# Husky 2.25MCP vs. Dorcy 3MCP ~ same basic output?



## InfidelCastro (Dec 14, 2005)

I'd like to get the opinion of anyone who owns both of these lights what you think of each of them.

I noticed the aluminum 1MCP Husky spotlight/worklight at Home Depot. It's a really neat looking light, kinda heavy though for the rated output. And though it was partially aluminum, I was not overly impressed with the construction.

Then I saw beneath is a rack of Husky 2.25MCP spotlights. They are red plastic and the reflector looks the exact size of the one on my Dorcy 3MCP, maybe a hair larger even. I looked at the bulb and it looks like the same 75W bulb as well.

So I'm curious if these lights have both basically the same output??

I know the same 3MCP Dorcy I own was advertised as a 2MCP just a short while ago, now the same light has '3MCP' on the package. I know all manufacturers have doubled the lumens ratings on their lights, so I assume this trend of false advertising has extended to candlepower.

Anyways the Dorcy 1.5MCP is now the 2MCP I believe. In fact if you go on Dorcy's website, the 3MCP version that I have is identical to the 2MCP version shown with the battery on the bottom. The '2MCP' version of the Dorcy that was at Sears the other day has no battery at the bottom and a slightly smaller reflector.








Anyways, back to the Dorcy and Husky. I picked up the Husky 2.25MCP light an immediately noticed how top-heavy it was. Extremely top heavy IMO. the battery and everything was apparently contained above the handle. The only thing beneath the handle was a tiny 2AA flashlight looking orange incandescent "area light".

I don't really like flourescent lights, but I find the 'area light' on my Dorcy to be much more useful than this one appeared to be.


So anyone who owns both of these lights.. what is your opinion of them?


----------



## InfidelCastro (Dec 14, 2005)

Hello?


----------



## InfidelCastro (Dec 16, 2005)

http://www.homedepot.com/prel80/HDU...065&srccode=cii_14110944&cpncode=12-3642969-2






Using Google I found an old thread on this forum where someone had the same impression that I did about it being topheavy. They mentioned the 'area light' being a good candidate for a luxeon conversion though, which sounds like a cool idea.


----------



## MaxaBaker (Dec 16, 2005)

The Husky is a 100watter :thumbsup:


----------



## InfidelCastro (Dec 16, 2005)

MaxaBaker said:


> The Husky is a 100watter :thumbsup:




Doh!!!



Now all of a sudden I feel inferior with my Dorcy..


Hehe, to be honest I was really turned off by how top heavy it is though. More so than I made clear above. But I'm gonna take one more look at it. I'm sure it must be a bit brighter than the Dorcy then.. As mentioned I do believe the reflector might have been slightly larger as well, but I'm not sure on that. It's so close, they might be the same size.

A spotlight should be easy to maneuver, so no matter how bright it is, if you can't follow the target easily, it don't do you as much good. Wonder if I could mod my Dorcy with that 100W bulb?


----------



## MaxaBaker (Dec 16, 2005)

My friend has that dorcy, and the bulb is the same as the one in the Husky, so if the Dorcy is 12v...................yup


----------



## metalhed (Dec 16, 2005)

The Dorcy 3MCP is a 6 volt system...with a bulb rated at 55 watts.

I don't know how they compare to the Husky, but they are bright...a very artifact filled beam...but bright nonetheless.

Personally, I like mine. I especially like the fluorescent work light and the pivoting head. But that's just me.


----------



## InfidelCastro (Dec 17, 2005)

metalhed said:


> The Dorcy 3MCP is a 6 volt system...with a bulb rated at 55 watts.
> 
> I don't know how they compare to the Husky, but they are bright...a very artifact filled beam...but bright nonetheless.
> 
> Personally, I like mine. I especially like the fluorescent work light and the pivoting head. But that's just me.




Mine also has some artifacts. If I read correctly though, the manual states a 75W bulb. Maybe mine really is a 'newer' version. Did you buy yours in the 2MCP packaging or 3MCP? How did you find out that yours is a 6V? I'll have to go back and triple check the manual about the bulb rating if I can find it, but I'm 99% sure it said it was a 75W.


