Help with my first Mag Hotwire Mod

[Battery Guy]

Greetings Everyone,

Well, I am finally going to try my first Mag hotwire mod:

Mag 2D bored to accept Fivemega's 8AA-->2D series battery holder
Osram 64447 bulb (nominal 12V at 65W)
PowerGenix AA Ni-Zn cells

I have tested the PowerGenix cells and getting the equivalent of 8W per cell should not be a problem. Runtime should be about 15 minutes on full charge. The setup should be just shy of 2000 lumens.

Given this is my first hotwire, my biggest questions are regarding the reflector, lens and bulb holder. I understand that the stock reflector and lens won't be able to take the heat of a 65W bulb, and obviously the 64447 won't fit without an adaptor, but I am a bit overwhelmed with the various options. Can someone point me to a quick tutorial or give me some hints as to what my options are for the following:

reflectors
lenses
bulb adaptors

Also, let me know if I am missing something. Thanks everyone! I really appreciate your help (and sorry for being such a noob).

Cheers,
Battery Guy

 

[rayman]

Made my first Hotwire mod about half a year ago. I really recommend you a KIU socket. As a lens I would take a Borofloat lens which can handle the high temperature. In my mod I used a Mag OP reflector from Kaidomain. This should be a good setup.

rayman

 

[Battery Guy]

Made my first Hotwire mod about half a year ago. I really recommend you a KIU socket. As a lens I would take a Borofloat lens which can handle the high temperature. In my mod I used a Mag OP reflector from Kaidomain. This should be a good setup.

rayman

Thanks rayman! Very helpful!

With respect to the Kaidomain reflectors, I figured out that "OP" means "orange peel". I don't know what SMO stands for, but it appears to be the highly reflective, smooth surface finish variety.

I am having a hard time figuring out the difference between the "standard" reflectors and the cam/camless variety. What is the difference between these two:

http://kaidomain.com/ProductDetails.aspx?ProductId=5631
and
http://kaidomain.com/ProductDetails.aspx?ProductId=1740

Both appear to have removeable cams.

Thanks again.

Cheers,
Battery Guy

 

[mrartillery]

Im just questioning your setup, why a 64447? Not that this is a bad bulb, but you are only going to be running it at under 13v which will be very yellow. And if these cells preform like Ni-mh's then you will have a nominal voltage of 9.6v which wont be impressive at all. I have one of these bulbs and it will take up to 20v easily and has a much nicer whiter glow. Personally if I were you and you are going to use 8 aa's I would go with a WA 1164, the whiter beam will be much nicer than the yellow you will get from the 64447 on 8 aa's, not to mention your run time will be longer since the 447 pulls about 1.5 more amps. Also, I recommend Eneloops, they hold there charge for a nice long time and is the best AA out there IMO.

 

[Battery Guy]

Im just questioning your setup, why a 64447? Not that this is a bad bulb, but you are only going to be running it at under 13v which will be very yellow. And if these cells preform like Ni-mh's then you will have a nominal voltage of 9.6v which wont be impressive at all. I have one of these bulbs and it will take up to 20v easily and has a much nicer whiter glow. Personally if I were you and you are going to use 8 aa's I would go with a WA 1164, the whiter beam will be much nicer than the yellow you will get from the 64447 on 8 aa's, not to mention your run time will be longer since the 447 pulls about 1.5 more amps. Also, I recommend Eneloops, they hold there charge for a nice long time and is the best AA out there IMO.

Thanks for questioning my setup!

The PowerGenix NiZn should run at 1.5 V per cell, giving 12V for 8 cells in series. Based on LuxLuthor's destructive testing, the WA 1164 won't take that voltage.

Why the Osram 64447? Well, I plotted LuxLuthor's test results in Excel. Then I looked at the nominal per cell wattage load. Based on my Ragone plot testing of AA cells, I found that ~8 W per cell was the breaking point for the highest power cell (see here). This happens to be the PowerGenix, which seems to be able to deliver 8-10 W relatively easily.

Looking back at LuxLuthor's testing, the 1185 might be able to take 12-13V for a short time. so that might be the bulb I actually choose for this mod.

So, I guess the bottom line for this mod is that I plan to use PowerGenix AA cells at around 8-10W per cell, in an 8 series configuration. I have reviewed LuxLuthor's test results, but am happy to hear other opinions as to which bulb might be best for this setup.

Cheers,
Battery Guy

 

[mrartillery]

Never messed with these cells before, is that 1.5v nominal or is that full charge. A nimh at full charge is around 1.5v, but will fall under load and eventually down to around 1.2v. Also, will these cells handle the amperage?

 

[Battery Guy]

Never messed with these cells before, is that 1.5v nominal or is that full charge. A nimh at full charge is around 1.5v, but will fall under load and eventually down to around 1.2v. Also, will these cells handle the amperage?

Here's a recent thread that discusses the PowerGenix (actually, repackaged PowerGenix):

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=274332&highlight=powergenix

They have a higher operating voltage than conventional NiMH cells.

The PowerGenix cells have exceptionally high power capability compared with most NiMH cells. See my Ragone plot thread here.

Cheers,
Battery Guy