Stanley H.I.D. and 1365 lumen spotlights (Part 2)

[Northern Lights]

Right on!

[Bright+]

Could this still be bought in a B&M?

Now onto battery... the Ah ratings on SLAs are based on C/20 rate and at the C+ rate being used in these lights, you'll only get about 1/2 the C/20 capacity. Even though the battery is 3Ah, the usable capacity is around 1.5Ah at the discharge rate being used.

NiCd can provide more or less the full capacity at C rate, so a 2 or 2.5Ah 12v power tool pack should provide about the same run time and less charge time.

Anyone tried it?

[Hammer Train]

Was there anyone who has succeeded in getting the EU??

I have one in England. These are impossible to get hold of in the EU, and I had it shipped over at the cost of shipping only of $50 + $50 tax just to see if it is worth the 20+ pages of replies in this thread!

[jcw122]

I'd like to put my 4300k bulb in my Stanley tonight...what is the safest way to insulate the new connection to the bulb? Will electrical tape work or should I use heat shrink?

I'm just trying to make sure I don't damage my light.

[BVH]

I'd use 4 layers of heat shrink. My experience shows it prevents cross-over during the microsecond of ignition (23KV).

[jcw122]

I'd use 4 layers of heat shrink. My experience shows it prevents cross-over during the microsecond of ignition (23KV).

I was going to use heatshrink but the store closed at 7, so what I did is I opened up the two grey cynlinders where they wires are soldered, soldered the new bulb on, covered the solder joints with electrical tape a few times, then recovered the electrical tape with the cylinders, then taped the cylinders back together. It's been working for the first 10 minutes of use, so I'm happy

The results are GREAT! It's not a stark initial difference per-say, but if you look closely, color rendition is much better, range is a better (IMO) and I'd say penetration through brush/woods is better because you can see the target better without the bright beam.

[BVH]

The only time you'd experience a cross-over is the microsecond of ignition. From then on, it's only seeing about 80 to 90 Volts or so and there won't be any issues during warm up or normal running.

[LedSanders]

Okay guys I have been scoping the automotive section of the 3 Wal*Marts within my local area since last year, and have only come across the Halogen 1300LM Spotlight. but today figures I go out of town and I found one in a wal*mart in N. Arizona.

1st thing I noticed was the lack of a High Low switch on the back. I guess Stanley got tired of having to tell people that It can take upto 5 minutes for the ballast to run down to lower levels.

I must say if you haven't had a HID Light get this one if you have the chance.

I do think the stock bulb is around 8000k (its most def ice blue). but me in all my wonderous glory bought the Warranty so I don't know that I will be swapping the bulb for one of the old 4500k bulbs I have that I swapped for 6000k's in my mustang till next year

[jcw122]

At my recent visits to the same Walmart I purchased mine at, I haven't seen Stanley HIDs anymore.

[bhuber]

At my recent visits to the same Walmart I purchased mine at, I haven't seen Stanley HIDs anymore.

I still see them in my area.

[Larbo]

I saw three HIDs near me a month ago, almost had two of them.

[Monocrom]

I still see them in my area.

+1

I was at the nearest Wal-Mart to my home just a few days ago. They're still being sold over by the automobile section.

[ronman]

+1

I was at the nearest Wal-Mart to my home just a few days ago. They're still being sold over by the automobile section.

I purchased mine two days ago at the WM Supercenter located near the University of Central Florida.
They had 3 on the shelf, and mine does not have the switch.
I'll try to get a runtime later today when it's fully recharged.

[ronman]

Went green > amber at 8:20
Amber > red at 24:45
Red > shutdown at 31:25

In a 78*F room with a ceiling fan on high for airflow, the lens temp seems to be around 270*F according to my IR thermometer placed ~12" from the glass.

[Larbo]

Has anyone found a place to buy replacement batteries for the HID??

Its a UN3-12

This is the nearest I can find http://www.interstatebatteries.com/c...SLA+187+FASTON

This one is the same size but only 2.3AH, or maybe the original batteries capacity was overated.....

[rlorion]

Just bought the Stanley HID0109 at WalMart and this thing rocks. While taking a quick trip with the wife to the bank I decided to see what this thing can do...and wholy cow, this thing is amazing. I would love to rig up two of these lights onto my F150 for some serious light throwing down the road.

[CR123_CR123_CR123]

Today, I saw two at the automotive section in fremont, ca walmart.

once I picked it up, i figured out it was too heavy for EDC.

i'll stick to my G2L with a M61 (thank you cpf for introducing me to the world of flashlights, i didn't know any of these manufacturers til then).

