Build your own 35W HID for $110

First of all, credit must certainly go to rapt for his original thread which gave me the ideas. He was kind enough to share his sources for the material as well.

In turn I thought I would also give some back in the form of what I discovered.

I got my kit, really quickly - the ebay seller is a real fast shipper. :thumbsup:

Seems to be made of good quality materials, I am surprised, especially for the price. Usually, the auto stores prefer to sell you the $500 way overpriced kits. Of course, this kit has no transport authority approval, but as I said, that isn't a concern for spotlights propelled by two feet

More details when I start building the lights.

In the meantime, I placed the HIDs into one of my spotlight reflectors (in line with my policy of *NEVER* lighting any hotwire bulb without a protective housing because of the detonation risk) and tried test-firing it with a 12V SLA battery. The ten-amp inrush current causes a whole lot of sparks when I touched the leads to the battery terminal, talk about scary... yes, it is rated for 10A strike current, so your batt packs had better able to take it.

Sustained current draw of the HID is around 3 amps. Operates from 9-16V (automotive voltage). Construction really does appear to be quite well made, full metal housing around the ballast, weather sealing around some of the connectors although I would still avoid getting it wet.

And damn that HID is BLOODY BRIGHT - I ordered the 6000K bulbs (vs 8000K or 10000K). The higher the color temp (CCT), the bluer the light looks. Lots of the rice racers on the roads love to get the super blue, super-annoying kind.. I got 6000K because it is closest to daylight and it actually puts out MORE light, because the halide mix to get blue light does impact the amount of light that comes out of it.

It is awesome.. seriously white, we're talking Luxeon LED white, and you know me - sensitive enough to tell the difference between Luxeon tints just by looking at them. Even my Mag2HID is bluer than these.. I like. At first I was worried that the cheap China HID wouldn't be bright, but it sure is. I can't wait to build it into the production spotlight, then try it outdoors in Quality Dark. From the light output I'm seeing it is already CRAZY BRIGHT.

As is typical for automotive HIDs, the HID starts up very bright when you first hit the power switch then goes to brightest after a few seconds. Smaller HIDs start extremely dim (Mag2HID), then warm up to full power. Auto/car HIDs strike at a reasonable brightness level, then go to full power.

I am impressed.. the quality of the stuff coming out from the Far East has improved greatly in the last few years. This HID kit seems decently well built and its performance is certainly up to par.

what's the link to ebay for hid?

got a cosco HID enroute..

rapt gave us this:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Xeno...ewItemQQcategoryZ36476QQitemZ8048973018QQrdZ1

The auction is for two bulbs because it's for a car. I am only building one light so if anybody wants a H3, 6000K color temp bulb+ballast+cabling kit, let me know.. I also have an extra 12V, 2500mAH NiMH high-current pack for the above. I bought too much stuff intended to build a pair of lights but now have given up on plans to build the second.

What kind of host you plan on using?

Hi there Kevin, would you be interested to build one more for sale? I do not have the know how to do one...

NotEnoughLight said:

Hi there Kevin, would you be interested to build one more for sale? I do not have the know how to do one...

Click to expand...

my exact thoughts...

sure looks like an easy upgrade for a Thor

that HID upgrade looks pretty sweet for my Landcruiser!

cy, I wish I could put some in the car for on-road use but the transport authority would have my bacon soooooo tempted.....

Now if you have an offroad vehicle like your Landcruiser, good luck.. do it!

amlim, NotEnoughLight: Actually, since there are two of you... I might be able to sell my spare bulb to the interested parties here on CPF, then bring in another kit and build for the two of you. Luckily both of you are interested, that way I don't need to split the kit.

Let me check out the availability of hosts tonight and I will get back to you.

Did you hear that amlim? *rubs hands in anticipation*

Just a pic to tease you folks with.



H3 35W HID capsule. The slight fog on the round sphere in the center of the assembly is metal halide salts that have temporarily settled on the glass and will re-vaporize when I strike the arc (which will be early next week).

As for the project's status...

My extra bulb and battery pack have been reserved by a buyer, and I'm just waiting for payment to finalize the whole thing, wrap it up and pack it off into the good hands of the postal service.

NotEnoughLight has decided to give it a go on his own...

So that leaves amlim..... sorry dude, since the kits have paired bulb/ballasts, I can't build only one spotlight, so it looks like I will have to drop this project. Unless the guy who wants the extra bulb drops out.

I hope everythink works out and please post your progress. If it where me I would have tried to pick up some OEM ballasts like a Hella then a brand new D2S lamp. Probably would have cost you around $140 for the single setup but you know what your getting. After seeing the HID shoot out and seeing the Stock AZ Project lamp look dimm compared to the competion It show there can be a big difference in quality.


