Greymage
Enlightened
I wanted to get a 13-degree flood for my DragonHID 12 since it seems the 6-degree I currently have is good for long distance work, but not closeups.
Rather than spending $120 for a bulb at WA, or $47 at TrailTech, I decided to see what TrailTech's HIDs looked like - since they were only $99, I could get a replacement bulb and a new ballast for less than a new bulb from the WA site.
You can see pictures here.
The beamshots were with the TrailTech driven from a jumpstart battery, nominally 12V but measured at 13V (according to its internal meter).
What surprised me was that the colors are different - my DragonHID seems much whiter, even though the 6 and 13 degree bulbs are supposed to be the same color temperature. I really hope this doesn't mean my DragonHID is overdriven. Although, with the cost of a bulb less than $50 rather than $120 maybe I don't mind so much.
I didn't have my Light Cannon anymore, and so couldn't do direct comparisons with that, but from previous tests while it looks like the TrailTech is not quite up to the DragonHID, it still would be much brighter than the light cannon.
The downside of the TrailTech HID is that it uses the BN...002 ballast, which is for 10 NiMH applications, rather than the 008 ballast for 8 cells, or the 003 which says 11 but could probably do 12. Howver, I was able to ignite the TrailTech from 8AA NiMHs (freshly charged a couple of weeks ago then put in fridge), though this is way below the 12.8-13.2v rated voltage of the ballast and may reduce lamp life.
Edited: fixed typo
Rather than spending $120 for a bulb at WA, or $47 at TrailTech, I decided to see what TrailTech's HIDs looked like - since they were only $99, I could get a replacement bulb and a new ballast for less than a new bulb from the WA site.
You can see pictures here.
The beamshots were with the TrailTech driven from a jumpstart battery, nominally 12V but measured at 13V (according to its internal meter).
What surprised me was that the colors are different - my DragonHID seems much whiter, even though the 6 and 13 degree bulbs are supposed to be the same color temperature. I really hope this doesn't mean my DragonHID is overdriven. Although, with the cost of a bulb less than $50 rather than $120 maybe I don't mind so much.
I didn't have my Light Cannon anymore, and so couldn't do direct comparisons with that, but from previous tests while it looks like the TrailTech is not quite up to the DragonHID, it still would be much brighter than the light cannon.
The downside of the TrailTech HID is that it uses the BN...002 ballast, which is for 10 NiMH applications, rather than the 008 ballast for 8 cells, or the 003 which says 11 but could probably do 12. Howver, I was able to ignite the TrailTech from 8AA NiMHs (freshly charged a couple of weeks ago then put in fridge), though this is way below the 12.8-13.2v rated voltage of the ballast and may reduce lamp life.
Edited: fixed typo