Want a HID spotlight. Build, buy or what?

[apples]

Okay its about time I get a good throwing spotlight. I see so many people making them which I think they do partly of cost and partly for the fun.

What my needs are would be a spotlight that throws way out there for night time spotlighting and shooting. For this part I would just need the light part and not have a battery as I would like
to use the cigarette lighter socket in the car. Unless a HID draws too much current and in that case a direct connection to the battery terminals will be needed.

Then for portable use I do not mind having a battery that is attached to the light via a cable.

Having said that could I not just buy one of the many HID vehicle on ebay or some where else?? Then this way I will have a light HID spotlight that is all good to go just add power.

Do the spotlights sold on ebay say 9" out throw a modded donor spotlight? Because this way buying a ready make spotlight just seems the easiest, best cheapest way for what I am thinking of doing.

Also the seem to be 6000K light temp. I think that the 4000K or the 4300K are way better, is this true.


What to do any advice?
I'm in Australia so I may not have the larger selection of available donor spotlight cases that you guys might have in the states.

Peter

 

[FRITZHID]

Building a mod it's worth it imho, can build to your specific need and have much higher quality, not to mention the fact that you learn a great deal about what you're working with and can then repair if needed. Just make sure the host you use can fit the ballast/ignitor and has a metal reflector so it can handle the heat (halogen hosts work well). An auto cig lighter outlet shouldn't have any problem handling a hid up to 75w, just make sure your wiring can handle 10A for the 60 seconds or so at start up and a constant draw of 5A.
The larger the reflector, the father the throw, my mods use an 11 inch reflector which does quite well with standard Chinese hid bulbs.
4300k renders great color plus lumens/watt IMO.
There are many many mod ideas within the forum to help guide you.

 

[apples]

Okay, so what are the better preferred ballast HID kits then? Also what about bulb type? H3 or H4. H4 has is length ways, same as the bulb, but the H3 is at 90 deg. to the length of it. I read that because of this the H4 is better for a spot beam???

 

[FRITZHID]

Bulb type will depend on what the stock bulb is. The focal point of the reflector will be designed to a specific bulb, i.e. my hand-sun lights use a h4, my Stanley uses a h3 and my vector twin uses h7's and the reflectors are built to focus the light from each bulbs "hotspot" accordingly, use of a different bulb will require minor our even major refocusing.
I've found Ebay seller "factory kiss" to be a reliable seller for my mod parts, tho shipping takes a little longer than I'd like.

 

[BVH]

Okay, so what are the better preferred ballast HID kits then? Also what about bulb type? H3 or H4. H4 has is length ways, same as the bulb, but the H3 is at 90 deg. to the length of it. I read that because of this the H4 is better for a spot beam???

Here, you're referring to Halogen Incandescent bulbs. For throw, you want HID. They have no filaments, have a much smaller area of light emission and as a result, throw further - all other factors remaining the same. I am a big fan of the newer "fastBright" brand of HID slim ballasts. They come in 35, 55 and 70 Watt power levels. They are a full 2 times brightness 2-3 seconds after striking and then settle back down to 100%. Search on Google for them.

 

[H-2 CHARLIE]

is this to small http://www.ebay.com/itm/20-Million-...902?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item416f642766

 

[apples]

I guess that would be a good size.