Harbor Freight HID mod "Chicago" ... vs Costco HID

No, I did not "improve" on the Costco/HF HID spotlight. I already have one and I find it's just a bit too big for semi-casual use.

I don't typically name my projects, but it's easier to use a single word than "modified HF spotlight" or "my modified light," etc... so "Chicago" it since the host is labeled with the Chicago Electric brand name.

I can't say I'd recommend this mod to anyone that paid any more than I did for the HID components - namely, nothing. I got them from a buddy at work that used them in a homebrew HID conversion for his car that didn't work so well; beam pattern was awful and one of the bulbs broke its mounting flange after the car hit a bump in the road. Also, most of the work on this mod was to accomodate my specific components.

I used one of these these to house this project. I was originally going to use this pistol-grip model, but found that I could fit in the ballast, igniter, bulb, or a battery pack; pick three. I'm not sure what the fate of that spotlight will be; maybe I can find a nice Luxeon V or some other nutty-powerful LED...

Overall, the mod only took about 4 hours. It could have been about 2 hours if I'd been more organized.

BEFORE



A surprisingly capable cheap spotlight. It uses a single-filament 12V H3 bulb, has two brightness settings, and can operate from 12V DC. The high setting (shown in the beamshot) is amazingly white.

DISASSEMBLY



I'm always amazed at the complexity of the inner PCBs on these lights. There's a 12V SLA charge controller, 2-stage brightness (probably explains the heatsinked power transistor), a relay that switches power to the bulb, and low-voltage cutout to protect the SLA. I only paid $15 for this thing (normal retail is $30)!

PROJECT COMPLETE


Sorry I didn't get any assembly shots, but I typically get into what I'm doing while engaging in projects like this and forget about taking photos or think about them right when I'm in the middle of doing something critical.

As far as what I had to do to complete this project:

• Cut the leads to the switch for the "low" setting - I know that the HID doesn't even try to start on that setting and that can't be good for it.
• Dremelled out a hole in the side of the housing for the wires from the ballast to go through
• Determined a good spot for the igniter and screwed it in place after drilling some pilot holes for the lag screws
• Expanded the opening in the reflector to allow clearance for the bulb wire
• Jury-rigged an attachment for the bulb; I was fortunate the the base on one of my bulbs was broken in three somewhat uniform places, so I drilled a hole in the reflector "column," inserted a screw, then used a twist-tie to hold it in place against the screw and 2 existing tabs
• Crimped on female connectors so the ballast can take power from the leads originally intended for the H3 bulb

PERFORMANCE & COMPARISONS

Size comparsion between the much larger Costco HID and the "Chicago".


12' indoor beamshot. Left: "Chicago". Center: Costco HID. Right: scene under flourescent lighting


~50m outdoor beamshot. Left: "Chicago". Center: Costco HID. Right: U2 :devil:


~250m outdoor beamshot. Left: "Chicago". Center: Costco HID. Right: vehicle headlights.

The rough specs:
Light source Philips D2S 35W HID bulb
Host Chicago Electric "3 million candlepower" spotlight
Driver "AL" 35W HID ballast (D1S, D1R, D2S, D2R) + "AL" 35W HID starter/igniter (D2S, D2R)
Opticalware Stock ~9" reflector/glass lens
Power 12V 5A-H SLA battery & 12V auxilliary input
Runtime Expected to be around 45 minutes or less, depending on the low-voltage cutout EDIT : Almost exactly 60 minutes
Output No meter, no test. Philips rates their D2S modules at approximately 3200 lumens. Let's assume that 70% of that goes out the front and call it ~2200 lumens or less. It seems to put out just a bit less light than my Costco spotlight, but with the huge differences in beam patterns, it's impossible to tell. The HID module seems to be a 4200k unit while the Costco's bulb looks to be 6000k or higher - typically less efficient.

All outdoor shots were gamma-corrected to 2.0 - and even then it's still not quite right but I think you get the general idea. The Costco is a long-throwing light needle while "Chicago" floods a bit. The "Chicago" goes further than the camera would have you think. Both attracted an equal number of flying insects in short order

Given that the "Chicago" reflector is intended for a radial-filament H3 bulb and this is an axial-arc HID, I'd say I'm fairly satisfied with its performance. I was hoping to get a light with better close-range utility than the Costco and I think I've found it.

For a few hours' hands-on time and probably twice as much total time spent planning this out, I'm quite satisfied with this mod. The only major shortcomings are the twist-tie bulb attachmant (one big shock and it might loosen), the igniter attachment (2 small lag screws threading into a relatively thin plastic "rib"), and the ballast opening (should probably seal it up with silicone or the like).

Re: Harbor Freight HID mod

Nice writeup / mod. If this was 1/2 a year ago you would have had a signup list with 100+ participants by the end of the week.

I like how you put it.

idleprocess:
Overall, the mod only took about 4 hours.

Click to expand...

Seriously, Congrats on the nice conversion.

Re: Harbor Freight HID mod

Thanks.

"4 hours" of going back and forth between where I was doing the work and where parts/tools were located, futilely searching for a paperclip since I knew that bulb retention was going to be an issue (the twist-tie was a compromise just to finish the damn thing), and a few mid-course realizations that I would need to make adjustments to my original plan ... in addition to actually doing the work.

If it were 6 months ago, I'd still have the same number of HID component sets that I have right now: 2. Of course, I talked my co-worker into forking over the HID components about 6 months ago and it ook him about that long to remember to di them out of his garage ... Nah. It was interesting to do, but strictly a one-off.

Any suggestions for the second component set, or ideas on where I can find reflectors compatible with 9006 base bulbs?

I have been asked by Idle to bump this thread, so here it goes:

I tried to get a photo immediately after shutdown. It's hard to see, but the outer bulb envelope is glowing a pale blue.

I've done some runtime tests, and runtime is almost exactly 60 minutes. The low-voltage cutout feature simply kills power to the load once the SLA voltage drops to around 8V; the SLA bounces back immediately to 11.7V open-circuit voltage. This is an feature is an unexpected bonus for HID - the ballast is never starved for power to the point that it begins strobing, which is worse for the bulb than hot-restrike.

I imagine this particular host would work exceptionally well with a H3-base HID bulb - likely matching the throw of the original incandescent bulb while providing more flood. Next time I disassemble the light I'll see if I can mate the reflector up to the H3-base HID on my Costco spotlight.

idleprocess said:

I tried to get a photo immediately after shutdown. It's hard to see, but the outer bulb envelope is glowing a pale blue.

Click to expand...

They do that, yes...

X990

Nice

Do you guys think that it's the UV-blocking glass envelope that sucks up the UV and then glows, a bit like how the glow-in-the-dark stuff works?

There are any number of reasons why the tube glows blue. It could be a phosphor-type effect, or it could simply be the outer tube glowing from the heat of absorbing that much UV. It could be glowing blue as soon as the arc starts and you'd never know it.

Some information on automotive HID bulbs from Don Klipstein's webpage.