LED Shop light ...

[wquiles]

Several years ago I modded this WoodRiver LED Dual Power Shop Light (Item #149727, available from Woodcraft for $33) by using a severely under-driven P7 LED (200mA). But that light has not been "enough", and I knew that with a plastic head I was limited to how much current I could feed the LED.


So I decided to make my own metal head for these lamps so that I can get more use of them. I started from a solid piece of Al:











I added some cooling grooves:





And using the Nichia 219's I made two prototypes:








I am using a frosted narrow and a frosted wide 20mm lens - how do they work?














With their flexible neck I can get the light where I need it, but this time I get plenty, beautiful, 4500K 92CRI light:





Here I am using one of them to cut more of the heads:











Since these work so well, I made some more for me, and a few more just in case:





I took 4x of them, sand blasted them, and then coated them with Moly Resin semi-gloss back:











Drill holes for LED wires:





And they are all done, ready for assembly:





I have been using these for the last two days, and they are working great. The surface temp (via IR temp measurement) hovers between 100-110F, with an ambient temp of about 80F. So they are definitely warm to the touch, but not hot enough to burn you when re-adjusting their aim. As a point of comparison, my Electrix 35 watt incandescent gets to about 135F with the same ambient temp - you can't keep your hand on that one for long!


By the way, although I used the Nichia 219's here, I did build one LED Shop Lamp using the Cree XP-G Warm White (the Cree has a more throwy beam although both have the same narrow frosted optics). The exposure is stepped down (these are fairly bright!). Here you can see them side-by-side: the one that looks "white" is the Nichia:




Here are the "before and after" pictures so that folks can see the dramatic improvements. Stock light on the left, upgraded light on the right - stepped down exposure so that you can see the beam, but camera on manual exposure so that you can compare the relative brightness. First the stock lamp - the beam is horrible and uneven:



Then the upgraded lamp - much, much better beam profile, plus much brighter as well:



Now the lights are aimed at the chuck on my lathe. Again, camera on manual exposure. First the stock lamp:



Then the upgraded lamp - again, much better coverage and much brighter:





Will

 

[Hawkeye]

Nice work, Will.

For those who don't know why he needed to machine new heads to get the LEDs to put out more, it's about heat. The new heads act as heat sinks to keep the LEDs from burning out under the new, higher power feed.

 

[wquiles]

Nice work, Will.

For those who don't know why he needed to machine new heads to get the LEDs to put out more, it's about heat. The new heads act as heat sinks to keep the LEDs from burning out under the new, higher power feed.

Thanks Mike. Yes, the new heads are "the" heatsinks as well - that was also the reasoning behind the fins, to increase the surface area and try to keep the head as relatively cool as possible :biggrin:

Will

 

[HSS]

Really nice work, Will and a very informative illustration. I have removed the two work lights from my, new to me, milling machine, to clean, repair and paint it and have purchased a couple of led bulbs to replace the incandesants that were in them. I might try to modify them when the new bulbs give it up. Thanks for the post.

Patrick