[plasmaman]

Just thought I'd add my bit on Stanley's HID.
Finally got mine via a pal who was visiting the US, and he brought it back to UK for me (Amazon 70 bucks version).
Opened it up rightaway and found that the SLA battery (which is rammed in there) had chaffed the neg out of the ballast down to bare wire - hmm - good start!
So chucked the SLA out, repaired the wire and built a 4 x 26650 Li pack. Should be OK I thought - my POB runs happily on 4 x Li D's at 16v+ off the charger, so Stanley should be OK.
Not so - charged the cells to full on my BC6 charger - showing 16.4v, hooked her up - and the light fired and then after a couple of seconds closes down.
So the PCB has some sort of voltage regulator!!
Discharged the cells and charged up again to 15v. This time all OK.
I will charge the pack from my BC6 via the direct drive connector. This connects directly to the pack via a mosfet.
Changed the bulb for a 4300K auto H3, and put it all back together.
Its much better balanced (and lighter) in your hand with the 26650 pack, and should give more runtime than the SLA.
Will compare later with the POB. My impression in the workshop is that the POB is brighter - but then the POB has a bigger reflector and is running 50w HID kit rather than 35w.

[elumen8]

So chucked the SLA out, repaired the wire and built a 4 x 26650 Li pack....Discharged the cells and charged up again to 15v. This time all OK....I will charge the pack from my BC6 via the direct drive connector. This connects directly to the pack via a mosfet.

Congratulations plasmaman, I believe you are the first member here to sucessfully install a different battery pack in the Stanley. Many of us have talked about it but nobody sat down and did it.

I take it you have completely bypassed the stock charger connection...hows that working? Could you do a runtime? I'd like to follow your lead and lighten up my Stanley also.

JB

[Northern Lights]

Just thought I'd add my bit on Stanley's HID.
Finally got mine via a pal who was visiting the US, and he brought it back to UK for me (Amazon 70 bucks version).
Opened it up rightaway and found that the SLA battery (which is rammed in there) had chaffed the neg out of the ballast down to bare wire - hmm - good start!
So chucked the SLA out, repaired the wire and built a 4 x 26650 Li pack. Should be OK I thought - my POB runs happily on 4 x Li D's at 16v+ off the charger, so Stanley should be OK.
Not so - charged the cells to full on my BC6 charger - showing 16.4v, hooked her up - and the light fired and then after a couple of seconds closes down.
So the PCB has some sort of voltage regulator!!
Discharged the cells and charged up again to 15v. This time all OK.
I will charge the pack from my BC6 via the direct drive connector. This connects directly to the pack via a mosfet.
Changed the bulb for a 4300K auto H3, and put it all back together.
Its much better balanced (and lighter) in your hand with the 26650 pack, and should give more runtime than the SLA.
Will compare later with the POB. My impression in the workshop is that the POB is brighter - but then the POB has a bigger reflector and is running 50w HID kit rather than 35w.

Those Li batteries have a higher capacity than the origian power pack, do they not? (longer run time) and with slightly higher voltage a higher watt/hour output too.

Another advantage to those Li batteries over the PB is operating temperature and self discharge maintenance. Low temperatures, winter temperatures, can shut the gel cell down. The Li does not self discharge nor is affected by the cold. You can store that combo where it is needed and it will be ready to go when without a lot of maintenance. I have put them inot three different light systems now.

Glad to see someone fix all the inherent problems with these lights. My local W-marts do not carry them.

[plasmaman]

Congratulations plasmaman, I believe you are the first member here to sucessfully install a different battery pack in the Stanley. Many of us have talked about it but nobody sat down and did it.

I take it you have completely bypassed the stock charger connection...hows that working? Could you do a runtime? I'd like to follow your lead and lighten up my Stanley also.

JB

There's no way that you can use the stock recharging socket on the back of the Stanley if you change the cell type. If using Li cells as a replacement for the SLA, you MUST only recharge the pack by a direct connection.
So with that in mind the first thing I did was add a new recharging socket on the back of the light, and connected it directly to the cell pack. Obvious really.
But.....the board in the Stanley is a weird and wonderful thing (it even has a fuse on it). So despite my new 'charge only' leads being connected to the cells, I couldn't get any voltage reading from them at the new socket! Checked my soldering, all OK. So somehow, the fact that these new leads were siamesed to the leads feeding power to the board, the board overruled!
Then I looked at the 12v direct connection in the base of the handle. As supplied, the +ve lead from that connection feeds through a fet and then to the battery, the -ve goes directly to the battery.
So with my new pack in place in the light, I got a true (15v) reading from the 12v socket in the base - so the board doesn't interfere with that circuit.
Therefore perfect for recharging the pack using my BC6 charger and some croc clips.
Although the 12v circuit feeds the light directly (ie the light will run without a battery installed if powered through this socket) I am not intending to run the light on 12v external power whilst my Li pack is installed -not sure about that!

