LED replacements for halogen work lights

[joe90]

From another thread Jeremy commented on how much electricity his contractors used whilst using halogen work lights and how much heat they generated ( waste heat), I have found that with halogen if they are moved a lot the filament brakes easily so I want to replace mine with LED replacements and came across these , comments!,

 

https://www.bltdirect.com/prolite-led-r7s-6w-78mm-warm-white-80-watt-alternative

[Jeremy Harris]

They look a reasonable option, but I personally prefer cool white if you can find them.  Somehow my eyes prefer cool white light when working, although the warm white is often a lot nicer for general house lighting.

 

I think it's certainly a good idea to look at using LEDs, and I'm looking at using some of the spare outdoor LED floodlights I've bought as work lights, over my bench, as they don't flicker the way fluorescents do.  I currently have old incandescent lights over the machine tool bench that's still at the old house, because the last thing you want is mains frequency flicker when you're running a lathe or milling machine.

 

 

Edited to add:

 

These are the type of flood lights I've bought in the past (from several different suppliers, all equally variable in quality!): http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/10W-20W-30W-50W-12V-220V-Day-Cool-White-LED-Floodlight-Outdoor-Landscape-Lamp-/121807463401?var=&hash=item1c5c4a63e9:m:mlklmqD3MPNl1obZKlm5Mow

but please look them up on Big Clives YouTube channel and then do a safety check internally as he shows, as some don't have the earth wire terminated properly inside.  They are easy to make safe usually, the issue is usually just sloppy assembly in my experience, where whoever screws the things together couldn't be bothered to fit the earth wire terminal - one of mine had the earth wire and eyelet just dangling around inside the case!

Edited January 28, 2017 by JSHarris

[Steptoe]

for a pure worklight you really want something over 6000K colour temp,

generally called a daylight, it will give a truer representation of the actual finish of whatever you are doing,

although, as @JSHarris says, you may find cool white easier on the eye,

definitely dont go for warm white under 4000K the colour of the finish will be distorted, cool white is usually a happy medium, and if its an inside finish it wont matter so much for a little colour distortion,

personally all the LEDs inside my house are cool white, daylight white in the workshop and the some of the outside floods, and some people prefer warm white in the bedroom, warm white will give off an 'orangey' light, much like a halogen.

 

EDIT  :  as I said previously, be very careful of going by wattage, use lumen ( lm ) output as your guide, I've seen some 20w lights that arent as good as some 10w ones,

Edited January 28, 2017 by Steptoe

[PeterW]

I've got one of these wired to a plug ...

 

1200x300 LED

(Not from this supplier...)

It's like daylight when it's on ..!

 

I plan to get some of the 600x600 ones of the 'bay and use those as work lights inside. 

 

 

[Steptoe]

oh, just as an aside to this,

lots of big sites have actually banned halogen worklights due to the fire risk associated with the heat,

may be of concern as there are lots of timber frame builders on here,

I dont know the exact details, but apparently a site went on fire one night due to sawdust settling on a now turned off halogen light, and the latent heat ignited it.

this was probably about 10-12 years ago iirc.

 

[Barney12]

Ive put these in my double headed tripod work lights. They're not as bright as the original bulbs but as you said they blow for a pastime. 

 

 http://www.toolstation.com/shop/p28889?table=no

 

the 78mm version is here: 

 

http://www.toolstation.com/shop/p52367?table=no

[Steptoe]

12 minutes ago, Barney12 said:

Ive put these in my double headed tripod work lights. They're not as bright as the original bulbs but as you said they blow for a pastime. 

 

 http://www.toolstation.com/shop/p28889?table=no

 

the 78mm version is here: 

 

http://www.toolstation.com/shop/p52367?table=no

 

this may sound counter intuitive , have you tried fitting them backwards?

ie, facing the reflector rather than outwards

 

I'm not saying it will be any better, (it may be worse!), but worth a try.

Edited January 28, 2017 by Steptoe

[SteamyTea]

I got some of these for the art club.

They are so bright they hurt my eyes, but light up the art work a treat.

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/272361296435?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

 

Jo

Those replacement are only 6W, not very bright.

Edited January 29, 2017 by SteamyTea

[Jeremy Harris]

I've just dug out one of my old halogen work lights, and it looks to be dead easy to just unbolt the light part from the frame and fit something like the units that ST has linked to.  Probably as cheap as mucking about looking for lamps to fit in place of the halogen ones, if you already have work lights.

 

The two points I'd make are that cool white may well be better than warm white, in my view, and that I'd strongly suggest whipping the front cover off and making sure the earth lead is connected.  Testing it with a meter is not a good indication that it's actually screwed down to the alloy casing internally, in my view, as it could easily be just loose and happen to be touching the case, so appear to be relatively safer than it really is. 

 

I've had around 4 or 5 of these apart now (the slightly smaller 20W ones, that are essentially the same design), and two had earth leads that weren't properly secured, two were half the rating they claimed to be and were using a 300mA driver rather than the 600mA driver needed for the higher power COB LED, but generally the standard of construction was pretty good, at least as good as any work light bought from the likes of ToolStation. Screwfix or wherever. 

