# HID spotlight going on sale in Canada for $50



## darcyh (Apr 14, 2010)

Hello:

Any comments on this item. Seems pretty good for $50. Thanks for your comments.

Dave

http://www.canadiantire.ca/AST/browse/6/Tools/ShopEquipment/Worklights/PRD~0379430P/Motomaster%252BEliminator%252B25-Million%252BCandle%252BSpot%252BLight.jsp?locale=en#BVQAWidgetID


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## Patriot (Apr 14, 2010)

You can't go wrong with this light, even if it comes with a dead battery...lol.

Definitely pick up one or two of them.


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## kit (Apr 15, 2010)

They are great for the price! I have once since last year..very nice beam, but doesnt throw as far as the Stanley..but thicker beam pattern. It's not that heavy either. It has a 90 day return policy, so if it comes with dead batteries...guess you can exchange them.


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## ANDREAS FERRARI (Apr 15, 2010)

Several Canadian members have purchased this light and I have not heard one bad remark from any of them.It is next to impossible to buy a HID spotlight for only $49.95 anywhere on this planet.

I say buy one-go out into the woods-and scare the hell out of the wildlife!!!LOL


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## bogeymachine (Apr 15, 2010)

thanks for the heads' up!

I think many more will appreciate this if you post it in "good deals" over at cpfmp.

bogey out


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## Fulgeo (Apr 15, 2010)

Looks great! Anyone know the manufacturer of the HID lamp? Heck I would also be curious on the size and dimensions of the ballast. I feel a mod coming on.


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## LumenHound (Apr 16, 2010)

Fulgeo said:


> Looks great! Anyone know the manufacturer of the HID lamp? Heck I would also be curious on the size and dimensions of the ballast. I feel a mod coming on.


No idea who makes the lamp but the ballast is small. It's 80mm X 63mm and only 32mm thick not including the mounting tabs. Kind of like a short but extra thick deck of playing cards. There _is_ enough room for a ballast that's 80mm X *95*mm X 32mm if you want to trim away 2 thin plastic ribs inside the spotlight case. More trimming will allow a thinner 100mm X 95mm X *30*mm ballast to fit.

The lamp is H4 based and has HID 12V35W 6000K printed on the inner surface of the base.

There is a pot in the ballast that allows output adjustment but it's under 2 different layers of rubberized compound and the stuff puts up a good fight while your removing it from around the adjustment pot. Tweaking the pot will get you 48~50 watts being drawn from the battery. Don't turn the pot fully counter clockwise.


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## Fulgeo (Apr 16, 2010)

Thanks LumenHound!:thumbsup:


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## Arnulf (Apr 18, 2010)

I got the halogen version of this light.....must be a extra small ballast to fit in there...I could not get a regular ballast to fit.....so I had to go buy a bigger spotty that would accept my ballasts internally...I don't like the looks of the ballasts mounted externally.....I wish the HID version was sold here in the U.S 

This spotty also has a strong chemical odor?


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## derangboy (Apr 19, 2010)

My first HID! lovecpf


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## Arnulf (Apr 19, 2010)

derangboy said:


> My first HID! lovecpf



I'll give you $60 for it if you bring it to Michigan.


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## Hack On Wheels (Apr 23, 2010)

Well, I caved in and bought one. I'm liking it so far, but I've noticed that mine consistently gives a fairly bright (momentary) flash when I turn it on. It immediately then goes to the slow ramping up sequence and proceeds as I would have expected. Is this flash normal? I don't know enough about HIDs to have a clue...


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## Locoboy5150 (Apr 23, 2010)

I'm not familiar with this particular HID spotlight, but that bright flash might be normal. It might help warm up the HID bulb to normal operating temperatures faster. The Stanley HID spotlight has a similar brighter warm up time that increases the bulb brightness for a second or two right after the trigger is pulled.


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## LumenHound (Apr 23, 2010)

Hack On Wheels said:


> Is this flash normal?


 
The 1/3 of a second long flash at start-up is normal for this spotlight.

I think you'll find the charging indicator leds on the side of that light pretty handy. The small 5 led night-light panel on the other side of the body seem to run forever on a full charge.


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## ANDREAS FERRARI (Apr 23, 2010)

LumenHound said:


> There is a pot in the ballast that allows output adjustment.....Tweaking the pot will get you 48~50 watts being drawn from the battery.



Can't help but wonder if's it possible to adjust the ballast to maximum and replace the stock 35w frosted bulb with a 50w bulb.:thinking:


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## LumenHound (Apr 23, 2010)

I can't see why it wouldn't be but I think after tweaking the pot you've reached the sweet spot between money spent versus performance given.

The added cost of a replacement bulb would move the $50 spotlight from an outstanding HID bargain to just a good sale price item. 

You can wring more out of the balast if you want but it requires replacing the pot and you'd have to somehow address the issue of increased heating inside a sealed plastic housing.

