Stanley HID 3000 pot mod 17-83W

2filthy3

Newly Enlightened
Joined
May 25, 2009
Messages
48
Location
Gypsy
I finally got myself a Stanley hid spotlight a few days ago, I have always been curious about the startup/boost circuit, this is what I found.

The rear tail stand cover contains a PCB, this controls charging and luckily also the power output from the ballast unit.

The picture below shows the internals of the spotlight, I have placed a red/blue dot on the PCB connector, this is the control signal to the ballast that regulates output power, in normal operation with the standard battery it ranges from .75 to 2 volts, though its own upper limit is 2.7v, and the lower practical limit is whatever voltage corresponds to the ballast operating at 20W, below 20w it will cut out.

P9050786-1-1.jpg


All the power reading are taken from the ballast supply lines, I assume the bulb Watts would be close to 85% of the given figures.

Upon startup the Ballast operates at 77 Watts, drifting down to 40 Watts continuous.

Once the bulb is hot, the ballast operates in a constant power mode, in standard form the ballast runs rock solid at 40 Watts input, from 9.6 volts to 15 volts, unfortunately my usual power supply was broken and I could not find the high voltage cut out.

As the supply voltage increases the control voltage decreases to keep the output power constant, you can see this by following the 40 Watts line in the below spreadsheet, from 1.01V to 0.64V.

The rest of the spreadsheet shows the control voltage needed to achieve a power level at a given input voltage.

The ballast operated at as much as 125W on a hot bulb for 5-10 seconds, however at each supply voltage level there was a maximum Wattage that the ballast would settle to, the higher the supply voltage the higher this wattage was, the graph below shows this curve at points from 10 to 15 volts.

graph4-1.jpg


The standard SLA battery in my case is only good for 2Ah, it has a 60mOhm IR and on a fresh charge sags to 12.4v under load, when I switch my pot mod on it sags to 12.1v therefore giving around 67 Watts, falling to 50 Watts at 10 Volts.

Due to this I have simply set my pot mod to deliver 1.5 volts to the control circuit when activated, setting the ballast to maximum output with no constant power regulation.

The device I made is as follows, it contains only a few cheap components.

1x, 10K Ohm trim pot.
1x, 600 Ohm resistor.
1x, switch.
4x, Diodes.

Potmod-1.jpg
 
Last edited:

BVH

Flashaholic
Joined
Sep 25, 2004
Messages
7,023
Location
CentCalCoast
Finally! Someone has dissected the Stanley ballast control circuit! Thank you!

Would you be interested in making and selling two units for me?
 

2filthy3

Newly Enlightened
Joined
May 25, 2009
Messages
48
Location
Gypsy
This Stanley was a single mode only light, I could not guarantee that the older dual mode would behave the same, it probably would though.

I could make more if needed, and ship them, however it truly is a simple circuit that anyone can make, what I could do is take a picture of the device before I have applied any heat shrink to it, it would be very easy to copy from that.
 

FRITZHID

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Jun 20, 2011
Messages
2,500
Location
Icelandic wastelands of Monico, WI
i agree! more pix! and TYTYTY!lovecpf:drool::thumbsup::grin2:

i am also curious about the long term side effects of this operation on the stock ballast, please keep us updated as far as run tests go. i'd hate to tear apart & mod mine again w/this mod just to find out that within 20mins of operation the ballast smokes. i can't really afford to replace it @ this point in time. but again, TY for probing this out for us!
 
Last edited:

Greenbean

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Feb 19, 2008
Messages
1,301
Location
WNC

I'm very interested in one also, either for purchase or build myself.
 

2filthy3

Newly Enlightened
Joined
May 25, 2009
Messages
48
Location
Gypsy
Ok, I should be home in a few weeks, and I can make a few of these mod's if anyone want's to try one.

Though I must say that at this point that I have not done any stress testing at prolonged higher power running.

If anyone is interested, will you want the option of adjusting the maximum power yourself, or just a device to wire in and have the lamp run at maximum power, the line shown on my graph above, which is at the bulb approximately 57 Watts on a full charge down to 40 watts at the low battery cut off.
 

