Halcyon Battery pack questions

[olai]

Hello! First post!!

I have a halcyon canister HID light and was thinking of making a new battery pack as it lasts 30min

It's lead batteries (12v) in it now but i have many 14,4v Li-Ion battery packs (peak 17v) and was wondering if anyone have used batteries with that hi voltage?

Will it work or do i hear fried ballast?

Tested a pack on a automotive hid ballast and it works fine, but maybe it's smart to use a DC-DC Regulator Module to get it down to 12v?

 

[olai]

Picture will be posted when i got 5 posts

 

[350xfire]

HID lights usually work from 10 volts to about 15 volts. I'm afraid 14.4 will not work because it charges to almost 16 volts with a fresh charge. I have tried this. Now the ballasts usually have internal protection against overvoltage so I did not mess anything up.
Best bet is NiMH pack at 12V or LiIon at 11.1v.

 

[Gombessa]

I've used NiMh cells to make a spare 12v pack for y halcyon light. You'll need a thermometer circuit if you want to be able to charge it on a Halcyon charger.

I've been warned away from making a "hobbyist" pack out of Li-ion, the cells are very touchy and can be dangerous if mishandled or misassemble. Just saying if you're inexperienced working with lithium cells or just plan on soldering leads\tabs onto cells, you're probably better off going with nimh. You'll still get twice the burn time in the same space as sla. And it'll be cheaper. Plus, you can get native 12v.

 

[olai]

The reason i use li-ion batteries is that I get them for free, if i have to buy i wold go for the NiMh to.
The packs have a PCB protection board against overcharge/balance etc so no worries, but thanks Gombessa
I thought maybe 11,1v would be to little, but if the ballast works down to 10v +/- it cold work.


I'l try to use 3 4400mAh 11,1v battery packs and tell how it works

 

[350xfire]

The reason i use li-ion batteries is that I get them for free, if i have to buy i wold go for the NiMh to.
The packs have a PCB protection board against overcharge/balance etc so no worries, but thanks Gombessa
I thought maybe 11,1v would be to little, but if the ballast works down to 10v +/- it cold work.


I'l try to use 3 4400mAh 11,1v battery packs and tell how it works

Yes, they'll work at 11.1 volt but the ballast will use about 10% more amperage to make up for the difference in voltage.

 

[olai]

Sounds right, made a 11,1v 8,8A pack and the burn time was 2h 10m

13,2A next

 

[berk]

If you have access to a small spot welder, I've been told that is better than using solder for building batteries since it won't heat the surrounding material or battery as much. I have, however, repaired plenty of NiMh with solder and it didn't seem to bother them. Lithium certainly seems to be more touchy.

-matt