another hid spotlight- (My 55+w spotlight mod!) POOF!

[spc]

Got this spotlight at Northern tool.

It was yellow with black legs and a black bezel. It was advertised as 10mcp. Has 2x 6v SLA cells. Came with wall charger and car charger. This light has a nice metal reflector and a glass lens.

I had a 55w ballast and a couple bulbs. The bulbs were h1 and h3. The spotlight took an h4. I took the stock h4 halogen bulb apart and potted the h3 hid bulb into its base. So it fits like stock. (Before I potted it I focused it the best I could so the bulb would be plug and play).

First thing I did with the host was prep the heck out of it for a new paint job. Wash-scuff-wash-scuff-wash-paint. I used Krylon Fusion (good for plastic) ultra flat khaki on pretty much the whole thing.

The host has a 2-mode switch on the handle. For now I will use that so I re-wired it with heavier gauge wire to work with the ballast.
On the ballast I cut flat the power in plug that sticks out. I just used a dremel and cut it flush with the ballast housing. Then I soldered the power wires directly to the ballast. (doing this saved a little more than a 1/2 inch of space)

The ballast fit behind the reflector so all I did was make a little bracket and screwed it into the side of the host. The bracket holds the ballast with double sided tape

For some reason the glass and reflector wouldn't stay flush with the bezel so I mad a couple extra brackets to hold it tight (you can see the SS machine screws on the front)

It all went back together great and works very well. I still have some focusing to do. As it sits, it can light up trees over 300yds easy.

What do ya think? :tinfoil:

*changed the title to 55+w watts. After ballast modification 71w with approx 80% efficiency

 

[BVH]

Re: another hid spotlight mod- (My 55w spotlight mod!)

Looks really good in Khaki! Nice work!

 

[Patriot]

Re: another hid spotlight mod- (My 55w spotlight mod!)

Totally cool. I love the color, it reminds me of the same color in Duracoat. That light has a really nice looking reflector on it.

Nice work!

 

[spc]

Re: another hid spotlight mod- (My 55w spotlight mod!)

Thanks!

I love this color too, I painted a bunch of things with coyote brown duracoat (similar). Its kinda like desert military:tinfoil:

 

[mvyrmnd]

Re: another hid spotlight mod- (My 55w spotlight mod!)

Love it!

I think we have the same host here in Oz as the Arlec RT10000

Now that I've seen the results, I'll probably have to do it!

 

[spc]

Re: another hid spotlight mod- (My 55w spotlight mod!)

go for it, I was surprised to see that the ballast (with a little mod) fit like a glove



I just ordered a mini yellow led 3 digit voltage read out im going to mount.

I'll try to get a beamshot tonight, but I have to finish the focus first. I cant keep it on too long im sure the nieghbors will complain :shakehead

 

[BlueBeam22]

Re: another hid spotlight mod- (My 55w spotlight mod!)

Nice work! The reflector appears very high quality.

 

[Litbobber]

Re: another hid spotlight mod- (My 55w spotlight mod!)

Looks very nice,that reflector looks flawless.

 

[spc]

Re: another hid spotlight mod- (My 55w spotlight mod!)

Thats why I went for it, the reflector is perfect. It is very thin though and im sure it will dent easy

 

[liteitup]

Re: another hid spotlight mod- (My 55w spotlight mod!)

really nice work!! id love to hear the details on how you potted that bulb.

On a side note that ballast isnt a 55w ballast. I have the same ballast from xtremehids and it is barely pulling 32 watts at the input, only around 25 watts at the bulb (theyre around 80% efficient). Heres the thread where i modifed mine http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=245894

After i modified it it is now pulling close to 55 watts and making 42 watts at the bulb. I had it as high as 70 watts input (55 watts output!), but since im not going to be running it at that level i didnt want to risk possible damage.

The 55 watt ballasts from xtremehids have the same shape, but have molded tabs on the ends to screw it down to something.

