Retroanaconda Posted March 30, 2020 Share Posted March 30, 2020 Any suggestions for decent portable battery-powered work lights? I could do with something mobile to save having to drag an extension lead around. This sort of thing perhaps? https://www.screwfix.com/p/erbauer-led-rechargeable-work-light-40w-14-8v/206gy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Poore Posted March 30, 2020 Share Posted March 30, 2020 I'll refrain from recommending Milwaukee . If you've got cordless tools do they manufacture any lights? My floodlight goes for about 4h on maximum brightness off a 5Ah battery and will comfortably floodlight my barn. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ballcock Posted March 30, 2020 Share Posted March 30, 2020 I have a pair of those but I think they are the lower wattage. I bought them when they were on offer, I like the design with the lens folding safely and the fixing clamps and door hooks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L19MUD Posted March 30, 2020 Share Posted March 30, 2020 Depends what you want it for. I have one of these now and find it much more useful than a usual style led torch https://www.google.com/search?q=sealey+puck+light&client=ms-android-sonymobile&prmd=sivn&sxsrf=ALeKk01s86Ly8711BO0I-TEGyhBhtsJCxQ:1585597237922&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiY5P2A-sLoAhXUoVwKHaEAAnEQ_AUoAnoECAoQAg&biw=360&bih=512&dpr=3#imgrc=RG3OZoii0UzS5M Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
De Ranged Posted March 30, 2020 Share Posted March 30, 2020 (edited) LED's have a bit of a catch Remember for yrs they weren't allowed to be fitted to vehicle headlights, this is due to LED's light wave length.... your eye doesn't perceive detail very well in this wave length, don't ask me any more on this lol I never bothered to learn more Now becoming half blind in the last few yrs lol I've noticed this effect from my worklights, the older style worklights (the ones with banks of LED's) while they pump out lots of light... buggered if I can read a vernier or ruler in that light..... my new'er CREE style work lights are alot better (single sqaure element) Given the style of diffuser cover on that one in the link I'm guessing its the early banked style and I wouldn't recomend them Oh and where I really want to see well (the lathe, mill and serious worklight situations) I use incandesant (sp?) lights and I have a supply of bulbs for the worklights find they pop when ever I move em or weld splatter hits them lol but that good light is worth it Edited March 30, 2020 by De Ranged add the last line Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mickeyw Posted March 31, 2020 Share Posted March 31, 2020 James, I read somewhere that you've bought into Makita tools. I recently bought one of these and am very pleased with it. It last for hours and hours on a 3Ah battery. In fact I have yet to flatten one with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retroanaconda Posted March 31, 2020 Author Share Posted March 31, 2020 Thanks guys, useful thoughts. I had forgotten that the tool makers do ones that work with their batteries. How is the light spread off that one @mickeyw? Can it light part of a room well enough, or is it only useful for close-up stuff like working under a vehicle/bonnet? I see they do a bigger light for the same battery system which is about £80. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FridgeFreezer Posted March 31, 2020 Share Posted March 31, 2020 I'd look for anything that runs on 12-14v as you can hook it to your car battery for nearly infinite run-time. I have a few 12v power tools I got for nothing because the batteries were dead, add jump leads and any old car battery kicking around, even a dead one, will run them beautifully. As De Ranged alludes to, LED's, especially cheap ones, have poor colour rendering (CRI) because they create narrow bands of light to appear white, that's (partly) why the likes of Osram and Cree cost so much more than the oriental knock-offs - lifespan is an issue too, the cheap ones can lose output very rapidly over their lives as well as having poor thermal management which can lead to premature death. That and they all lie massively on their spec sheets about performance Big Clive on YouTube has done a lot of LED light teardowns if you're interested. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nonimouse Posted March 31, 2020 Share Posted March 31, 2020 https://www.screwfix.com/p/elwis-led-rechargeable-task-lamp-15w-240v/8600t I've got one of these. Great as long as you don't look at it. Then you go blind for an ten minutes and fall over stuff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anderzander Posted March 31, 2020 Share Posted March 31, 2020 Wow that looks good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muddy Posted March 31, 2020 Share Posted March 31, 2020 They did one that looked like the halogen lights you put on your wall, but on a small yellow frame, I bought one off them about 2 years ago for £25 and its brilliant, 240 and 12v charger. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
