The EE light and Sartec use the Welch Allyn  18 W part # m18n002 and
matching ballast b19r001. The cutout voltage is speced at 9.8V however  I
thnk it is closer to 10.5 - 11.0V.   Nominal starting current is 2A.  What
you might do is measure the voltage on the battery while turning the lamp
on. The bulb requires a 6kv series of pulses to strike the arc. This is
provided by the ballast which then goes into a constant power mode drawing
about 2A once the arc is stable.  If the voltage is below the cutoff voltage
the lamp will not fire.

Good Luck

Eric



----- Original Message -----
From: "Paul Wright" <paul@ca*.co*.uk*>
To: <techdiver@aquanaut.com>; "Brian Nadwidny" <nadwidny@ho*.co*>
Sent: Tuesday, March 28, 2000 12:36 PM
Subject: Re: HID lights in the cold


> Most HID lights around were developed to run the D2S lamp which is a 35
watt
> unit manufactured by both Phillips and Osram.
>
> This unit is designed to run at extreme temperatures as it was created
> specifically for the automotive industry, the operating range is something
> like -40c-+ 60c as these are the types of temperature normally associated
> with automotive products. I don't have the exact spec in front of me but
I'm
> sure it is easily available.
>
> The reason why the unit will not strike in low temperatures is probably
due
> to battery capacity, at low temperatures batteries can drop to only a
> fraction of their normal operating voltage which may not be sufficiant to
> operate the ballast unit and so cannot create the massive current surge
> needed to strike an HID
> D2S lamp. As the temperature was only in the freezing region the batteries
> are apparently not of sufficient capacity for the design requirements of
the
> ballast unit in the torch.
>
> There are therefore two possible problems;
>
> 1) The batteries are either inadequate or toward the end of their life,
get
> their charge capability checked out.
>
> 2) The ballast unit is not operating properly.
>
> An important note for anyone looking at HID lighting.
>
> ONLY buy a unit with the D2S lamp,it is transprt rated and therefore is
> shock proofed, other units are commercial lighting lamps and have no shock
> proof capability, drop it and it can cost you $100 for a new lamp.
> Cheers.
>
>
> So, your gripe is not really with HID technology but
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Brian Nadwidny <nadwidny@ho*.co*>
> To: <techdiver@aquanaut.com>
> Sent: Monday, March 27, 2000 7:17 PM
> Subject: HID lights in the cold
>
>
> > A buddy of mine was doing an ice dive recently and took out his new HID
> > lights. However he couldn't get them to fire up. Is too cold of a
> > temperature a known problem with HID lights or is there a possible
problem
> > with his lights? Air temps were around -10C and water temps around 2 or
> 3C.
> >
> > Thanks in advance
> >
> > Brian
> > Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
> >
> > --
> > Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'.
> > Send subscribe/unsubscribe requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'.
>
> --
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>

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