Halogen Work Lights?

[Stuey]

I was at Lowes and saw that they were clearancing out most of their Halogen work lights. So, I bought two 500W units for $7.50 each and brought them home.

I was setting one up and although I was aware of the high-heat hazards, I wasn't aware of the "excessive UV emission" hazard. I packed the light right back up and returning it. For now, I'll keep using my 100W equivalent CFLs in their clip-on fixtures.

What's your take on Halogen work lights? Yay or nay?

 

[Merkava_4]

I was setting one up and although I was aware of the high-heat hazards, I wasn't aware of the "excessive UV emission" hazard.

Yeah I read on the web somewhere that halogen lights were VERY bad for your eyes.

 

[eschoendorff]

Halogens comes with too much baggage. I wouldn't want to stand or work too close to one...

The quartz lights are even worse. They throw out a LOT of light, but the heat is a killer....

 

[chammyman]

i use a 500w one for years no issues, its often been stuck up my top to heat me up in fact

 

[Vicegrip]

They are great for welding while using auto dark helmets. Most auto darks trigger on the 60 cycle flicker of the arc. CFLs and standard incandescent bulbs will trigger the helmet at low light levels but the halogens have little flicker and don't tend to trigger the helmet as easily.

 

[Junkman]

I recently saw a scientific study that determined that 99% of the people in the days immediately prior to their demise had drank water. The scientists proved beyond any shadow of doubt that drinking water will eventually lead to your death. I am waiting for the next scientific discovery that proves having *** leads to pregnancy, however some women swear that they caught the disease from sitting on a dirty toilet seat.

 

[fotoflojoe]

I recently saw a scientific study that determined that 99% of the people in the days immediately prior to their demise had drank water. The scientists proved beyond any shadow of doubt that drinking water will eventually lead to your death. I am waiting for the next scientific discovery that proves having *** leads to pregnancy, however some women swear that they caught the disease from sitting on a dirty toilet seat.

70% of all statistics are made up on the spot!

 

[Stanger]

I've never heard of halogens being bad for you. I do quite a bit of detailing and therefore have to work in front of them. Besides the heat, I've never had a problem. They are the only thing that will bring out the fine swirls and scratches in paint.

 

[nissan_crawler]

Hmmm, all the lights in my house are halogen.

 

[Uncle Buck]

I love them. They are great, excellent supplemental heat source as well!

 

[Brookesy]

I use a 500w when in the garage working on the car & a 150w for plastering

 

[janarvae]

I have this 1,000W tripod Halogen set-up and they get very hot. I have already had two of the bulbs burn out on me in less than 2 months. I was very careful not to allow any finger oils to contact the bulbs.

However, the halogen lights have never given me a sunburn like my Craftsman professional fluorescent work light did.

 

[Jay H 237]

I think they're great for lighting up large areas but for close up work another light type would be better in most cases.

I haven't used my 500w light since I was painting empty rooms in the house.

 

[bchee]

I didn't know they were bad for you. Interesting. I was trying to set up one the other day, but it didn't have all the attachments for the base, so I didn't use it. Maybe I'm lucky.

We might not experience any problems with them right now, but they might be giving you skin cancer.

Unless you use them while welding, as vicegrip mentioned, in which case you have a helmet and welding jacket, so your skin is less exposed.

 

[boiler7904]

The trick to halogen work lights is to aim them at surfaces other than what you're working on. You end up with more even lighting and you don't have all of the heat on top of you either.

 

[fourfeathers]

I seem to remeber that the lens on the halogen worklamps somehow shielded you from UV, not sure how that actually works, but I felt better reading that, lol.

 

[Danglerb]

500 or 1000 watts is wasting too much power for me (I'm already in the 300% surcharge tier). I have a couple of the $8 on sale CFL worklights from HF, and I am thinking about getting the "big" 25 watt version and maybe one with a long tube.

 

[Stuey]

The manual recommended keeping the lens intact, probably b/c it does filter most if not all of the UV spectrum. Whether it is trustworthy or not is another issue entirely.