N30 HID, rebuilt 5 Ah, 72 watt pack and upgrades

[Northern Lights]

First many thanks,
BVH for starting the L30 thread
Isak Hawk for pointing out the L35 arrival to me in my other thread
Matt and Jeff for helping with product, I will get those other components per my emails!
mtbkndad, thanks for the conversations, techy stuff, here it is, done...

I am building this thread backwards, take a look at these up grades for the N30 HID spot light:
IMPROVE THE N30 HID add a 225 Lumen R2 LED area light and GLOWING LED locators

The R2 module burned out the driver so I switched it to a direct drive on a parallel resistors totalling 10 ohms, 10 amps and the math is there for the always glowing GID locator 3x 5 mm LEDs.

I upgraded this new pack, the resistor is 15 watts and 11 ohms and is now on the under belly inside a piece of copper tube as a heat sync. It gets hot. Originally it was in the handle tube. The R2 is good for 225-250 lumens. The 5mm LEDs I have on 600K ohms, those are 3x 5mm LEDs running Vf=3.2, @ 0.20 mA. on 600K ohms using the LED_Pro program which is found linked in the above linked thread on improvements, it should be bout 0.01 mA or 0.00001 Amps used to make that glow. Those glow and locate LEDs are also on a pust button switch so can be turned off. That swith is in the front panel below the small R2 area light.

Now what did I do:

My battery pack went bad. OEM is a pack of 11 in series 3.6 mAh NiMh cells for 13.2 Volts at 3.6mAh. You see there is room for 12 cells. And the charger has some leeway in it and will charge 12 cells. I had a 12 cell 5000 mAh pack made. The original pack has about 47 watts of power, this pack has 72 watts of power. About one and half times more run time.

I also took that bunch of wires and the harness and straigthen that mess out. The original pack has two leads going to the pack terminals for the light and jumpers to the battery. The "fuel guage" had a yellow wire going to the negative terminal of the batteries and in the glob of glue was a small resistor of 11 ohms the size of a # 6 lead shot. I took the resistor and put it into the board where the yellow wire came out, Attached the yellow wire to it and epoxied that fragile resistor down. I shortened the yellow wire and grounded it to the large connection point of ground on the power jack on the board. Now I had a lean harness to pack back in.

But do this if you make up a pack. Make sure the wires on the pack come out on the same side as the board and unit terminals or you will, like me must cross the wires on top of the pack and you need to do that so you do not crimp them in assembly or create a condition that later could cause a short by vibration and pressure wear.

You can get an assortment of sub C cells and make a pack, maybe they make packs too, from Battery Juncion, Matt and Jeff.

If you are inclined to have a pack built LuxLuthor, my bud, is very good at that also. This link. Custom Battery Packs - Made To Order . He uses B.J. cells in his packs.

To take the light body apart you just yank the feet off the black straps and they open up. Screws take the head off. To disassemble the battery pack carefully lift the face lable off the pack and two scews are locatd underneath. I found the screws had split the anchor columns inside the pack and that needed repair.

Warning! This has a ballast and high voltage. You better have some skill and training about these things or it can hurt you, bad!

 

[Northern Lights]

Here is the 11 ohm, 15 watt resistor, wires brought out a drilled hole in the bottom and snaked past the foot, remember the foot pulls off, the band is in split at that point.

A old corroded piece of copper pipe was polishe up. The resistor is fed inside and then glued and strapped down. In this way when the R2 is run at 972 mA it does get hot and now it will not melt the handle but can sync it off.

 

[LiteShow]

Nice Mods, Northern Lights!

How's the run time with the new 12-battery pack? My OEM pack only last 50 minutes. What do you get for the new one?

BTW, where did you get the 5000mAh sub-C? The highest I seem to find are the 4600mAh ones.

 

[Northern Lights]

Nice Mods, Northern Lights!

How's the run time with the new 12-battery pack? My OEM pack only last 50 minutes. What do you get for the new one?

BTW, where did you get the 5000mAh sub-C? The highest I seem to find are the 4600mAh ones.

Have not run it for time yet.
Google Elite 5000 sub c .

 

[BVH]

CheapBatteryPacks.com has them listed but much of the time, they're out of stock.

 

[Northern Lights]

CheapBatteryPacks.com has them listed but much of the time, they're out of stock.

3 vendors come up when googled

 

[MattK]

FWIW I'd steer away from 5000mah SC cells. They rarely perform at this level and they don't last as long nor are they as stable as 4400-4700mah cells.

We've tested 5000mah SC's from 2 of the best factories and their performance; voltage maintenance & current delivery seems to suffer when compared to slightly lower capacity cells.

 

[Northern Lights]

FWIW I'd steer away from 5000mah SC cells. They rarely perform at this level and they don't last as long nor are they as stable as 4400-4700mah cells.

We've tested 5000mah SC's from 2 of the best factories and their performance; voltage maintenance & current delivery seems to suffer when compared to slightly lower capacity cells.

This is why I recommended BJ cells and refuse to say anything about any other vendor, just the truth where you can find them listed.
If you use the BJ cells you should get at least if not better performance than my pack.
Sometimes you gotta make due with what you got comming. I was in a position to accept the 5 Ah cells.
I have been in email contact with the guys at BJ and will be building another pack or so and plan on using their Sub C products.

Mattk, you have quite a selection of sub C, which ones would you suggest for this project?

 

[MattK]

Just to be clear I've nothing against Elite at all - we use the same factory they do for SC's it's just those 5000mah cells, assuming they're the same ones, have left something to be desired.

