# Wagan 18M Spotlight - 75 Watt HID conversion



## Rezolution (Jun 17, 2011)

I will be getting a Wagan 18M Spotlight for Father's Day. It's a clone of the Thor and it's sold by Costco. I'm thinking of putting a 75 Watt HID bulb/ballast in it but I had a few questions...

The bulb that's in it now is an H4 with Hi/Lo beams. I'm thinking of putting in an H4 HID replacement with only one level of brightness. This is the one I was thinking of off of Ebay: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/75W-S...item4cf7905c19

I'll get two if I order that kit so I guess I'd probably sell the other one off (or possibly keep it as a spare). Does anyone know if the 75 Watt HID will generate significantly more heat and damage the light or reflector? 

I'm sure the focal point will need to be changed by the shimming method, but that shouldn't be too big of a deal. From what I understand, this should have 3x the output of regular Halogen bulb so it should be equivalent (roughly) to a 225W Halogen (so about twice the brightness of the stock 130W halogen bulb) and a little bit better (longer and more consistent brightness) runtime.

What do you guys think of the Chinese HID bulb ballast combo I have listed? Does anyone foresee any problems?


----------



## Rezolution (Jun 17, 2011)

*Re: Thor / Wagan 18M Spotlight - HID bulb question*

Also, the Wagan reflector seems to be significantly different from the Thor Colossus reflector (from what I can tell in the pictures). Can anyone that owns both of these lights tell me which one has the better throw? I like the Wagan because it has a battery gauge on it, however, I really want the one with the better throw. I can return the Wagan and get the Thor for a cheaper price from Amazon/Walmart.

If anyone has either of these lights (or both of them) I would be very grateful to hear what you think about the throw on each of them comparatively. Worst comes to worst, I can just buy a Thor and compare the two directly I guess if I don't get any responses.


----------



## BVH (Jun 17, 2011)

*Re: Thor / Wagan 18M Spotlight - HID bulb question*

I don't have both. I have the costco and modded it with a 75-80 Watt ballast. Heat is not a problem but then I don't run it for much more that 10-15 minutes at one time. It's pretty big inside there and it has cooling holes so I don't think a longer run would be a problem. I've tested that particular ballast and recorded 80+ Watts to the bulb. The reflector performs very well for throw if you can live with the "ringyness"


----------



## Rezolution (Jun 17, 2011)

*Re: Thor / Wagan 18M Spotlight - HID bulb question*

So you have the Wagan and it's a great thrower? I was overly concerned because the reflector doesn't look parabolic at all. In fact, it's the same shape as my P7 reflector I got from DX and that's almost entirely flood.

I'm pretty excited to hear that it's a great thrower, I guess I'll order the 75W bulb/ballast combo tonight then 

Did you rewire yours at all or did you use the factory crappy thin wiring.

Did you set your switch to activate the HID on low or hi (or did you replace the switch all together)? I'll be losing the mode (hi/low) switching ability because of the HID bulb, but I don't really care.


----------



## BVH (Jun 17, 2011)

*Re: Thor / Wagan 18M Spotlight - HID bulb question*

The Costco I have has only one switch because it was an HID originally. You'll just use either one of the switches (doesn't matter which one) to switch the ballast. The stock wiring is large enough. You're actually using less power thru it than the stock higher Wattage bulb. I've not seen a Wagan so I don't know what its' reflector looks like.


----------



## Rezolution (Jun 17, 2011)

*Re: Thor / Wagan 18M Spotlight - HID bulb question*

Oh man, I'm looking to see if someone that has the Wagan 18M from Costco to tell me if it's a good thrower. I may just have to buy the Thor and compare the two. The Wagan 18M doesn't look like it has a deep reflector at all...

http://www.wagan.com/pdf/spotlights/2741.pdf


----------



## Rezolution (Jun 17, 2011)

*Re: Thor / Wagan 18M Spotlight - HID bulb question*

Also, the reason I was worried about the stock wiring wasn't because of it's normal draw rate. I was worried about it because I read that on startup, the draw is almost twice what it's normal run rate is. So if it's normally running around 6.25A (75W/12V), I was worried that the crappy wires inside wouldn't hand the 12Amp-ish startup of the bulb for the first 20 to 30 seconds or whatever the startup time is.

If you think it's ok, I won't worry about it though.


