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UK diy (uk.d-i-y) For the discussion of all topics related to diy (do-it-yourself) in the UK. All levels of experience and proficency are welcome to join in to ask questions or offer solutions. |
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Halfords Rechargeable Searchlight
Does anyone have any experience of these lamps?
I bought one yesterday, (=A329.99)charged it until the indicator said it was full and then used it until the battery went flat - approximately twenty minutes. They have a 6V 4ah lead acid battery and I think it's running a 55watt quartz halogen bulb. Anyone know how long it should last on a full charge? Xav |
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wrote in message oups.com... Does anyone have any experience of these lamps? I bought one yesterday, (£29.99)charged it until the indicator said it was full and then used it until the battery went flat - approximately twenty minutes. They have a 6V 4ah lead acid battery and I think it's running a 55watt quartz halogen bulb. Anyone know how long it should last on a full charge? the obvious answer from the info is that 55w at 6v is 9A so if its rated at 4aH it should last for 4/9 hours = 27 mins. But at 9A current, thats a lot, and it probably wouldn't deliver so much as 4aH so 20 mins sounds about right. 4aH is probably the 10 hour rate or something like that. Usually the plastic bits overheat and melt if they're left on for that long. rusty |
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In article , Rusty wrote:
the obvious answer from the info is that 55w at 6v is 9A so if its rated at 4aH it should last for 4/9 hours = 27 mins. But at 9A current, thats a lot, and it probably wouldn't deliver so much as 4aH so 20 mins sounds about right. 4aH is probably the 10 hour rate or something like that. SLA batteries are rated for a 20Hr discharge. That means that the 6V 4Ah battery will last 20hrs giving 0.2A. Apparently they do this to make the numbers look good! The higher the current the shorter the run time. -- simon at sbarr dot demon dot co dot uk Simon Barr. '97 110 300Tdi. |
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this sounds exactly the same as the ones they sell in Robert Dyas for 8
quid. If you go out to buy a lead acid battery it would probably cost more than that. And yes they don't last long on one charge.. 55 w is like a car headlamp, very powerful! Simon |
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Thank you all...
Well Grunff, how long did I expect it to keep alight...hard to say really (you weren't muttering stupid ******* under your breath while you typed that were you). It didn't mention on the cover that it was LA, it didn't give an indication of the short length of illumination and I didn't think to ask. I just needed a good strong light that was rechargeable and this seemed the ideal tool for the job. But I think it's mis-sold really. The only indication that it might be longevity challenged is in the reference to using it in short bursts (as mentioned earlier on this thread) because it could overheat. It doesn't mention that if you don't turn it off almost as soon as you've turned it on, it will provide its own overheating failsafe by going flat. Even that advice isn't clear unti you've spent ten minutes with the scissors trying to get it out of the sealed plastic packaging which you then throw away and tend to feel guilty about when you try and take it back! Good job I don't do guilt! Xav By gum it's powerful though !!! |
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Now you have my curiosity roused.
You must think they have a useful purpose if you've bought four of them I also see that Maplin give an indication of their running time. Perhaps Halfords feel that 'lasts 20 mins' and 'bursts into flames if left on too long' wouldn't be the ideal method of selling them if they were to put those words on the package. Best to keep it quiet and hope people don't bring them back after an hour long scrap with the packaging. Also, the huge difference in price for what is essentially the same item is quite interesting! Xav |
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I reckon these are MUCH more practical than the spotlights
http://www.machinemart.co.uk/product.asp?p=010813005 Unless you actually need the spotlight (say, for lamping?) The wider and relatively uniform flood is better for most things, I find. The battery is nearly twice the size and 7 watts of fluorescent lasts a long time. |
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Grunff Woofed :
For reference, we use these: http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=29393&TabID=1&source=15&World ID=&doy=21m4 I've just bought one of those. Must admit to being a little disappointed with the 20 minute life - should have RTFM before buying I suppose :-( BTW - how long does a full charge take? -- Regards, Troy the Black Lab. |
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Troy wrote:
I've just bought one of those. Must admit to being a little disappointed with the 20 minute life - should have RTFM before buying I suppose :-( It's 55W!! That's a car headlight! BTW - how long does a full charge take? Dunno, we leave them charging overnight. I suspect it's 10/12hr. -- Grunff |
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wrote in message oups.com... Does anyone have any experience of these lamps? I bought one yesterday, (£29.99) They're £9.99 from Maplin and £6.99 from our local garage. |
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On Thu, 21 Apr 2005 20:14:31 +0100, Newshound wrote:
I reckon these are MUCH more practical than the spotlights http://www.machinemart.co.uk/product.asp?p=010813005 Unless you actually need the spotlight (say, for lamping?) The wider and relatively uniform flood is better for most things, I find. The battery is nearly twice the size and 7 watts of fluorescent lasts a long time. An interesting device. 7W isn't very much light though, my mains work light is a 15W 2D CFL, thats OK close up but not wonderful. I guess you'll get well over 8hrs (a working day...) run time from a fully charged battery. Next time I'm anywhere near a Machine Mart I'll have look. Current favorite as lighting back up is a Gaz lantern. Up to 80W of light (ie loads) and a run time of several hours on a small cylinder and of course when the cylinder runs out you just whack another on. Can't do that with an electric thing unless you faff about maintaining a stock of fully charged batteries. No maintenance for a cylinder on the shelf. -- Cheers Dave. pam is missing e-mail |
