Any advantages of hotwire mods over hand held "spot lights"?

Greetings Everyone

I made a Mag mod for my father last week. It is a 3D Mag with a Fivemega Throw Master reflector, a CL-1909 bulb powered by 10 Elite 1700 NiMH cells. Total cost around $200.

I thought that this would be one heck of a light, but my father claims that it is outperformed, both in throw and visible light output, by his $20 Nite Tracker 1,500,000 CP hand held spot light. I cannot find any lumen ratings for this light, but it apparently runs on a 12 V sealed lead acid battery pack with a current draw of 8 A. So the spot light should be running at ~100 W, compared to ~72 W for this Mag mod at the plateau voltage of the battery pack.

So I am a bit disappointed to say the least. I am not familiar with these hand held spot lights, but I am very surprised that any $20 of-the-shelf piece of plastic would outperform this particular Mag mod? Any advantages of the Mag mod over the $20 spot light, or am I just wasting money with these incan Mag mods?

Thanks!

Cheers,
BG

I have Black and Decker 1MCP and 2MCP handheld spotlights that run on 6V and 12V SLA batteries respectively. I have a Costco POB spotlight - 12V SLA battery - don't remember the MCP figure at the moment[55W H3 bulb]. All of these were under $30.

Yes they are bright. Yes they throw very far. But they only run for 20 minutes, and then you either have to plug them into your car's cigarette lighter or rechage them which can take up to 12 hours.

Now, with my Mag74 - 2C Mag w/ WA1274 bored for 2X IMR26500 - I don't get quite as much light output, but it runs for 45 minutes, and when it dims, I can just throw in another pair or batteries and keep going. And it is small enough to fit in a coat pocket.

Those big spotlights are great if a vehicle is nearby....

And replacement parts a very accessible for Mags.

Battery Guy said:

Any advantages of the Mag mod over the $20 spot light, or am I just wasting money with these incan Mag mods?

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Yes, weight. Those SLA's are HEAVY to lug around compared to a 3d mag.

--Paul

Battery Guy said:

Greetings Everyone

I made a Mag mod for my father last week. It is a 3D Mag with a Fivemega Throw Master reflector, a CL-1909 bulb powered by 10 Elite 1700 NiMH cells. Total cost around $200.

I thought that this would be one heck of a light, but my father claims that it is outperformed, both in throw and visible light output, by his $20 Nite Tracker 1,500,000 CP hand held spot light. I cannot find any lumen ratings for this light, but it apparently runs on a 12 V sealed lead acid battery pack with a current draw of 8 A. So the spot light should be running at ~100 W, compared to ~72 W for this Mag mod at the plateau voltage of the battery pack.

So I am a bit disappointed to say the least. I am not familiar with these hand held spot lights, but I am very surprised that any $20 of-the-shelf piece of plastic would outperform this particular Mag mod? Any advantages of the Mag mod over the $20 spot light, or am I just wasting money with these incan Mag mods?

Thanks!

Cheers,
BG

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well, it is believable, your father's spotlight has like 6-9 inch reflector, running 100w bulb, yes it is possible for it to out throw and out spill, mag1909 even with 2,5in throw master,
your advantage is that you have light made of durable top of the line components, unlike your fathers cheap plastic light. yours will pbly last longer, bottom line is simple, would you rather have your light in your pocket, or your father's??

To me, the difference is that I carry my M@g 2D/1909 in my backpack EVERY day, and I always have it! A light is useless unless you have it when you need it.

hoongern said:

To me, the difference is that I carry my M@g 2D/1909 in my backpack EVERY day, and I always have it! A light is useless unless you have it when you need it.

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Curious as to how you power a 1909 in a 2D Mag. I have used the NiZn AA cells to accomplish this, but it is far from ideal as those batteries are very unreliable.

So, what power pack is in your backpack as you walk around Malaysia?

Cheers,
BG

Battery Guy said:

Curious as to how you power a 1909 in a 2D Mag. I have used the NiZn AA cells to accomplish this, but it is far from ideal as those batteries are very unreliable.

So, what power pack is in your backpack as you walk around Malaysia?

Cheers,
BG

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3xIMR26500 with the tailcap de-anodized, spring removed, and using copper braid (see here for pic of the tailcap)

EDIT: And also a small spring soldered onto the positive Mag switch contact point

And right now, it's Cambridge, MA, rather than Malaysia

Battery Guy said:

Any advantages of the Mag mod over the $20 spot light, or am I just wasting money with these incan Mag mods?

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Sure. He's got about a 3 AH SLA, with a usable capacity at that draw of much less. So expect it to run for 15-30 minutes. And then take a day to recharge. But you still have to lug it around after you kill the battery.

Meanwhile, you're drawing 6 amps, so expect reliable 20 minute runtime, and every $25 gives you another set of 1700s (when not on sale). And your light will outlast his, be more compact, and generally more fun. I have two of the spotlight-type things, and they're a pain for photography work.

I think this thread pretty much nailed it. Spotlights are great when size and weight are not an issue, and you don't need more than 20 mins of runtime or have a ready power source, like a car plug-in.

Otherwise, not so much.

I have one of those chinese spotlight. I replaced the 12 V 7 Ah battery with 7 (seven) Cyclon X cells, since those automotive bulbs are designed to work at 13.8 V, which is the voltage of the car battery when the engine is running. (The bulb usually flash at 16 V).

The Cyclon cells, which are Lead-acid but of wound type with starved electrolyte, have much lower internal resistance compared to the cheap original battery, so the bulb sees 13.5 V for 40 minutes, and the batteries stay cool. The nominal capacity is 5 Ah instead of 7, but in reality is higher. Also, you can recharge cyclon cells in 1 hour with CC/CV method, instead of the 24 hrs float charge used for the original SLA.

The output of this relatively cheap setup, in terms of sheer output, is comparable to my Microfire K3500R, which is an expensive 35 W HID.
The beam shape is matter of luck. Since those bulbs are really inexpensive, you can try few different types - in order to find one producing a good beam.

If you conduct a search on the forum, you will find that one former member was producing a step-up circuit board to elevate and stabilise the voltage from the 12 V SLA battery to 16 V, making those cheap spotlights very hard to beat in terms of brightness.
The modification with 7 Cyclon X cells is, in my opinion, of superior quality. Those rectangular SLA batteries have, in any case, a very limited cycle life under +10 Amps load, as they are intended for backup use.

Regards

Anthony

I've used up three cheap spotlights and I'm still using my first ROP. Kind of a shame about the first one, it had a huge reflector and was modified to work straight of an SLA brick when I got it.

Any advantages of the Mag mod over the $20 spot light, or am I just wasting money with these incan Mag mods?

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I have a POB HID that blows away anything else I have. The only time it gets used is occasionally to work on my car at night or to light up buildings four or five blocks away for fun.
My first M@g mod was pretty simple (Thanks to alpg88 and others for tips and suggestions) for a modest cost (Except for the cells!)
-5 D cell M@g (Bought used for $5.00)
- Kiu socket $12.00
- 50W MR16 flood $4.50 at Wally World
- (5) 26650 cells about $60.00 shipped
+ Time and learning curve of a 1st mod.

Having the satisfaction of knowing I did it myself the first time I see that wall of light and it takes my breath away...
PRICELESS!