----------



## BVH (Jun 17, 2011)

*Re: Thor / Wagan 18M Spotlight - HID bulb question*

That 2 to 3 times factor is just during the ignition moment - maybe a few nano seconds. During the rest of the warm-up cycle, 20 or so seconds, it's in the 1.x times range. It's probably 16 AWG which is more than enough to handle it. Even 18 AWG would be ok.


----------



## Rezolution (Jun 20, 2011)

*Re: Thor / Wagan 18M Spotlight - HID bulb question*

After getting the Wagan for Father's Day (and wondering how it compares to the Thor), I'm not sure i want to mod the light. I have the 75W HID bulb and ballast on it's way, but I was wondering if someone else sold a cheaper host to throw it in?

Is there a nice cheap host that you can buy to make a super thrower with a 75W HID, or can you just buy a reflector from somewhere? Who makes a very nice throw reflector that fits an H4 HID? Or can anyone recommend a nice host?

I'm looking for something that I'll get the most throw from. The Wagan that I got has a ton of lines in the spot, it's irregulary shaped, and the spot is like 3 feet across at 25 feet and 10 feet across at 100 feet LoL.


----------



## roopeseta (Jun 20, 2011)

*Re: Thor / Wagan 18M Spotlight - HID bulb question*

Halogen makes much much more heat than the hid so if you look it from a heat point of view, hid will not do any harm.


----------



## Rezolution (Jun 20, 2011)

*Re: Thor / Wagan 18M Spotlight - HID bulb question*

I'm not sure if my Wagan halogen beam is focused properly from the factory or if the reflector is just not made to throw very well. I'll try to post some pics tonight of the beam at a few close distances and perhaps someone could give me their thoughts on it.it seems like no one has this light...


----------



## Rezolution (Jun 21, 2011)

*Re: Thor / Wagan 18M Spotlight - HID bulb question*

As it turns out, the Halogen bulb is too far back into the reflector to give a good tight spot. However, I like this light so much that I'm not going to modify it as it's very useful for yard work.

After reading a ton of threads on here and seeing how much people were bragging about the throw on the Professional's Favorite 20M Plus spotlight, I picked up the Advance Auto Parts clone today for $35. I'll be modding that light with my new HID kit that's in the mail.


----------



## Rezolution (Jul 22, 2011)

*Re: Thor / Wagan 18M Spotlight - HID bulb question*

So looooooooong story short, the HID bulb I got wouldn't fit far enough into the Professional's Favorite housing so it had to be installed into the Wagan 18M.

On the plus side, had I mounted it in the Professional's Fav, the ballast would have had to been mounted to the bottom of the light. Since the Wagan had a deep cavity behind the reflector, I was able to fit all of it nicely behind it.

Here are a few pics:
























This is a side by side of the Professional's Favorite (Left - 120 Watt Halogen) vs the Wagan (Right - 75 Watt HID)






This is a shot of and HID bulb just after you turn it off, I'm not sure how many people have seen this but it looks pretty cool in the dark...


----------



## JacobJones (Jul 23, 2011)

*Re: Thor / Wagan 18M Spotlight - HID bulb question*

thats cool, shame you couldn't get it right in the advanced autoparts one, that would have been an even better thrower. Are you sure it wasn't deep enough in the reflector and not too deep? someone who modded a Thor X to hid thought the bulb wouldn't go deep enough but it actually was too deep, they used shims to back it out a bit.


----------



## JacobJones (Jul 23, 2011)

I'm really interested in this because I want to make a really good HID thrower.


----------



## JacobJones (Jul 23, 2011)

And how much did you pay for the advanced autoparts clone?


----------



## Rezolution (Jul 24, 2011)

Yeah it needed to go about 1/4 inch deeper into the Prof Fav and the only way I would have been able to get it in deeper would have been to cut the reflector center out. For some reason, the stock bulb filament position is about 3/8 deeper into the PF than it is in the Wagan (two completely different bulbs, even though they're both 120W). In fact, the Wagan halogen bulb looks normal on low/hi while the PF bulb looks normal on hi but completely ridiculous on low because there is a large peice of metal inside the bulb. 

As far as finding a bulb that fits, I think it depends who you get the HID bulb from, they are all different. What you could do is measure how far in the high filament is on the PF and then ask around on ebay until you find an HID bulb that's around the same arc depth.

The more you back the bulb out, the more you wind up with a black core to the beam. As you back it out, you wind up with a bigger and bigger black spot in the middle of the beam instead of a nice hot spot.

