DIY LED Work Light (much better than halogen!)

Dr. Pain,
Sweet setup you have going on there. I noticed that you said that the product is very light (5LBS or so). I would be careful with leaving the light on for extended periods of time. Weighing only 5 pounds, my guess would be that the heatsinks are not necessarily designed for long hours of operation - output of LEDs diminishes faster if they are under high heat loads. Just my $.02.

I have worked with several LED vendors with a major US chain store and have seen many products. With LED products, many times, you get what you pay for - the bad part is that a GOOD name brand fixture is super heavy, and will run several hundred dollars for a 4000-5000 lumen fixture.

Not trying to be a downer - just wanna make sure you dont end up burning out your LEDs prematurely.
 
Kevin, this forum is a wealth of information because of people like you that are willing to bring about the "devil's advocate" side to focus. So for that I want to thank you.

Although a little costly (by most standards), the light will be a good "test" for me. If the functionality of the light serves the purpose but the light "life expectancy" sucks, then I am willing to be the guinea pig and help our community. The way I figure, the "warrantied" bulb option that Zach shared was good but in my opinion could be made better, and the cost of my speculation was not that much greater than investing another $80 at Lowes on 2 additional bulb, especially if the benefits are that much greater (at this point still just a speculation). Here is my math, which I use to validate throwing money in the wind (potentially):

Two LED light bulb = $80 = 1400 lumens x2 = 2800 lumens
1 light panel = $120 = 4500 lumens

If the light panel serves its purpose in spades, then it will be confirmation enough for me to warrant spending large $$$ on a name brand with warranties etc..

FYI, I will use the light panel under normal detailing circumstances regardless of it being a cheapy (and without regard that I may end up burning it out prematurely). This should be the only way to test it, for our community.
 
I finally got the bulbs. I noticed the bulbs are rather big and quite heavy.

1 bulb is 1200lm and has narrow beam so it looks brighter on smaller area and another one is 1400lm and has wider beam since it has wider beam it doesn't look as bright as the 1200lm one.

I used taller stand because I don't have the shorter one.

Total cost for this set up is only $80, you won't believe it. The bulbs are only about $25 each.

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Next time I will post the actual lights on walls to find out the narrow and wider beam and off course on car surface.

So far I am happy with this.

Kudos to zach for bringing this up.
 
irsankao said:
I finally got the bulbs. I noticed the bulbs are rather big and quite heavy.

1 bulb is 1200lm and has narrow beam so it looks brighter on smaller area and another one is 1400lm and has wider beam since it has wider beam it doesn't look as bright as the 1200lm one.

I used taller stand because I don't have the shorter one.

Total cost for this set up is only $80, you won't believe it. The bulbs are only about $25 each.

10460278_406492139493006_6936604764358321048_n.jpg


10458595_406492159493004_3719384846411376228_n.jpg


Next time I will post the actual lights on walls to find out the narrow and wider beam and off course on car surface.

So far I am happy with this.

Kudos to zach for bringing this up.
Click to expand...

Why did you buy 2 different lights?
 
Ok, in the interest of bulb diversity....

I went to Home Depot with the intent of buying the Philips 5000K 1300 lumen floodlight....except they didn't have it anymore or I imagined it last time or something. Even the lower-priced 2700K bulb turned out to be a smaller bulb. So what they had (in stock) was a 3000K 1200 lumen bulb for $33. I walked a little further down the aisle and (since maybe I don't want to see the swirls as well as you guys and because last daylight bulb I had seemed so blue) got this for $17:

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And it has the lens giving it the "single diode" appearance you folks seem to like:

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I'll let you guys know how it works out when I get the courage to open it.
 
Ok...1200 lumens seems to be enough....to blind me...

One problem I was worrying about with these PAR 38 bulbs is that the diameter seems to be larger than the distance between the bulbs...of course I temporarily forgot about that when I bought this one. It seems that two of these won't fit exactly side-by-side and indeed if you look at Zach's first photographs, he seems to have them slightly offset to clear.

Beyond that, for the little repair I was just doing the 3000K was fine at showing up swirls, I would post pics but my before came out blurry.
 
Setec Astronomy said:
last daylight bulb I had seemed so blue QUOTE]

Usually if a bulb says "Daylight" and it is too blue it has a color temp of 6500K. 5000K bulbs are sometimes also refered to as "Daylight" but are more like noon time sunlight.
Click to expand...
 
might be to late into this thread but, you can get leds from Costco usually $9-12 for each bulb (sorry in Connecticut they have a deal going on where the local utility company gives instant rebates.) I will have to try making a stand like this thanks for the good advice!
 
Pureshine said:
Why did you buy 2 different lights?
Click to expand...

Both bulbs are Qled which are made in china.

The were not much info about the specs of the box, beam spread especially. There were only the general specs such as lumen, par 38, 220V and so on hence I just bought two different bulbs to find out.

Btw, those are 6500K, the other one one 2700K I think which must be yellowish.
 
First of all, I just want to say a BIG THANK YOU to Zach for posting this information and sharing it with the rest of the detailing community. I absolutely hate the heat that's generated from those halogens and I'm sick of the halogen bulbs that keeps on getting blown...

