Which HID with adjustable focus ?

[moraino]

I have two Power On Board but just was not impressed. The first one the bulb died after a few minutes run so I purchased the 4300K H7 from eBay.

First thing I've found is the flange is too wide so it won't fit. I used the nail cutter which has the same radius to cut off the edge with the shim on the bulb as a guide. It worked fine.

The second thing I found was the bolb length is shorter than the original. The result is the hot spot is much bigger and worse than it was.

That made me realized why these lights didn't impress me because they are not focused properly. I strted thinking how to fix the problem as the bulb has already reached the end of the seat. Well the only way is to force the seat IN towards the front so it will allow the bulb stick inside the reflector MORE.

So I did with some brute forth. the result is it did have a much smaller hot spot. I didn't do more as I am afraid I may deform the reflector too much. It takes a while to play around to get the hot spot right CLOSE to the center. It's a pain the the butt.

I now realize the reflector is the soul of the HID. A bright light without proper focusing is a not a thrower. That's why the MAXABEAM is such a thrower not just because it has a small short arc but also it's focusing system.

So....which HID has this capability built in. You can't use shim in POWER-ON-BOARD because the bulb is far outside of the reflector...also the replacement bulb WILL have slightly different reach. Shimming is fine providing it does not bottom out.

 

[BlueBeam22]

Titanium Innovations L50 Locator and Acro X990...

Also take a look at the AmondoTech Titanium Mega Illuminator as it is one of the longest throwing 35W HID lights made, is a high quality light and comes very well focused. The other great things about it are that is comes stock with a 4200K HID lamp, and has a 9ah SLA which will give a runtime of 60-90 minutes at full brightness. It is also known as the Costco HID, and has been proven to out throw the Power On Board HID.. I have both and much prefer the Mega Illuminator...

 

[mvyrmnd]

I've found that if you are modding an incan spotlight to HID, get an exact match bulb.

eg. if your spotlight has an H3 bulb, stock, ensure you get a H3 fit HID kit.

You'll probably find the arc is located close enough to the original filament position to give you no trouble focusing.

The other bonus is that you won't need to modify the bulb or reflector in any way to make it fit.

Granted, it's a little more difficult to find the right fitting if your light is already HID, as they likely won't tell you the fitting, but obviously the POB doesn't use a H7 style.

If time/resources permit, you should try and get hold of a H4 fitting HID bulb, as it's probably the one they've used, if the H7 was close. It may be just right, as in the Halogen world the H4 is longer than the H7.