I really like this spotlight. It has better than expected construction for a low-ball priced HID light. The 12 volt lighter socket at the rear came in handy when I needed to plug in my car charger for the cell phone while camping last year.


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## LumenHound (Apr 23, 2010)

Andreas, if you have the time, pop the back panel on your unmodified spotlight and measure the current draw you get. You might be surprised at what it is.


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## ANDREAS FERRARI (Apr 24, 2010)

LumenHound said:


> Andreas, if you have the time, pop the back panel on your unmodified spotlight and measure the current draw you get. You might be surprised at what it is.



I'm too lazy to take it apart again.LOL.What do you mean by surprised??? 



LumenHound said:


> The 12 volt lighter socket at the rear came in handy when I needed to plug in my car charger for the cell phone while camping last year.



And I use it to plug in another spotlight.Talk about compulsive!!! :sick2:


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## Hack On Wheels (Apr 24, 2010)

Locoboy5150 said:


> I'm not familiar with this particular HID spotlight, but that bright flash might be normal. It might help warm up the HID bulb to normal operating temperatures faster. The Stanley HID spotlight has a similar brighter warm up time that increases the bulb brightness for a second or two right after the trigger is pulled.





LumenHound said:


> The 1/3 of a second long flash at start-up is normal for this spotlight.
> 
> I think you'll find the charging indicator leds on the side of that light pretty handy. The small 5 led night-light panel on the other side of the body seem to run forever on a full charge.



Thanks for the replies; it's good to know that's normal. 

If I was going to do a runtime test on it, would I just set it up with a fan on it, or what? Also, is a full discharge bad for the SLA battery? I understand that I shouldn't leave the battery discharged, but I don't know if a full discharge (even if immediately followed by charging) is bad or not.


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## JHM (Apr 25, 2010)

I was playing with mine earlier today, had it connected to the bench power supply. I noticed that at right around 10v or so the lamp drops out (turns off) and I belive that it stopped drawing current at that point If I remember things correctly... so the abuse to the SLA should be minimal. 

For what it's worth, power consumption is right around 35w as measured at the battery, not sure what the actual output is however.


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## Hack On Wheels (Apr 26, 2010)

JHM said:


> I was playing with mine earlier today, had it connected to the bench power supply. I noticed that at right around 10v or so the lamp drops out (turns off) and I belive that it stopped drawing current at that point If I remember things correctly... so the abuse to the SLA should be minimal.
> 
> For what it's worth, power consumption is right around 35w as measured at the battery, not sure what the actual output is however.



Thanks for the info, that's good to hear!

I hope you live on a farm, but there would be lots of other great places to play with an HID out your way. :thumbsup: I'm going to have to bring this light when I'm out in Langley next.


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## gibbs (May 29, 2010)

They are back on sale again, picked one up today, it is still charging as the battery was completely flat when I opened it. Hope the battery wasn't damaged, however CT has a good return policy.


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## znarfcram (Sep 13, 2010)

Bit of a fluke, as I was searching for an unrelated topic I noticed this thread. Clicking on the link, i noticed that the HID light is on sale again (in case anyone didn't know, Can Tire tends to run sales on the same items every 6 - 12 weeks). They tend to run their sales form Friday to the following Thursday. That means this time it will be on sale until Thurs Sept 16, 2010.


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## mknewman (Sep 14, 2010)

So what about changing out the 12v lead battery for something a bit more robust?


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## DJack (Sep 23, 2010)

I wish they sold the HID version here in Miami. However, I did find the halogen here for $20.(Big Lots) I bought 2 of them. Hope to convert them to 55W HIDs. Is that a reasonable price? As far as I am concerned they are very disappointing lights right now. I have a dorcy cyber LED at 180 lumens that's almost as bright. Could anyone post a few pics of the HID's beam?
I don't know how much room the HID model has inside, but the halogen has 3 inches behind the battery where the AC charger is stored. It only came with a 12v 4ah battery anyway. seems to me that a much larger battery pack could fit in there.


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## ANDREAS FERRARI (Sep 24, 2010)

DJack said:


> Could anyone post a few pics of the HID's beam?



I took some shots comparing this light to a POB last spring but I am useless with a camera and the photos were worthless.
All I can tell you is it puts out a ton of light with a very messy beam.


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## Hack On Wheels (Sep 24, 2010)

ANDREAS FERRARI said:


> I took some shots comparing this light to a POB last spring but I am useless with a camera and the photos were worthless.
> All I can tell you is it puts out a ton of light with a very messy beam.



It's not a perfect beam, but I think it's very usable and not half bad. A good amount of flood and it still has a strong spot for seeing a good distance. I might try upgrading mine with a 55W 4500K HID kit and a LiPo battery pack... I'll have to see about that one. For the sale price, it is certainly worth picking up.


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