I think I wound up paying $35 for the PF with the online coupon. You just have to bring the price up it it a little bit by adding a bag of cotter pins or something.


----------



## JacobJones (Jul 24, 2011)

Sounds like a reasonable price. Have you had a chance to see how far your wagan HID throws yet? does it out throw the stock professionals favourite?


----------



## Rezolution (Jul 24, 2011)

Where I live at, I can only shine my lights about 100 feet or so. I haven't had a chance to compare the two yet. I can tell you that if you shine the 75W HID on the wall on top of the 120W Halogen, the HID completely obliterates it and you can't even see the Halogen beam lol.


----------



## BVH (Jul 24, 2011)

A couple things to keep in mind. All other factors being identical, HID will provide 3 times the light output of Halogen at the same power level. Also, a 120 Watt rated Halogen bulb, as with most all other Halogen bulbs, will not consume 120 Watts until you reach about 14.4 Volts. That's obviously not going to happen when using an SLA. You'll be lucky to get 12.3 or 4 V to the bulb. In a test yesterday, I provided a 130 watt Halogen bulb 12.4 Volts with a resulting consumption of 102 watts. It took 14.4V to reach 130 Watts.


----------



## N4aeq (Jul 24, 2011)

What seller did you buy from? I have several thor's I would like to convert to HID, most of the kits I have seen are for autos and you get 2 bulbs and ballast. Please ignore this reply I found the answer to my question in your 1st post.


----------



## JacobJones (Jul 24, 2011)

Ok, I've had enough of asking questions and planning. I'm going to order that 75 watt hid kit you got rezolution and a cyclops Thor X colossus. When it's finished I'll tell you all how far it throws

ok, ordered now. Just got to wait


----------



## Rezolution (Jul 25, 2011)

The seller, 'factorykiss', is a really nice person. He will sell you 1/2 a kit if you only want one bulb and one ballast. It takes a long time to get to the US since it's coming from China and they make the kits to order. Figure it will take about a month for you to get it.

Now, if I only had some good advice on how to focus it correctly for a 1 degree beam LoL


----------



## JacobJones (Jul 25, 2011)

Bit late now but never mind, could be usefull to have spares or I could save it for a future project. Interesting that they are made to order


----------



## Rezolution (Jul 25, 2011)

I only get a 20 minute runtime. It ran for exactly 20 min, then I believe it cuts off when the SLA drifts to near 9v. You'll have to let me know how long yours runs for after you mod it...


----------



## JacobJones (Jul 25, 2011)

That doesn't sound right. If it draws 6.25 amps the 7.2Ah battery should last over an hour. Maybe someone more knowledgable than us could explain this


----------



## BVH (Jul 25, 2011)

Peukert's Factor kicking in here. Google Peukert's Factor. The higher the rate of drain on a battery, the less capacity it will yield. At 1C, no way will you get 7AH out of a 7AH SLA. Many battery capacities are rated at .1C. Overall, the 20 minutes sounds a bit short. I'd have expected 25, possibly up to 30 minutes.


----------



## Rezolution (Jul 26, 2011)

BHV, have you ever considered doing a tutorial on the best way to focus spotlight beams? I find that there are no good tutorials and no one has ever posted any pics of what the beam pattern should look like at 5 feet, 10 feet, 50 feet, 100 feet, etc. 

How did you learn how to focus all your lights?

I'm also considering making up some kind of coupler that allows me to focus the beam with a servo behind the reflector and a potentiometer on the outside case... Might be a neat project


----------



## JacobJones (Aug 4, 2011)

Recieved the cyclops thor X colossus today, and they where not joking when they called it colossus, it's huge. The reflector looks really good, should throw quite a way. I have recieved an email from factorykiss aswell and I should be getting my hid kit some time next week.


----------



## JacobJones (Aug 4, 2011)

Did you look at the battery in your wagan rezolution? I've just looked in my Thor and I was expecting a 12 volt 7Ah sla battery, it's actually got two 6 volt 4Ah sla batteries. Is yours the same? This would explain the short run time you got


----------



## Rezolution (Aug 4, 2011)

Yeah, I have a 12V 7Ah SLA battery in it. It's rated 7Ah but at 0.1 C. After reading the article about Peukert's Factor, it makes sense now why it only runs for 20 to 24 minutes when I'm consuming power at 1.0 C. When I run it continuously at 1.0 C, there is no time for the battery to recover.


