55w HID for under $55.

[WastedNihilist]

Hi. This is my first real post. I've been reading the cpf forums for years, but never got around to posting. I figure I'm due to contribute a little. I got this 12v cyclops about a year or two ago. I put it through it's paces. I think it's really a great light as is. I had a 55w bulb and ballast lying around. Boredom set in and I got to work. I wasn't really worried about making it pretty or even destroying it. I drilled 2 holes. One for the switch to connect to the ballast and the other to connect the ballast to the HID bulb. It's a snug fit for the wires once you put it together. The pins didn't want to secure the bulb, so the only thing holding the bulb in is the back of the case. Seems pretty secure though. I epoxied the ballast to the back, and it was good to go. I still need to make a spacer to get the beam just right. I know this is not near the caliber of what some of you guys are doing, but I still thought it might be worth a look. Also I'm open to pointers on posting, incase I did anything wrong.

The bulb fit in perfect. I guess this was a pretty lucky mod.

Just cut the wires to length and crimped them inside.

4300k Automotive bulb and ballast.

Beam shot from about 30ft away on kind of a hazy day.

Bad cellphone picture of a cloud bounce on a hazy night.

I will also try to take some more beam shots tonight, if anyone is interested.

 

[doctor ladd]

That sounds impressive, Pictures arent working through my phone but I have a 35w "power on board" sitting around I wonder what could be done with it. They also make 75w and 100w automotive style ballasts I believe. I have wondered about upgrading it. Thanks for sharing!

Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk

 

[WastedNihilist]

I was actually looking at those 75w and 100w ballasts for some off-road lights. But anything over 55w seems to spike in price.

 

[2100]

Impressive focus. Get it to 15 inches and I think you'd hang with the short arcs. But of course nobody makes a 15 inch reflector, even a crummy one (but correctly designed) with imperfections is better than a much smaller perfect one. :)

It is not easy for a 55W HID (none short arc) to be doing cloud bouncing unless the focus is spot on.

On Aliexpress, northen lighting (it sells auto parts) has got a 12V 75W ballast for usd20, shipping to states is usd14 I think, but you gotta wait like 3 weeks as its via China Air. :)
Cheapest 100W pair with 1 pair of bulbs is usd121 shipped (China Air Mail). Variable voltage 9-32V is usd133.

Will we have 150W soon?

 

[2100]

Actually you can get a "Chinese" 12V 55W for about 50 over usd, just that shipping to the States via EMS it'd be 42 bucks. The main thing is not the cost, but that it has a 9-inch reflector (true internal measurements) and that the focus is adjustable from the outside via a knob on the ABS shell. Another important point is that the quality of the reflector is pretty good, it is better than say a Power-On-Board, definitely much shinier with a true mirror finish. Eg, hang some SMD LEDs 5m away, you cannot see the individual emitters on the POB reflector, but no issue with the "Chinese". EMS is already 30usd to here. Not sure if you can fit in the regular ballast as there is a plastic housing that houses the ballast, but 75W slim ballast should be a piece of cake. Power is via external means, ie the style which you've posted. I'm not supposed to advertise, but you can search for SM4700.

 

[BVH]

I bought one of those 55 watt, external ballast, 9", focusable Chinese HID's and it was truly a piece of junk. The reflector was full of bumps/dents and ring defects (remember the Costco reflector "rings"?) and when I opened it up, fully 1/3 of the plastic bulb mounting area had been hacked (not trimmed, but crudely hacked) away to allow room for the HID bulb to be installed. The bulb was far from rigid because of this. When moving the focusing knob, there was so much "sideways play" that there was no way to even remotely focus to a semi-tight spot. Not recommended. I ended up chucking the light all except for the reflector, which I made into my bulb testing reflector.