----------



## Tweek (Dec 17, 2005)

I have several of the Husky 2.25M lights, and they definately are top-heavy. However, you'll find that's the case with just about all the spotlights ever made that don't have a bulbous battery on the bottom of the handle. Some details about the light: It's actually made by Vector, like all other automotive-oriented Husky brand stuff. The bulb is a H3 12V 100W axial filament. Makes for a nice round spot, and axial filament bulbs are rather hard to find. The battery is a 12V 3Ah cheap overseas unit. Lasts for about 15 minutes before it poops out from the strain. The switch is an actual lever-action microswitch rated for up to 24V 10A. The one in my modded light is holding up fine at a little over that rating. The utility light is a tiny bulb with attached wires glued into the plastic reflector assembly "ball". Puts out a really wierd looking beam and is rather orange in color. Will run for 8 hours or so if the light was fully charged. The battery "meter" on the side of the light also operates with the utility light, or when the charger is plugged in. It will only ever indicate full (green) when the charger is connected and the battery really is full. The light will not operate while the charger is connected. It will finally get around to telling you your battery is low (red LED only lit) after you've already noticed that the main beam is a lot dimmer than it used to be. Almost forgot the reflector, whose business end is 5 1/2" wide, and the reflective surface is 2 1/4" deep. It's plated steel. In the package you'll get a wall wart slow charger (12 hours) and a DC cord which connects to a different plug on the light. This port is connected directly to the light's battery, so to charge the light with this cord, your vehicle must be running, otherwise the light will attempt to charge your car's battery and/or run various parts of your car, usually resulting in various blown fuses. Don't ask how I know...  

Any other questions about the Husky?  

Chris

EDIT: Almost forgot, for the $25 Home Depot charges for these, they're a really good bargain, excellent for tossing in the trunk or behind the seat, holding a useful charge for months...


----------



## metalhed (Dec 17, 2005)

My bad....the Dorcy 3MCP does have a H3 6-volt 100 watt halogen bulb. Don't know what I was thinking. Makes sense if the 2MCP has a 75 watt bulb.

But it is definitely a 6-volt system. The battery is a 6V, 6Ah battery.

BTW, this is straight from the user manual.


----------



## InfidelCastro (Dec 17, 2005)

metalhed said:


> My bad....the Dorcy 3MCP does have a H3 6-volt 100 watt halogen bulb. Don't know what I was thinking. Makes sense if the 2MCP has a 75 watt bulb.
> 
> But it is definitely a 6-volt system. The battery is a 6V, 6Ah battery.
> 
> BTW, this is straight from the user manual.




My manual says the bulb is 75W.


----------



## metalhed (Dec 17, 2005)

InfidelCastro -- My manual (one sheet of paper folded into threes) has a product or item number of 41-1087.

Does that match with yours? Is it possible you got a 2MCP manual by mistake?...or maybe they made an unannounced product change?

I bought mine in early November at OSH Hardware. Only one on the shelf at the time...they had tons of the 2MCP's, but only one of the 3's.


:thinking:


----------



## InfidelCastro (Dec 18, 2005)

Nope, you're absolutely right. My manual says 100W bulb also. I just got home and decided to dig it out and look at it because it was bugging me.

Don't ask me where I got the 75W from that I was so sure of! I really have no idea.

Here are the 4 replacement parts listed.

It says exactly this for the replacement parts:

*REPLACEMENT PARTS:**
41-0796 6V 6Ah battery
41-8086 AC Adaptor 120V 300mA UL/CUL
41-0081 H3 6V 100 Watt Halogen Bulb
41-0078 6V 6W Flourescent tube*


My item number is the same as yours.. 41-1087


----------



## metalhed (Dec 18, 2005)

Hey, what's a few watts between friends?

Besides, I'm still trying to figure out where I got 55 watts from...maybe I was thinking of what I want to swap into my Thor.

I dunno...I :thinking: I :thinking: too much.