 

I've had two 12V, 20W ones on the wall of our new house for well over a year now, running from a home made battery pack, solar panel charger and PIR switch, and the only issue with them has been the screws going rusty.  I replaced all the screws with stainless ones and I can't see any reason why they shouldn't last for many years now, as the rest of the construction is pretty good (glass front, decent silicone rubber front seal, cast alloy casing, decent waterproof cable gland and a decent constant current driver module to drive the COB LED.  The cables are too short, but it's easy enough to under the gland and front plate and fit a decent, robust, longer bit of cable.

 

Generally I prefer the light from these COB LEDs (Chip On Board).  In this case an array of matched LED chips on a ceramic board, bonded to an alloy mounting plate, that takes the heat away from the chips well when it's bolted down to the alloy case of the light.  They seem to give an even spread of light, with no ho spots, pretty much ideal for a work light.

Edited January 29, 2017 by JSHarris

[SteamyTea]

Just had a play with the lights, pointing them up to the ceiling and the reading is 600lux, turn them off and it is 10lux.

That is reflected light.

 

Putting up a bit of dark printed card a metre away and the reading is 125lux, 5lux with just ambient light (this is indoors and it is grey and horrible today).

 

Edited January 30, 2017 by SteamyTea

[vfrdave]

23 hours ago, JSHarris said:

12V, 20W ones on the wall of our new house for well over a year now, running from a home made battery pack, solar panel charger and PIR switch

@JSHarris any details on the make up of the above.  I am about to start construction on site with no elec but would like some lighting around the container etc

[Jeremy Harris]

1 hour ago, vfrdave said:

@JSHarris any details on the make up of the above.  I am about to start construction on site with no elec but would like some lighting around the container etc

 

 

Sure, although I have two types now, the ones around the side of the house were the originals, put up quickly because there was no easy way of getting mains power to that wall (the problem being that I hadn't thought to run a cable up outside, and being a passive house it's not at all easy to run a new cable through an external wall).

 

The ones around the side are two 10W 12V COB LED floodlights, like these: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/10W-LED-Flood-Lamp-Outdoor-Security-Light-IP65-Landscape-Floodlight-Lamp-G4-Corn-/360944005882?var=&hash=item5409f072fa:m:m5cZS9BBL3vdujKSXrmVZRw   They aren't as powerful as their rating suggests, mine are closer to 7W than 10W, but they are plenty bright enough.  I wired both of these lights back to a waterproof plastic box, screwed to the wall. At the bottom of the box I fitted a 12V PIR switch, with a night sensor (lots of the ones on Ebay don't have a light sensor and won't switch a couple of amps DC, so you need to hunt around for one).  I made a bracket to go inside the box to take a 12V, 7Ah sealed lead acid alarm battery (they are about the cheapest around, because they are so commonly used as alarm back-up batteries).  The charging is from a small 18V 2.5W solar panel (one of these: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HOT-5-6-18V-0-2-1-5-2-5W-Solar-Panel-Module-System-Solar-Cells-Charger-Energy-/291545049148?var=&hash=item43e170683c:m:mp3hyNZPOYxpyvy3pfLAzGg ) fitted on a slightly angled bracket on top of the battery box.  To control the charge to the battery and get the most out of the small solar panel. I used a switched mode MPPT charge regulator, one of these: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/New-5A-MPPT-Solar-Panel-Controller-Voltage-Step-down-Module-Constant-Current-/291991743947?hash=item43fc106dcb:g:KdQAAOSwnHZYbaqO, set to give a float voltage of 13.2V, for a long battery life. 

 

The panel only charges the battery at a maximum of around 100mA or so, but that is ample, even in winter, to keep the battery fully charged, as the timer on the PIR switch only keeps the flood lights on for around 5 minutes, and it's rare for them to come on more than two or three times in the evening.

 

Doing the sums, the worst case energy used by the lights if they used their rated 10W each and were on for 20 minutes every evening, would be around 6.7 Wh, and the panel charges at around 0.5 to 1.5 W in winter daylight, so the batteries are charged by just about enough on a winters day to allow for the worst case.  In practice, there are many evenings when the lights only come on once or twice, or maybe not at all, so the battery always has plenty of spare capacity.  The battery theoretical capacity is 84 Wh, so discharging it with 20 minutes worth of lighting is only using around 8% of its capacity.  This means there's enough reserve capacity for the system to go for a few dull days without the battery being discharged significantly.

 

At the front of the house I've opted for a more discreet solar power lighting system.  We have a glazed gable, with the glazed front door in the centre.  The lower glazing is connected to the upper glazing with a joining cill, that has an alloy drip lip.  The groove behind this was exactly the right width to take a 1.8m length of high power waterproof 12V  LED strip.  Instead of the bulky sealed lead acid battery, I used a very small 1,8Ah 12V lithium battery pack, with an inbuilt charging and battery protection circuit.  This charging circuit needed to be fed with a constant 12.6V, so I made a small voltage regulator, set to 12.6V, and connected it via a diode to the same solar panel as I used around the side.  I also used the same type of PIR switch.  This is a lot more compact, and the LED strip throws light exactly where it's needed, and complies with our "Dark Skies" rules on outdoor lighting (the AONB we are in is seeking official "Dark Skies" certification, so all households are being told to shield outdoor lights and put them on PIRs or timers - we have no street lighting either).

