# The Thor meets Track lighting MOD! (Now with UPDATED BEAMSHOTS!)



## mdocod (Mar 14, 2006)

For starters.. let me thank the members who tipped me off to this...

Zespectre's thread: https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/110324

and 

Lightlust's thread: https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/110345&highlight=lumen

and of cource, the page that those threads link to: http://www.instructables.com/ex/i/9129E65EFFBE102880EC001143E7E506/?ALLSTEPS


After having a little fun creating the animal you can see in my signature, I decided I wanted to do a perminant installation of additional lights onto my thor. The "$10 bike light" was perfect, and MR16 lamps (from track lighting) are 12V, so they could run off of the power already available (internal 12V 7AH SLA).... after doing some research on SLA batteries, I learned that they are VERY tolerant to extreme discharge rates, and for most 7AH batteries, 30-40 amps is within reach continuasly, up to 200 amps is possible with some 7AH SLAs for a few seconds without damage... As it is now, with both filaments on, with a fresh charge, It runs at about 17 amps. So I knew I had the power available to run more lights! 

I did some minor research on MR16 lamps. Most MR16s, burn at about 3000K color temp, come in a veriety of wattages (~15-75W), and are available in different levels of focus (9 degree spot - 60 degree flood). If you wanted to repeat what I have done, I would recomend Solux lamps, they are available in color temps up to 4700K, and their spec pages list characteristics in overdrive up to 15V (suggesting that they are capable of handling a mod to increase the voltage as well). In an effort to save money, and have the lamps quickly to get the project under way, I went with Sylvania 20W "spot" lamps, sold in 3 packs at Lowes for $10 per pack. Not the nicest lamps, but the price and availability is nice. If I ever get the urge to uprgrade, i'll go with 35W, 4700K, Solux Spots.


some picts of these mr16s.












The assembly pretty much follows the directions for the "Bike light," with a few minor tweaks.




As you can see, the parts I chose are slightly different, but the result is the same idea: a PVC canaster for the MR16. I found that the "quick caps" were less expensive than the "no hub couplings" listed in the original project, and serve the same purpose. I used a different adapter (half the price of a "trap adapter") and came to essencially the same result. (had to use a larger pvc threaded cap though). Test the fitment of different components before purchasing... the rubber pieces are going to vary in thickness from brand to brand. The rubber caps I chose, fit loosely- and require the hoseclampt to make a snug fitment.






I decided to attatch 4 lamps to the thor. any more and the wiring would get pretty messy, any less and it just wouldn't look all that impressive. I used 14GA copper speaker wire for the project (same stuff I used to rewire the thor with). 

a look at the project in progess






I measured out positions and drilled holes in the thor to mount the PVC canisters to. I used a large washer on the inside to spread out the pressure (so as not to crack the thor body).





I used 1/2" lengths of 3/4" PVC as spacers between the body of the thor and the mr16 pvc canisters... Longer spacers should be used if you want to be able to attatch the large rubber boot to the thor again.












I couldn't find any MR16 sockets in town... (even visited a major electronics supply store). So I went with a brute force method....





The advantage, is less resistance, the disadvantage, is the lengthy replacement proceedure... My soldering skills are pretty bad, so this was not easy for me at all: I bent the pins out a bit to make it easier to work with.



I chose a 20amp rated toggle switch to use for the mr16s.... I drilled my hole here...





seems like an appropriot place for the new switch, next to the other switches and all.



More pictures of the assembly:




















some shots with everything closed back up and running:























This mod takes a few hours to complete, but is very cool imo!!

now... what am I going to call this new light?


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## Meduza (Mar 14, 2006)

*Re: The Thor meets Track lighting MOD! (some instruction and pictures)*

Haha, Beamshots ? 

Both Filaments: ~17A @ 12v
4 x 20w MR16: ~7A @ 12v

Total: 24A @ 12v = 288w

Near the 300w 

What is the runtime for that one, 15min ?


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## Taylorf (Mar 14, 2006)

*Re: The Thor meets Track lighting MOD! (some instruction and pictures)*

Wow that is sweet. How much did that all cost?