----------



## InfidelCastro (Dec 18, 2005)

metalhed said:


> Hey, what's a few watts between friends?
> 
> Besides, I'm still trying to figure out where I got 55 watts from...maybe I was thinking of what I want to swap into my Thor.
> 
> I dunno...I :thinking: I :thinking: too much.



Something smaller would be nice in a Thor because of that big reflector giving it the throw of a smaller 3MCP and you'd get hella good runtime.


----------



## lightcacher (Dec 18, 2005)

I have a Dorcy 3MCP and I pivot the head straight up and carry it by my side like a regular flashlight. Makes it much easier to handle.


----------



## InfidelCastro (Dec 20, 2005)

metalhead, Tweek, lightcatcher, what kind of run-time do you get with your Dorcy and Husky lights?

I turned my Dorcy 3MCP on next to me last night and let it run. At about 25 minutes it was noticeably dimmer. At about 30 minutes it was pretty dim. Within a few minutes after that it was all but dead.

I was actually kind of disappointed at the runtime. I had charged it for about 25 hours. The manual says 20 and then the LED will dim telling your it's charged, well mine never dimmed, but I unplugged it after 25 hours or so.


----------



## InfidelCastro (Dec 21, 2005)

^


----------



## Tweek (Dec 22, 2005)

As I mentioned earlier, the Husky will run the main lamp for about 15 minutes before it gives up on you, and the aux lamp for about 8 hours. This is assuming you started with a fully charged battery, of course.

Chris


----------



## lightcacher (Dec 22, 2005)

I've never really tried to see how long my Dorcy would hold a charge. I charged it about 24 hours and the red light never dimmed but I assumed that after that length of time it was fully charged. I took it outside the other night and played around with it for about 20 minutes or so and didn't notice any significant difference in the brightness.


----------



## InfidelCastro (Dec 22, 2005)

Tweek said:


> As I mentioned earlier, the Husky will run the main lamp for about 15 minutes before it gives up on you, and the aux lamp for about 8 hours. This is assuming you started with a fully charged battery, of course.
> 
> Chris




Oh ok, I missed that in your earlier post. Yea the Dorcy is a 6V 6Ah battery as opposed to the Husky's 3Ah so that makes sense that it would give up the ghost at the 15 minute mark since they're both running basically the same if not the exact same bulb..

I'm actually interested in modding it to a 9Ah or larger if possible, that would be pretty cool. I really like the flourescent area light and how you can basically tilt the head and use the spotlight as a big flashlight. I know in another thread someone mentioned replacing the 7Ah battery in their Thor with an identical 9Ah battery that Target sells. I think the Thor is a 12V system though.


----------



## InfidelCastro (Dec 22, 2005)

Ok, just took it completely apart. Something smoked on the circuit board because I took the top apart before disconnecting the battery (dumb). Anyways I hooked it all up and both lights appear to work, so it appears to be ok. Anyways the battery is a big sealed lead/acid brick made by FCE of China.

Is says:

VALVE REGULATED BATTERY
HT6-6 (6V 6AH/20HR)

The tilt head seems to work better now as well since I put it all back together and tightened down the screws. This thing is actually not very complicated once you look at it a little bit it makes sense what everything does.






















So now my mission is to find a higher capacity battery. Can anybody help me or point me in the right direction?


----------



## metalhed (Dec 23, 2005)

InfidelCastro -- I get the same runtime as you do for the Dorcy 3MCP.

You might want to check Battery Station for higher capacity SLA's.


----------



## InfidelCastro (Dec 23, 2005)

Thanks for the suggestion. I just checked their site, but it doesn't appear that there's any larger that are compatible. And it doesn't really say if they're rechargeable or what they measure as length, width or height either.

The 6V 6Ah battery in the Dorcy is approx. 5.75 X 1.75 X 2.75 in inches.


I think this light is actually very similiar to a non-platinum 15MCP Thor in that it uses a 100W bulb and it has a 6Ah battery instead of a 7Ah like the Thor. It's much smaller, but also has a smaller reflector for less throw.

The Thor is a 12V 100W bulb so it can run off of a car charger terminal, but I suppose the 12V makes the bulb a little brighter than the 6V 100W bulb of the Dorcy as well though.


----------

