LED “Fluorescent” tubes…

[BaldricParticipant @baldric]

BaldricPosted by Ady1 on 14/11/2016 11:35:24:

I have found those LED striplight worklamps very useful for working on cars and in dark workshop corners

Just stick it on and rotate as required

Ady1, Can you provide more info on that light? Where did you get it from and how long does the battery last?

Baldric

[Ady1Participant @ady1]

They seem to be of a generic type from the far east, my own one was a Hilka from TKmax but a bunch of different names supply them in different guises

I haven't tested one to destruction on battery life because I have loads of AAA rechargeables (it takes 3) purchased at a quid a pop from places like Lidl. I have dropped it a few times though and it's been fine so far

If you search for "LED COB inspection" on a well known site you'll find them, I opted for the centreline hinge model because it's more balanced, with the batteries on one side and the light on the other side

Edited By Ady1 on 14/11/2016 15:25:14

[Colin HeseltineParticipant @colinheseltine48622]

I have just replaced my 11 off 8ft fluorescent lights with LED lighting. The lights were anything from 5 to 20 years old. Trouble is you cannot get 8ft LED tubes so went the whole hog and fitted full blown LED lamps. Went for daylight versions and it is fantastic. I'll never ever get a payback, but now silent, bright, ip rated and instant. They are 1500mm (3ft shorter than the old lights).

Whereas they used to be in banks of 2 or 3 per light switch, they are now in four separate banks with individual switches on some of them to cut down how many on at once. I can now work over bench with one single LED light.

Colin

[john fletcher 1Participant @johnfletcher1]

Aldi had some similar hand lamps in last week, for about £5. We have had one for about 3 years its in frequent use, it has been dropped in the cold water storage tank, dropped off the top of the steps when working on a failed light and it keeps going, and on its original batteries. Can't be bad, oh and its got a magnet on the back which is handy. I think it was about £4. John

[Ady1Participant @ady1]

Posted by Baldric on 14/11/2016 12:40:09:

Ady1, Can you provide more info on that light? Where did you get it from and how long does the battery last?

Baldric

It's actually an interesting question, can you get a days graft out of one of those things?

They give off a very good light.

I've shoved some standard "tronic" Lidl rechargeables into it tonight and left it on for the night so we'll see how it goes

[Rod RenshawParticipant @rodrenshaw28584]

Hi All

I have fitted one of the LED batten lamps from Screwfix over my lathe and the result has been a revelation. One can see every particle of swarf, every drop of coolant, any scratches and marks on the work and every graduation on the dials. It's like what I imagine it is like to work under an operating theatre lamp, is "forensic" the right word? My particular lamp is 4 foot long and consumes 41 watts, the light is a bright cold, shadowless white, the lamp starts instantly, and is fully bright immediately. I used to have a 500 watt "security" floodlamp over the lathe but this LED lamp is much better, though not as warm in the winter!

It was about £50.00 but it was money well spent. It's supposed to last a long time, so I am hoping it's a fit and forget.

Rod

[Ady1Participant @ady1]

That's the Tronic batteries almost drained, so 3-4 hours of good light from each charge.

There's still enough light to see by, but not work with. I put the batteries into the charger and they only have 10% left, I've never seen a rechargeable so low and yet these torches still produce light, it looks like an 18 LED strip array. They really suck batteries dry.

I put the Vartas in next, we'll see how they do. It's a pity they don't do AA instead of AAA, would make a big difference IMO

Edit: They do do AA versions, a brand called lighthouse does them, search for "lighthouse COB" and they have an estimated run time of 6-8 hours so good enough for a days work in a dark place

Edited By Ady1 on 15/11/2016 01:17:21

[Ady1Participant @ady1]

Posted by Ady1 on 15/11/2016 00:39:17:

Edit: They do do AA versions, a brand called lighthouse does them, search for "lighthouse COB" and they have an estimated run time of 6-8 hours so good enough for a days work in a dark place

I'm not so sure now, some claim AA batteries and others claim AAAs. tsk tsk tsk

[MWParticipant @mw27036]

Posted by David lawrence 3 on 14/11/2016 12:14:49:

Just found this post, 10 mins ago finished wiring up a 2 tube high freq. 4 foot fluorescent fitting from screwfix, £ 38.00 works fab. for my work bench, the led version was about £ 10.00 more and had 1/3 less output. so why go for led in some areas.

