Anyone Want a Work Light?

[Turbo]

I spotted this in the bargain bin in Lidl for £5

This is it on top of the lathe with all the other lights off.

A very bright light & the bonus is it's low voltage (10v) so it would be safe to mount it anywhere as a work light.

This sale is on across all branches so it might be worth taking a look. I went back to buy the other lamp I saw but it was missing its power adaptor.

 

[Gwil]

LED's can strobe- that is at certain speeds a spinning chuck can appear stationary. Can be dangerous. Apparently it's ok if another light is on at the same time, I guess because they wont strobe at the same frequency?

 

[daleyd]

LED's can strobe- that is at certain speeds a spinning chuck can appear stationary. Can be dangerous. Apparently it's ok if another light is on at the same time, I guess because they wont strobe at the same frequency?

Not heard of that for led lights but it’s a well known problem for fluorescent lights (I’m not saying led lights don’t do it, just I’ve not heard of it)

 

[Burdekin]

Do you know the frequency of the led? Just had a brief look and seems leds will strobe at twice input frequency so at 50hz; 6000rpm.

 

[Gwil]

Do you know the frequency of the led? Just had a brief look and seems leds will strobe at twice input frequency so at 50hz; 6000rpm.

I saw this on a US forum- can't remember which, blame old age. I'll look for it.

 

[frank horton]

be nice to hook em up with batt's and not have the leads all over the place.......will look for some next week........
thanks Turbo........
frank

 

[Pete.]

LED's can strobe- that is at certain speeds a spinning chuck can appear stationary. Can be dangerous. Apparently it's ok if another light is on at the same time, I guess because they wont strobe at the same frequency?

Yeah it's a huge problem for deaf people.

 

[richie00boy]

If the psu is a simple voltage output brick rather than specific led driver, it won't strobe.

 

[skotl]

LEDs are DC (the "D" at the end stands for diode ) so they shouldn't strobe if fed a clean DC signal, so the question is really about how good the supply is.
If it's just a basic couple of diodes then I guess you might get the LED strobing at 25Hz or 50Hz, but I'd expect a smoothing capacitor across the supply should sort that out (and would be surprised if even the cheapest of supplies didn't have a smoothing cap).

Or to put it another way, I'd doubt that an LED lamp would strobe.

 

[GW8IZR]

LEDs are DC (the "D" at the end stands for diode ) so they shouldn't strobe if fed a clean DC signal, so the question is really about how good the supply is.
If it's just a basic couple of diodes then I guess you might get the LED strobing at 25Hz or 50Hz, but I'd expect a smoothing capacitor across the supply should sort that out (and would be surprised if even the cheapest of supplies didn't have a smoothing cap).

Or to put it another way, I'd doubt that an LED lamp would strobe.

Driving LED's isn't quite so simple if you want bright light and thermal stability, most high light output lamps use a pulsed DC and some depend on substrate temperature to control the duty cycle of the pulse, the pulses will vary in frequency Due to the low thermal inertia of the device they will indeed strobe. The frequency is unlikely to be related to the power supply operating frequency, led lights on cars fed from a 12v battery often strobe. This effect can be seen when using slo-mo video where the camera frame rate can capture odd frames when the LED is unlit, you may even have seen it on Top Gear.

 

[Jlg]

Is

Driving LED's isn't quite so simple if you want bright light and thermal stability, most high light output lamps use a pulsed DC and some depend on substrate temperature to control the duty cycle of the pulse, the pulses will vary in frequency Due to the low thermal inertia of the device they will indeed strobe. The frequency is unlikely to be related to the power supply operating frequency, led lights on cars fed from a 12v battery often strobe. This effect can be seen when using slo-mo video where the camera frame rate can capture odd frames when the LED is unlit, you may even have seen it on Top Gear.

that why in slomo the back lights flash

 

[GW8IZR]

Is

that why in slomo the back lights flash

yes, now the driver for this work lamp may not be anything more complex than a crude dc current source which won't strobe .. but generally thats why LED's strobe.

Not to be confused with the cold filament check on some cars which causes after market LED lamps to flicker when not turned on.. but that's another story.

 

[Pete.]

Strobing lights are only a problem where there are multiple noise sources. Most home workshop types will only be operating one machine at a time, and it'll probably be a manual one, which means they will know that's it's running by the fact that a) it's making a noise and b) they are standing there using it.

This is a complete and utter non-issue IMHO. I have several tools all under tube lights and all on the one phase and I've never had a problem with strobing is gawd knows how long.

 

[GW8IZR]

Strobing lights are only a problem where there are multiple noise sources. Most home workshop types will only be operating one machine at a time, and it'll probably be a manual one, which means they will know that's it's running by the fact that a) it's making a noise and b) they are standing there using it.

This is a complete and utter non-issue IMHO. I have several tools all under tube lights and all on the one phase and I've never had a problem with strobing is gawd knows how long.

I agree its a none issue and it wouldn't bother me one bit, but it does happen

 

[Pete.]

So does getting six numbers on a Saturday evening and the odds are probably better for winning the lotto

 

[GW8IZR]

So does getting six numbers on a Saturday evening and the odds are probably better for winning the lotto

I don't know, I've always worked on the principle that winning the lottery is someone else's problem, a tax on the Innumerate, however strobing LED's are a fact that is indisputable by their design implementation whether you agree or not. I would concur that the strobing effect is unlikely to cause most people a safety issue. I would also say that placing a capacitor across an LED to stop it strobing would most likely result in a few uS of light and a need to replace it. YMMV

 

[Turbo]

Wow, this was a simple heads up & it has turned into a technical discussion!

I don't have any worries about the strobe effect as my main workshop lights are tubes with high frequency electronic ballasts!

 

[brewdexta]

I can see how it could be a H&S issue. If the lights strobed in my workshop I would put some disco on the boogie box. I could get my flares caught in moving machinery or get a piece of swarf in my bum if "oops upside yer head" starts playing

 

[Ruffian]

Looks like a good bargain that,
Ideal for solder station and stuff like that

I managed to get similar from homebase for £1 and run gu10 bulbs
There are some good bargains out there to find

 

[Gwil]

I rather regret setting the strobing hare running. Still, good for the character to be shot down occasionally!

I can't find the original ref, but I did find one referring to a sighting light on a jigsaw making the blade appear stationary, so in a fit of enthusiasm I shot out to the workshop and tried my jigsaw. Lo and behold, you can reproduce it, but not easily, not that it's at all unsafe in this context.

I think it's a non issue for machinery, which brighter minds than mine have clearly demonstrated in this thread.