Car HID Light for flashlight?

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Newly Enlightened
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Oct 7, 2009
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What would be the limiting factor if using an HID car light bulb to use in a custom built flashlight? I have seen them advertised at 2000 lumens and up.
 

Patriot

Flashaholic
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Your question is rather generic so I'm not sure what you're looking for. Are you a flashlight manufacturer or someone looking to purchase one?

As with any high draw, portable electronic device, battery technology is the limiting factor. More wattage and run-time = more needed battery power and thus greater size. Price is also a limiting factor. HID lights do exist with all the best attributes but they're often very expensive.
 

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Newly Enlightened
Joined
Oct 7, 2009
Messages
25
Location
USA
Your question is rather generic so I'm not sure what you're looking for. Are you a flashlight manufacturer or someone looking to purchase one?

As with any high draw, portable electronic device, battery technology is the limiting factor. More wattage and run-time = more needed battery power and thus greater size. Price is also a limiting factor. HID lights do exist with all the best attributes but they're often very expensive.

I'm someone looking to buy a flashlight. I'm looking for something along the lines of the Oracle, which seems popular to most users here. Same brightness, throw, divergence etc... though I don't want to spend $200 for the light. So I was wondering how possible it would be to build one for cheaper. What kind of snags do you have to pay attention to. etc...
 

Patriot

Flashaholic
Joined
Feb 13, 2007
Messages
11,254
Location
Arizona
I'm someone looking to buy a flashlight. I'm looking for something along the lines of the Oracle, which seems popular to most users here. Same brightness, throw, divergence etc... though I don't want to spend $200 for the light. So I was wondering how possible it would be to build one for cheaper. What kind of snags do you have to pay attention to. etc...


Actually they're a mere $179 which is bargain basement for a compact, aluminum tube HID light. You won't build one as small using off the shelf automotive components either. You might want to have a look at the Stanley HID from Walmart if you're trying to save some money. True, it's a different form factor but I'm not going to waste your time telling you that you're going to build something similar to the Oracle and save money while doing it.
 

alpg88

Flashlight Enthusiast
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Apr 19, 2005
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you could buy a 6-10 mcp 12v halogen search light, than replace halogen bulb with one of those hid kits, you need one with slim ballast and bulb of the same type as halogen that was originally in the light, the light will run you about 30-50 bucks, hid kit is about 50-70, i converted mine halogen searchlight into hid.
but my advice, save a bit more and get a hid flashlight, you could get one for less than 200, pbly 10-24 watts, conversion would cost you 100-150, if you have to buy all the parts, honestly not worth it imo.
 

Norm

Retired Administrator
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Jun 13, 2006
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you could buy a 6-10 mcp 12v halogen search light, than replace halogen bulb with one of those hid kits, you need one with slim ballast and bulb of the same type as halogen that was originally in the light, the light will run you about 30-50 bucks, hid kit is about 50-70, i converted mine halogen searchlight into hid.
Example here.
Norm
 
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