BVH

Flashaholic
Joined
Sep 25, 2004
Messages
7,023
Location
CentCalCoast
Ok, I should be home in a few weeks, and I can make a few of these mod's if anyone want's to try one.

Though I must say that at this point that I have not done any stress testing at prolonged higher power running.

If anyone is interested, will you want the option of adjusting the maximum power yourself, or just a device to wire in and have the lamp run at maximum power, the line shown on my graph above, which is at the bulb approximately 57 Watts on a full charge down to 40 watts at the low battery cut off.

Definitely would like one! Adjustable is first choice but fixed is still great! I have two lights and would enjoy building one. By having one that you made, would I be able to ID the parts and buy them from Digikey, Mouser, etc?

On second thought, full throttle is great, don't need it adjustable. But maybe a little instruction on what to buy and where to install the adjustable POT(?) so I can do it on the one I'd like to build.
 
Last edited:

2filthy3

Newly Enlightened
Joined
May 25, 2009
Messages
48
Location
Gypsy
The power adjustment feature on this mod is not very good, all it can do is raise or lower the line of power input shown on my graph, it cannot just dial in 50W at all times, so it's really not that useful, though instruction on how to use one and install it would no problem, or any part of the mod for that matter.

When I have a chance I will do a full discharge test at full mod power, it should be fine.

The main concern would be if this mod as used while the torch was plugged into the car charger, as the maximum of 13.8-14.4 volts that could be seen would have the ballast operate at 68 to 77 output Watts, this could be a problem if used for extended times, though I have run my ballast at 85 output watts for 1 minute with no problem.
 

Benson

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Feb 15, 2009
Messages
1,145
Too bad about your power supply -- I'd like to see some testing beyond 15V. I may have to dig mine out and try this.

Looking at your numbers, it seems just doubling the stock voltage would give a consistent 70-80W, or more generally, a fixed multiplier gives a fixed power -- I'd use an op-amp to make a non-inverting amplifier, and use a pot to adjust from 1x to maybe 3x, at least for testing.


I'm thinking, if nothing blows up with a couple more volts, you can retrofit it with a 4-cell Li-ion polymer battery -- could probably fit 4Ah or so (instead of stock 3Ah), and allow high power throughout the operating range from 12V-16.8V. Of course, a fixed 1.5V probably won't work (too much power at 16.8V), but with an appropriate control circuit (or judicious pot adjustment), you could get near-constant 75W or so.

Wonder how long a bulb holds up at 75W... only one way to find out, right? :naughty:
 
Last edited:

FRITZHID

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Jun 20, 2011
Messages
2,500
Location
Icelandic wastelands of Monico, WI
i'm still waiting to hear if anyone has run this mod at full power for a while (2-3 batt cycles) to test the durability of the ballast under these conditions... bulbs can be replaced fairly easily, ballasts on the other hand, not so much.:poke::poof::ohgeez:
i'm waiting on these results before i mod mine..... unless i can find a 75w short arc ballast, then i'll be modding it to a MB bulb that BVH was kind enough to send me, and swapping out the reflector.... a short arc stanley!:devil:
it may not have the Lm's a stock stanley has, but it will be a throw beast that fits in hand very nicely!
 

2filthy3

Newly Enlightened
Joined
May 25, 2009
Messages
48
Location
Gypsy
Sorry guy's been busy and waiting for some parts, I will make these up in the next few days.

Who want's one? should be <$15 dollars including postage, if I send it as a letter.


Looking at your numbers, it seems just doubling the stock voltage would give a consistent 70-80W, or more generally, a fixed multiplier gives a fixed power -- I'd use an op-amp to make a non-inverting amplifier, and use a pot to adjust from 1x to maybe 3x, at least for testing.

I had also looked at the numbers and found a fixed multiplier on the control circuit would give a fixed output, within the bounds of the above graph anyway, I just could not be bothered setting up an op amp do it, and as you say a multiplier mod would be a lot more useful if combined with a battery upgrade, or the 12V boost board http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/DC-DC-10..._Equipment&hash=item1c23cbc2c8#ht_3974wt_1396 though I guess if the boost board has a constant output the original mod would be good enough.

Though with the stock battery full power all the time is good enough for me.
 
Last edited:
Top