Mac

Hi Kevin! Nice project!

How big is that HID bulb? Is it like a T3.5 to about T4.5? I have a couple of yellow spotlight housings around and thought of trying this mod, but am now trying to figure out battery options and whether the orig reflector can focus the HID bulb.

Where did you get you SLA pack from and which is recommended? The SLA packs that came with the original spotlight (6v) were pieces of junk that 'exploded' and cracked after 30 mins of charging. I hope this is because they were cheap chinese spotlights and not because all SLAs behave like that.

A 35w HID is approx 105w Incan... You know I built the MagDDL150.. well, it doesn't sustain long and it builds lotsa heat.. and with the lens on, the light output is halved according to the meter... But as a show light, it works just for those short bursts.

For using a much bigger host like the banana spotlight, I was hoping for a much more fearsome light, mostly for show... Any suggestions? Maybe the LarryK12 will give me some ideas...haha ...

Thanks!

Thanks Mac, I am trying to keep costs down. A lot of other projects need funding these days. Am aware that the China HIDs may not perform as well as top-notch German made premium HIDs, but their price is right. So far, a test firing with lead acid batteries hasn't disappointed me.

LEDCandle.. not sure about the "T" measurements. I ordered mine in H3. Can probably measure it for you later.

Sounds like you had cheap junk SLAs. I removed the 2x6Vs from mine and they are being replaced with a custom built CBP 2500mAH "A" cell pack. Prior to this the spot was running a better 12V 7AH SLA salvaged from a computer UPS. Be careful of the 'dumb' chargers for these SLAs too, they will just keep trickle charging the thing until it goes kaboom. For long-term/frequent use, it might be worth buying a better SLA charger. For flashaholics, the Triton is reasonably priced for what it does - it'll charge EVERYTHING we use except primary cells.

I have a bwaites USL and I have long complained about how the thing blows bulbs and burns me when I put it back in a belt carrier. That one is a show light too.. 11 minutes of battery power doesn't take you far. Then again it's more portable than the spotlight. Guess there is always a compromise....

Update.. the spotlight is built and *WHAT A PAIN* it was!! Halfway through I wish I could just tell someone "yo, here's some $$, build it for me."

I've forgotten why I hate soldering, it stinks, and I can't solder properly nowadays, all my skills have gone to crap. The worst part is soldering three wires together, all three wires will wander in different directions.. BAH!! And I ALWAYS put the heatshrink on the wrong section of wire, or forget to put it on so I end up re-soldering the damn thing..

Also, there is one problem using the USL as the Ultimate [heat]Shrink Light. The USL is *SO* hot that it burns the heatshrink within seconds - NOT recommended! Hold it further away to regulate the temperature. At least it gets the job done quickly.


Now that it's built I feel a bit better..... (will probably feel a lot better when I finally take it out into the wild for long-range beamshots)

The spotlight is now very, uhh, light after going on its diet. Great stuff. The bad news is that while getting the 12V 7AH lead acid out, it fell on my finger. OUCH.

I did not drill holes for the ballast and install it outside, like rapt did. Since I replaced the lead acid pack with a much smaller NiMH pack, there is now room for the ballast in the battery compartment, so it went in there.

Light output is humongous. We're talking about USL-class power output except that this is HID. Much whiter than USL, also focuses better thanks to massive badass reflector. :thumbsup: not a slam on the USL, which is in its own right a truly badass light, but such is the nature of a HID and a 5" reflector. I'm comparing two lights of a very different nature only because these are the two things that even had a chance to reach into this power class!!

Ballast makes an 'eeeeeeee' sound while it warms up, goes away after the arc stabilizes.


BTW.. to the current buyer who's looking to purchase the HID kit - hope you had a good weekend and look forward to hearing from you soon - lots of folks out here who want a crack at the HID too


Update 1, Indoor Testing:
Amazing stuff.. this light is white, and bright. Seriously white and bright. It really looks like daylight, and it really is Luxeon LED white. I put it up against my Surefire L4 LumaMax and the SIDESPILL of the light was enough to drown out the hotspot of the poor L4!!

About Mac's query - I had a feeling the USL and this spotlight are on equal footing, so I decided to find out. I pointed both lights up at the white ceiling and then used my camera's lightmeter to take readings from the REFLECTED light. This test means NOTHING other than to say that if both lights score the same, under the same specific testing circumstances, then I can make a reasonable assumption to say that their light output is similar. The meter is not fooled by color or spectrum.

Turns out that both lights measured equal. So.. I'm not too worried about the Chinese HIDs.

