Sunforce 40 million CP HID spotlight

[PsychoBunny]

Does anyone know anything about this light?
They say it's 40 million CP, but it's only 35W with a 12V battery.
It's quite large though.

I dont know what the color temp of the HID is?

It's supposed to be more of a flood than a thrower.

P.S. here's a link that shows the size of this thing:

http://www.ohgizmo.com/2008/11/20/su...hid-spotlight/

[BlueBeam22]

There was a thread on this light that you might be interested to see, although no one on this forum has actually reviewed it or posted impressions of it yet. LINK

From the pictures I have seen, this SunForce 40 million candlepower HID spotlight appears to have a standard 6000K (blue) color temperature HID bulb.

On another note, the AmondoTech Titanium Mega Illuminator is a proven thrower, has a 4200K HID bulb for maximum light output and is likely to have a significant amount more throw than this SunForce.

[PsychoBunny]

Thanks for the link bluebeam

How were you able to find it!!??
I did a search (twice in fact) for sunforce HID and got no hits!! weird!!

Anyway, yeah, I suspect it is 6000K, but am a bit suspect of the claim
of 40 million CP.

If anyone can make a truly portable HID (or other) spot that is 4000
or more lumens for under $200.00 I would be a very happy (though still psycho) bunny

[BlueBeam22]

Thanks for the link bluebeam

How were you able to find it!!??
I did a search (twice in fact) for sunforce HID and got no hits!! weird!!

Anyway, yeah, I suspect it is 6000K, but am a bit suspect of the claim
of 40 million CP.

If anyone can make a truly portable HID (or other) spot that is 4000
or more lumens for under $200.00 I would be a very happy (though still psycho) bunny

You're welcome PsychoBunny, I was able to find it because I remembered the thread title since I posted several times in it.

First of all, all of the facts that I will state in this post are based on what I have learned, so of course I could always be mistaken about something.

I believe that for $200 or less your only options to achieve 4000 lumens would be to modify a spotlight such as the Power On Board HID to 55 watts, or buy a dual bulb spotlight such as the Vector 20 million power series and trade out its stock halogen bulbs with twin 35W HIDs. However I have never done an HID modification myself so I am not able to give advice on how to do one.

The SunForce 40 million CP would put out around 3000 lumens, whereas the Mega Illuminator will put out a few hundred more than that, and so does your AmondoTech 3152 Illuminator (assuming the Sunforce is 6000K which is appears to be). All 35 watt HID lights on the market such as that Sunforce will output around 1 million true CP or less, and to my knowledge the Mega Illuminator has the highest true CP (throw) out of all of them and there is no other 35 watt HID on the market that can match the Mega Illuminator in throw.

If you are just looking to get the most powerful spotlight possible in the $200 range then I highly recommend the Mega Illuminator as the difference between its 3200+ lumens and a 4000 lumen light will most likely not be as large as it may seem, because even a light with 6500 lumens will only appear about 50% brighter than the Mega Illuminator (or other 35W HID) since a light has to have 4 times the output of another to actually appear twice as bright (according to what I have learned). Throw difference between lights is much more noticeable, and the Mega Illuminator may actually be more impressive to you than a light with 4000 lumens that doesn't throw as far (because it would still be somewhat difficult to achieve more throw than the Mega Illuminator even with a 4000 lumen HID).

The Mega Illuminator will throw significantly farther than your 4200K AmondoTech Illuminator and should seem a lot more powerful. The only downside to it is that it is considerably heavier than your AI Illuminator and would not be the best choice if you plan on carrying it long distances.

Hope this is helpful!

[PsychoBunny]

But that's what I do have, a Amondotech Titanium Mega Illuminator. I think I bought the last one they had (they are now sold out).
I like it more than my POB.

At least I think mine is a POB. It has the same model number, but with
a "V" at the end instead of "P". And it does not say "Power on board"
on it. but the reflector, bulb, balast and battery are all the same.
If I'm wrong, and mine really is different, please let me know, but it does
have very impresive throw, and is much nicer now that I stuck a 4300K
lamp in it. I wonder what would happen if I replaced the lamp and balast
with a 50W? Could I use the same 12V battery?

Of course, this Sunforce thing looks way bigger than anything I would
want to own, I'm just curious about it

[BVH]

Your 7 AH POB battery will have no problem powering a 50/55 watt ballast.

[BlueBeam22]

But that's what I do have, a Amondotech Titanium Mega Illuminator. I think I bought the last one they had (they are now sold out).
I like it more than my POB.

