LED vs Halogen

galaxy

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So my halogen standing shop light finally died. The light socked deteriorated away. So now I'm trying to compare LED to Halogen and see which way I want to go. I had a 500 watt Halogen and it did a good job, but can you really have too much light? So how does this compare to LED? What wattage or lumens should I be looking at for an equal comparison or even to upgrade? Any generic tips for comparing the two?
 
Halogen's have many draw backs
1.) they're hot
2.) Good light source, can be warmer glow.
3.) Did I mention they're hot?

LED's are cool, this comes in handy if you have many. If you're doing ceramic coatings and need to watch flash-time. Also, other products, polishes, etc, won't bake on the vehicle.

LED's tend to hide nothing. Which is a draw back in a way if you're a perfectionist.

Here is a great article written by Zac McGovern and has gained a lot of traction on this forum:
http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum...-led-work-light-much-better-than-halogen.html
 
Some paint colors (I've shown, anyways) do not show defects as well with LED vs a Halogen light. Paul stated a few good points as well. I have flourescent and LED overhead lights. I have a halogen pedestal mount light (real good for showing defects on warm colors) as well as a mix of halogen and LED shop/work lights. I use a mixture of both for every detail I do. LED does show defects a little better in most cases and will not heat up a panel if left on for an extended period of time. Halogen helps with curing coatings (although I wouldn't suggest this if you do not know what you're doing) as well as warming up the shop if its a little cold.
 
So my post wasn't so much about which is best for the scenarios you guys mentioned as it was trying to figure how much light I need to fill the garage. Using my 500 watt halogen light as s baseline, if I'm going to go LED, what kind of number should I be looking at to fill the same space with light? Those types of questions. I have a couple different LED flashlights I use for inspecting paint and such. I just need to replace a work light and I know from being a flashlight geek that LEDs are a different light.
 
I assembled this LED set up after reading a thread by Zach McGovern. DIY LED Worklight

These lights show absolutely every flaw in the paint, don't get hot and was fairly inexpensive to build.

Bulbs are Par 38, 18w (100 watt equivalent) 5000k daylight

lightsVM.JPG
 
I assembled this LED set up after reading a thread by Zach McGovern. DIY LED Worklight

These lights show absolutely every flaw in the paint, don't get hot and was fairly inexpensive to build.

Bulbs are Par 38, 18w (100 watt equivalent) 5000k daylight

lightsVM.JPG

Where did you get the cart from?
 
Probably the site that's on the side of the cart.
 
Always best to have a few different types of light for inspecting. Halogen tends to hide faint DA haze IMO but they are fine for general work lighting. That being said LED are just the better way to go now days for the reasons listed above by others.
 
Where did you get the cart from?

The cart is a Luxor brand I purchased on Amazon. I would guess over 90% of carts being sold today are made by Luxor and rebranded by others to sell.
 
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