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## CM (Mar 14, 2006)

*Re: The Thor meets Track lighting MOD! (some instruction and pictures)*

Interesting. Beamshots??


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## tysonb (Mar 14, 2006)

*Re: The Thor meets Track lighting MOD! (some instruction and pictures)*

Thorzilla!


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## mdocod (Mar 14, 2006)

*Re: The Thor meets Track lighting MOD! (some instruction and pictures)*



> Haha, Beamshots ?
> 
> Both Filaments: ~17A @ 12v
> 4 x 20w MR16: ~7A @ 12v
> ...



288W is a pretty close estimate- but due to voltage sag, i'm betting it's closer to 270W.. really need to get some regulation in there to kick everything up to 14V... 

15 minuts is a good estimate for current runtimes, (haven't tried a runtime test yet).



> Wow that is sweet. How much did that all cost?


Well, Worked out to be about $50, but for that I actually bought enough parts to make 5 of the little pods, and bought 2 3 packs of MR16s(only used 4 of 6), So, they do come out to be less than $10 per light (just like the "bike light" writup talks about...) I think the cost could probably be reduced further if you were to buy the rubber PVC caps from a plumbing store, (possibly all the plumbing pieces)... A little shopping around could really cut the cost down.... and bulbs.com has specials on no-name MR16s for as little as $1.50 each sometimes, that could reduce the cost a lot as well. (mine were $10 for a 3 pack). This project could also be made much MORE expensive if one were so inclined- using Solux lamps (~$8-$12 each) would be expensive, but would result in nicer beams and whiter light.



the focus of these lights, isn't very impressive. in fact, once the beam is 15 feet away, may as well be a worklight. But it does add a decent amount of flood light around the main beams, helps illuminate the forground, and the area around the spot better. More lumens is More lumens. And I like it... The sylvanias are not centered nore fucused perfectly, they all have a donut hole in the beam, but it all spreads out into a somewhat even wall of light out at about 10-15 feet, so it's not too big of a deal.

I'll try to go out and take some beamshots tonight...

I'm now considering figuring out a way to fit MR11s into smaller PVC and add some of those... on yet another toggle. And possibly upgrading the MR16s to 35W or 50W versions. it would be nice to have it setup to be everything from a long-runtime worklight, to an 8 minut runtime photon canon... I think I might look into gutting the thor (removing the plastic battery carrier), and mounting in a larger battery, (12V 12AH or more).

Another idea- if someone wanted to cut down on the work load, but do a similar mod to their thor- just go to walmart, or ebay, and pick out some cheap fog lights. Then grab some heavy wire and a big switch, and viola! With a flashlight body this large, there's lots of room for fun!


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## Taylorf (Mar 14, 2006)

*Re: The Thor meets Track lighting MOD! (some instruction and pictures)*

Sorry if it says this somewhere but can you still turn on the main light or do only the side lights turn on?


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## mdocod (Mar 14, 2006)

*Re: The Thor meets Track lighting MOD! (some instruction and pictures)*

I can turn on everything(low beam, high beam, and MR16s) all at the same time, ~275W of light- i'll have more pictures later tonight afterdark..


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## CLHC (Mar 14, 2006)

*Re: The Thor meets Track lighting MOD! (some instruction and pictures)*

Hello MDOCOD!

Way to go on that Thor mod! Looks like it could be used in those "Aliens of the Deep" oceanography shoot. :wave:


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## LEDcandle (Mar 14, 2006)

*Re: The Thor meets Track lighting MOD! (some instruction and pictures)*

That is way cool looking and a cool mod!! 
Would love to see some outdoor shots!


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## mdocod (Mar 15, 2006)

*Re: The Thor meets Track lighting MOD! (now with updated BEAMSHOTS!)*

as promised: some beamshots... really wish I had a nicer camera that would let me adjust exposure time.

