Jobsmart 55w Hid Spotlight with 11.1v lion battery plus internals photo update

[Alex1234]

Some beamshots in the snow

20161214_234410 by Alex Littig, on Flickr
20161214_234338 by Alex Littig, on Flickr

 

[Alex1234]

A larger arc will lead to a larger hotspot.
Focus can be slightly adjusted IF bulb is too far INTO the reflector using shims to pull it slightly out. It's a trial and error process but often worth the effort.

I used a paper clip. made it into a circle. cut the rest off. used it between the bulb and reflector. Result. PERFECTION. the corona got smaller and the hotspot got larger but much brighter. it only worked for one of them. the other one i have(i bought another one) needs to be pushed in farther which is not possible. but its good enough. still has a good beam.

I just find it amazing i can get a 55w hid spotlight with lithium batteries that throws around a million cd for 60 bucks. There are 35w hid spotlights on amazon and ebay with sla batteries that cost 3 times the amount. This light will be my benchmark. When I get a reflector based led flashlight that out throws this you know LEDS have come a long way. TN42vn might be close pushing almost 800kcd.

 

[khoff01]

Hey guys, just joined up here. I've always gone here first on the forums for anything light oriented though! I actually had been wondering if anyone else's besides myself had modded one of these yet. I decided to open mine up lastnight and re-center the bulb and to see what all was inside the guts of it. While in there I had a 55w ballast, an 11.1v 3S RC Lipo battery, and a 4300K bulb I threw in it and WOW what a difference it made. Its unbelievably bright and has much better throw to it. Can post pictures if anybody is interested.

 

[Alex1234]

Hey guys, just joined up here. I've always gone here first on the forums for anything light oriented though! I actually had been wondering if anyone else's besides myself had modded one of these yet. I decided to open mine up lastnight and re-center the bulb and to see what all was inside the guts of it. While in there I had a 55w ballast, an 11.1v 3S RC Lipo battery, and a 4300K bulb I threw in it and WOW what a difference it made. Its unbelievably bright and has much better throw to it. Can post pictures if anybody is interested.

the tint on mine is close to 4300k... Its a nice warm white tint. Actually not back for a stock hid

 

[khoff01]

I made an error when putting up my last post, I thought this was the Jobsmart 2800 Lumen, "Pistol Grip" HID light. It originally came with a 35W ballast as I am sure most of you are aware of. I do have to say the bulb I have in it that particular light with the 55W ballast, sure did clean up great as far as the tint of blue to it vs running 35w ballast to it. Overall I am very pleased. And last but not least, I can now become part of this big boy 3500 lumen light discussion as well now... I went to my local TSC lastnight and to my awesome surprise... $43 brand new in the box and they have tons of them!! Going back next week to buy a second one to keep "factory" and going to mod this one and play around with a few different setups. Kinda pissed me off I spent $43 for this light and it puts my Streamlight Protac HL3 to shame [emoji23][emoji23]. Oh well I still love my Streamlights. Die hard fan of them and own multiple variations of their lights and never been let down yet!

 

[Alex1234]

I made an error when putting up my last post, I thought this was the Jobsmart 2800 Lumen, "Pistol Grip" HID light. It originally came with a 35W ballast as I am sure most of you are aware of. I do have to say the bulb I have in it that particular light with the 55W ballast, sure did clean up great as far as the tint of blue to it vs running 35w ballast to it. Overall I am very pleased. And last but not least, I can now become part of this big boy 3500 lumen light discussion as well now... I went to my local TSC lastnight and to my awesome surprise... $43 brand new in the box and they have tons of them!! Going back next week to buy a second one to keep "factory" and going to mod this one and play around with a few different setups. Kinda pissed me off I spent $43 for this light and it puts my Streamlight Protac HL3 to shame [emoji23][emoji23]. Oh well I still love my Streamlights. Die hard fan of them and own multiple variations of their lights and never been let down yet!