 

[2100]

I bought one of those 55 watt, external ballast, 9", focusable Chinese HID's and it was truly a piece of junk. The reflector was full of bumps/dents and ring defects (remember the Costco reflector "rings"?) and when I opened it up, fully 1/3 of the plastic bulb mounting area had been hacked (not trimmed, but crudely hacked) away to allow room for the HID bulb to be installed. The bulb was far from rigid because of this. When moving the focusing knob, there was so much "sideways play" that there was no way to even remotely focus to a semi-tight spot. Not recommended. I ended up chucking the light all except for the reflector, which I made into my bulb testing reflector.

Woah...thanks for the heads up. The rings probably wouldn't bother me but the sideways play definitely will. Not good.

I remember having the 100W halogen version of this, can't remember but it costed only S$29? (usd18 then) Threw like crazy (big reflector, 100W H4 small filament relatively speaking anyway), but can't remember as I wasn't into lights then. I cannot find it now.
Would be good for a low-cost project and if you have spare ballast/bulb lying around.

A Costco 9" chinese OEM clone (think you call it a Thor X Colossus there) costs S$60 here or usd46. When I have time I'll get it for some small project....I still have space for just 1 more big light.
I don't want to spend too much for lights as I don't use them professionally, the Ebay HIDs we will get about 2 dozen or so, as we will use them professionally in Indonesia for close to medium ranges...just about 100 bux per light shipped volume discounted.
24 x SR90, too expensive. 24 x PH50 won't make the biz go bust but it will make us a heck lot poorer....and nobody here will buy a multi-K searchlight when you wanna sell them. :)

I guess the SM5200 (that 6" carry handle searchlight) could be better. It is like the close cousin of the commercially modded Yao 35/80. Still has rings, but basically a great thrower.
The Mozo 6" is good but costs too much to ship over (usd56 via USPS Priority even for the 4" Mozo)

55W SM5200 here, not too bad for usd52 (shipping to here is usd30)
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb...ondotech-3152-35W-4200K-Sanmak-5200-55W-5000K

One would probably be too close in range to see the ring artifacts in the corona to be actually using the light for any useful purpose. It is actually painful to look at the hotspot, let alone modding it to 75-100W. :)
50-200m gives you a good usable spot.

They actually sent me a replacement reflector (via 2 day DPEX from China!) coz the original got dented by the ballast inside the light which wasn't secured. So seriously I don't have the heart to fault them. LOL!
You can probably see some of them rings, the bottom part of the picture you can see the dents. The reflector is actually shinier than my Amondotech 3152 - good for reflecting as much light as possible (hopefully focusing nicely as well, which it does). Probably this shininess excerbates them rings and any imperfections. It is definitely not a precision product, but still super shiny mirror smooth just not precise. :)

You can see the spill rings here for the Yao 35/80, and the L35 (expensive by comparison) doesn't look too good either.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIIFBbhCOWw

 

[WastedNihilist]

Thanks for the heads up on Aliexpress. I'm definitely gunna be burning some money there. Also, I think The clouds may have been a little low. But its quite bright\throwy , much better then the stanley. I bought a stanley once, and was unimpressed.

 

[2100]

Haha WastedNihilist, low clouds are good. You'd need at least a focusable 50mW 532nm for cloud bouncing (you are in the US, be very careful when doing that and observe all safety precautions), 500mW 405 "blu-ray", or 55W 6". The "wide field" HIDs might wash out stuff though with its spill, so more power is always good to create as much lumens on the hotspot/side corona as possible.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnM4OPsd7-0&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwMRtULqhpQ&feature=related

I don't have space. Else for below usd1k you can get one. Shipping via surface shd be ok. I was crazy enough to ship via Express Courier 2 subwoofers 78kg and 138kg and the latter was on a pallet, costed me some usd700+.
I got the kit :) : http://www.danleysoundlabs.com/pdf/DTS 10 spec sheet.pdf

OT but this is so darn cool : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zbf3bzpgml8
It cannot only go loud, but also with quality (I'm more into audio)