HID spotlight going on sale in Canada for $50

[darcyh]

Hello:

Any comments on this item. Seems pretty good for $50. Thanks for your comments.

Dave

http://www.canadiantire.ca/AST/browse/6/Tools/ShopEquipment/Worklights/PRD~0379430P/Motomaster%252BEliminator%252B25-Million%252BCandle%252BSpot%252BLight.jsp?locale=en#BVQAWidgetID

 

[Patriot]

You can't go wrong with this light, even if it comes with a dead battery...lol.

Definitely pick up one or two of them.

 

[kit]

They are great for the price! I have once since last year..very nice beam, but doesnt throw as far as the Stanley..but thicker beam pattern. It's not that heavy either. It has a 90 day return policy, so if it comes with dead batteries...guess you can exchange them.

 

[ANDREAS FERRARI]

Several Canadian members have purchased this light and I have not heard one bad remark from any of them.It is next to impossible to buy a HID spotlight for only $49.95 anywhere on this planet.

I say buy one-go out into the woods-and scare the hell out of the wildlife!!!LOL

 

[bogeymachine]

thanks for the heads' up!

I think many more will appreciate this if you post it in "good deals" over at cpfmp.

bogey out

 

[Fulgeo]

Looks great! Anyone know the manufacturer of the HID lamp? Heck I would also be curious on the size and dimensions of the ballast. I feel a mod coming on.

 

[LumenHound]

Looks great! Anyone know the manufacturer of the HID lamp? Heck I would also be curious on the size and dimensions of the ballast. I feel a mod coming on.

No idea who makes the lamp but the ballast is small. It's 80mm X 63mm and only 32mm thick not including the mounting tabs. Kind of like a short but extra thick deck of playing cards. There is enough room for a ballast that's 80mm X 95mm X 32mm if you want to trim away 2 thin plastic ribs inside the spotlight case. More trimming will allow a thinner 100mm X 95mm X 30mm ballast to fit.

The lamp is H4 based and has HID 12V35W 6000K printed on the inner surface of the base.

There is a pot in the ballast that allows output adjustment but it's under 2 different layers of rubberized compound and the stuff puts up a good fight while your removing it from around the adjustment pot. Tweaking the pot will get you 48~50 watts being drawn from the battery. Don't turn the pot fully counter clockwise.

 

[Fulgeo]

Thanks LumenHound!:thumbsup:

 

[Arnulf]

I got the halogen version of this light.....must be a extra small ballast to fit in there...I could not get a regular ballast to fit.....so I had to go buy a bigger spotty that would accept my ballasts internally...I don't like the looks of the ballasts mounted externally.....I wish the HID version was sold here in the U.S

This spotty also has a strong chemical odor?

 

[derangboy]

My first HID! lovecpf

 

[Arnulf]

My first HID! lovecpf

I'll give you $60 for it if you bring it to Michigan.

 

[Hack On Wheels]

Well, I caved in and bought one. I'm liking it so far, but I've noticed that mine consistently gives a fairly bright (momentary) flash when I turn it on. It immediately then goes to the slow ramping up sequence and proceeds as I would have expected. Is this flash normal? I don't know enough about HIDs to have a clue...

 

[Locoboy5150]

I'm not familiar with this particular HID spotlight, but that bright flash might be normal. It might help warm up the HID bulb to normal operating temperatures faster. The Stanley HID spotlight has a similar brighter warm up time that increases the bulb brightness for a second or two right after the trigger is pulled.

 

[LumenHound]

Is this flash normal?

The 1/3 of a second long flash at start-up is normal for this spotlight.

I think you'll find the charging indicator leds on the side of that light pretty handy. The small 5 led night-light panel on the other side of the body seem to run forever on a full charge.

 

[ANDREAS FERRARI]

There is a pot in the ballast that allows output adjustment.....Tweaking the pot will get you 48~50 watts being drawn from the battery.

Can't help but wonder if's it possible to adjust the ballast to maximum and replace the stock 35w frosted bulb with a 50w bulb.:thinking:

 

[LumenHound]

I can't see why it wouldn't be but I think after tweaking the pot you've reached the sweet spot between money spent versus performance given.

The added cost of a replacement bulb would move the $50 spotlight from an outstanding HID bargain to just a good sale price item.

You can wring more out of the balast if you want but it requires replacing the pot and you'd have to somehow address the issue of increased heating inside a sealed plastic housing.

I really like this spotlight. It has better than expected construction for a low-ball priced HID light. The 12 volt lighter socket at the rear came in handy when I needed to plug in my car charger for the cell phone while camping last year.

 

[LumenHound]

Andreas, if you have the time, pop the back panel on your unmodified spotlight and measure the current draw you get. You might be surprised at what it is.

 

[ANDREAS FERRARI]

Andreas, if you have the time, pop the back panel on your unmodified spotlight and measure the current draw you get. You might be surprised at what it is.

I'm too lazy to take it apart again.LOL.What do you mean by surprised???

The 12 volt lighter socket at the rear came in handy when I needed to plug in my car charger for the cell phone while camping last year.

And I use it to plug in another spotlight.Talk about compulsive!!! :sick2:

 

[Hack On Wheels]

I'm not familiar with this particular HID spotlight, but that bright flash might be normal. It might help warm up the HID bulb to normal operating temperatures faster. The Stanley HID spotlight has a similar brighter warm up time that increases the bulb brightness for a second or two right after the trigger is pulled.

The 1/3 of a second long flash at start-up is normal for this spotlight.

I think you'll find the charging indicator leds on the side of that light pretty handy. The small 5 led night-light panel on the other side of the body seem to run forever on a full charge.

Thanks for the replies; it's good to know that's normal.

If I was going to do a runtime test on it, would I just set it up with a fan on it, or what? Also, is a full discharge bad for the SLA battery? I understand that I shouldn't leave the battery discharged, but I don't know if a full discharge (even if immediately followed by charging) is bad or not.

 

[JHM]

I was playing with mine earlier today, had it connected to the bench power supply. I noticed that at right around 10v or so the lamp drops out (turns off) and I belive that it stopped drawing current at that point If I remember things correctly... so the abuse to the SLA should be minimal.

For what it's worth, power consumption is right around 35w as measured at the battery, not sure what the actual output is however.