----------



## JacobJones (Aug 4, 2011)

Wow, my runtimes probably going to be about ten minutes then. I think I should buy a 7Ah battery, there is enough space in the Thor for one


----------



## BVH (Aug 4, 2011)

If you're not opposed to use RC Lipos and you have a hobby charger with balance capabilities, buy 2 ea., 4S/5000 mAh Blue Lipo brand, (14.8 Volt) run them in parallel for a total of 148 Watt hours - probably 1hr, 15 minutes of run time or a bit more.


----------



## JacobJones (Aug 4, 2011)

Too expensive for me. 

If I charge the pair of 6volt 4Ah batteries in series at 15 volts and 300Mah how long do you think they will take to be fully charged? Because I'm in the uk and the Thor comes with an American two pin charge I've got to try and bodge something up to charge it


----------



## Rezolution (Aug 5, 2011)

BVH said:


> If you're not opposed to use RC Lipos and you have a hobby charger with balance capabilities, buy 2 ea., 4S/5000 mAh Blue Lipo brand, (14.8 Volt) run them in parallel for a total of 148 Watt hours - probably 1hr, 15 minutes of run time or a bit more.


 
I would seriously consider doing this, however, fully charged the batteries would be 16.8V (4.2V * 4). Won't that destroy my ballast?


----------



## BVH (Aug 5, 2011)

You'd need to check the range labeled on the ballast. Many go to 18V, some to 16 +-. If only 16, then go with the 3S/5000. In some ways, this is better because they are empty at 9V, which is typically at the very bottom of the voltage range of the ballast. You'd just lose some run time.


----------



## Rezolution (Aug 5, 2011)

BVH said:


> You'd need to check the range labeled on the ballast. Many go to 18V, some to 16 +-. If only 16, then go with the 3S/5000. In some ways, this is better because they are empty at 9V, which is typically at the very bottom of the voltage range of the ballast. You'd just lose some run time.


 
Too bad there isn't some way to integrate the batteries into the current charging setup. I already spent $20 on a 12V SLA float charger.

With two LiPo batteries, I'd either have to take them out to charge them on a balance charger or rig the balance charge jacks up to the inside of the light some how.


----------



## BVH (Aug 5, 2011)

Yep, that is an issue to deal with. Sure lightens up the light, though. 1 lb, 8 oz vrs 5 lb, 3 oz.


----------



## JacobJones (Aug 11, 2011)

Got the hid kit today. Not really sure how to wire it up though, I think I should probably put the black wire from the hid kit to the red wire in the Thor and the white wire in the hid kit to the black in the Thor. Is this right? Just thought I should check before I do it wrong and damage something


Never mind, worked it out now. It's white to red and black to black


----------



## amraspalantir (Aug 27, 2011)

BVH said:


> You'd need to check the range labeled on the ballast. Many go to 18V, some to 16 +-. If only 16, then go with the 3S/5000. In some ways, this is better because they are empty at 9V, which is typically at the very bottom of the voltage range of the ballast. You'd just lose some run time.



if we are going to use a 3s/5000mah lipo which discharge rate would be best? 25C Constant / 50C Burst or 45C Constant / 90C Burst? thanks


----------



## BVH (Aug 27, 2011)

20 to 25C is way more than adequate for our typical HID flashlight uses. 20 times (20C) 5000 mAh = 100 Amp capability. Don't waste money by buying a higher C rating.


----------



## Cloons411 (Aug 27, 2011)

If you are seriously looking for Lipo's, I would check out Hobbyking.com. They are what I run in my 1/8th scale buggy. 
Here are a couple options on 3s batteries in the us warehouse.
http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=16705

http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=16211

If you let it sit for a minute on the page a little window will usually pop up with a cheaper price.


Cory


----------



## Rezolution (Oct 4, 2011)

This post wasn't accepting images...


----------



## Rezolution (Oct 5, 2011)

So, I've been considering refocusing this light for a while now. It is very nice the way it's currently running, but I keep feeling that it should be focused better... Right now, the hotspot area of the beam is not focused as well as it could be. At about 300 yards out, the hotspot is very large.

