Rechargeable spotlights

[Grayrock]

I just bought a rechargeable (against my intuition) Q-Beam 2 million CP spotlight for use on an upcoming night time pig hunt. In playing with the light, I find it is good for about a 15 to 20 minute continuous burst of light, then it cuts off. Then after a cooling down period, it will light up again for 1 minute to 20 second bursts for a while. Is this normal for these rechargeable spotlights? (That is why I had wanted to go with a corded light, but as I will be in a friend's vehicle, I am loath to burn up his battery or lighter plug.) Did I get a defective light, or is 20 minutes use all I should expect from a lead acid rechargable battery? I need to know so i can decide whether to live with it or return it. It DOES light up the woods- puts my Surefire to shame!

 

[Snowdog]

I can't directly answer your question, so I won't even try. However, I will point out how useful that auto cut-off feature is on your spotlight... assuming it's not a defect. Keeping a spotlight on for a long period of time (over ten minutes could qualify for some spotlights) is hard on a bulb.
I wasn't aware of this until a few, more "spotlight knowledgeable" folks tried to explain to me what the heck happened to my own spotlight.

After a mere ten minutes of continuous burn, my 10 million CP spotlight toasted its Phillips halogen H4 bulb. But it put out one heck of a beam while it lasted. One of the things that I noticed shortly before losing the bulb was the heat the bulb was generating and how hot the unit felt. Next time I'm at an auto shop, I'll pick up a replacement 12V H4 bulb and a few replacements.

Better your bulb cuts out temporarily than for good.

 

[black bear]

I played with spotlights before but never for 20 minutes, I understant the running time of the battery is about 40 minutes if is a really big battery.
It must have cut-0ff protection inside (which is a good thing) as the battery gets too hot, the protection kicks in and shutt off the juice.
CR 123's batteries are the same, in normal flashlights they don't shutt off but when used in flashlights with powerful bulbs like the Surefire M-6 the protection kicks in and stop the electricity from flowing.
Understant this is to avoid damage to the battery. Spotlights don't suppose to be used for such long periods as you did.
The only flashlight I know that will not do this thermal shuttdown is the Maglite modified for 951 lumens, it is because the mass of the head, heat well and special heavy aluminum reflector dissipated the heat before it arrives to the batteries.
This flashlight will be not fall behind a two million candlepower Spotlight, as it output almost twice the lumens than the Surefire M-6 does.
Twenty minutes is a long time for a spotlight, check that you have not damaged the lens (bubbles or ripples) or the undercoating of the reflector (you will see some ripples next to the bulb)
You will probably observe that the color of the lamp now is darker than it was before, submitting the spotlight to 20 minutes continously is abuse, the battery will not take much longer been overheat that much.
In my opinion the light is not defective, just not made for such a prolonged run time.
That is why they made powerful Searchlights as the MaxaBeam that will take such punishement, but them again they cost in the thousand dollars bracket.
hope this help.
black bear

 

[Grayrock]

OK- so we are riding around the ranch in the back of the truck looking for hogs or rabbits. A 20 minute hunt would not be very fun. The last rabbit run I was on lasted a couple of hours and netted us a decent pile of the little oat munchers. Any other suggestions? Remove one of the headlights and put it on a handle with a long extension cord? Get 6 or 8 different batteries to swap out? Get a corded spotlight, like I had originally wanted? What's a guy that just wants to hunt at night to do?

 

[1911JMB]

If you can't find a nice corded light, how about 2 spotlights to switch beetween when they over heat.