inspection light

tishtash was thinking very hard :

Aldi/Lidl regularly sell a 240v tube type inspection lamp at a good price, fine for use where they are not to long to fit where needed. I also have a small magnetic 12v LED unit, this is good for dropping down into the engine bay where the other one will not fit. Finally I have three battery operated LED headlights, which puts light exactly where you need it - by your eyes. LED light is rather an odd colour to work by, but you get used to it.

LEDs aren't the best choice as they are point source lights. For an inspection lamp you want a 'soft' general source, and a fluorescent tube type is ideal. Cordless may be ok for short term occasional use but makes the lamp bigger and heavier.

I see. This woul dbe what I'm after then ?

Sorry for starting another thread I accidently deleted the one I was in. I was wondering about this kind of light

I have a 12V version of that but it's not too bright and not too convienient being long. The 240 version is brighter though so that may be a good choice. A head mounted torch is good for giving you light where you need it and you can get several LED lamps which do the trick from about £7 upwards to a Petzl version at about £24

My response to a similar query on 2007-01-20:

Just came across this Auto Express review. Intriguing price tags! "Head Torches"

It will produce dreadful coloured light - that's for sure.

Does the white leds get distorted somehow ?

No such thing as a cheap white LED.

What white light?

Wikipedia gives lots of gory details, but basically LEDs produce light of a single wavelength (colour). You could try to combine blue/red/green LEDs to produce "white" ones, but apparantly current white LEDs use blue LEDs with a "phosphor" coating.

The phosphor coating then absorbs some blue light and re-emits it as a broader spectrum yellow light. Yellow light triggers the red and green receptors in your eyes. The remaining blue light triggers the blue receptors. So you see "white". But it's not a full-spectrum white light, so some colours will blend together or look "wrong" (for want of a better word).

Same with fluorescent, discharge and the monitor your reading this on, tungsten is a true full spectrum light.

The Halfords light is an 8W with a resistance cable, cable gets warm, look for 11W inspection lamp in same style casing as most of the LED ones, its a PL tube brighter and neater than old style ones.

Rechargeables will always droop just when you need them.

Adam

like

Sodium street lights also emit basically monochromatic light (I think it's a mix of two slightly different shades of orange).

Usually this is only a problem when you're following a wiring diagram and asking yourself is this wire green with gray stripes or blue with light blue stripes.

It's possible to get continuous spectrum fluorescent tubes although you'll unlikely find them on an inspection light. But it's a mature technology unlike LED.

There have been times when an extra hand holding a torch directing the light at what you are working on is sorely missed. A head torch is incredibly useful, almost indispensable in my view. Here is the original head torch using a krypton bulb (shorter battery life than with LED naturally):

So as your other post said this sort is the best for bright white light ?

cheers

Much as the marketers of `Full Spectrum` `Daylight` and the dodgy Dr Ott would have you believe, there ain`t no such thing as a continuous or full spectrum fluorescent. Fluro and discharge , mercury, sodium metal halide and LED are always peaky with bits missing. Great comparison:

messagenews: snipped-for-privacy@davenoise.co.uk...

?

LED is fine for working on mechanical things interesting side effect because of the high blue content is it makes spotting coolant leaks that bit easier as the antifreeze fluoresces. Though if you really want to do leak chasing use UV LEDs, commonly found as money checker torches.

Adam