35W versus 55W HID - Which do you need ?
Below is some information that may help you decide what you need and on why we use a 35W HID conversion.
Practical hands on experience as related to the use of spotlights for hunting
If you look at standard Lightforce Halogen spotlights, which we have used for over 25 years, the distance they can throw a beam
is certainly far enough to pick up animals at night. However this is often just picking up the eyes of the animal such as a fox and not being able to clearly pick up the whole animal. A Lightforce 170 can easily throw enough light to 300 - 400 metres and a Lightforce 240 can easily throw enough light to 500 - 600 metres.
So why upgrade to HID ?
Xenon HID lights produce a brilliant natural white light and 35W HID LIGHTS are more than 3 times brighter than the standard 100W halogen bulbs. This combination of higher light output and whiter colour provide you a better visibility and further illumination.
HID lights (which includes OUR Lightforce spotlights that have been upgraded to HID) throw more light a further distance than standard Lightforce Halogen spotlights, BUT, and IMHO more importantly, it has best been summed up by Tim Kelly in his review when he said the "brightness, intensity and whiteness is unbelievable compared to the normal Halogen type ...............".
The "brightness and whiteness" of the light definitely helps in picking up animals at night, not just the eyes but the whole animal.
In addition, because the light it brighter and whiter, it is clearer and easier to see things AND takes LESS concentration which I find especially good if out spotlighting for 3 - 4 hours or more.
35W or 55W HID
Firstly, the "Self Contained" HID conversion kit we use for converting Hand Held HID Spotlights is only available in 35W at this stage. however we feel the 35W "Self Contained" HID conversion is more than adequate for spotlighting at night. I think the photos provided in the links above show this.
In the near future (approx 20th July), I will put up some photos showing a comparison of 35W and 55W
POWER USAGE
A standard 55w HALOGEN uses approx 4.8 amps.
A standard 35w HID system uses only approx 3.0 amps - and produces on average 4.5 times the amount of light !!!
TEMPERATURE of Spotlights when in use
We often get asked about the temperature of spotlights when in use.
ALL Halogen spotlights run quite hot where as HID lights run significantly cooler, generating almost no heat at all.
The Temperature in front of a "Converted to HID" Lightforce 170, with the thermometer resting on the black plastic
housing so the bulb of the thermometer is 2 cm from the lense, the temp after running the light for 3 minutes was
20 degrees C.
THE RESULTS OF MORE TEMPERATURE TESTS WILL BE PUT UP AS THEY ARE DONE
Is it safe to be used with polycarbonate (plastic) headlight lens? Will it overheat or melt anything?
HID kits are completely safe to be used in spotlights with polycarbonate (plastic) lenses. In spite of its high light output, HID light actually comsumes less power and generates less heat than a spotlight using a halogen bulb. If your spotlight can withstand the heat from the original halogen bulb, it's not going to be overheated or damaged by the HID bulbs.
This product was added to our catalog on Sunday 04 July, 2010.