It's currently focusing to a pinpoint about 100 feet out, then it starts to spread out again:






I was hoping to focus it more like this:






Or even like this (Maxabeam style):







Can anyone tell me if it's possible for it to look similar to the throw and focus of a Maxabeam, and which way I would move the bulb to achieve this (based on the pic above showing how it's currently focusing about 100 feet in front of the reflector)? Would I move the bulb further into the reflector or would i move it further out of the reflector? How many mm are we talking here to get the focus "just right"? I'm thinking i could just use some small strips of aluminum duct tape as shims (if it needs to come out a little).


----------



## JacobJones (Oct 5, 2011)

I think it's too deep in the reflector, shim it out a bit. Best way to get it focussed right is trial and error, I know you said that where you are you can't test it at long range but if you shine it straight up into the sky you can clearly see the beam in the air, just keep adding shims untill the beam looks like the maxabeam one. With my cyclops thor I had it focussed really well for the few minutes I got to use it before the ballast failed.


----------



## Rezolution (Oct 5, 2011)

I'll hold out until BHV or someone with a lot of experience with these lights has some input. I need to know which way to move it and about how many mm. If it turns out that I need to move it further in, I cannot, so I won't even bother taking the light apart since I spent about 3 hours already getting it centered perfectly.


----------



## BVH (Oct 5, 2011)

JacobJones said:


> Best way to get it focussed right is trial and error....



First, you should not have expectations of achieving a Maxabeam focus. The very specific design of the MB reflector and the fact that its' short-arc bulb has an arc gap of somewhere around 1 mm +-, are the main reasons it achieves the parallel appearing pencil beam. 

Thors and all the other general purpose large spotlights have an inexpensive, mass produced, "ringy" flood-oriented reflector. The sharpest/smallest beam/hotspot you're going to get is already designed and built into the reflector. You're limited by this shape. Add to that, the arc gap in the automotive bulbs we're using are somewhere in the 4-5mm area which simply magnifies the problem of achieving a tight beam. The smaller the actual light source (the glowing plasma ball of gas in the arc chamber), the tighter the beam. The only thing you can do is to focus the light source (the arc gap) directly in the reflector's "focal point". Trial and error is how I do mine.

I pick a medium colored flat surface, not black, not white, about 10' away from the light. I mark precisely where the light is to be placed so it goes back in the exact same spot every time. I shine the spot on the flat surface and measure and mark its' exact center with an ink dot on a sticky note. I do the same for the outer diameter with a sticky-note. (the outer diameter of the hot spot, not any corona rings) I then use a shim somewhere around .003 - .005" in thickness and place it btw the bulb and reflector well. I then put the light back in the same spot and shine it so the exact center of the hot spot is again on the sticky note ink dot. Observe whether the outer diameter of the hot spot is smaller or larger than the outer diameter sticky note you used in the last trial. If it's getting larger, you're probably out of luck because you can't move the bulb inward. If it's getting smaller, keep using more very thin shims until you see the hot spot getting larger again. Stop there and remove the last shim you installed. If you use thicker shims, you will probably miss seeing the sweet spot. It takes small movements to make big changes. You can easily buy small boxes of "shim stock" and make your own shims. The .003" - .005" stock can be cut with scissors.

If you're a shooter, try using a "ring" shaped paper target to measure the outer hot spot diameter after shimming. It's easier and faster than the sticky note process.


----------



## Rezolution (Oct 5, 2011)

Well Jacob was on the right track but it took BHV's explanation for me to understand what to do! BHV, thanks for your secret formula on focusing 

BHV, what type of shim material are you suggesting?


----------



## BVH (Oct 5, 2011)

I buy brass shim stock in: .001", .002", .005" and .010" thicknesses. The .001-005 are "scissorable". Tin snips for the .010. This gives you almost infinite shim thickness ability. .001, .002, .003, .004, .005, etc by stacking multiples.


----------



## Rezolution (Oct 5, 2011)

Again, many thanks!


----------



## Rezolution (Oct 6, 2011)

Well, shimming the bulb out only made the hotspot larger. I was able to push down on the reflector a bit (it deformed) but I got the bulb in another couple thousandths or so. I got the pattern on the wall to shrink a bit but I'm not sure how much more I needed it to go. 

I guess all HID bulbs must be made differently as I've noted from other build threads that most people need to back the bulb out. This bulb looks to be shorter than both of the filament bulbs I was trying to replace (Wagan 18M and Professional's choice).


----------



## JacobJones (Oct 6, 2011)

That's unlucky. I ordered the exact same hid kit as you, on the bulb base it has several metal bits sticking out, have you bent them inwards or cut them off? If you haven't you should, it'll go a good bit deeper if you do.