At least I think mine is a POB. It has the same model number, but with
a "V" at the end instead of "P". And it does not say "Power on board"
on it. but the reflector, bulb, balast and battery are all the same.
If I'm wrong, and mine really is different, please let me know, but it does
have very impresive throw, and is much nicer now that I stuck a 4300K
lamp in it. I wonder what would happen if I replaced the lamp and balast
with a 50W? Could I use the same 12V battery?

Of course, this Sunforce thing looks way bigger than anything I would
want to own, I'm just curious about it

I am happy that you do in fact have a Mega Illuminator! Like I said I think there is no chance at all of finding any 35 watt HID light as powerful as it is. I estimate that the 40 million CP Sunforce would have just a tad more throw than the POB but not like the Mega Illuminator.

I am 100% positive that the SLH100V you have is exactly the same light as the "Power On Board" SLH100P, just grey and black instead of red and black. They both have the same body, bulb, and battery. I like my Mega Illuminator a lot more than my POB too, as it really smokes the POB in the throw department!

To answer your question, you could easily run a 55W HID bulb and balast on the 12 volt battery. In fact most large halogen spotlights use the same 12 volt 7AH SLA battery as the POB, and run 130 watt halogen bulbs. So 50 watts is still a very light load on the 12 volt battery it has and would still give a much longer runtime than almost all halogen spotlights on the market.


ADDED:

I think you would be very happy with the results of converting your POB to 50/55 watts. It would have an incredible light output of around 5,000 lumens and at that brightness combined with the deep 6'' reflector it should at least equal the Mega Illuminator in throw.

[PsychoBunny]

That would be a fun weekend project if I could do it.
Where would I get the parts?

[Gotrapelo]

Hi all!
Sorry to bump an old thread but I figured it'd be better than starting new;

I'm looking for this spotlight, but the only manufacturer, Northern Tool, appears not to stock it any more. I also considered the SunForce 25 million CP model.

The big problem is, I'm in the UK and I don't think that Northern Tool ship here. I found the 25m one on Amazon too but again, that's Amazon US, which doesn't ship here. I found that you can get a cheapie 15m cp one in B&Q here but hey... Why settle for 15 when you can get 25, or 40, right?

So.. I'm trying to track down a distributor in the UK for the 25/40 or whatever really is the most powerful.. It can have a lot of "throw" or be more of a floodlight, I don't mind, but it needs to be a portable spotlight/flashlight type (weight and stuff don't matter, I just mean it can't be a permanent fixed or mains-only kind of deal). Also it needs to be priced reasonably - Less than £100 or so ($200 ish).

Any ideas/suggestions/etc?

[Ra]

I found the 25m one on Amazon too but again, that's Amazon US, which doesn't ship here. I found that you can get a cheapie 15m cp one in B&Q here but hey... Why settle for 15 when you can get 25, or 40, right?

Why don't you try a mod on one of those cheap one's ?? It's fun to do, and you'll have a 'one of a kind' torch. It's always very fullfilling when you have made an actually working mod !
HID-kits are cheap these day's..

Oh and don't beleve the manufacturers claims on candlepower: It's only to grab your attention before the other guy does !!
Those claims are getting higher and higher. I don't think we'll have to wait long before a manufacturer claims 100 Mcp for a standard 35watt HID torch !!

They think that nobody is capable of measuring it anyway.. (Beleve me, they are wrong..)

Even with a perfect 9" reflector a HID cannot exeed the 1.5 million cp-mark by much (even on overdrive !!). Law's of light prevent that..

But 1.5 million sure is alot more than the 500,000 cp tops you can reach with halogen with the same setup..

Regards,

Ra.

[Gotrapelo]

Why don't you try a mod on one of those cheap one's ?? It's fun to do, and you'll have a 'one of a kind' torch. It's always very fullfilling when you have made an actually working mod !
HID-kits are cheap these day's..

Oh and don't beleve the manufacturers claims on candlepower: It's only to grab your attention before the other guy does !!
Those claims are getting higher and higher. I don't think we'll have to wait long before a manufacturer claims 100 Mcp for a standard 35watt HID torch !!

They think that nobody is capable of measuring it anyway.. (Beleve me, they are wrong..)

Even with a perfect 9" reflector a HID cannot exeed the 1.5 million cp-mark by much (even on overdrive !!). Law's of light prevent that..

But 1.5 million sure is alot more than the 500,000 cp tops you can reach with halogen with the same setup..

Regards,

Ra.

