14.4v battery packs?

[kramynot2000]

I picked up a old 50 w halogen canister light that runs at 14.4v. I was gonna make my own replacement battery pack but can't figure out how two SLA batterys add up to 14.4v. Can someone help me out here? Is there something I'm missing?

Thanks,
Tony

 

[jonnythan]

14.4V is a standard voltage for a Li-Ion pack (4x3.6V).

What are the dimensions on the canister? Rigging up some NiMH's as a pack might be a good idea.

 

[jonnythan]

(12 NiMH batteries will give you 14.4V too)

 

[MarkH]

I picked up a old 50 w halogen canister light that runs at 14.4v. I was gonna make my own replacement battery pack but can't figure out how two SLA batterys add up to 14.4v. Can someone help me out here? Is there something I'm missing?

Thanks,
Tony

The bulb itself is probably rated for 12 volts, but many people bump it up by a volt or two to make it brighter (although this shortens the bulb life a bit).

 

[kramynot2000]

I've heard about bumping it up to 14.4v but how do you do that? This canister is one of the monster canisters of "back in the day...", fits 2 12v7ah SLA's so I'm sure I can pretty much put anything I want in there.

So when folks bumped it up to 14.4v did they have to get different batteries, like the Nimh's or Li-ions?

 

[MarkH]

I've heard about bumping it up to 14.4v but how do you do that? This canister is one of the monster canisters of "back in the day...", fits 2 12v7ah SLA's so I'm sure I can pretty much put anything I want in there.

So when folks bumped it up to 14.4v did they have to get different batteries, like the Nimh's or Li-ions?

Most of the ones I heard of (home-made) used a voltage of 13.5v with Nicads (9x 1.5v). 14.4v would use the equivalent of 12 NiMh AA's. From what I understand, a Nicad 12v battery pack is just 8 1.5v cells in series, wrapped up in a fancy "box", but I could be wrong. If your light was from the pre-Nimh era, then that's a mystery to me.

 

[ronrosa]

I picked up a old 50 w halogen canister light that runs at 14.4v. I was gonna make my own replacement battery pack but can't figure out how two SLA batterys add up to 14.4v. Can someone help me out here? Is there something I'm missing?

Thanks,
Tony

I use a 50 watt halogen canister light as my video light. I got rid of the big heavy SLA and use 10 "D" cell NIMH batteries. It works great. I had the custom pack made up by these guys.

www.batteryspace.com

I hooked up a few other DIY people looking to do what I did and now batteryspace lists the pack as a regular item, although they list it as a bike light battery.

http://www.batteryspace.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=988

If you decide to go NIMH, make sure you get the correct NIMH charger. A SLA charger won't work. Best bet is to buy the pack and charger from batteryspace, pack cost me $89, charger $30.

 

[kramynot2000]

I use a 50 watt halogen canister light as my video light. I got rid of the big heavy SLA and use 10 "D" cell NIMH batteries. It works great. I had the custom pack made up by these guys.

www.batteryspace.com

I hooked up a few other DIY people looking to do what I did and now batteryspace lists the pack as a regular item, although they list it as a bike light battery.

http://www.batteryspace.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=988

If you decide to go NIMH, make sure you get the correct NIMH charger. A SLA charger won't work. Best bet is to buy the pack and charger from batteryspace, pack cost me $89, charger $30.

I saw this on their website and was very interested. What's your burn time and what do you use for a replacement canister? Also how heavy is this pack? Looks like a great idea.

 

[jonnythan]

Just to vouch for Battery Space/Powerizer, I have tons of their batteries and have had nothing but great service from them. Their batteries are high quality, too.

 

[ronrosa]

I saw this on their website and was very interested. What's your burn time and what do you use for a replacement canister? Also how heavy is this pack? Looks like a great idea.

I get about an hour with a 100 watt bulb in burn tests, never bothered to test the 50 watt bulb. With halogen oppossed to HID, I can turn the light instantly on/off as needed which makes the charge last much longer than a straight continuous burn. Shooting video, the battery charge easily lasts me a full day of 2 tanks in the morning and 1 tank at night.

Since the battery was much smaller than my SLA, I bought a smaller canister from AUL. It's roughly 10" x 3", 3lbs negative in salt water.