 

[spc]

Re: another hid spotlight mod- (My 55w spotlight mod!)

liteitup, thanks for the info- theres no telling what the ballast really is. They advertised it as a 55w and the package said 55w I figured it would be less than advertised. Im now excited to see if I can get more out of it!
thought my light was done, nope more work to do
tomorrow I will open the ballast and see about that pot

I may have some more pics of the bulb potting, i'll take a look

 

[liteitup]

Re: another hid spotlight mod- (My 55w spotlight mod!)

it sure looks like xtremehids 35 watt ballast. if they shipped you that and said it was 55 watt they probably made a mistake. For what its worth the 55 watt is also rated at the input, but is tons brighter then the 35 watt ballast. Almost 20 more watts to the bulb.

Also the 35 watt xtreme ballast doesnt seem to have a pot that i could find, you have to add to the current sense resistors like i did in my post.

Heres a pic showing the differences... take notice of the power ratings on the labels. Also notice how the 55w ballast has the molded tab to screw the ballast down, and the power cord to the bulb has a different connector at the case. The 55w connector looks crimped while the 35watt looks like its screwed on..

 

[spc]

Re: another hid spotlight mod- (My 55w spotlight mod!)

ahh could be easy to confuse the two, mine doesn't have a label on it at all

 

[fareast]

Re: another hid spotlight mod- (My 55w spotlight mod!)

What do ya think? :tinfoil:

The colour is what makes this mod look very pleasing to the eye! I like it!:thumbsup:

Totally OT but is that a Stingray under that cover in the background?

 

[spc]

Re: another hid spotlight mod- (My 55w spotlight mod!)

its from the krylon fusion camo series, you can get it at advance auto parts. There is a dark green ultra flat too that I may try on the next one.

oh yea, you are good! 67 stingray convertable

 

[spc]

Re: another hid spotlight mod- (My 55w spotlight mod!)

it sure looks like xtremehids 35 watt ballast. if they shipped you that and said it was 55 watt they probably made a mistake. For what its worth the 55 watt is also rated at the input, but is tons brighter then the 35 watt ballast. Almost 20 more watts to the bulb.

Also the 35 watt xtreme ballast doesnt seem to have a pot that i could find, you have to add to the current sense resistors like i did in my post.

Heres a pic showing the differences... take notice of the power ratings on the labels. Also notice how the 55w ballast has the molded tab to screw the ballast down, and the power cord to the bulb has a different connector at the case. The 55w connector looks crimped while the 35watt looks like its screwed on..

You are right the internals of this ballast are identical to yours. Im not sure if I will swap it with a 55w ballast, I may want to keep the longer runtime of the 35 :thinking:

 

[liteitup]

Re: another hid spotlight mod- (My 55w spotlight mod!)

You are right the internals of this ballast are identical to yours. Im not sure if I will swap it with a 55w ballast, I may want to keep the longer runtime of the 35 :thinking:

well one thing to keep in mind here... with 5k bulbs (which are supposed to be pure white) the output with the "35w" ballast is rather blue (id say as high as an 8000k color). It just isnt pushing the bulb enough. Im assuming the color ratings for these bulbs are with the 55 watt ballast. The 5000k with the 55 watt ballast is definately pure white color, and im gonna say atleast 2 but probably 3 times brighter then the 35w. The extra 20 watts is worth it!!!!!

 

[spc]

Re: another hid spotlight mod- (My 55w spotlight mod!)

well you got me thinking. I have the ballast out and I just wrote a nice letter to extreme hids.

I almost got to thinking of scrapping the hid parts, making a hockey puck size heatsink for an sst-90 and... But thats just thinking, Lets see what extreme hid says :duh2:..

 

[Patriot]

Re: another hid spotlight- (My ?w spotlight mod!)

This reminds me, I'd need to pick up some Krylon fusion in ultra flat khaki. I've got several small projects going that would look great in that color.

Thanks for finding it!

 

[spc]

Re: another hid spotlight- (My ?w spotlight mod!)

I got a reply back from xtreme hid. I questioned the wattage and this is thier response:
"The 35w has a dancing bulb guy label on the surface, and puts out 23,000V, while the 55w is either black centered or just solid silver that puts out 27,000V."
maybe mine is a new version? Or maybe they're blowin smoke......
I'll get some beamshots