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On 21 Apr 2005 08:11:30 -0700, wrote:
It didn't mention on the cover that it was LA, As LA is the best battery technology for this sort of use they have obviously missed a trick here. it didn't give an indication of the short length of illumination It stated the battery size and bulb consumption - that gives you the illumination time. Perhaps it should have explained it with little pictures for the innumerate. But I think it's mis-sold really. Only for those who find 2+2 a real challenge. -- Peter Parry. http://www.wpp.ltd.uk/ |
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On Thu, 21 Apr 2005 22:39:45 +0100, Peter Parry wrote:
it didn't give an indication of the short length of illumination It stated the battery size and bulb consumption - that gives you the illumination time. Perhaps it should have explained it with little pictures for the innumerate. But I think it's mis-sold really. Only for those who find 2+2 a real challenge. That is a little unfair Peter. Not everyone knows how to convert Watts into amps at a given voltage and how that relates to a stated battery capacity. The run time ought to on the packaging for the many of the populace that didn't achieve "O" level physics or those that did but forgot all that stuff years ago. -- Cheers Dave. pam is missing e-mail |
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Grunff wrote:
wrote: Now you have my curiosity roused. You must think they have a useful purpose if you've bought four of them We've bought many more than four - we get through 4 a year; I have about a dozen dead ones in the garage. They're useful for going to check on the horses in the dark. They're OK for that (we have one too, and two horses) but I would have thought a flourescent lantern or similar more practical if you actually need to do something. The halogen lamps are very directional. -- Chris Green |
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"Dave Liquorice" wrote in message ll.com... On Thu, 21 Apr 2005 22:39:45 +0100, Peter Parry wrote: it didn't give an indication of the short length of illumination It stated the battery size and bulb consumption - that gives you the illumination time. Perhaps it should have explained it with little pictures for the innumerate. But I think it's mis-sold really. Only for those who find 2+2 a real challenge. That is a little unfair Peter. Not everyone knows how to convert Watts into amps at a given voltage and how that relates to a stated battery capacity. The run time ought to on the packaging for the many of the populace that didn't achieve "O" level physics or those that did but forgot all that stuff years ago. Does the packaging state the wattage (probably) and amp-hour capacity of the battery (probably not) Even if it did, the average consumer wouldn't have a clue what it meant I think it should just have a runtime on the package too! Sparks... |
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Sparks wrote:
Does the packaging state the wattage (probably) and amp-hour capacity of the battery (probably not) Even if it did, the average consumer wouldn't have a clue what it meant And that's *precisely* what's wrong with today's society. The 'avearge customer' has zero clue about how anything works, and what's more, he frequently displays pride in not having any clue about how anything works. -- Grunff |
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On Fri, 22 Apr 2005 10:35:10 +0100, Grunff wrote:
And that's *precisely* what's wrong with today's society. The 'avearge customer' has zero clue about how anything works, and what's more, he frequently displays pride in not having any clue about how anything works. But moans like fck when a cowboy comes along and takes 'em for a ride. -- Cheers Dave. pam is missing e-mail |
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On 22 Apr 2005 08:03:44 GMT, wrote:
but I would have thought a flourescent lantern or similar more practical if you actually need to do something. The halogen lamps are very directional. But whack out a large amount of light forwards from the filament, and the beam can be "bounced" of light coloured walls or WHY for general illumination. My first choice lamp when going outside at night is the 55W SLA powered "headlight on a stick". If I think there might be some one out there I take that (it has a shoulder strap) and the 6 cell D maglight, held near the front end, back end resting on my shoulder. -- Cheers Dave. pam is missing e-mail |
#25
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Dave Liquorice wrote:
On 22 Apr 2005 08:03:44 GMT, wrote: but I would have thought a flourescent lantern or similar more practical if you actually need to do something. The halogen lamps are very directional. But whack out a large amount of light forwards from the filament, and the beam can be "bounced" of light coloured walls or WHY for general illumination. No walls or anything else to bounce light off out in the fields where the horses are. -- Chris Green |
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On Fri, 22 Apr 2005 10:35:10 +0100, Grunff wrote:
Sparks wrote: Does the packaging state the wattage (probably) and amp-hour capacity of the battery (probably not) Even if it did, the average consumer wouldn't have a clue what it meant And that's *precisely* what's wrong with today's society. The 'avearge customer' has zero clue about how anything works, and what's more, he frequently displays pride in not having any clue about how anything works. They should last a lot longer if the battery is not run down flat, say use 10 mins then recharge. Anyone know the typical life of these at 50% DOD compared to 100% DOD? cheers, Pete. |
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On 22 Apr 2005 15:33:33 GMT, wrote:
No walls or anything else to bounce light off out in the fields where the horses are. Fairy Nuff but there is still a lot of light direct from the filament. At a guess I'd say more than from a 7W florrie. Oh just remembered I'll be 500yds from a Machine Mart tommorow, but working 0800 2000. B-( -- Cheers Dave. pam is missing e-mail |
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