The Latest in Lighting

[Tom Wesenberg]

A couple weeks ago I was changing the clutch on a Model A and got a bad burn on my finger when it brushed across a light bulb in a trouble light with no shield. This was at the customer's house. I quit using regular bulbs years ago due to the heat and inefficiency. I picked up 7 of these small LED bulbs at Menards the other day. I had been using a small LED that I bought about 5 years ago, but it's light is very white and directed ahead, like a headlamp. This 2 watt LED bulb is much more natural light and goes in all directions. The package says it's equal to a common 25 watt bulb, but it looks brighter than that to me. I'm going to replace all my florescent bulbs with LED's in my shop and garage.

[christian]

burned myself on one of those metal cage hanging shop lamps today while changing my timing gear. Caused me to jump, while i was torquing the timing gear nut, wrench slipped and my fingers slammed into the water pump, now im gonna lose a fingernail..... darn incandescent bulbs......

[SeaSlugs]

good ol arm burners... they make shop lights(aka trouble lights) that is an LED stick pretty much.

but yes the LED incandescent replacement bulbs are very nice.

[BILL WILLIAMSON]

Once in the middle of bug season, I caught Chief working on a creeper with an un-caged 200 Watt, yellow BUG bulb!
He sometimes used a cheep flourescent fixture, mounted upside down on a 2 x 6, with a wire cage over it. Bill W.

[Patrick L.]

And here I thought getting burned was just something that went with this kind of work.

[peewee2you]

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Tom, what was the cost and how long are these bulbs supposed to last? thanks, Pete

[CarlG]

Originally Posted by christian

...one of those metal cage hanging shop lamps ... darn incandescent bulbs......

In the late 60's I was working on my brand new car (only brand new car I ever owned) and hung the shop light described above on the rear view mirror. You guessed it! Cracked that mirror in about 5 seconds. Car was new enough that the dealer didn't even have a replacement part.

[whirnot]

I use Flourescent tube trouble light, works great.

[Tom Wesenberg]

Originally Posted by peewee2you

Tom, what was the cost and how long are these bulbs supposed to last? thanks, Pete

Noraml price is $6.99, but with the 15% Menards bag sale they are about $6. They last 25,000 hours. They will probably outlast me. At any rate I'll pay the price to avoid burns.

[ursus]

I haven't seen it mentioned here yet, so I better point out the risk of using one of those high wattage incandescents around leaking gasoline. The heat vaporizes the gas and any spark will touch it off. Don't ask me how I know. LED's are the way to go.

[MrTube]

I like the LED lamps but will be sticking with CFLs for now due to cost. I buy them in the larger 12 packs at home depot and the price can't be beat. Energy savings between CFL and LED arn't much if at all different.

I started using a CFL in a drop light years ago when I got tired of incandescents blowing out from the slightest bump as well as the heat. I also prefer a higher color temp in a drop light like a 5000-6500K lamp. All of my lamps in the house have been CFL since around 2005.

[Ross/Kzoo]

Originally Posted by MrTube

I like the LED lamps but will be sticking with CFLs for now due to cost. I buy them in the larger 12 packs at home depot and the price can't be beat. Energy savings between CFL and LED arn't much if at all different.

I started using a CFL in a drop light years ago when I got tired of incandescents blowing out from the slightest bump as well as the heat. I also prefer a higher color temp in a drop light like a 5000-6500K lamp. All of my lamps in the house have been CFL since around 2005.

My problem with CFL's is that they state they are "equivalent" with an xx watt bulb. I'd say they about 25-50% shy of what they say. They say equivalent to a 100 Watt bulb and it looks more like a 60 or 75 watt equivalent.

[Doug in NJ]

Home Depot has started selling Cree brand LED bulbs that are priced right: $12 or so for a 60-watt equivalent. That would work nice in an old-style trouble light.

One problem with CFLs is that they need a minute or so to come up to full brightness. That's annoying when you want to see right away...

I have at least 30 LED lamps around my house, and I am very happy with them. I have not had to compromise at all with quantity and quality of light compared to incandescents. I used to have lots of CFLs, but they are mostly gone.

