Help me Mod this spotlight!

[HarleyF250Guy]

Whats up guys? My name is Lance.....first time poster, long time reader. In have quite a few high quality flashlights and a few high quality spotlights. I currently own a Vector SLH100P POB 6000K HID, Vector SLH100V 8000K HID, Stanley HID and this monster below. I bought this thing 4 or 5 years ago and actually forgot about having it.....found it cleaning out my basement. It is a JohnLite 15MCP Halogen spotlight with a high & low switch. I have been doing some research about this being a THOR replica....and I am pretty sure it is. Here is the deal......it has sit so long that the battery is dead...ok...found one online for like $16 + shipping or one with 200 more MAH for $30.00. Not a bad deal to get this thing back up and running.....but I am not a "stock" kind of guy. What can we do to this thing to make it more powerful....Halogen of HID? I dont want to spend a huge amount of money on it.....say $200 or less. I am pretty handy with a dremel and tools....so keep that in mind. Any ideas?

Thanks!

 

[liteitup]

should be pretty easy and way less then 200 to get that into hid... any 7ah batt should work and i wouldnt expect too much difference between them. just find your bulb and order a kit(probably h4). should be plenty of room in there to fit the ballast without hacking anything up. get a 55 watt hid kit. cheap 35 watt kits arnt that bright... ive had em both and 55 watt is worth the little extra money... i got all my hids from xtremehids.com good company and they stand by their warranty... they also sell on ebay 66 bucks shipped from time to time for a 55 watt kit(2 bulbs 2 ballasts). ill try to find their ebay id if your interested.

 

[kramer5150]

Nice one. Should make a nice cloud cooker.

Recycle the old SLA cell, there is nothing you can do to revive it once it goes completely dead after THAT much time.

Be careful who you buy your SLA cells from. A lot of them on ebay (for example) are salvaged units, and you never know what kind of abuse they had seen previously. Batteryspace is my fave SLA retailer.

7-8 AH capacity is plenty for a 55W HID kit. But obviously the more the better, until its too big to fit the case and to heavy to carry. 7-8 AH is about the limit for what I care to lug around.

Check carefully the type of bulb mount. Looks like an H4, but its hard to tell from the outside.

Pick an HID bulb carefully. Not all H4-HID bulbs are optimal for spotlights. Get the single mode-output type, and make sure its deflection shield can be removed. Being automotive bulbs, they almost always have a cover shield to block half of the lumen output. This is an industry standard so drivers are not blinded by oncoming traffic. Depending on the bulb design, the cover may not be removable. FWIW, the H4 bulbs from extremehids-dot-com have removable shields.

I inquired with 7-8 different HID vendors on ebay. Some in Asia and some in USA, regardless of country origin, most had no clue what I was talking about, when I asked about removable H4 shields. Extremehids was one vendor to took the necessary time to ensure confidence in my business. FWIW, heres a build I recently did.

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=256585

Good luck with the build!!

 

[liteitup]

hey kramer, how well do your 7ah sla from batterystation perform? all the 7ah sla's ive tried would only run a 35 watt kit just over 50 minutes (which in theory should be nearly 2 hours according to the 7ah)... ive since switched to lipos and with a 4000 mah pack i get just about an hour with my 55 watt kit and custom spot..

hows your run time with the 55 watt kit on the 7ah sla?

good points on the bulb.. havnt used an h4 yet myself and didnt think of that.

 

[kramer5150]

hey kramer, how well do your 7ah sla from batterystation perform? all the 7ah sla's ive tried would only run a 35 watt kit just over 50 minutes (which in theory should be nearly 2 hours according to the 7ah)... ive since switched to lipos and with a 4000 mah pack i get just about an hour with my 55 watt kit and custom spot..

hows your run time with the 55 watt kit on the 7ah sla?

good points on the bulb.. havnt used an h4 yet myself and didnt think of that.

Right now I am only using the OEM SLA cells that came in my lights. I have bought cells from bs before, but not for CPF related stuff.

My understanding is that SLA cells are rated at moderately low current draw, and the actual amp-hour capacity is inversely proportional to the current draw of the application.

 

[liteitup]

yea i know they're rated at a lot lower draw(i hate that companies do that) i just had higher hopes at only 3 amps lol.... A 7 amp hour battery should be able to supply 7 amps for an hour, not .5 amps for 14 hours... is that asking too much? lol...

ive now moved the sla's into a custom whelen light bar that it operated off of 2 7ah sla's. pretty cool for a kids bedroom or a game room.

btw i got your pm you sent me and replied back :D