Will do some runtimes soon, and also compare output with POB

[elumen8]

Will do some runtimes soon, and also compare output with POB

Thanks for the additional info. I wonder if you'd be so generous as to open it up again and take some photos...I'd love to see it wired up.

Can't wait to see the runtimes and comparison. I'm currently getting about 29 minutes on the existing 3Ah 12v SLA battery.

JB

[thisflatearth]

Is this thing too bright?


I only ask because I am giving my girlfriend my jeep for the summer, she is going to upstate NY to be a camp nurse. I want to put a light in the jeep for general use but is it to bright?

If she uses it to walk from the infirmary to one of teh cabins in the middle of the night will she/others be blinded by it?

I know that "too bright" is kind of like blasphemy around here, but I have to ask.

[Monocrom]

Is this thing too bright?


I only ask because I am giving my girlfriend my jeep for the summer, she is going to upstate NY to be a camp nurse. I want to put a light in the jeep for general use but is it to bright?

If she uses it to walk from the infirmary to one of the cabins in the middle of the night will she/others be blinded by it?

I know that "too bright" is kind of like blasphemy around here, but I have to ask.

For that type of activity, yes; way too bright. If there's very little ambient light, something like a Streamlight Stylus Pro that is putting out just under 24 lumens would be ideal. If plenty of ambient light, something putting out closer to 150 - 200 lumens would be a good choice.

She'd turn night into day with a Stanley H.I.D.

[thisflatearth]

OK, Ill just have to stop making excuses and buy it for myself.

[funkymonkey1111]

For that type of activity, yes; way too bright. If there's very little ambient light, something like a Streamlight Stylus Pro that is putting out just under 24 lumens would be ideal. If plenty of ambient light, something putting out closer to 150 - 200 lumens would be a good choice.

She'd turn night into day with a Stanley H.I.D.

WAAAY too bright for that, or "general use" around the campsite. this is when that dual mode LX2 comes in handy--even in pitch dark and your eyes adjusted, 200 lumens is too bright.

[Monocrom]

WAAAY too bright for that, or "general use" around the campsite. this is when that dual mode LX2 comes in handy--even in pitch dark and your eyes adjusted, 200 lumens is too bright.

Yup. The 200 lumens top end recommendation is if she was in one of those resort/campgrounds. Those places tend to have a ton of ambient light. . . Along with T.V.s, Wi-Fi, Starbucks next to the camp fire, etc.

[plasmaman]

Thanks for the additional info. I wonder if you'd be so generous as to open it up again and take some photos...I'd love to see it wired up.

Can't wait to see the runtimes and comparison. I'm currently getting about 29 minutes on the existing 3Ah 12v SLA battery.

JB

After much trial and error I believe I have sorted the Stanley replacement battery problem.
By driving the light via the 12v charging socket - see pics - I can run a hot 16.4v pack without the PCB cutting in, and also charge the pack safely using my BC6 charger connected via the 12v socket.


Above - the general layout, and showing the 4 x 26650 pack which has plenty of room to sit above the ballast. I put in a bit of packing foam to stop it rattling.


Above - showing the new positive feed wire from the right hand leg of the FET (or whatever it is) which goes to battery positive. Solder this wire to the right hand leg, underneath the little board it sits in. Just remove the screw to lift up the board.


Above - showing the new wire that is the only connection to the battery positive. The original battery positive connectors stay away from the battery (but still joined together).
Battery neg connects to the original connections.


Above - showing the new bulb in place and connected to the original ballast wires via the plastic insulator pots - check polarity!

This has been a PIA to do - mainly because of the voltage limiting built into the PCB. Simply connecting the 16.4v pack in place of the SLA does not work - after 2 or 3 seconds the PCB cuts the power.I built a voltage regulating circuit, but that didn't work! So I decided to try the only other option of using the 12v connector in the base.

Powering the board via the 12v circuit seems to be OK so far, and gives easy and safe charging ability.

Light output is the same as the SLA - the PCB seems to take care of that. Regardless of the input voltage (down to 10v when the board cuts the power)

Runtime will be at least an hour, based on a 3A discharge test of this pack on the West Mountain CBA from 14.8v to 11.5v.
I will do another test from 16.4v - it should be longer.

[jcw122]

Nice job! How is runtime?

[elumen8]

Outstanding plasmaman. Thanks for the great pics and info on the build.

Trial and error is so much fun...

JB