# HID - bad to turn on and off?



## kuksul08 (Mar 20, 2009)

I have the headlight from my car sitting here, and I connected some AA's in series for 12V to the ballast. It must not be getting enough current, because it just blinks at a very fast rate and I can hear it go tick tick tick.

Is it bad for the HID bulb to do this? It's a 35W D2S bulb. I know for halogens it's bad to power cycle them like that. Please inform me!


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## BVH (Mar 20, 2009)

Yes, definitely bad for the ballast and bulb. There's not nearly enough current to run it let alone, start it.


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## Patriot (Mar 20, 2009)

10 D cells would probably work. That's 15V minus some voltage sag.


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## kuksul08 (Mar 20, 2009)

Thanks for the replies 

I think I may have to use my motorcycle battery. I want to throw that sucker in my back pack, then make a housing for the bulb, and aspheric lense. Brightest bike light in history


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## buickid (Mar 20, 2009)

Unless your motorcycle battery is deep cycle, discharging that a few times will kill it... Also, I'm not sure if its sealed or not, but if its not, then you're gonna have an acidic mess if your backpack tips too much. If you really want portable HID goodness, maybe invest in a Ni-MH battery pack or something. Lead-acid is kinda heavy to be carrying around in a backpack.


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## kuksul08 (Mar 20, 2009)

buickid said:


> Unless your motorcycle battery is deep cycle, discharging that a few times will kill it... Also, I'm not sure if its sealed or not, but if its not, then you're gonna have an acidic mess if your backpack tips too much. If you really want portable HID goodness, maybe invest in a Ni-MH battery pack or something. Lead-acid is kinda heavy to be carrying around in a backpack.




Haha yeah this whole idea is kind of impractical. This battery in particular is a gel battery so it doesn't matter if it tips, but yeah still pretty darn heavy.


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## Patriot (Mar 20, 2009)

kuksul08 said:


> I think I may have to use my motorcycle battery. I want to throw that sucker in my back pack, then make a housing for the bulb, and aspheric lense. Brightest bike light in history




I didn't realize that you were messing around with an actual application. Just thought you wanted to power it on your workbench...lol. 

There are a lot of lighting options for bicycles including 30W HID lights. The good part is that they weigh a 1/5 if what the SLA set-up does.


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## kuksul08 (Mar 22, 2009)

Patriot36 said:


> I didn't realize that you were messing around with an actual application. Just thought you wanted to power it on your workbench...lol.
> 
> There are a lot of lighting options for bicycles including 30W HID lights. The good part is that they weigh a 1/5 if what the SLA set-up does.




I may pursue it one day, maybe not. I've already had success with LEDs so I've been using those practically. This HID is just so awesome though , I'm sure some Li-Ion battery could power it up with far less weight, one day.


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## Marko (Apr 20, 2009)

BVH said:


> Yes, definitely bad for the ballast and bulb. There's not nearly enough current to run it let alone, start it.



What is actually happening to the ballast with this short starts/stops? I'm wondering since I just got new ballast for my N30 - and I have been followed this 5/5 minutes rule (5 minutes min burn time, 5 minutes until turn it back on) with the old (bad one) too. I'm curious if it could be the bulb that killed the old ballast?


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## Patriot (Apr 20, 2009)

Marko said:


> I'm curious if it could be the bulb that killed the old ballast?




I'm still a little confused on whether it's possible or at least if it's common at all. There is some discussion about the concept in this thread:
https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/227931

One member says it's possible but blames it on low quality bulbs. The other member seems to be pointing blame at the ballast even though it's made the same or better than any other ballast in our portable HIDs.


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## Juggernaut (Apr 20, 2009)

Patriot said:


> 10 D cells would probably work. That's 15V minus some voltage sag.


 
No, 10 alkaline Ds will under drive it and have a very short life “around 10 minuets” I knew, that what I used to run my RayOvac 30 watt light. 



> Haha yeah this whole idea is kind of impractical. This battery in particular is a gel battery so it doesn't matter if it tips, but yeah still pretty darn heavy.


 
Impracticality, Ha! If only you new what I do…:naughty::devil:
 


> Brightest bike light in history


 
Bright yes:thumbsup:…brightest no:sigh:….some guy in Austria mounted one of the new prototype 100 Watt Led dies to his bike.


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## ecotack (Apr 21, 2009)

I just bough a pair of 4000mAh LiPo batteries, they power my HID DIY lantern well and are a dam site lighter than the 7Ah SLA.


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