Intellect 4600's are the best - spendy but the best SC brand I've seen.

 

[Northern Lights]

RUN TIME:

I charged this thing up and headed for the boon docks.

I grabbed the light and needed to light up the countryside and turned it on and it ran about 5 minutes! YIKES.

I was beginning to believe that the internal charger had a upper end voltage limitation and that I was not reaching it or worse yet, I again had a bad cell.

I recharged it. Turned it on last night next to my recliner. At 80 minutes it was still strong.

I then dozed off and then awakened two hours later and it was out but the pack powered the R2 very well. I slept through the test but it would appear that it is OK. I would believe it accidently was turned on and ran some while in transport and therefore was run down by the time I needed it.

Strangely, it recharged under 3 hours to reach a green light again.

I wonder what that is about and wonder if I should run a test again and have some Pepsi Max on board to be able to stay with it?

 

[Northern Lights]

The thread is not dead!

I finished the test. I walk in the mornings three times a week, it is now dark and I have again tested this HID picking up where I left off.

Ninety minutes run time. It would appear the batteries are breaking in and the run time is increasing. It certainly is brighter than it was with the OEM pack. I am please with this mod and upgrade.

Has my life changed and I have little time to be a flashaholic anymore.

 

[Northern Lights]

110 MINUTES = 1 HOUR 50 MINUTES = 2 HOURS (if told by a fisherman!) N30 burn time,

Why resurrect an old thread?:sick2: No reason to put this in a new one, same subject but I have great news for N30 fans or anybody looking for a good HID.

I obtained a battery pack with a bad charger. I replaced the batteries with BatteryJunction.com cells, 12 cells, not only gets a price brake but ups the performance. (Jeff at BJ was a big help, he caught a technical error on my part and save me bucks!)
Just look at these specs!!!

NI-MH Sub C Sc 5000mAh High Drain Matched Rechargeable Battery
Up to 40 Amps high drain current rate.


Technical Specifications:

• Dimension: Height 43 mm, Diameter 23 mm
• Weight: 71g per cell
• Capacity: 5000 mAh
• Voltage: 1.2V
• Single Cell Resistance <=5 Mili Ohm
• Standard Charge: 15 hours @ 300 mA
• Rapid Charge: 1.5 hours @ 3000 mA

Under the front label, lift it with a blade are two screw, open the case and throw away the bad pack and charger, (I have one pack that the charger will charge 12 batteries). You can salvage the plug, jack, or put in a new one from any electronic parts store.

The new pack with these TENERGY cells can be charged by any NiMh charger that can handle 12 series, or 14.4 Volts. These cells charge at 3 amps; I use a BC6 rc charger and set it at Auto, 3 amps. BatteryUniversity.com states NiMh must be rapid charged, not trickle charged for good performance and life.

The new batteries had a low charge, I ran them to discharge where the ballast cuts out, 11.6 volts, .96V battery each. They charge rapidly and are not broken in and yet ran for 110 minutes of light before the ballast cut out. I still had the LED at 250 Lumens! I have no idea how long that woud go but it is a long time on the batteries that are only 20% discharged. This pack is not even broken in, I would not be surprised if after a few uses it steps up to a 2 hour burn!

This is a performance type mod. Those that are buying the new HID that are coming under a $100 based on budget would find this disappointing although the price is very reasonable for the high perfomance. I have the N30, upgraded with LED find it glow ligths and a High Lux LED area light. Then two pack upgrades were $100 each. Yep, that makes this kit a $350 light. But it out performs most $350 lights that are available.

 

[Illum]

How much would it set me back to have my N30 battery rebuilt by you?

 

[Northern Lights]

How much would it set me back to have my N30 battery rebuilt by you?

Thank you for the compliment and confidence.

but i dont anymore, very much, hardly at all. Just about the time I made that post something I been carrying for about 5 years took control...

Spinal degeneration got me, 4 surgeries and loss of fine motor skills, pain that prevents conncetrations... etc. Cost me my career, I am so fustrated I cant put words to it. I wish I could do it for you. No chance that it can happen though.

BUt I got the batteries from , just about like thses:
http://www.batteryjunction.com/tenergy-subc-5000-propel.html

however I would look at a SLA just like the ones in the stanley HID. (I just returned today to PepBoys my 7th Stanley HID. None have ever worked!) I got the 1.4 Ah SLA from a Ham shop for about $17 and the sub C will runabout $76

 

[BVH]

N.L., sorry to hear about your illness!

Illum, The BJ OEM N30 replacement is only $70.00. IIRC, the N30 can use the L35 Lithium higher capacity (Watt Hours total) battery at $114.00. A little more run time but much lighter.

 

[Illum]

N.L., sorry to hear about your illness!

Illum, The BJ OEM N30 replacement is only $70.00. IIRC, the N30 can use the L35 Lithium higher capacity (Watt Hours total) battery at $114.00. A little more run time but much lighter.

the stock battery works wonderful for now, but as all battery goes, even if its sitting unused it will eventually expire. I highly doubt the lamp or ballast will fail before the battery does, so I'm merely looking ahead. Batteryjunction has the OEM replacement battery and charger, but they have been out of stock for some time.

 

[BVH]

I must not have seen the out of stock, sorry!

 

[Illum]

I must not have seen the out of stock, sorry!

Not your fault

Will it damage the ballast if I hacked the stock battery into a power adapter and used a 18AH lead acid as a power supply?
11 Sub-C would mean the ballast was designed for 16V peak, 13V nominal input. A lead acid thats not overloaded should be able to maintain 12.7 with little difficulty.