Making an HID helmet mounted light. Can it be done?

[pkjr04]

So I'm trying to rig together a lighting system for cave videography and I'm having some problems.

Currently I've rigged up two one million candle power lights to the side of my helmet with the batteries at my waist along with my apex tec headlamp and two other 60 lumen flashlights, but unfortunately, that is not enough light for my helmet cam.

I was thinking about rigging up some type of HID system. I wanted to rig 2 or 3 lights on the side and top of my helmet and have the batteries and ballast in a backpack or waist mounted (if small enough). How feasible does this sound?

What would the battery requirements for 2-3 HID lamps be? How many lumens would they produce? How hot would they run? how heavy would the complete rig be? Any other thoughts?

I need something relatively compact, lightweight, that can be hooked up to rechargeable batteries and I can rig it to be waterproof.
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[Gunner12]

How much runtime and output? Then what beam pattern do you want?

The normal "X million candlepower" light can be very easily beaten by a HID light.

A HID light has a ballast and that will determine the battery. Runtime and heat will depend on the wattage(lowest is 10 watt around 500 lumen, you can get that output with two to three current gen LEDs running at around 8 watt).

:welcome:

 

[Wicho]

What about mounting some bicycle HID headlights on your helmet? The batteries could easily then go in a backpack.

I don't know anything about the helmet you wear, but bicycle helmet mounts are readily available for these lights. You can get beamshots of the different lights here on the forum, at mtbr.com and at bikeforums.net

 

[Shreknow91]

am i the only one that wants to know how big your head is?
jeeez dude u have like 6 lights on your head:duh2::huh::thinking:

 

[LowTEC]

dude, you got one pretty strong neck to hold all the weight you are putting on the helmet :sick2:

 

[Crenshaw]

gives a new meaning to headlights doesnt it?

Crenshaw

 

[Zenster]

Let's go back to the helmet cam...

Nowadays, newer video cameras are able to function really well at very low lux.
So maybe it's the question that needs to be re-evaluated, not the answer.

The answer might be to simply have a reasonable bright LED light that puts out around 200 lumens (a "blaster" by any means), and have a camera that will easily require much less light than that to work well.

Edit: It didn't take long to find a helmet cam that works at 0.1 lux.
http://www.hoyttech.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=product.display&Product_ID=295

Just thinkin' out loud.

 

[ledaholic]

Try here

 

[julesb]

Light and Motion make a HID lamp with a helmet mount. It is called the ARC.

 

[yellow]

I 'd also suggest to look at the bike manufacturers sites

not because they are brighter, but they are way lighter than homegrewn lights.

If not, try to get a 30 Watts HID (automotive) because the beam might be what You want and because its much brighter than 2 10 W setups. Smaller and lighter also

 

[iced_theater]

I'd also suggest something like the Light & Motion ARC if you think it's bright enough. It's rated at 675 lumens from it's 13 watt HID bulb.

 

[cy]

already been done... HID storm with helmet mount.

works great! 4-8+ hours runtime depending upon pack

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showpost.php?p=1515188&postcount=6