De Ranged Posted March 31, 2020 Share Posted March 31, 2020 23 minutes ago, muddy said: They did one that looked like the halogen lights you put on your wall, but on a small yellow frame, I bought one off them about 2 years ago for £25 and its brilliant, 240 and 12v charger. Sounds similar to what I've got that I use most a version of this https://www.trademe.co.nz/building-renovation/tools/hand-tools/other/listing-2588098134.htm?rsqid=1b50719662224969a7e105e008e572dc-006 I got mine off trademe (our version of ebay) for $45 each and the lights are still going strong 3 yrs later, they do have a few issues they take ages to charge (think its 6hrs to charge to full), They are a bit fragile for my level of abuse.... I regually need to straighten the black straps as this bends under impact lol and on one I've broken the lug on the light on one side where the lock down nut is On the positive, cheap (when I do finially kill one I'm not going to cry lol), Light weight, this plus the legs are just the right size and length to jam in around things so you can "hang" it on headrests, rollcages, roof seams etc, the battery is good enough it lasts upto 4hrs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mickeyw Posted March 31, 2020 Share Posted March 31, 2020 46 minutes ago, muddy said: They did one that looked like the halogen lights you put on your wall, but on a small yellow frame, I bought one off them about 2 years ago for £25 and its brilliant, 240 and 12v charger. I had one like that from Aldi. At 3.7v 10w it wasn't going to make it like daylight, although it lit the garden up quite well just now. It's a typical LED cool white, it's excellent for under a car or lighting up a very large tent. The battery might last 2-3 hours max - it says it's 2200mah. The Makita light is a completely different colour temp. It's very warm white but offers similar wide angle ( tests in garage make me think around 150 degrees) and range of light to the Workzone lamp. The Makta label says power dissipation 12x 510mw, luminous intensity 270LM. With a 3ah battery I've run it for at least 6 hours and lost just 1 of 4 LEDs on the battery meter, so battery performance wise the blue one is far better. What is not shown in the Makita details is the adjustable webbing strap with hook that it comes with. I am trying to add a photo but Google photos on my phone doesn't want to upload. Gimme back my Windows phone 😕 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mpb Posted April 1, 2020 Share Posted April 1, 2020 12volt led work light and a car battery or I’ve seen an 12volt work light screwed to a spare drill battery charger and all the bits taken out and the prongs used to power the light from a drill battery. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Poore Posted April 1, 2020 Share Posted April 1, 2020 Related but slightly off-topic if people want some mains operated ones I'd highly recommend the VTAC lights with Samsung LEDs in them. I've just finished wiring up a pair of them in my temporary workshop and took a before and after picture - before was a pair of fluorescent tubes suspended from the rafters: And then after was with one floodlight screwed into the rafters at either end of the old Victorian kitchen (yup, my temporary workshop used to be a kitchen, admittedly several hundred years ago): Those 100W / 6500K ones are currently £22.50 + VAT at CPC, the 50W versions are £9.95 + VAT. I've had some outside for about 9 months now and they've survived the winter comfortably. My parents have one installed on their tallest barn facing the prevailing weather and it's been up there for a couple of years and still going strong. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anderzander Posted April 1, 2020 Share Posted April 1, 2020 That’s interesting Ed 🤔 I was in my garage today thinking the light from my fluorescent tunes was a bit carp, and having fitted an LED outside light at the back of the house, found myself thinking there must be something better than this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Poore Posted April 1, 2020 Share Posted April 1, 2020 This barn is roughly 3x the size and 1.5x the height - it currently only has one floodlight above the 6x6 but illuminates the whole barn comfortably. The main reason I've gone for / planned a pair of temporary lights is to reduce shadows because if they're at either end then you get better coverage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anderzander Posted April 1, 2020 Share Posted April 1, 2020 In a normal garage a couple of 20w ones would be probably be plenty bright enough - and they are cheap as chips: https://cpc.farnell.com/w/c/electrical-lighting/lighting/outdoor-lighting/floodlights/prl/results?st=Tac &sort=P_PRICE Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anderzander Posted April 26, 2020 Share Posted April 26, 2020 So - any recommendations for a work light that would serve well for lighting up what I’m welding please? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FridgeFreezer Posted April 28, 2020 Share Posted April 28, 2020 £3 Tesco Value desk lamps with an LED bulb, still can't beat them - robust, cheap, posable, disposable! For under the car I'd wire a mains lead to a plastic sealed LED batten fitting, again they're cheap as chips from Screwfix etc., throw out a decent amount of light and are pretty robust. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
landroversforever Posted April 28, 2020 Share Posted April 28, 2020 I've got one of these style ones in the workshop but with an almost white, diffuser type, lense. It's great and a good light to work with. I think from memory its a LAP branded one. Another feature I find really useful is being able to charge it from either 240v mains or 12v or USB too I think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve200TDi Posted April 28, 2020 Share Posted April 28, 2020 https://www.uktoolcentre.co.uk/products/draper-expert-4w-cob-led-and-uv-led-rechargeable-magnetic-inspection-lamp-blue.html?sku=944706&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIr6zE4YyL6QIV1YBQBh0bnADdEAQYASABEgKwX_D_BwE I've been super pleased with this work light. Strong magnet, bright light. It also has a tilting base and a hook. Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeffR Posted May 3, 2020 Share Posted May 3, 2020 Keep your eyes open at Aldi, I bought a few of their battery work lamps last year, were great till the workshops got torched. And cheap as chips 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bowie69 Posted May 3, 2020 Share Posted May 3, 2020 Jeff, you're alive! Excellent news 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anderzander Posted May 3, 2020 Share Posted May 3, 2020 Thanks All ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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