10W HID- from Mal Lighting (Germany)

JoelSim

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Aug 14, 2011
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Norway
Hi folks,

Well this is my first post here and I'm after some advice.

I have recently acquired a 10W HID made by Mal Lighting;

Link here if anyone wants to check out the specs and so on:
http://www.mal-lighting.com/html/tanklamps.html

It's running from a 12V 2.3aH battery, but when turning it on from a fully charged battery a get a little light and then nothing.

Upon performing some checks, at the battery I have more or less 12V, at the switch I have the same but then at the contacts for the lamp I have only 3.04V.

I am a little new to all of this, but from this diagnoses is it a reasonably safe bet to say that the driver is my issue?

It is not a new light, so I'm not too bummed about the issues with it, plus it gives me the opportunity to have a bit of a play :) I was already considering an LED upgrade (inspired by Packhorse) for the light before I even purchased it so we'll see what happens.

Thanks in advance for any responses.

Joel.
 

Dashrynn

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May 1, 2010
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I haven't dealt with sla batteries in awhile but, I believe your voltage should read around 13 volts when fresh off the charger.

As for testing your post's, it sounds like you are testing the voltage where the bulb goes...correct?

As for that battery, I would replace it with a lithium type, I prefer lifepo4 for the long life and safer chemistry. But it seems your voltage range isn't very wide so you should probably stick with li-ion (11.1v). This is if you keep the hid, if you need to change the ballast there is a post i have in the dive forum...somewhere... that shows you where the parts are and what they are.

The hid ballast I posted is a 14 watt hid putting out 1000 lumens. Reason I kept the hid is my lights a focusable type.
 

Packhorse

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Nov 29, 2007
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I currently have here a DR 10wHID to LED conversion I did a few years ago. The owner was complaining the LED was flickering.
Upon inspection the SLA battery ( 2 x 2.3amp 12 v) was toast and would not hold a charge.
My guess is yours is the same.

Easiest test is to put a volt meter on it and measure the voltage under no load then measure again under load ( use a 12v halogen bulb). The voltage should drop below 12volt.


Ah sorry just reread your post. When you say 3.04volt at the contacts of the lamp do you mean the HID lamp its self or the ballast? Ballast voltage should be much higher. Not sure but a few thousand volts on start up and maybe up to 100 while running. ( I may be off a bit on those numbers). So maybe your ballast it toast or you have a bad connection somewhere.

Either way perhaps its time to upgrade to LED!
 

Klem

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Mar 26, 2010
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Location
Perth Australia
The ballast in a HID should give around 25K volts at the bulb in spurts like a spark plug. My experience with HID's is that they don't like being turned on without a bulb attached. it sounds as if there's a problem with the ballast, and if this is the case you may as well upgrade to a 35W+ HID, or LED technology.

If you decide on upgrading then you might also need to go Lithium.
 
Joined
Feb 1, 2008
Messages
889
Location
US
from MAL site .... keep in mind (old WA ballast)

Input voltage
range...........................................................................10,5 Volt DC - max 13 Volt DC

you can simple stabilize voltage with some LM7812 (couple of (3x) TO220 paralel or one in TO3)
or LM317 . Depends what you choose.

Test battery with electronic load for battery capacity and more important inner resistance.

.....and as previous said because of alu head ,you can do upgrade to power leds.
 
Last edited:

JoelSim

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Aug 14, 2011
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Norway
Hi all and thanks for responses.

It's starting to sound as though my suspicions are correct.

Dashrynn:
"I believe your voltage should read around 13 volts when fresh off the charger."

Yes you are correct the voltage was closer to 13 when freshly charged.

"it sounds like you are testing the voltage where the bulb goes...correct?"

Yes I was testing at the battery and in the contacts where the bulb plugs in (seemingly 'ballast' is the term I should use)

"I would replace it with a lithium type"

Lithium is already high on my list of things to do. For several reasons: 1: current battery is around 5 years old so I figure it's seen better days. 2: I live in Norway these days and quickly discovered that things like my camera didn't function during a dive unless I use lithium batteries.

Packhorse:

"Easiest test is to put a volt meter on it and measure the voltage under no load then measure again under load ( use a 12v halogen bulb). The voltage should drop below 12volt."

Yes voltage drops under load.

"When you say 3.04volt at the contacts of the lamp do you mean the HID lamp its self or the ballast?"

I guess I mean at the ballast. In the actual contacts the lamp plugs in to.

"So maybe your ballast it toast or you have a bad connection somewhere."

My strong belief is beginning to be that it's the ballast. I tested the connection beat I could and done a bit of a 'wriggle test' (pretty sure that's a professional and technical test!?), testing voltage whilst wriggling all cables/wires and checking for any deviations.

Klem:

"My experience with HID's is that they don't like being turned on without a bulb attached."

Oops....I guess my only saving grace there is that there was already an issue, not that I caused this issue by doing so.

"it sounds as if there's a problem with the ballast, and if this is the case you may as well upgrade to a 35W+ HID, or LED technology."

Yep was considering an LED upgrade from the get go, but thought I may have gotten some time out of the HID first, but it's not to be.

"If you decide on upgrading then you might also need to go Lithium."

Yep lithium will most likely be in the works. I may consider an LED upgrade tested with the current battery first (mostly out of curiosity) but I see lithium in the not to distant future.

The good new is that after contacting the guy I bought it from with some questions he sounds honestly bummed as he thought it had plenty of life left in it. He asked how much the repair would cost, so it seems he may be a coming to the party with some refund which is always good.

Cheers again for your responses.

I expect I'll be popping in more often, especially when the mod is under way.

Joel.
 

JoelSim

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Aug 14, 2011
Messages
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Location
Norway
Hi all,

Well the LED mod for this light is coming along.....

Props to Packhorse for his help with my newbie questions via PM.

At the moment it's not putting out nearly the amount of light I was expecting, but I am about to do some adjusting with the Aspheric and see if that helps. Hopefully it's as simple as that and not that I've damaged the driver in any way or something similar.

Parts list is:
XM-L U2- Cutter
KD Driver (kinda nice they come in a 5 pack, well that is if I've done any damage)
aHorton aspheric

I do have a new question on the battery front:

Currently I have the old Lead Acid 12v 2.2aH (which is coming to the end of it's life). Has anyone any suggestions of good and nicely priced Lithium battery packs?

I have a good amount of space to play with in the cannister. The current battery is 175 x 35 x 60mm.

I have looked at something along these lines:

https://www.elfaelektronikk.no/elfa3~no_en/elfa/init.do?item=69-204-40&toc=19088

or

https://www.elfaelektronikk.no/elfa...=lipo_battery_pack_14.8_v_5000_mah,_167000069

(prices are in Norwegian Krone not dollars on those links)

But really not sure what a suitable solution would be....all thoughts an opinions welcome :)

Does anyone have any experience good or bad with having Lithium packs shipped internationally? Bit curious as to whether I'll run into issues there....

Looking forward to your responses.

Cheers, Joel.
 

JoelSim

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Joined
Aug 14, 2011
Messages
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Norway
Well,

After some tweaking with the aspheric (and using a different battery) my oh my the difference is great.

Plenty of light produced now, now it is more light than what I expected which is fantastic. I've just today shortened the distance between the LED and the back of the lens in the hope of blurring out the lines of the LED and aiming towards a more circular beam (I think this is the correct approach!?). Will do some testing tonight when it's dark and see how it all goes.

Still on the lithium battery hunt.

Once the power supply is squared away I think this is going to be an amazing light to dive with. Looking forward to getting it in the water.

Cheers,
Joel.
 
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