# AC Adapter substitute, Sam's Club HID



## oregon (Jan 30, 2007)

Good news: A friend returned from Phoenix with a Sam's Club HID, "Power On Board", for me! Oh boy, oh boy.

Bad news: The AC adapter is missing. (called cust. serv. and they will mail me a replacement, good news). 

However, can I use a substitute adapter/charger with a lower voltage and lower amperage to bring the battery to a full charge?

What I have: 12V 200mA
What it shoud be: 13.8V 750mA

And, how about polarity of the charger?

What I have: plug exterior is - and plug inside is +
What it should be: ?

Thank you kindly.

oregon


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## KuoH (Jan 30, 2007)

The OEM adapter polarity is tip positive, shield negative. 12 volts should work, since the car adapter plugs into a 12V source, but the 200mA rating is too low. The AC adapter will probably overheat or the voltage will sag under the load. You might try using the car adapter until the replacement AC adapter arrives.

KuoH


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## oregon (Jan 30, 2007)

So, the puny AC adapter might actually drain the battery instead of charging it. I figured that it would charge the battery slowly but surely. OK.

Hunting and pecking around the various adapters in the shoe box I found a correct polarity plug (negative shield and positive tip) with 15V 1A. I imagine that this adapter would charge the battery too fast, causing venting issues, and possibly melt something.

The HID's manual says to use only the adapter provided. It says using the 12v charger could reduce the battery life.

I must have 10 AC adapters. Some too puny and one too powerful. None just right. A rare adapter for this HID I guess.

Gonna have to wait. Ugh argh umpff etc.

Thank you kindly for the help KuoH. It is much appreciated.

All the best,

oregon


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## KuoH (Jan 30, 2007)

No, the small one won't drain the battery. It just might not have enough "umph" to drive the charging electronics. The 15V one might still work, considering the voltage in a car can vary from 11V to 15V and most circuits are designed to be tolerant of of that.

As for what the manual says about the 12V adapter, I must confess, I haven't read it yet.  I wouldn't worry about using the 12V adapter once or twice if you just want to test things out. That's what I would've done if I didn't have the AC adapter.

KuoH


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## 65535 (Jan 31, 2007)

Throw a resistor on that 12V and call it a day. 12vDC in will lower battery life not battery lifespan those batteries are charged around 13.8 volts dc so 12 vdc is underachieving not harmfull if anything slightly beneficial although SLA memory?


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## oregon (Jan 31, 2007)

I just heard from Black and Decker customer service (call the # in the instructions that come with the Sam's HID and you get Black and Decker), who I talked with yesterday about a replacement charger, and there is no replacement charger available at this time. My only option is an exchange at Sam's but I'm in Oregon and the light came from Sam's in Phoenix. There are no Sam's in the Pacific NW. I was given an incident number to use when I call back in a month when a replacement charger might be available.

I can be creative because I have so many miscellaneous chargers to chose from. But it will be a struggle to wait on the correct adapter.

OK. I confess. I used the 15V 1A negative shield positive pin AC adapter. The light's charging light came on and then in less than one hour it registered a full charge. The light performed its absolutly stunning magic with huge spill and brilliant white center hot spot. Can't ask for more: huge wall of light, blistering hot spot and smooth robust beam without significant artifacts even on a white wall. Loving it.

I turned my high ROP on to compare with the HID and the ROP wet its pants.

Thank you for your kind help.

oregon


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## BlueStrobe (Jan 31, 2007)

I have several different battery chargers for 6 volt and 12 volt SLA batteries, but I was never really comfortable with leaving them on too long. I found a couple of SLA battery chargers that will charge and then safely keep your SLA batteries on a float charge without overcharging them. I bought both the 6 volt model and the 12 volt model. They work great, better than any other SLA battery charger I've used in the past.
On my Harbor Freight 30 mil CP HID spotlight, I just open the rear battery door, and attach two alligator clips that are wired to this 12 volt charger, onto the positive and negative battery terminals. I don't have to unhook the battery from the spotlight or even remove the battery. The charger is 12 volts at 500mA. The red led is on when it's charging. The green led comes on when it's charged. It will continue to float charge the battery as needed without overcharging. Here is where I purchased my chargers:
http://www.batterymart.com/p-12v-500ma-sealed-lead-acid-battery-charger-2.html


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## oregon (Jan 31, 2007)

BlueStrobe said:


> Here is where I purchased my chargers:
> http://www.batterymart.com/p-12v-500ma-sealed-lead-acid-battery-charger-2.html


 
Outstanding tip BlueStrobe. And, what a bargain. You have 1/2 a beer coming. Many thanks.