Doug

[Craig Lewis]

I'm one that doesn't like LED clear lights. I bought a cordless Snap/on trouble light which features probably a few dozen LEDs on a circuit board...nice bright light but for some strange reason it hurts my eyes. Working under dashes and hoods these lights are constantly flipping over and shining in ones eyes and it feels almost like welding flash after a while. I've stopped using it altogether.
I think this is a specific problem to only my eyes because I've had trouble since LED computer screens came out too...my eyes are sore within 10 minutes of looking at a screen regardless of adjustments.
I bought and returned 3 LED monitors when they first arrived on the market and took the last CRT on the shelf....the kid said "that's the last CRT we'll ever sell". It gave up the ghost about 2 years ago ( I loved it) so running a Toshiba laptop now and even with an antiglare shield and internal adjustments minimized...I find it barely tolerable.
Thankfully at 51 I can still read fine print without glasses so that's a real blessing but I suspect I'm running on borrowed time in that department...grin.
Anyone else have trouble looking at LED flat screen monitors & TV's?

[dave in australia]

Originally Posted by Craig Lewis

I'm one that doesn't like LED clear lights. I bought a cordless Snap/on trouble light which features probably a few dozen LEDs on a circuit board...nice bright light but for some strange reason it hurts my eyes. Working under dashes and hoods these lights are constantly flipping over and shining in ones eyes and it feels almost like welding flash after a while. I've stopped using it altogether.
I think this is a specific problem to only my eyes because I've had trouble since LED computer screens came out too...my eyes are sore within 10 minutes of looking at a screen regardless of adjustments.
I bought and returned 3 LED monitors when they first arrived on the market and took the last CRT on the shelf....the kid said "that's the last CRT we'll ever sell". It gave up the ghost about 2 years ago ( I loved it) so running a Toshiba laptop now and even with an antiglare shield and internal adjustments minimized...I find it barely tolerable.
Thankfully at 51 I can still read fine print without glasses so that's a real blessing but I suspect I'm running on borrowed time in that department...grin.
Anyone else have trouble looking at LED flat screen monitors & TV's?

I prefer LED screens, I find them easier on my eyes than the old CRT's.

[Tom Wesenberg]

I'm with Dave. When I used a CRT for a couple weeks, my eyes were always sore after an hour. LED's are no problem. Some LED light bulbs are a very white/bluish light, but these latest bulbs I bought are a natural yellowish light.

[BillLee/Chandler, TX]

Keep in mind that there are VERY FEW LED screens in existence. All the hype you see from the manufacturers about "LED TVs" or monitors is just that: hype.

Until very recently, flat-screen TVs and monitors have been and still are LCD displays, not LED displays. Older used a fluorescent bulb for back lighting, later use LED (that's where the hype comes from!). LED backlighting has advantages: lower power consumption, the ability to dim the backlight as a function of position on the screen, etc. But the TV or monitor is still an LCD display.

Recent technology has true LED displays, but you won't want to pay for one for a LOOONG time!

[MrTube]

Originally Posted by BillLee/Chandler, TX

Keep in mind that there are VERY FEW LED screens in existence. All the hype you see from the manufacturers about "LED TVs" or monitors is just that: hype.

Until very recently, flat-screen TVs and monitors have been and still are LCD displays, not LED displays. Older used a fluorescent bulb for back lighting, later use LED (that's where the hype comes from!). LED backlighting has advantages: lower power consumption, the ability to dim the backlight as a function of position on the screen, etc. But the TV or monitor is still an LCD display.

Recent technology has true LED displays, but you won't want to pay for one for a LOOONG time!

I believe there is a 55" OLED tv being sold for around $10K right now.
I prefer LED backlit LCD displays to CCFL ones simply because of longeivity and power consumption.

For my TV I prefer a plasma mainly due to black levels. Currently using a 50" Panasonic Plasma bought in 2012. That is, until I can afford an OLED one. Before quality LCD displays came out for PCs I preferred a Trinitron type CRT display running at 100Hz on my pc. Though 85Hz was tolerable 100Hz gave higher frame rates in games.


Back to the LEDs hurting eyes. My only guess is you are sensitive to the more "white" color of the LEDs. They can seem to produce more glare, though this shouldn't be the case on an LED backlit display.

[BillLee/Chandler, TX]

Yes, OLED is what I was referring to as " Recent technology".