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workbench lighting

I currently have a couple of triple-xenon fixtures lighting my workbench (3x 20-watt xenon bulbs each). There's a couple of problems with this: 1) taking a picture with the digital camera looks yellow due to the color temperature of the light, 2) they put out a fair bit of heat, 3) life expectancy is terrible (gone through 2 bulbs in as many months), and 4) the light isn't bright enough for fine electronics work.

I find that I spend a lot of time looking through my stereo microscope, not because I need the magnification, but because I have a nice bright LED ring light on it.

I'm wondering about the pricier LED undercabinet lights, like maybe four of these ones:

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they would solve the heat and color temperature problems, but luminosity is probably less than than the xenons, and the price is quite high.

An alternative would be to fabricate my own from 1-watt, 3-watt, or 5- watt LEDs. Sounds time consuming.

Anyhow, wondering what you other folks do for lighting.

Reply to
Scott
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A 12v 50W halogen bulb with built-in dichroic reflector, mounted from the underside of the shed roof on a bendy stalk. It is about 6" above my head when I am seated and it gives about a 60-degree beam width. Protected against accidental contact, which might cause burns, by enclosing it in an old baked bean tin painted black,

The advantages:

1) High colour temperature.

2) Plenty of light at bench level with even more intense light if you bring small components near the fitting for closer examination.

The disadvantages:

1) Very deep shadows which sometime necessitate moving the work around to see into dark corners.

2) Heat on the top of my head when I lean forwards.

--
~ Adrian Tuddenham ~
(Remove the ".invalid"s and add ".co.uk" to reply)
www.poppyrecords.co.uk
Reply to
Adrian Tuddenham

I always use fluorescent tube lighting.

--
Failure does not prove something is impossible, failure simply
indicates you are not using the right tools...
nico@nctdevpuntnl (punt=.)
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Reply to
Nico Coesel

Fluorescent fixture with a PHILIPS Daylight tube installed.

Light Output: 2800 Lumens Energy Used: 32 Watts Life: 24,000 hours Color Rendering: 85 Color Temp: 6500K

Soft shadows and the right color.

Lamp does contain mercury. :-(

h
Reply to
hamilton

Philips tubes that are the GREEN type eg; no mercury, are awful. Strange greenish light. Your better off with a GE Cool White tube.

Cheers

Reply to
Martin Riddle

--- Overhead, I've got 8, 80 watt F96T12 fluorescents, which gives me about 1300 lumens per square meter at the tabletop, and for spot lighting, 22 watt fluorescent circlines in fixtures with magnifiers.

--- JF

Reply to
John Fields 

--
_No_ mercury?

How do they generate the UV to excite the phosphor?
Reply to
John Fields

I have a couple of Luxo lamps, with a 100W incandescent in the middle and a 22W Circline fluorescent wrapped round it. I've been using similar ones since the late 80s, and I love them.

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

--
Dr Philip C D Hobbs
Principal
ElectroOptical Innovations
55 Orchard Rd
Briarcliff Manor NY 10510
845-480-2058
hobbs at electrooptical dot net
http://electrooptical.net
Reply to
Phil Hobbs

Sorry, should have said Low-Mercury. It?s the ALTO line of lamps that I dislike.

Cheers

Reply to
Martin Riddle

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Fluorescent, cool white bulbs. For close up, I've got both a fluorescent circleline with a center magnifier, and a similar incandescant with a 100 watt bulb. I find that I use the incandescant almost exclusively when I need close up light.

Ed

Reply to
ehsjr

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