I am going to be OK without the OEM charger.

All the best,

oregon


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## BlueStrobe (Feb 1, 2007)

Oregon,

I forgot to post the info on the 6 volt SLA charger. It is the same type as the 12 volt charger model. I found that it works better to charge SLA 6 volt batteries singly if their charge condition is not "equal", rather than to hook two 6 volt SLA batteries in series and charge them with the 12 volt charger.

http://www.batterymart.com/p-6v-500ma-sealed-lead-acid-battery-charger-2.html

I discovered something many months ago with this 6 volt charger. My daughter has a Vector dual spotlight 3 million candlepower spotlight. It hadn't been used or charged for about two years. I found that the batteries were dead, and unfortunately the switch for the small utililty light had been left in the "on" position to continue to drain the batteries. The small utility light would not even light. That had been that way for two years. I figured the batteries were totally shot, and I was ready to dispose of them and look for a new set. The two 6 volt SLA batteries from the 3 million CP Vector spotlight have the brand name "SEL" and "CP0660 6V6AH/20HR" printed on them. The batteries showed around 2.1 - 2.2 volts each before charging. I put one of the batteries on the 6 volt charger, and the green led came on immediately. This green led indicator normally means the battery is charged and on a float charge mode. I knew this was a false indicator. After several days with the charger on, and the green led remaining on, I took a voltage reading with the charger hooked up to the battery, and it showed 6.72 volts. I disconnected the charger, and the battery showed 5.81 volts. I reconnected the charger to the battery. A few days later, I observed that the red led was on, indicating that the charger was charging the battery, and apparently the battery was taking a charge. After about 8 days of being on the charger, the green led light came on and stayed on. I disconnected the charger, and immediately took a voltage reading of the battery. It showed 6.70 volts. I then ran the second battery through the same charging process, and it performed the same way, acting initially like it would not take a charge. After about eight days on the charger, it was charged up like the first battery.
Today, I took a voltage reading on both these batteries after they have been sitting without use or charging since they were charged four months ago. The reading on #1 battery was 6.30 volts. The reading on #2 battery was 6.29 volts. I then installed both batteries back into the Vestor 3 million CP dual spotlight. (Not something I want to do on a regular basis, as reassembling the two halves of the spotlight with all the wires and parts would be easier with three hands). I switched on the spotlight and put both spotlights on. I expected the batteries to immediately go soft and die, but they didn't. They continued to provide steady power to the two spotlights. They performed as they did when the spotlight was new.
I used this charging method on some other 6 volt SLA batteries that hadn't been used for years, and showed very low voltages. Two batteries I could not revive. Two others, a 9.5AH and a 12AH, that I thought were a lost cause, charged up after just over a week on the charger. Four 6v 2.5AH SLA batteries I bought at Radio Shack about 9-10 years ago, and never used, would not charge.
I don't know why this charger revived the batteries when my other chargers wouldn't, but I am delighted I was able to bring some of them back from the dead.


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## Strontium90 (Nov 28, 2009)

I've got several of those things and when I broke an ac adapter I could not find a replacement to save my life. I did find when I measured the output voltage of the damaged and intact units the voltage was floating at 18.11vdc on my Extech meter . I opted for a power supply pushing 18vdc from http://www.powerstream.com/ and it worked just fine. When charging is completed it stops just as it should. I have tried other power supplies that operated at lower voltages and found the unit stops charging sooner than it did with the higher voltage power supply and the last indicator lamp did not come up to indicate a full charge. I have my doubts about the integrity of the electronics in these things.


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