----------



## Rezolution (Oct 6, 2011)

Yeah, I bent those all in. I gained quite a bit, but still not enough sadly. That's what I get for trying to make a Maxabeam for $200 I guess LoL. I looks very nice, it's just not 'perfect'. I wish I could tweak it just a hair more. I don't really have anything to compare it too either to see just how far it's off. I'm not sure how large the hotspot should be, at say, 100 yards.

Any idea why your ballast failed and is it going to be replaced under warranty?


----------



## Rezolution (Oct 6, 2011)

Maybe I should try getting a different 50W or 55W bulb off of Ebay and overdrive it with my 75W ballast? I wonder if the output of a 55W drive at 75W would be brighter? Maybe I'll have better luck focusing with a different bulb...


----------



## JacobJones (Oct 6, 2011)

I guess I just got lucky, these hid bulbs seem to be a good combination with the Cyclops thor reflector, the hotspot was huge at 300 yards but it didn't cross over like yours and it made a lightforce blitz look like a toy so I'm pleased. When I get it fixed I can get it focussed properly. 

What you could do is cut out the bit of the reflector that is stopping the bulb going in further and make something to hold the bulb. The bit of the reflector that needs to be removed is flat rather than parabolic so cutting it out shouldn't affect the throw. It's a lot of messing about but it's possible and you could get it focussed right.

I Don't know why the ballast failed, I assume it must have short circuited because it blew the 15amp fuse I had in it, me being a fool I replaced the fuse with a 30 amp one and turned it on. No light but a strong smell of melting plastic from 2 diodes on the spotlights circuit board that had just been cooked by the high current.....

So I emailed factorykiss, he sent me a replacement ballast for 9 dollars (to cover the shipping) and let me keep the broken ballast, very helpful seller.
I'm going to open the faulty one up at some point and see what went wrong, might even be able to fix it.

It will probably throw even better with a lower wattage bulb that's overdriven. The lower wattage bulbs have a smaller arc gap so if it's overdriven at 75 watts it would have higher surface brightness than an actual 75 watt bulb. Still a chance that it might not go deep enough in the reflector though


----------



## Rezolution (Oct 6, 2011)

For ten dollars, I guess I'll roll the Chinese lottery dice


----------



## Rezolution (Oct 6, 2011)

Wow, it was $10 for TWO bulbs LoL. What a deal!!! The first kit I got was 4200k but I'm going to try 6000K this time...




*2 X 55W HID Xenon Replacement Headlight Bulb H4 6000K*


----------



## BVH (Oct 6, 2011)

That's too bad, Rez that your reflector required inward movement. Is the bulb you're using an H3 base? If so, there are indeed vastly different lengths of HID bulbs. You may have gotten the sorter one, In practice, your arc gap has to go exactly where the Halogen filament was in relation to the distance from the back of the reflector. From where your bulb mounting surface is (where it touches the reflector face) to the middle of the arc gap, what is the measurement?


----------



## Rezolution (Oct 7, 2011)

It's an H4. I actually purchased two hosts to try this with when I started. The Wagan and the Professional's Choice. When I tried this HID bulb Prof Choice, there was no way I would ever be able to get it deep enough in the reflector. I think the difference was greater than 1/2 an inch. On the Wagan, the difference was between 1/2 and 1/4 of an inch. I know one choice is to cut off the H4 bulb holder and just run the bulb all the way in to the base of the reflector (and then shim/glue it). 

I'm just hoping that the new H4 bulbs that I ordered are a little bit longer than the one I have now. That combined with the 55W being overdrive to 75W should make for a much nicer beam. Even if it doesn't, I'm still 95% happy with the light as it stands now. Just trying to get it perfect... LoL


----------



## JacobJones (Oct 7, 2011)

BVH said:


> From where your bulb mounting surface is (where it touches the reflector face) to the middle of the arc gap, what is the measurement?



I measured on mine and it's between 21 and 22mm


----------



## BVH (Oct 7, 2011)

I don't have and have not used any H4's so I don't know if they come in different lengths.


----------



## Rezolution (Oct 7, 2011)

They must because the Wagan and the Professional's choice had two drastically different length bulbs in them. I can measure them when I get home tonight.


----------



## Rezolution (Oct 7, 2011)

It might be because the two original bulbs are two-stage (hi/lo) halogen and when I'm trying to replace it with is single stage (hi only).


----------