Indeed they are good value for money, you might not get as much life or light out of a fluorescent, as opposed to an LED arrangement but then you don't need to buy the transformer with the baton to get it to work like you have to with some LED installations.

Fluorescents still represent a 2 fold increase over the life time of an average filament bulb, 30,000 hrs vs. 10,000 hrs , L.E.Ds are alleged to average over 50,000 hrs at the highest estimates but these do not take into account the efficiency droop that apparently can occur in some very long lived LED lamps at higher voltages, nor has anyone corroborated the definitive life time for them as of yet. Of course, these are only averages; so there are some light bulbs that haven't been switched off since the 20's and 30's still in existence. 

And thank you to Michael G for the suggestion and Geoff T. for the article, I got the inspiration from Mike Cox's "angel eyes" conversion on his mill, my lamp always casts great big stark shadows on my mill, making it harder to distinguish the work piece when doing edge finding, so why not have a light exactly over where you need it? 

Michael W

Edited By Michael Walters on 15/11/2016 07:31:35

[Ady1Participant @ady1]

The Vartas lasted 3-4 hours as well, so that's your basic baseline with those battery powered worklight LED COB AAA units

[Alan Wood 4Participant @alanwood4]

While in gainful employment we changed out all our standard fittings with LED tubes. The fittings were four tube standard suspended ceiling grid matrix. This involved rewiring the fittings of some 450 tubes. Resulting light difference was stunning to the point of retina damage. Given this was some 5 years ago in the early days of LED tubes we did get financial support and the supplier got a major order and a good publicity story. Now retired I have replaced my lamps both in the UK and French properties with LED equivalents, mostly from CPC or from LED Hut. France has been a bit slower to catch up on offerings but is now pretty much cost equivalent for the same Lumen output.

In the workshop I now use standard gooseneck lamps modified for LED lamps, have Angel Eyes on both the mill and the drill press and have LED strip lights overhead and undershelving down lighters. Indoor 'management' used to complain about the heat from the GU10 overheads in the kitchen but now enjoys equally bright LED equivalents and seems less flustered.

I have been caught out on one issue. I bought some LED 'drop in replacement' tubes and given my previous experience I dived straight in and modified the fittings for direct feed of the AC by removing the ballast and starter. I blew the tubes as a result. It seems that the drop in replacement types depend on the ballast to load the inverters in the tubes. Beware of the difference. The DIR ones are also less efficient because of the ballast losses.

One other issue that needs to be watched is RFI. Some lower cost lamps while showing a CE mark do radiate significant RFI. If being a radio amateur is one of your other pastimes, you might find the noise floor on the HF bands is no longer conducive to hearing weak DX.

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Posted by Ady1 on 15/11/2016 08:28:14:

The Vartas lasted 3-4 hours as well, so that's your basic baseline with those battery powered worklight LED COB AAA units

.

Thanks, Ady … useful to know.

MichaelG.

[Ian S CParticipant @iansc]

Alan, I installed a 10W mains LED flood light in my workshop, and I got major RFI, tryed a few things, ended up I put it through a small isolating transformer, end of noise.

Ian S C

[Ady1Participant @ady1]

Final say on these portable units, mainly because they are so different and advertised the same

First one, my Hilka.

Full power runtime 2-3 hours, reducing on 3-4 hours

A fabulous bright light, good enough for stuff like welding jobs, quite heavy and awkward to carry, tough and practical

[Ady1Participant @ady1]

I also got a "lighthouse"

Much lighter and thinner (but still tough). The light is less harsh. Full power runtime 3-4 hours, the array is shorter but the light is fine to work by, there is also a red car flashy thing on the back if you're stranded, just clip it onto your bodywork.

The Hilka is staying at home for home stuff and the lighthouse is going into the car bag for under the bonnet stuff.

Both units use 3x AAA batteries

Edited By Ady1 on 17/11/2016 01:30:52

[BaldricParticipant @baldric]

Posted by Ady1 on 17/11/2016 00:56:10:

I also got a "lighthouse"

Much lighter and thinner (but still tough). The light is less harsh. Full power runtime 3-4 hours, the array is shorter but the light is fine to work by, there is also a red car flashy thing on the back if you're stranded, just clip it onto your bodywork.

