400W HID Thor

[ez78]

My 400W metal halide Thor modification is now ready. This is a seriously fun toy even if it's a backpack system. Here are some pics.

But first the main specs.

- 10MCP Thor serves as the host
- 400W PAR64 metal halide (short arc) lamp, about 30000 lumens and 6000K by chinese manufacturer, 700 hours life
- 400W electronic 110 VDC input ballast from china, has also dimmer function with potentiometer something like 50-100% power, didn't take advantage of this yet, but it works...
- Battery pack is made of 15 x 7.2V 3000mAh Nimh Sub-C RC batteries, 120 volts when charged
- Runtime limited to about 20 minutes so not to kill any of the 90 Nimh cells in the pack, once tested full 30 minutes, and batteries were not empty still
- I charge two RC-packs in series and with two chargers thats 4 of the 15 packs charging simultaneusly
- There is a volt meter, on/off with one of Thors stock swiches, connected to 12 RC packs, I use the ground wire in the 3-pole power cable to get this signal from the batteries
- 80mm fan cools the lamp, can be swiched on/off with a button, blue led indicates if fan is on
- 2 x 40mm fans in the ballast

I quess that's it. :devil:

Or did I forget something...

Battery weights about 5kg. No problem with a backpack.

The 400W electronic ballast has been bolted under Thor's belly. Thor is actually sitting on it.

I opened the ballast and drilled three holes to the aluminum top plate to allow sturdy fastening with screws and nuts under Thors belly. Also the ballast internals can be seen in the background.

The 400W metal halide bulb, about 30k lumens and 7mm arc lenght.

There is some fire proof fiberglass fabric installed between the PAR64 lamp and the plastic parts to allow about 20 minutes runtime without anything melting .

80mm fan is used to cool the par64 lamp. Air is pushed in from the rear and warm air exits from the stock ventilation holes around the bulb.

Quick shootout between Larryk14 and 400W HID Thor. 200 meters to the target tree. Camera settings are 6" F5.6.

The HID thor gives much higher spot brightness but actually the LK14 might have better flood. This is what I wanted, more spot intensity and throw compared to the LK14 but still with monster lumens.

The white balance of camera was not locked. Maybe the warmer color temperature of the halogen gives it some advantage. The metal halide is about 6000K. HID beam appears more intense. Overall the good old Larryk14 is a suprisingly tough competitor but the HID delivers quite scorching hot spot.

I think next I will do something like 1000 meters shoot out, looks like the HID Thor 400W is more a thrower.


Reference pic.

Larryk14

400W HID Thor

 

[vee73]

Aika makee lyysä!!:wave:

 

[Stereodude]

Impressive!

 

[BVH]

looks like a nicely done mod! Good job!

If you know, what starting voltage was your Larrky14 at when you turned it on and what was it at when you snapped the shot (or how long between starting the Larryk14 and snapping the shot?)

 

[rizky_p]

how much is the whole setup?

AWESOME light....:wave:

 

[ez78]

Hi BVH,

Thanks. Larryk14 was running with about steady 29V when the shots were taken. I have a volt meter in the light. Also the batteries were equipped with insulation against the cold weather. My Larryk14 now uses a 10Ah Nimh battery setup, gives nice steady output. Fully charged it is about 34V and holds at about 29 volts for couple of first minutes when running.

 

[ez78]

rizky_p,

Parts were about 700 euros, about $1000. Maybe not the cheapest setup. But It's amazing fun to go take a walk with this thing. I actually like the cool white blueish output too. Looks special and draws attention too, haha. I think my first photos didn't really do justice to this thing. I'll learn to use my camera and take more shots in the future.

 

[sizzlechest]

:goodjob:

 

[scott.cr]

YOU'RE A MANIAC! I LOVE IT!!!

Question: Why did you even bother using the Thor housing?! For a light like that you need to get something custom machined baby!!

 

[matrixshaman]

Ooooh - Nice and cool pics too. What's a 400w HID bulb run? Expensive I'm guessing.

 

[ez78]

Haha, thanks scott.

I am proud to be a maniac in this field. It's fun, lol. I quess I like this Thor shell since it provides at least some stealth element to this monster light. It's fun when someone is expecting a normal Thor output and this is 10X+ Thor. Although there is about one minute wait for the full brighness it is actually instantly kind of bright when swiched on, like normal thor or something. And after that the real fun begins.

 

[Nos]

wooooah amazing!!

man nice mod I LOVE IT ^^ can u give us some details to your construction? and maybe some more beamshots, im totally impressed by this ^^

......well 700 euros are quite a lot but, not for this :devil:

btw: how well does the Powercon work? *
edit: erm skip that question POWERCON!!!!

 

[DM51]

That is a TERRIFIC light! Superb work - what a mega-monster!

Lol, would I be right in saying that when you finally switched it off, there was a hissing noise and steam rising from the blackened trench where the snow had melted all the way to that now severely scorched tree?

 

[Nos]

hmmm im really thinking about eating 3 month only water and bread to found this mod

all thumbs up!! whats the name of that mod?

 

[ICUDoc]

Woohoo! That's awesome.
Looks VERY "Back to the Furure" meets "Ghostbusters". Don't cross the streams!!!!
What a ripper!

 

[ez78]

Hi DM51,

Haha, I quess that tree might not grow any leaves next summer, but it was spectacular ending for it. I might go and chop it down and warm my sauna with it.

 

[ez78]

matrixshaman,

The PAR64 400W metal halide short arc lamp was about $170 delivered to me. Made in china, seems to be ok quality. They give about 700 hours life to this. We'll see. I'll have a spare lamp soon.

 

[ez78]

Nos,

Hmmmh, the powercon connector/plug system is working nicely. No problems with 120 volts and about 4 amps. Was this what you meant?

 

[N10]

insanee....LOL

 

[Flashanator]

:bow::bow::bow::bow::bow::bow::bow:


Nothing Short of absoulutly amazing ez, I can't believe it. What runtime do you get?

Must feel so good to have light like this, just laughing at everyone with far less, :hahaha: Like me.