Nitro
Flashlight Enthusiast
- Joined
- Feb 27, 2004
- Messages
- 1,347
The Coleman Conversion with BEAMSHOTS!
I have this spotlight with a 100W Hologen stock bulb, which suited me fine, until I started reading this forum.
Inspired by Sway's LightForce, I decided to upgrade mine to an HID.
I received a 35/50W HID and bulb in the mail, so I'm ready to go.
Armed with the knowledge from Sway's experience, there are a list of issues, I might have solutions for.
1. The high voltage wire from the Ignitor to Bulb Socket can not be lengthened, so that forces me to mount the Ignitor on top of the light. I'm going to drill holes in the light to feed the wires through. Actually I think it will look cool.
2. The Ballast needs to adequately dissipate heat, so I'm going to mount it in an aluminum box under the light. I might even mount heat sinks to the box if necessary. I just have to find the right box.
3. Apparently the Ballast doesn't take to kindly to the battery dropping under the minimum voltage when operating. After the ballast shuts off, the absent load raises the battery voltage enough to fire the ballast. Which then drops the voltage and shuts off again. It ends up in a vicious cycle, beating on the ballast until the light is shut off.
I may have a design for a simple circuit that will trip a safety cutoff after the the ballast shuts off the first time. A reset button will have to be pushed to turn the light back on after reconnecting the battery. It will act kind of like a circuit breaker, only in reverse. I'll have to do some testing though. I'm also thinking of mounting some LED's in the box to indicate the battery charge.
4. The other issue is relative to my light, and that's mounting the bulb socket. I want to keep the external focusing ability of the stock light, so I have to come up with another mount, but still use part of the existing one. Fortunately I happen to know a machinist that's going to design one for me.
I'll post some pictures once I make some progress.
To be continued...
I have this spotlight with a 100W Hologen stock bulb, which suited me fine, until I started reading this forum.
Inspired by Sway's LightForce, I decided to upgrade mine to an HID.
I received a 35/50W HID and bulb in the mail, so I'm ready to go.
Armed with the knowledge from Sway's experience, there are a list of issues, I might have solutions for.
1. The high voltage wire from the Ignitor to Bulb Socket can not be lengthened, so that forces me to mount the Ignitor on top of the light. I'm going to drill holes in the light to feed the wires through. Actually I think it will look cool.
2. The Ballast needs to adequately dissipate heat, so I'm going to mount it in an aluminum box under the light. I might even mount heat sinks to the box if necessary. I just have to find the right box.
3. Apparently the Ballast doesn't take to kindly to the battery dropping under the minimum voltage when operating. After the ballast shuts off, the absent load raises the battery voltage enough to fire the ballast. Which then drops the voltage and shuts off again. It ends up in a vicious cycle, beating on the ballast until the light is shut off.
I may have a design for a simple circuit that will trip a safety cutoff after the the ballast shuts off the first time. A reset button will have to be pushed to turn the light back on after reconnecting the battery. It will act kind of like a circuit breaker, only in reverse. I'll have to do some testing though. I'm also thinking of mounting some LED's in the box to indicate the battery charge.
4. The other issue is relative to my light, and that's mounting the bulb socket. I want to keep the external focusing ability of the stock light, so I have to come up with another mount, but still use part of the existing one. Fortunately I happen to know a machinist that's going to design one for me.
I'll post some pictures once I make some progress.
To be continued...
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