[edit] i figured out how to use my camera "better" and aparantly, I can adjust expoure time... went out to the garage and found my tripod... here's the new results. these look very similar to reality with a 1 second exposure time. (all shots done with a 1 second exposure time)... the shots with the mr16s on only, are a little dimmer in the picts than in reality, the rest of the shots are sortof close to reality, but the whitebalance sucks on all shots.

first with just the mr16s on:





now with just the low beam:





low+mr16s:





now with just the high beam:





high+mr16s:





everything on:





and for fun:


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## mdocod (Mar 15, 2006)

*Re: The Thor meets Track lighting MOD! (some instruction and pictures)*

poor camera performance results in less than optimal comparisons- but having them "all on" does light up the area around the main light slightly better, the mr16s burn more yellow than the philips H4 bulb however.


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## Sway (Mar 15, 2006)

*Re: The Thor meets Track lighting MOD! (some instruction and pictures)*

The _*Quadra Thor*_ is born, me likey 

Later
Kelly


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## IsaacHayes (Mar 15, 2006)

*Re: The Thor meets Track lighting MOD! (some instruction and pictures)*

Hhaha, looks like a mini-dive robot submarine!! The ones that look at stuff like the titanic.


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## mdocod (Mar 15, 2006)

*Re: The Thor meets Track lighting MOD! (some instruction and pictures)*



> The Quadra Thor is born, me likey



funny- that's what my fiance thought I should call it.

she actually helped me build it, (cut the holes in the rubber end caps). aren't I luckey!


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## tron3 (Mar 15, 2006)

*Re: The Thor meets Track lighting MOD! (some instruction and pictures)*



mdocod said:


> funny- that's what my fiance thought I should call it.
> 
> she actually helped me build it, (cut the holes in the rubber end caps). aren't I luckey!


 
How about the Thor-tanic? It will cause battery power to sink like a stone.  

Now, all you need is a better battery. I would go 1 of 2 ways. 
1. Lead-acid with a higher amp rating.
2. Ni-Mh D-cells rated at 10 amps.

www.zbattery.com has the D cells with solder tabs. That's how I made my 12.5v battery.


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## evan9162 (Mar 15, 2006)

*Re: The Thor meets Track lighting MOD! (some instruction and pictures)*

Have you had any problems with melting plastic? Those MR16 bulbs get HOT.

I built a MR16 light from scratch using PVC tubing. After 5 minutes of continuous runtime, the tube was melting and emitting smoke. I've since rebuilt it in all-aluminium and it stays much cooler and doesn't melt.


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## mdocod (Mar 15, 2006)

*Re: The Thor meets Track lighting MOD! (some instruction and pictures)*

evan9162:
haven't had any problems yet, only using 20W lamps, so that probably helps... I haven't run it for any long durations, no longer than a minut or 2 at a time.


tron3:
The problem with the D cells, is that I am pushing currents near 30 amps, I would have to buy specialty high current designed cells, and probably an expensive charger, could easily end up spending $200+ on a battery pack and charger.. I would really like to make a 14.4V pack for this, but the cost seems too enourmous.

If I could just find a 7 cell lead-acid battery, (14V), or perhaps wire a 2V cell in series with a 12V cell (of the same capacity).... I really want to get above 10AH, and 14 or more V here and keep it cheap.


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## mdocod (Mar 15, 2006)

*Re: The Thor meets Track lighting MOD! (some instruction and pictures)*

:bump: for updated beamshots! (look above)


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## LEDcandle (Mar 16, 2006)

*Re: The Thor meets Track lighting MOD! (some instruction and pictures)*

Nice shots!
The Thor low beam looks like it creams everything else though


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## mdocod (Mar 16, 2006)

*Re: The Thor meets Track lighting MOD! (some instruction and pictures)*

yea, not sure what happened with that shot, it's definetally not accurate at all, if the camera moved a bit (wind was blowing a lot) then that could have created the more washed out brighter look with no spillbeam effect.... which is probably what happened there...

The trees in the foreground are at about 75-125ft out, the trees on hill at the farthest away point in the shot are in excess of 300 feet away.


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## DUQ (Aug 13, 2007)

LOL almost forgot about this beast


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