upgrade for portable lights?

[skipskip]

occasionally I need to work on a car in the driveway a distance away from the garage at night.

I have been using the 500 watt halogen work lights.

they are bright, but:

they get wicked hot

they use a TON of electricity

they never seem to light the area I need.

Is there a modern replacement for this?

Maybe a huge LED array?

Or some sort of compact florescents?

what other ideas?

Thanks

Skip

 

[dankicksass]

I had two of these 65W Cooper fluorescent work lamps for the past four years, says on the box it replaces a 500W lamp but like all CFLs the packaging greatly over estimates the usable output. Still pretty good light, maybe 350W equivalent. One quit working a little while ago, the ballast died and is not serviceable. Cooper warranty did not respond to my inquiry.
$65-75 at Amazon.

I have this on my wish list, a 52W poly lamp that uses four twin-switched 13W bulbs as found in nearly every CFL drop light I've ever seen. It says it outputs 250W equivalent and it looks okay to me. There are a bunch of reviews complaining about the features and price but it costs about the same as a Bayco 26W drop light in Lowes.
Under $30 at Amazon.

I've seen LED lamps but I don't put a lot of faith in them yet. I bought the 1000W standing lamp from the hot deal thread at Sears today. Energy costs will take years to catch up with the value in that kit at $20.

 

[scuba0459]

I have the yellow light that is in the above picture. I am happy with it. It has two switches so you can only run one tube if you want. They were on sale at Princess Auto in Canada but I can't remember what I paid but I think it was around $40.00

 

[kbs2244]

I have 2 four foot double bulb fluorescents with reflectors mounted vertically on old floor fan stands.
They have about 10 inches of vertical adjustment.

I got the idea from a carpenter.

The only real use I have found for the curly type CFLs is in my trouble light.
It is tougher than an “appliance” bulb and is cool.

 

[mrb]

i made this. 10ft stick of 1-1/4" EMT that fits perfect in a concrete umbrella base. at the top theres a bracket that attaches it to a junction box with 3 floodlight holders and a cord. I have 23w CFL par 38s in it, while not daylight bright it lights up a good size area.

 

[Shiny Lil Detlr]

mrb, that looks awesome! I was thinking of doing something similar, but with a 4' fluorescent fixture mounted on top of an old camera tripod. Now I might just give it a shot!

 

[mrb]

the bracket is an alumiunm piece (i had a bunch of them made) laser cut with a hole in the middle that takes a 1-1/4 EMT connector and has two holes that line up with the mounting tabs on the box. Couple spacers and the box bolts right to the bracket.

 

[fflintstone]

I bought some monstrous commercial tripod halogen lights of CL for cheap. They take both a 500W and 300W stick in each head (you can turn on either or both). Since I have no intention of ever plugging in 1600W or 3200 w for both tripods I am going to take them apart and put in some type of FC lamp in there.