That's interesting.. So, above about 1.5m c.p they are all basically the same brightness, and are just claiming higher c.p when nothing has in fact improved? I've seen the term Lumens thrown around too, I'm guessing that's a more accurate measurement? (You can probably tell, I'm new to all of this, haha!).
You mention the wattage and the reflecter size..Do those impact the c.p/whatever more? I'm guessing you can buy or build portable spotlights with higher wattage, bigger reflectors, or whatever you need to get a higher output?

[Ra]

At CPF you can find many discussions about the relationship between throw, lumens and reflectors..

In short:
Each type of lamp has it's own surface-brightness, which can vary a bit over the different models of one lamptype. When you have a certain amount of throw when using a halogen bulb, mounting a more powerfull halogen bulb will not help much.
When you mount a HID bulb instead, you definitely will have better throw, HID has 3-5 times higher surface-brightness.

Before HID spotlights were commonly aviable, manufacturers already claimed up to 15 million cp for the big halogen spotlights.. I measured some of those 15 Mcp-lights and never saw any of
them produce more than 400,000 cp.. Yes, they produced a lot of light (lumens) but that's easy, producing super-throw is another matter.

The bulb in my Maxablaster has about 100 times the surface-brightness of halogen !!
But the lumens output is as average as a 40watt HID bulb..


Regards,

Ra.

[Gotrapelo]

Ah, that makes sense, thank you for that . I find it all interesting and I'm eager to learn, I just haven't really encountered these terms before, other than a brief mention of lumens.

What I'm actually looking for is not necessarily a large throw (that's the distance the beam will travel, right?), as it only has to go a short distance. What I need is something very bright, that can light up a fair sized area.. But it has to be portable, and directional.

[XeRay]

Even with a perfect 9" reflector a HID cannot exeed the 1.5 million cp-mark by much (even on overdrive !!). Law's of light prevent that..

But 1.5 million sure is alot more than the 500,000 cp tops you can reach with halogen with the same setup..
Regards, Ra.

I would bet it does not even produce 1 million, more likely 700,000 beam CP. The exaggeration is now up to 40X, 50X or even 60X reality.

[Scottcenfla]

As big as that is, I would almost have to say that it's semi-portable

[Yorn]

I am bumping this thread to check if anyone knows how to repair this spotlight? Something on the circuit board melted and Sunforce no longer offers any replacement parts.

Thanks for any feedback in advance.

[M@elstrom]

I'm not familiar with the features/specifications of this light but which circuit board are you referring to, the ballast OR spotlight control board?

[Yorn]

I'm not familiar with the features/specifications of this light but which circuit board are you referring to, the ballast OR spotlight control board?

I think it is the circuit board. I would post a picture of it but unfortunately do not have permission to do so yet.

[ma_sha1]

Possibly the circuit board that regulate the charging, as the cheap charger out put is 16-18V.
If you get a 12V smart charger, you might be able to re-wire it to by pass the charging board,
charge the battery directly & rely on the smart charger to charge the 12V SLA & regulate
the termination when full.

[2100]

My Amondotech 3152, the original one....circuit board died like 2-3 weeks in usage. LOL!

I just pull put the back, take out the SLA and charge it. I like naked SLAs. I don't know why they get no love and everyone plays with Li-Co which goes POOF! Played with them when i was a kid some 20 years ago, luckily I am still alive.

You just strip out the graphite on pencils, some thick wires and a couple of big batteries... WA LA!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBWwq7v9j6A

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tHJ0NSjZnM&NR=1

[Yorn]

I am to afraid to mess with this spotlight. It was a lot of fun while it worked and I am hoping to be able to find an electrician who can fix the thing for me again.

By the way, Sunforce ignored over 5 of my emails and only answered after I called them. As far as this company goes, I would not buy their products again.

[M@elstrom]

By the way, Sunforce ignored over 5 of my emails and only answered after I called them.

No surprise there


You don't need an electrician as it's only a 12v battery configuration, plenty of guide on the internet (and here) to see you through, ma sha1 pretty much said what I was trying to convey basically hotwire it!

[Yorn]

You don't need an electrician as it's only a 12v battery configuration, plenty of guide on the internet (and here) to see you through, ma sha1 pretty much said what I was trying to convey basically hotwire it!

I am still trying to fix the problem with my light. I tried to find links on the hotwiring you mentioned but had no success. Could you please provide further info on this? Thanks a lot.

[Yorn]

I also require a new bulb & wire now. This one on ebay looks like the H7/35w/6000k bulb I require, but it appears to have an extra cable (the red one on the left bottom of the picture) that is not included in the original Sunforce product. Would this bulb set be the right one?