Hi,

More out of curiosity than anything. 2 million Candle power spotlight
with 6V 4Ah sealed lead acid battery

http://www.screwfix.com/app/sfd/cat/pro.jsp?id=27537

Just how good is the battery in one of these ?
Does it hold the charge / how long ?
Key question; How long till the battery runs out from a full charge ?

Can someone share their experiences of one of these ? Or can someone
apply a little bit of physics to my query ?

Cheers - Oliver.

"oli4uk" wrote in message
ups.com...
Hi,

More out of curiosity than anything. 2 million Candle power spotlight
with 6V 4Ah sealed lead acid battery

http://www.screwfix.com/app/sfd/cat/pro.jsp?id=27537

Just how good is the battery in one of these ?
Does it hold the charge / how long ?
Key question; How long till the battery runs out from a full charge ?

Can someone share their experiences of one of these ? Or can someone
apply a little bit of physics to my query ?


The bulb in mine draws about 6.5A so it lasts battery capacity / 6.5 which
would give about 40mins if the battery was rated at 4Ahr for 1hr discharge
rate.

In practice I doubt if it would last much above 20 minutes.

"oli4uk" wrote in
ups.com:


Just how good is the battery in one of these ?
Does it hold the charge / how long ?
Key question; How long till the battery runs out from a full charge ?

Dennis is about right on how long a charge lasts.

In my experience, the *life* of the battery is very poor, and I soon go
down to just a couple of minutes on a charge. I've given up on them.

Unless ther's a brand that has a different style of battery, deep discharge
doesn't do lead/acid a power of good.

mike

On 26 Oct 2005 11:23:58 -0700, "oli4uk"
wrote:

Hi,

More out of curiosity than anything. 2 million Candle power spotlight
with 6V 4Ah sealed lead acid battery

http://www.screwfix.com/app/sfd/cat/pro.jsp?id=27537

Just how good is the battery in one of these ?
Does it hold the charge / how long ?
Key question; How long till the battery runs out from a full charge ?

Can someone share their experiences of one of these ? Or can someone
apply a little bit of physics to my query ?

At work I had a genuine Dragonlite which gave about 20 mins
illumination from a fully charged battery.

--
Frank Erskine

I gave up on them too, for the same reason. Althought it is a completely
different animal, the Machine Mart / Clarkes jobs at about £40 which have an
inverter and a standard 240 volt fluorescent bulb in a big "flood" type
reflector are excellent both for battery life and general illumination, e.g.
if the mains are out, in the stables, for changing a wheel in the middle of
nowhere.

on 26/10/2005, oli4uk supposed :

Just how good is the battery in one of these ?

They are a normal gell lead acid cell. You should never allow it to
completely discharge, as soon as it starts to dim (difficult I know) it
should be turned off and recharged ASAP. Most are killed by
overcharging, look for one which cuts the charge off automatically.

Does it hold the charge / how long ?

Gell cells retain there charge for a very long time, many months.

Key question; How long till the battery runs out from a full charge ?

That depends upon the size of battery v wattage of the bulb. Somewhere
between 20 - 60 minutes.

Can someone share their experiences of one of these ? Or can someone
apply a little bit of physics to my query ?

Worth having for short emergencies, where lots of light might be
needed.

--

Regards,
Harry (M1BYT) (L)
http://www.ukradioamateur.co.uk

oli4uk wrote in message
ups.com...
Hi,

More out of curiosity than anything. 2 million Candle power spotlight
with 6V 4Ah sealed lead acid battery

http://www.screwfix.com/app/sfd/cat/pro.jsp?id=27537

Just how good is the battery in one of these ?
Does it hold the charge / how long ?
Key question; How long till the battery runs out from a full charge ?

Ive got one of these (not from screwfix) and 20 min is about all I get from
mine
Ive also got a Wolf lamp http://tinyurl.com/ch6xe which lasts about 4hours
unfortunately it costs a bit more then £15 ;-(

-

On Wed, 26 Oct 2005 20:35:06 +0100, "Newshound"
wrote:

I gave up on them too, for the same reason. Althought it is a completely
different animal, the Machine Mart / Clarkes jobs at about £40 which have an
inverter and a standard 240 volt fluorescent bulb in a big "flood" type
reflector are excellent both for battery life and general illumination, e.g.
if the mains are out, in the stables, for changing a wheel in the middle of
nowhere.

OT
I once used two Dragonlites successfully as offstage "car headlamps"
for a theatre with which I'm involved. We simply attached the lamps to
a supermarket trolley and wheeled them past a "window" (out of direct
sight) to give the impression of a car approaching the house at night.
/OT

--
Frank Erskine
Sunderland

I got a 1 million candlepower one from Woolies, more for the fact that it
was something silly like £3.99 than I really needed it. Oh the simpleton fun
we had that night a little tipsy at 2 AM seeing how far away we could
illuminate the trees, probably ****ed the neighbours off but hey you're only
young at heart all your life :-)

Can't remember how long it worked then, no suprise there, but the next day I
read that the cheapies have a habit of melting the bulb holders if used for
much time continously so I've only used it since for a few minutes at a
time. I reckon it manages about 20mins on a full charge. Not a very
professional performance but handy I reckon for checking up on suspicious
noises outside when your eyes aren't dark adapted but an intruders would be.

Henry

oli4uk wrote in message
ups.com...
Hi,

More out of curiosity than anything. 2 million Candle power spotlight
with 6V 4Ah sealed lead acid battery

http://www.screwfix.com/app/sfd/cat/pro.jsp?id=27537

Just how good is the battery in one of these ?
Does it hold the charge / how long ?
Key question; How long till the battery runs out from a full charge ?

I see Lidl are selling one from Monday at 12.99 with a stated run time of
20min,
http://tinyurl.com/988qu


-

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the
drugs began to take hold. I remember "oli4uk"
saying something like:

Just how good is the battery in one of these ?
Does it hold the charge / how long ?
Key question; How long till the battery runs out from a full charge ?

They're absolutely buggerall use if you want a lamp for serious task
work or walking with at night. The charge life is about 10 minutes if
you're lucky.

Great light for that 10 mins though.
--

Dave