Home Made Light Bulb vs. Battery Compatibility

Blazer

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Dec 10, 2005
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I'm making a bunch of modifications to a 3D Mag but need some advice on batteries vs. bulbs.

Basically, I've got all the following items
3D Mag Host
3D to 9AA adaptor
aluminum reflector
hight temp ceramic bi-pin slug
WA 1185 bulbs
WA 1160 bulbs

I can't seem to find any database that tells me what bulbs can be used with what voltage of battery. Ie, if I put the WA1185 in with the 9AA NiMh batts will I blow the bulb? I want to use the appropriate bulbs for the power coming from 9AA batteries but can't find any threads/websites that specify what each of the bulbs I have will work with the 9AA configuration.

I got the WA1160s for my MagCharger and am using one successfully with a 6.0 V battery stick, so I don't think it would work in a 9AA (13.5 V ???) configuration. How many volts can the WA1185s take, would they work with the 9AA power?

Thanks for any help/advice.
 

mudman cj

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Actually, 9 NiMH batteries at 1.2V each (could be less under load and less still at the bulb due to other resistive losses) would give at most 10.8V. If you take another look at the chart you can see that Vbulb for the 1185 from a 14.4V battery pack in that chart is only 11.10V. The excess voltage is dropped by a regulator. An 1185 can be driven as high as 11.5V, but only with a regulator (without=:poof:). The most common Mag85 uses 9 NiMH batteries, and high drain cells will give the best results (RC car batteries like CBP2500).
 

Blazer

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Messages
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Location
Ontario, Canada
mudman cj said:
Actually, 9 NiMH batteries at 1.2V each (could be less under load and less still at the bulb due to other resistive losses) would give at most 10.8V. If you take another look at the chart you can see that Vbulb for the 1185 from a 14.4V battery pack in that chart is only 11.10V. The excess voltage is dropped by a regulator. An 1185 can be driven as high as 11.5V, but only with a regulator (without=:poof:). The most common Mag85 uses 9 NiMH batteries, and high drain cells will give the best results (RC car batteries like CBP2500).


But if you're saying that the 9 NiMH batts can only give 10.8 then wouldn't an 1185 be able to handle the power, because it won't hit 11.5V?

Wouldn't another way to help prevent :poof: be to let the batts sit for about 1 hour out of the charger to make sure there's no more than 10.8 coming out of them?

Thanks for the help.
 

mudman cj

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Yes, as I said in my last post, 9xNiMH will work and is the most common solution. And yes, resting batteries will reduce the likelihood of :poof: in general, though I can't recall right now which batteries in combination with which setups require it. I do recall though that sometimes performing resistance reduction fixes on the host (switch, spring, etc.) may introduce the need for resting. Resistance reduction adds free lumens!
 
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