LED Work lamp
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FWIW Ali: I recently bought a 12V 84 LED work light with 20' cord. Sounded great in the ad...but after getting it I'm not happy with it. Narrow light dispersion angle and the LED lamp color is too blue.
Still searching for a good one. Let me know when you find one!
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I have couple of the LED work lamps for the garage but the one that I'm referring to is more suited for a permanent mounting solution on the outside of a vehicle. As Spresso pointed out, the light direction is the critical factor when it comes to lighting up a large area, such as a campground.
I hate LED arrays or lanterns that put light out in every direction - they just end up blinding you.
This is what I built for my camping. It has 3 adjustable 60 degree wide heads that I can point where I need and MORE importantly light from up high.
and
and in action quite a few years ago.
I've since upgraded the old Luxeons to the latest Cree and the light output has been tripled. It also now runs from a long lead from an aux 12V outlet in the back of the cruiser. It also has one of my dimming drivers, so I can set the LEDs to the dim setting as a general nighttime area light that draws less than 100mA.
Good luck find something like it
cheers,
george.
This is what I built for my camping. It has 3 adjustable 60 degree wide heads that I can point where I need and MORE importantly light from up high.
and
and in action quite a few years ago.
I've since upgraded the old Luxeons to the latest Cree and the light output has been tripled. It also now runs from a long lead from an aux 12V outlet in the back of the cruiser. It also has one of my dimming drivers, so I can set the LEDs to the dim setting as a general nighttime area light that draws less than 100mA.
Good luck find something like it
cheers,
george.
I hate LED arrays or lanterns that put light out in every direction - they just end up blinding you.
This is what I built for my camping. It has 3 adjustable 60 degree wide heads that I can point where I need and MORE importantly light from up high.
and
and in action quite a few years ago.
I've since upgraded the old Luxeons to the latest Cree and the light output has been tripled. It also now runs from a long lead from an aux 12V outlet in the back of the cruiser. It also has one of my dimming drivers, so I can set the LEDs to the dim setting as a general nighttime area light that draws less than 100mA.
Good luck find something like it
cheers,
george.
Ok George...now that you've thrown your good idea out here we need more details. Don't be just a tease!
What Cree units are you using? It appears like there is plenty of useful wattage to light up a camp/cooking area? I see, on the Cree website, they offer their LED lamps in different color temps thus allowing for a warmer color choice.
Thanks
Dan
I'm using Cree XRE Q5 bins in the tripuss (what I called the 3 headed led light). They put out a lot of light and I generally dim them down to at most 500mA each to light up each area.
The nice thing with 3 heads is you can light up zones rather than the entire camp area and by having it hang on a skyhook that can go up to about 8' you get light from above eye level rather than a lantern.
As I said, I hate lanterns since they generally blind you since the light is 360deg and you then lose your night vision and need even more light to see by. There's a lot to be said in having less light to start with and letting your eyes 'open' up and then if you need a bit more light you can brighten up the LEDs.
I also have a bunch of 'portable' adjustable lights (I've made) as per:
And using it while camping a few years ago. The bright spot is from a torch my son is pointing at the ground - the wide beam is from the single LED light that can be seen in the right of the picture. This is with the old Luxeons - with a Cree XRE the light would be several times brighter yet again...
They use 4 x AA nimh cells and can run for many hours (or days when dimmed all the way down). With the locline they can be adjusted to hang on tree branches or sit on tables or chairs etc. Handy in the tent for reading etc.
Yes, we have lots of custom LED lights in our family for some reason
cheers,
george.
The nice thing with 3 heads is you can light up zones rather than the entire camp area and by having it hang on a skyhook that can go up to about 8' you get light from above eye level rather than a lantern.
As I said, I hate lanterns since they generally blind you since the light is 360deg and you then lose your night vision and need even more light to see by. There's a lot to be said in having less light to start with and letting your eyes 'open' up and then if you need a bit more light you can brighten up the LEDs.
I also have a bunch of 'portable' adjustable lights (I've made) as per:
And using it while camping a few years ago. The bright spot is from a torch my son is pointing at the ground - the wide beam is from the single LED light that can be seen in the right of the picture. This is with the old Luxeons - with a Cree XRE the light would be several times brighter yet again...
They use 4 x AA nimh cells and can run for many hours (or days when dimmed all the way down). With the locline they can be adjusted to hang on tree branches or sit on tables or chairs etc. Handy in the tent for reading etc.
Yes, we have lots of custom LED lights in our family for some reason
cheers,
george.
Thanks George...I'll have to look into a set-up something like yours (I prefer 12V...). I agree with you in respect to task lighting versus broad scope lighting. Task lighting is also more friendly to any other campers in the area not in need of my light . Too bad our cities don't adopt a similar type of lighting policy to cut down on light pollution...
I assume you crafted the housing and mount you have the LED(s) mounted in?
. Too bad our cities don't adopt a similar type of lighting policy to cut down on light pollution...I assume you crafted the housing and mount you have the LED(s) mounted in?
Thanks George...I'll have to look into a set-up something like yours (I prefer 12V...). I agree with you in respect to task lighting versus broad scope lighting. Task lighting is also more friendly to any other campers in the area not in need of my light
I assume you crafted the housing and mount you have the LED(s) mounted in?
Yes, directed lighting is so much better (and efficient) than just shooting photons all over the place.
Yes, I had the heads that the LED is mounted in custom machined. I had around 100 a few years ago and they were never a big hit - finally down to just a handful that I've put aside for my own use. The end of the head has 1/4" NPT that screws directly to the locline. Love locline, watertight and nice and flexible and strong enough to hold a reasonable weight off the end with sagging...
cheers,
george.