hid canister light

[budcris]

has anyone ever built there own hid canister light?
where do i get the compononets?
do i have to have a seperate hid ballast or is it in the light head?
can anyone give me any ideas on how to build one?

[ShoalDiverSA]

I haven't got there yet, but I am trying!

I see that you are based in the USA. My recommendation is that you look at Welch-Allyn HID products. It is not viable for me to get hold of them from sunny South Africa! The neat thing about them is that they are designed for 12VDC already. Here is a link to their technical information section:

http://www.walamp.com/halidetech.asp

They may be pricey, though.

I am in the process of building a ballast for a 220VAC 35W Philips metal halide lamp. It's a mission, but if I get it right (and don't kill myself), I will post my design to the board.

The ballast will sit in the lamphead to minimise losses in the cable between your battery pack and the lamphead. You also probably don't want high voltages (1.5kV on startup!) in the cable, in case it gets snagged on something and is damaged.

But I am learning myself. Looking forward to other posts...

Good luck!

[nickjb]

The HID divelight user group should be able to help:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/hiddivelights/

There is also some useful info here:
http://www.ukrstorch.freewire.co.uk/

[H2OHead]

The yahoo group is a great source of information. There are some great ideas that float around there. Very illuminating at times. The developer kits are expensive and some folks get together to buy multiple bulbs and ballasts from WA.

[Padipro]

I looked into building a HID canister light a while back and it was very expensive for the bulb and the ballast. Welch Allen sells a lot of the HID parts but you're looking at several hundred dollars for just the bulb and ballast. I desided on a Halogen instead.

I can't halp you with the HID part but I can help you with the canister and light head. Take a look at this link, I have about 70 pictures of my light as I was building it and the plans are in the documents section.

DIY Stuff (http://groups.msn.com/Divelight/shoebox.msnw)

Scott

[Gill]

Well, they may not be specific to diving, but you may want to check out CandlePowerForums (http://www.candlepowerforums.com/) in the "Homemade and Modified" sections. And if you have questions specific to incadescent, LEDs, or HID there are a bunch of people who can answer those questions.

[diverUp]

Check this link:

http://www.airspeedpress.com/newlitebook.html

[budcris]

thanks guys but i think that i will just buy a aul hid light i think that i could buy it cheaper than i could make it

[Plongeur fou]

has anyone ever built there own hid canister light?
where do i get the compononets?
do i have to have a seperate hid ballast or is it in the light head?
can anyone give me any ideas on how to build one?

Hi from france !
have a look at my web site, it might give you some ideas !
Sorry it's in french, english version is on its way

Regards

alain

[Plongeur fou]

has anyone ever built there own hid canister light?
where do i get the compononets?
do i have to have a seperate hid ballast or is it in the light head?
can anyone give me any ideas on how to build one?

Hi from france !
have a look at my web site, it might give you some ideas !
Sorry it's in french, english version is on its way

http://perso.wanadoo.fr/alain.neveu/phare


Regards

alain

[Curt Bowen]

has anyone ever built there own hid canister light?
where do i get the compononets?
do i have to have a seperate hid ballast or is it in the light head?
can anyone give me any ideas on how to build one?


dont want to un motivate you, but by the time you ship in and build each component you could probably have purchased two comercial available HID lights.

But, have fun, you'll learn lots and lots trying to do it yourself.

[Padipro]

Hi from france !
have a look at my web site, it might give you some ideas !
Sorry it's in french, english version is on its way

http://perso.wanadoo.fr/alain.neveu/phare


Regards

alain

Alain,

My French is very rusty but that's a beau job. ;) When I built my light I was trying to figure out a way to make a light head somewhat like yours, only I don't have access to a machine shop so I had to settle for the modified Mag-Lite.

Let us know when you have the english version up and running, I'd like to take another look at the site.