I was supposed to get the $80 Husky LED light from Home Depot but I guess it wasn't really that good. Also, I didn't know that the LED lights would show swirls much better. So getting this setup is like a win-win in all aspects!

Again, BIG THANKS Zach!

I recently went to Costco and saw some PAR38 LED bulbs there. It wasn't as good as the Utiltech LED bulbs that Zach first linked but it's a lot cheaper. It's only 950 lumens and the color temp is 3000K. So if you want white light then this is not for you. The color temp of this LED light looks like the halogen lights IMO. But even at only 950 lumens, it's already BRIGHT!!! And I only have one bulb right now. I can't imagine having two of these shining on the paint. It's $15.99/bulb after rebates.

Anyway, here are the pictures of the bulbs:

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The housing and the heatsink looks very similar, if not the same as the OP's post of Utiltech. I might still try the Utiltech and see the difference.
 
You need to get the natural day light bulbs any other bulb won't work as good.
 
Setec Astronomy said:
Ok...1200 lumens seems to be enough....to blind me...

One problem I was worrying about with these PAR 38 bulbs is that the diameter seems to be larger than the distance between the bulbs...of course I temporarily forgot about that when I bought this one. It seems that two of these won't fit exactly side-by-side and indeed if you look at Zach's first photographs, he seems to have them slightly offset to clear.

Beyond that, for the little repair I was just doing the 3000K was fine at showing up swirls, I would post pics but my before came out blurry.
Click to expand...

I have two of the Utilitech Par 38 bulbs that Zach originally recommended, and they fit perfectly on the stand. There's about 1/8" space between the two bulbs, and the sockets on the stand don't swivel side to side so there's no option for offsetting the direction of the bulbs.
 
Pureshine said:
You need to get the natural day light bulbs any other bulb won't work as good.
Click to expand...

^This...

The daylight color temp has proven to be the most effective at showing defects in my brief comparisons so far. :dblthumb2:
 
I just put together the same setup that the OP shared with us and I have a few initial thoughts. It is really, really, bright and clear, but on my red E30 it is almost blinding. I just did a quick ONR wipedown and I can see EVERYTHING that's wrong cosmetically with the car. There are a lot of things I've never seen under any sunlight, florescents, halogens, and high pressure sodium. I can see every little nick in the metal bumpers, any slight imperfection in the body work or paint job, every bit of dirt, every scrap of some kind of residue, and I think it's because the lights are so intense, focused, and clear, that it's highlighting depth and shadows that you don't normally see under other forms of lighting, including the sun. This light setup so far is awesome but brutally honest, but I think if you make a car look great under these lights then the car will be stunning in the sun. I am looking forward to using it for some polishing work on a client's car next week so I'll find out if any of my initial thoughts are true.
 
Well, for those who were anticipating a prompt review of my new light setup I have to apologize. I've been extremely busy and have not had time to devote to testing, taking pictures, reviewing etc..

So without dragging on.... What are my impressions of this light panel?



Cons:
- Not enough light for me!! I love strong intense lights and this cast a nice bright but weakish light. 500 watts it is not (in my opinion)
- I believe a high lumen focus single diode would work a little better. This is 500x 8-9 lumen LEDs (if memory serves me)

Pros:
- I can litterally have it next to my head or my work
- It does have the adjustability of the 4 banks of light and is dimmable which does have its benefit
- It does attach nicely to the boom of my light stand
- It does provide a cleaner natural light spectrum

Questions/Answers:
Would I buy it again?...... Probably not
Does it make for a nice worklight?...... Yes
Does it make for a nice inspection light?..... not exactly

Here are a couple of pics for you guys. At first glance, and under the T8 shop light, the paint defects are barely perceivable. This is a brand new 2014 Mercedes SLK250 in for a full correction and coating (Show 'N Shine to come). As you can see the panel gives a cleaner light but is very comparable in light intensity



Zooming in you can see that minor defects can be seen under the T8 lights (slight water marks in the light itself.... and drying streaks, I know). Under the light panel (at full intensity) you can better see the very minor watermarks. Comparatively, the defects are even more apparent with my 1000w halogen lamps.





Where the light panel did shine was in its versatility to select banks and dim the lights. The defects did become more evident that way, but with every bank I turned off I would lose effective light intensity, which was a pain. You can however see that it performed very well in showing defects that other light source weren't showing as well.



I was just wishing for more light during the inspection process.

Where I do LOVE the light panel is in its ability to be a portable and versatile work light. I was able to adjust the boom every which way it pleased me, and had the light next to my head for HOURS illuminating all vertical and horizontal panels. I did have to rely on multiple light source for inspections and found that Zach's original bulb recommendation were a little better for that. The panel was better than the LED bulb at illuminating a greater part of the panel during the work, but the LED light were better for inspection

I hope this thread hijack was helpful. Let me know if you have any questions

In conclusion,
1) The light boom :dblthumb2: :dblthumb2:
2) The light panel for inspection :xyxthumbs:
3) The light panel for work illumination :dblthumb2:
 
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