I bought one of these cheap HID kits from eBay to build a high-brightness work light that I could run from my central 12v supply.
At £14.99 I certainly wasn’t expecting anything more than the usual cheap Chinese construction. And that’s definitely what I got 😀
The casing is screwed together with the cheapest of screws, with heads that are deformed enough to present a problem with removal.
As can be seen here, the inside of the unit is potted in rubber compound, mostly to provide moisture resistance, as these are for automotive use.
The ballast generates a 23kV pulse to strike the arc in the bulb, then supplies a steady 85v AC at 3A, 400Hz to maintain the discharge.
This module could quite easily be depotted as the silicone material used is fairly soft & can be removed with a pointed tool.
Here is the bulb removed from it’s mount. Under the bulb itself is a solenoid, which tilts the bulb by a few degrees, presumably to provide dim/dip operation for a headlight. This functionality is superfluous to my requirements.
Closeup of the arc chamber of the bulb.