If you find a good mod for the 3500 lumen version let me know. If i can bump this up to 75w or so that would be cool

 

[khoff01]

that's is exactly what I am going to shoot for on ballast size/wattage. I dunno how well the bulb will take to being overdriven that much though. I thought about trying a 100 watt ballast but figured i'd better go with a 75 to start with... that's if i can find a TRUE 75/100 watt ballast that actually puts that power current reliably to the bulb. however most of them out there that claim that high of wattage do not[emoji35]

 

[FRITZHID]

Overdriving HID.....
1st, will cause the tint to lower... I.E., if it's a 5000k 35w bulb, overdriven at 55 watts, the tint will drop to closer to 4000k.
2nd, bulb life will drop, however... Being that most of us will NEVER burn out one of these, this loss is not significant.
3rd, the arc will become slightly larger in dia. And higher surface brightness leading to many more photons being projected down range with a very very slight increase in hotspot size with it being "brighter".

There is a limit, however....
I wouldn't suggest more than 75w thru a 35w bulb, or 100w thru a 55w, etc. Going higher than that can easily overstress the bulbs thermal limits causing catastrophic failure.... And lens, reflector, & electronics replacements.

 

[TheDark]

I had one of these years ago... worked pretty good for what it was. It was to heavy for me, for a flashlight I would carry hog hunting.

 

[hahoo]

how do you know its 55 watt instead of 35 watt ?
should 55 watt not be well over 3000 lumens ?
i know a stanley 35 watt hid i used to have was 3000 lumens and 35 watt
i just got in from tsc, and they have 6 of these on the shelve, at 42 bucks a piece !:huh:
almost bought one from reading this post last night
think ill pick one up tomm just for kicks, to see how it stacks up to my tk61nv
sure cant beat it for 40 bucks:thumbsup:

 

[Alex1234]

how do you know its 55 watt instead of 35 watt ?
should 55 watt not be well over 3000 lumens ?
i know a stanley 35 watt hid i used to have was 3000 lumens and 35 watt
i just got in from tsc, and they have 6 of these on the shelve, at 42 bucks a piece !:huh:
almost bought one from reading this post last night
think ill pick one up tomm just for kicks, to see how it stacks up to my tk61nv
sure cant beat it for 40 bucks:thumbsup:

make sure you check the beam quality before you buy it, some didn't work and some had off center beams. my bossvn with uclp lens does 650kcd around the same as the tk61vn and it out throws it by a noticeable amount. As long as you get one with properly focused beam it will easy beat the tk61vn. the focus is very important for hid because i had to add a spacer between the reflector and bulb to get the corona smaller and the hotspot brighter. it was not focused to infinity but more at like 40 feet then it lost the intense spot at like 500 yards. my fix made it go from 600-800kcd to 1.1 million kcd so just keep that in mind.

 

[hahoo]

just picked one up tonight.....wow is all i can say for 43 bucks,....pics to follow

 

[hahoo]

wow, i must of got a perfect one out of the box....i thought it looked good on the beamshots....i did 14,000 lux at 10 meters
is that a true 1.4 million cp ?
hate to say it , but it makes my tk61vn seem dim
it noticeably out throws it for sure
i dont know whether to be happy or sad about that !
hate to say it, but it will be a few years at best before an led can touch this

 

[scout24]

So, I picked one of these up today for $31.99 at my local Tractor Supply. There were 4 or 5 left, if anyone is interested... Let me know. I searched here first, rather than start a new thread. Good to see there are some possible upgrades to be done. I charged it up, and am getting ready to take it out to stretch it's legs.

Edit- This thing easily reaches the 800 yards across the field behind my house, to the woodline. Picking out individual trees was no problem. At anything past 100 yards or so, it's all spot. The corona, useful up close while walking, disappears pretty quickly as distance increases. Not a bad beam at all for the not-so-wonderful reflector finish and a lens that I'm sure is not the best...

 

[FRITZHID]

So, I picked one of these up today for $31.99 at my local Tractor Supply. There were 4 or 5 left, if anyone is interested... Let me know. I searched here first, rather than start a new thread. Good to see there are some possible upgrades to be done. I charged it up, and am getting ready to take it out to stretch it's legs.

Mod those bitches up! Cram a 75 watt HID and rock them!

 

[scout24]

I may go back tomorrow for one strictly to take apart... I take it from reading you're advocating a 75w ballast and the stock bulb? And a new battery pack...

 

[FRITZHID]

That's what I'd do. Warmer tint with higher wattage on stock bulb. Longer runtime with batt upgrade.

 

[scout24]

Thanks for the tips! Off to the 'Bay to do a little research, unless you have a suggestion as to where to look for ballasts...

 

[hahoo]

sleeper lights of the year...mine puts visible light on stuff at a mile
the batteries alone are worth what u pay for this light