
Lumens per mm arc might be a good rule to go by when aiming at improving throw.

If you can get a good Philips 50/55W bulb & over drive it with the 75W ballast (75W ballast is rated by input, the actual output is about 60W),
it'll sure to gain some major throw in your set-up.

Don't use ebay 50/55W bulbs, I am not sure if they are any different than the 35W bulb, the arc is small so it'll throw,
but is probably not going to last long & may be dangerous to overdrive a cheap 35W bulb too much over spec.

Thanks for the tip, ma sha1. The dealer I got the kit from said they personally measured the output of this 75 watt ballast and it actually measured 80 watts RMS. He also told me that this bulb is rated for quite a bit more power than this ballast is giving it so it is actually underdriven. I checked into the Philips Fatboy bulb with XeRay and they were very helpful. The only problem with going that route was that it was too expensive for me. I have $90 in this bulb/ballast and the Philips bulb and the 75 watt ballast from XeRay was going to be around $300 IIRC. I don't know the arc length on this new bulb so I have no idea how many lumens per mm it is. I can say that it throws as far or slightly farther than the stock setup. The lumens output is a very obvious increase.

 

[Mr. Tone]

Here is the kit I got. Ebay Item number: 180614241404

Sales link replaced with item # - Norm

A friend of mine went in on this kit with me. We took the other bulb/ballast and put it in his Cyclops Thor. That Thor is now a serious beast, too! The dealer actually was very helpful and sent one H7 bulb for me and one H4 bulb for his Thor. They were pretty much plug and play. We both had to do some internal work to make room for these huge ballasts. This ballast is probably 2-3x larger than the stock 35 watter.

 

[ma_sha1]

Its the same ballast i used in my 1st HID mod a year ago:
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb...-Barn-Burner-The-smallest-75W-HID-of-all-time

May be they have changed? back then they were rated by input power. From the spec in your link output power = 7Ax13.2v x0.8 = 74W (Assuming 80% efficiency, which is a bit optimistic).

 

[Mr. Tone]

When I questioned the dealer about the different kits they sold here was what he told me about the measured outputs were for all their kits.

"75w offroad vs 70w industrial
75w offroad is measuring RMS output of 80w of AC power out.
70w industrial is measuring RMS output of 70w of AC power out.

70w slim ballast is measuring RMS output of 60w of AC power out.
50w premium canbus/non-canbus ballast is measuring RMS output of 50w of AC power out
35w premium canbus/non-canbus ballast is measuring RMS output of 37w of AC power out"

The fact that the dealer was cleary stating that the 70 watt slim ballast they sell is actually only outputting 60 watts added to their credibilty for me. I probably spent an hour on the phone with this guy and he explained how they were specific with the manufacturer about the output being true for this kit.

Are parts of the HID arc brighter than others, like I have seen you guys talk about with short-arcs? If that is true then it might be well worth my time to play with the focus.



"

 

[ma_sha1]

Are parts of the HID arc brighter than others, like I have seen you guys talk about with short-arcs? If that is true then it might be well worth my time to play with the focus.

"

That's only true for DC arcs, where the brightest arc spot is on one end. Your HID is AC arc, brightest spot is even in the middle.
Plus, to take advantage of DC arc anode focus, it'll need high precision parabola, not the reflector that comes from typical spotlights.

Of course, f your light is currently out of focus, you can certainly improve it a bit by adjusting.

 

[Mr. Tone]

That's only true for DC arcs, where the brightest arc spot is on one end. Your HID is AC arc, brightest spot is even in the middle.
Plus, to take advantage of DC arc anode focus, it'll need high precision parabola, not the reflector that comes from typical spotlights.

Of course, f your light is currently out of focus, you can certainly improve it a bit by adjusting.

When you modded your Mozo did you play with the focus or was it good from the start?

I guess as far as my beam is concernced it seams very nice with the huge spill, bright corona and tight rod of light in the middle. Would it be safe to take the reflector out of the body and move the bulb in/out while it is on to see how it affects the focus? Or would I end up getting shocked something fierce?

Also, an overdriven bulb will have a brighter arc(more lumens/mm) than one driven properly or underdriven, is that right all else being equal?

 

[ma_sha1]

When you modded your Mozo did you play with the focus or was it good from the start?

Yes, always play with the focus.

Would it be safe to take the reflector out of the body and move the bulb in/out while it is on to see how it affects the focus? Or would I end up getting shocked something fierce?

I've done it with bulb held in place & move the plastic bezel/reflector taped to it in & out. I've usually ignite the bulb first & then do that so that I am NOT doing it while the bulb is trying to strike with 24000 volts. After the strike, bulb goes down to less than 100V.

No its not safe, I am not recommending doing it, yes you could get shocked or killed. The alu. reflector is conductive & your hand is very close to a 24000 V source.

Also, an overdriven bulb will have a brighter arc(more lumens/mm) than one driven properly or underdriven, is that right all else being equal?

Yes

 

[Mr. Tone]

Thanks!

 

[2100]

The guys are correct, do play with your focus. I originally got about 1.35 million cd on the meter (it under reads) but now it's a little over 1.6 million. But seriously that's not a lot in reality (you need slightly 4X the lux intensity to double the throw distance), what is important is that there is still enough lumens going out the front so that it illiminates stuff from 0.5-1km BRIGHTLY!

 

[2100]

But seriously, without a meter, i think it's not easy to do. Even with a meter it is imperative to check and measure at longer distances, like at least 50m.

 

[Mr. Tone]

Yeah, I wonder if it will be noticeable by eye only. I won't have any easy way to tell if shimming the bulb helps unless it is pretty obvious.

 

[BVH]

It's really easy. Simply shine the light on a flat target 25 - 50 feet away and shim until you have the smallest hotspot and corona. Don't need a light meter for that. While true it might not be a 100% focuse, but it's a close 95%.

 

[Mr. Tone]

It's really easy. Simply shine the light on a flat target 25 - 50 feet away and shim until you have the smallest hotspot and corona. Don't need a light meter for that. While true it might not be a 100% focuse, but it's a close 95%.

I guess I failed to notice that you said that earlier. I need to shine it and then take measurements of the hotspot size until I get it the smallest. Do you think a hardware store would have these copper shims you are talking about? What are they used for so I can make sure to look in the right department. Thanks, BVH!

 

[Mr. Tone]

So, now for a technical question. I am obviously getting a ton of lumens out of this bulb/ballast combo but if I wanted max throw would I be better off with the stock 35 watt bulb and overdriving it with a true 50 watt output ballast? Would that even be safe with 50 watts output to the stock bulb? Do you guys think the throw increase would be worth it? I know from CPF that the stock Mega was close to 1 million true candlepower. I also know that with my mod I have not lost any throw and maybe gained a little. So what kind of arc brightness/mm increase would you expect from overdriving the stock bulb? 50%, 100%, 200%, 300%, etc.?