Shop lights

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Eugen Canada
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Shop lights

Post by Eugen »

You guys know I have a micro-shop made out of a 9x12 ft shed, with a small work bench on which I can do things that don't require much room. Together with this I have the tent which was used for storage, and I now use, in part, as an outdoor shop to be able to do a little work without being rained on. I've been always somewhat suffering from not enough light for work. In the shed and tent I had a of led light bulb each, equivalent to about 60 watts in terms of luminosity. Whenever I worked on something I needed to use a portable work light, but one thing annoying about those is that the light is so directional, casting strong shadows sometimes exactly where you need some light, and you constantly need to move them.

Hence, I've been thinking of solving this problem somehow, yet was not sure what would work. The other day I was in Costco and decided to have a look at what they have on the lighting aisle. They had these Koda LED Linkable Shop Light, 46 inch long, with a profile similar to the old style fluorescent lights; they come with a couple of 12" long chains to hook them on something above. Here are the product features:
  • link up to 8 of them together
  • 4600 lumens
  • claimed to last for 50000 hours
  • remote control
  • a few levels of brightness
  • timer 5,10,15 minutes for going dim or for turning off
  • levels of motion sensor distance
My first impressions are these.
The good:
  • decent price a little less than $50 CAD
  • very very bright and very white, when on max brightness
  • adjustable brightness
  • when placed somewhere above, the bright light seems to bounce around because I find even lighting almost everywhere, and no strong shadows
  • motion sensor: this is something I really wanted. Because I go in the shed and out to the tent a lot, when I work on something, I am so tired of turning lights on and off, so I leave them on all the time, and forget about them. The real energy consumption is not what bothers me, it's just the idea, having been raised on "never leave the lights on", it's still not out of my system completely. Now I set these lights to turn themselves off after 5 minutes, and they turn on the moment I step in. Note that I was looking for motion sensor activated light switches before I found these lights, and the cheapest of them were like $15 a piece.
The not so good:
  • all settings are only accessible with the remote control. If the remote breaks, what do you do? Since I bought two, and both can be controlled with either of the remotes, at least I have a spare. Another "compromise" is that for most uses you can live with a certain configuration, and put the remote in a safe place. Set once, be happy.
  • no replaceable inner elements, like "led" tubes or something. Though this may be a way of thinking in the past, as this new generation of lights claim 50000 hours of use. If this is true, maybe I'd average 3 hours per day, and that would give me something like 60 years. Crazy!

Did I say they are crazy bright? :O

8E202402-E24D-413B-903F-C3DF278A4470.jpeg


Edit: found out they are rated at 48W. Compare this with a regular LED light bulb at around 9-12W. I find this really a non-issue. I also found the link to the company that makes them. Please don't take my ramble as an endorsement for this product. It's just a short review, maybe useful to someone.
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JSinMO United States of America
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Re: Shop lights

Post by JSinMO »

I’m still using old fluorescent shop lights. They’re ok but they’re don’t put out the light like yours do. I usually have halogen work lights on as well. I may have to look in to some leds soon! :thumbsup:
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Re: Shop lights

Post by DavidBarkey »

@Eugen Is that a K321 sitting in the 644 ? Inquiring mind want to know . :giggle:
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Re: Shop lights

Post by DavidBarkey »

Lights so bright , going to need sunglasses and sunscreen to work .
:cool:
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Eugen Canada
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Re: Shop lights

Post by Eugen »

DavidBarkey wrote: Thu Nov 24, 2022 5:26 pm @Eugen Is that a K321 sitting in the 644 ? Inquiring mind want to know . :giggle:
Yes, the one from that guy. Sorting out mounting and hydraulic pump now. :highfive:
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Eugen Canada
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Re: Shop lights

Post by Eugen »

DavidBarkey wrote: Thu Nov 24, 2022 5:29 pm Lights so bright , going to need sunglasses and sunscreen to work .
:cool:
:rofl: Shade 11 welding helmet!
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propane1 Canada
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Re: Shop lights

Post by propane1 »

I’m thinking. Ya I know, that if laying on floor to work on some thing under the what ever your workin on, that the bright light could bother you seeing under what your work in on, while your looking upward. Just a thought. My work bench has a window there and I have a small piece of plywood hanging in the window. So covers some of the light coming on to the top of the work piece, but allows light in at the bottom area. Is worse in winter with the snow, brighter then. Have lights at the ceiling shining down on top of the work piece. Seems to work at my standing height. So while working on an engine I don’t really have the outdoor light in my eyes and can see the work. Doesn’t mean it gets fixed any better. :giggle: :giggle

There now. A light fixture ramble. Hopefully it brightens your day. :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

Sorry. I had to do it. :giggle:

Noel. :D
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Re: Shop lights

Post by DavidBarkey »

I’m thinking. Ya I know, that if laying on floor to work on some thing under the what ever your workin on, that the bright light could bother you seeing under what your work in on, while your looking upward. Just a thought
Noel just roll the tractor over and its all good .
:rofl:
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thebuildist United States of America
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Re: Shop lights

Post by thebuildist »

The only thing brighter than @Eugen is his shop lights.

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

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Eugen Canada
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Re: Shop lights

Post by Eugen »

You guys are funny! :))
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