The Hilka is staying at home for home stuff and the lighthouse is going into the car bag for under the bonnet stuff.

Both units use 3x AAA batteries

Edited By Ady1 on 17/11/2016 01:30:52

Thanks for the information, in this case it has helped me decide I won't get them for this particular job as separate batteries with different people using them means that it is very likely the batteries will be borrowed for something else,

Baldric

[John HaineParticipant @johnhaine32865]

Amazing where this thread led to…

Just converted first fitting, basically wired mains to pins one end of tube, removing ballast and starter. Result, lots of bright light, immediately on turn on, no buzz, no flicker. Result I think.

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Thanks for the 'report', John

MichaelG.

[Roderick JenkinsParticipant @roderickjenkins93242]

I replaced the 5ft tube fitting in my workshop with a similar fluorescent fitting just over 2 years ago. This week one of the tubes went down and I spent an unpleasant half hour putting in a spare tube that sort of worked and trying the various starters 'til I found one that made the tube come on. As you may be able to tell, I'm not a fan of fluorescent lighting

So I followed Journey man's Link and fitted the LED tubes and starter replacements today. Probably cheaper than buying 2 fluorescent tubes locally, Very bright, very impressed.

Thanks, guys,

Rod

[Gordon TarlingParticipant @gordontarling37126]

I think I'll also be converting the fittings in my garage to LED – went in there late this afternoon and the lights seemed very dim, so I looked at the tubes and they were bright at each end but very dim in the centre due to the cold – LEDs don't do that!

[JAParticipant @ja]

I have never liked individual machine lights and used to illuminate the lathe using two 12v halogen domestic spot lights. After one of these failed and I could not get a replacement I liked I was forced to use an individual machine light.

I have decided to replace it with a kitchen cabinet LED strip light. This essentially is a fluorescent tube replacement about 2 feet long providing about 800 Lumens. It will be situated above the lathe. I am happy that stroboscopic effects will not be a problem but am a bit concerned that white light might not be the best for the job and that I will not have enough light.

As for the general workshop lighting I installed cheap B&Q fluorescent tubes about 21 years ago and I have not had a failure, yet. Mind you they bang and crash about when they are switched on.

JA

[John HaineParticipant @johnhaine32865]

Have now replaced all kitchen lights and the workshop – much better light, will take a while to get used to it being there immediately and without the bangs and crashes!

Just another 9 to go….

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

 

Posted by Ady1 on 15/11/2016 08:28:14:

The Vartas lasted 3-4 hours as well, so that's your basic baseline with those battery powered worklight LED COB AAA units

.

NewsFlash

Aldi have a '5W COB LED' worklight, branded LIGHTWAY

on sale today, at £4.99 with three AA batteries [sic]

… It also has a single Cree LED torch.

Question: How long will three AA cells last, on a current draw of > 1Amp ?

[or is it all spec-man-ship ?]

MichaelG.

.

https://www.aldi.co.uk/p/73458/0

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 20/11/2016 20:11:10

[Ady1Participant @ady1]

It says 350 lumens, compared to the Hilka at 220.

The hilka is good enough to be used for welding so this aldi one will be like a hand held searchlight lol

probbly more vulnerable to breaking if dropped too

[SandgrounderParticipant @sandgrounder]

Posted by Michael Gilligan on 20/11/2016 19:52:54:

NewsFlash

Aldi have a '5W COB LED' worklight, branded LIGHTWAY

on sale today, at £4.99 with three AA batteries [sic]

… It also has a single Cree LED torch.

Question: How long will three AA cells last, on a current draw of > 1Amp ?

[or is it all spec-man-ship ?]

MichaelG.

.Edited By Michael Gilligan on 20/11/2016 20:11:10

I bought a single Cree LED torch from Lidl a couple of weeks ago, it's rated at 10W, 600 lumens, it's incredibly bright with a better beam than my cars headlights and these are Osram Night Breaker Plus halogen bulbs, the torch has 3 'C' cells giving 4.5V so that's over 2 amps drain. The instructions say battery life is 3 hours, I will be very surprised and very pleased if they last that long.

John

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