The spotlight can be a little unnerving for first-time owners. I am used to my MiniHID, when you first hit the switch, you get a tiny little dim glow of light that you can safely look at. On the bigger automotive HIDs, the moment you hit the switch you get a BRILLIANT flash of light as the arc strikes, before it settles down to slightly lower brightness and then starts increasing up to full brightness. So watch for the flash and don't crap yer pants.

The beam collimates exceptionally well. The reflector is sized perfectly for a H3 bulb, and the arc sits at just the right height. Focus is exceptional.

This spot previously used to run a 50W Philips incandescent before its upgrade to HID. The hotspot was ugly, it had a blue halo from the tint coating on the bulb. Then I upgraded to an Osram 64625HLX (THANKS GINSENG!! :bow: :bow in a modified H3 cage, and the focus was wrong. Couldn't be bothered to risk sticking fingers close to such a high powered incan to re-calibrate the focus, so it was never focused properly.

These are the OLD beamshots with Osram bulb:

Flashaholic holding my spotlight (not me, I'm the cameraman):


Beam front-focus problem:


Lighting the road ahead:


Now the hotspot is typical HID - the 'star' in the center and the beam is much cleaner. Can't wait to take the new beamshots.

Hey who's the handsome in the pic?? LOL!!!!!
Anyway, If this current mod can come close in terms of brightness to your previous Osram 64625HLX job, I'm getting one!!! Was put off by the heat in the incand.....guess this IS the answer for getting truckloads of lumens without a meltdown reactor in you hands!

The Osram 64625 (spotlight) and 62138 (USL) are similar brightness.

The 35W HID and the 62138 are similar.

Therefore the 35W HID is on par with our best 100W bulbs..... load it up!!

Oh, and just a bit dimmer than 3 x 1150 lumen AC powered Osram flourescents, too.

Indoor beamshot:


Walking around indoors with this spotlight really feels like having portable sunlight follow you around. That the color temp is so close to daylight helps a lot too, I can point it upwards at the ceiling of a room and make the room look like it's midday.

When the bulb cools down, the entire outer envelope glows this REALLY awesome looking light blue, while the center sphere glows dim red. The effect is hard to capture, but I'll see if I can get a long-exposure shot of it. (imagine trying to focus in almost complete darkness, then holding the camera long enough for the shot because it's hard enough to position a tripod without putting the camera in the beam itself)

Even more interesting is its low power indication mode. I never intended to test this, but I ran the spot a bit longer than I planned to, and immediately it started strobing in a truly alarming way. Small 10W HIDs will occasionally flash red, but the arc remains lit. Big HIDs strobe full on/full off.. pretty scary stuff.

You really have to experience this light in person to understand how awesome it is

Got the cool-down glow:



Of course it only took a Canon 20D set at ISO 3200, Canon 50 f/1.8, and Speedlite 430EX to provide AF assist beam.....

Shot wide open so only the very tip of the HID capsule is in focus due to the extremely shallow depth of field, but more than enough to get the point across

I'm following your work with great interest, KevinL, thanks for sharing. If I wanted to make one of these myself, which spotlight case should I purchase? I'm not quite clear on where your original yellow spotlight came from.

I've been considering the Harbor Freight 30 million CP HID unit (yea I know, not really 30 Mil), but would this be brighter or have a higher quality beam than the HF?

Kevin,

I am wanting to get a 35W kit to put in my ATV.
Do you think the 6000K temp still has enough warm tones in it to work well in the woods?
I have noticed that really white leds dont work well in the woods, that you want some reds in it. Brings out the dirt and trees better.

Have you had yours around the yard, and woods yet?

I want something very white, noticably whiter than incans,
but I still want it to be useful in the woods.

Thanks
~John

FireStik: I think the Costco/HF HID is on par with what I've done. The key difference is that mine is smaller and lighter, and more readily available to us overseas users who are not fortunate enough to have a Costco within 15,000 miles of us

If you can get access to the Costco/HF HID, go for it, no assembly needed.


John: We just got back from "field testing" the HID - literally in the field amidst the grass! I think you and others will be very interested in our beamshots...

I've documented the entire project on my site - http://lights.lightrefineries.org, feel free to have a look. The project is called "The Road to HID", and part 3 (top article at time of this posting) has all the pictures you're after. It includes a comparison to the only other light in its power class, the USL - showing the differences between incan and HID light.

I have a 6000K CCT system, but if you are more interested in the reds, you might want to check out the 4300K CCT bulbs.



BTW, this tree line is NEARLY 1200 FEET AWAY (measured earlier by GPS) and you can still see the beam reflecting off the trees back at me and the camera!!