 

I'll try and take some photos later showing how the lights look when fitted.

 

 

When I warned about the 240V versions of these floodlights being very dodgy, here are some photos I took when I stripped one down that show the earth problem (or, rather, the lack of an earth!)  These were sold in the UK and are branded GLW, and I note that a safety recall was put out about this very problem.  The 12V ones are fine, they are safe as the voltage is too low to be a risk.

 

 

This is how they arrived from the UK seller - obviously Chinese made!

 

This was my quick and dirty earth test, as I was suspicious about the earthing and like to check Chinese stuff, as I've seen far too much rubbish from there.  As you can see, the earth wire is not connected to the case, which is scarily dangerous.

 

 

When opened up, the reason for the open circuit in the earth was obvious, the idiot manufacturer had made no attempt to connect the earth wire - it was just floating loose inside the case!

 

 

My solution was to solder on an earth tag that could then fit under a screw (I cleaned the paint off before doing this).

 

This is the partly re-assembled flood light with the earth tag secured to the case.  I checked and got good continuity between the case and the earth lead, so the light is now reasonably safe.  This is the only 240V one of these lights I have used, it sits above my car charge point, pointing down and operated via a PIR switch, so that I can see to connect the car up at night.

 

 

Edited January 30, 2017 by JSHarris

[vfrdave]

Thanks @JSHarris great detail as always.  Great to have you back.

 

[Jeremy Harris]

Thanks, I'll take some photos of the outside lights as they are now later, and some this evening with them on that shows the spread of light from them.  Even though they are only "10W" they seem plenty bright enough to light up the paths around the front and side of the house well.

[vfrdave]

@JSHarris

 

Would one of these be a suitable PIR 

Edited January 30, 2017 by vfrdave

[Jeremy Harris]

Yes, should do the job just fine, and has the benefit of more adjustments than the one I used.  I fitted my PIR in the bottom of a watertight plastic box, that was like this, with mounting lugs at the ends: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/24x12x7-5cm-IP65-Plastic-Electrical-Junction-Project-Box-White-Gray-/252639923825?hash=item3ad2834e71:g:Ep0AAOSwHMJYLXnO This one's from a Chinese supplier, but I'm sure I bought mine for a pound or two more from a UK seller.  A 7Ah 12V sealed lead acid battery will just fit in one of these boxes, with a small bit of room either end.

[Jeremy Harris]

Right, had a chance to take some photos, unfortunately in the rain, so not the best. 

 

First off, this is the side of the house, where I have two "10 W" LED floodlights running from a solar-charged 7Ah sealed lead  acid battery in the box on the wall:

 

 

I have one light over the back door and the other pointing more or less at the wheelie bin storage area,  The battery box is a bit big and bulky, and I may change it later to a lithium battery, like the one I've more recently fitted at the front, as that seems a bit less conspicuous.

 

 

This is what the lights look like when on.  They point downwards and really just light the path and that junk-filled area at the front right which is where the wheelie bins will go (when the Council get around to sending them............).  The spread of light is pretty even, with no real dark spot between the two lights at all at ground level.

 

 

This is the newer lithium battery powered system at the front of the house, it has the same solar panel as the one at the side, but uses a very much more compact battery, so is less intrusive looking.

 

 

You can just about make out the LED strip stuck on inside the drip rail groove, on the stacking cill above the front door.

 

 

And this is what the front lights look like when on, they light up the area aroudn the front door steps well.  There is some light coming from the 240V PIR switched "10 W" floodlight I have fitted above my electric car charge point, that lights the path from the end of the drive to the path at the side to the back door, lit by the first set of lights.  I could use a 240V LED here as I already had power to the charge point.

 

Hope these give an idea of the sort of light output these things put out.

Edited January 30, 2017 by JSHarris

[PeterW]

1 hour ago, JSHarris said:

 

You can just about make out the LED strip stuck on inside the drip rail groove, on the stacking cill above the front door.

 

 

And this is what the front lights look like when on, they light up the area aroudn the front door steps well.  There is some light coming from the 240V PIR switched "10 W" floodlight I have fitted above my electric car charge point, that lights the path from the end of the drive to the path at the side to the back door, lit by the first set of lights.  I could use a 240V LED here as I already had power to the charge point.

 

Hope these give an idea of the sort of light output these things put out.

 

 

Now that is really neat ! I like that a lot..!

[Jeremy Harris]

Glad you like it!  It was a pure fluke that the high power waterproof LED strip I already had was an EXACT fit into the groove in the alloy cill!  The neat thing is that no one ever notices the light until is comes on, plus it sends all the light downwards, so keeps our "Dark Skies" inspectors happy......................

 

I also like the idea of having exterior lights that have no running cost.  There are plans for more solar powered lights around the edge of the drive, as being such a steep slope, and with a tight curve, it's really difficult to tell where the outer edge is when reversing up it.