anothernewb
Member
back from another reloading bench thread, I got a few PM's on LED lighting I used on mine. Totally forgot about it for a bit - so here they are.
I had an issue awhile back with the halogen lights I was using and the heat they generated. I was surprised at how hot the wood got with them. to the point where it was actually cooking the resin in the wood. Got me to thinking that's not such a good idea... so I went in search of LED's.
What I discovered there was there are about as many LED makers as there are cars. And about the same variation in quality. After being disappointed with several sets I found one that I like. Most of the ones I found were cheap chips, and often poor backing and they'd heat up and fail quick.
Ended up buying from a company called FlexFire. They have a lot of internet hype - but nothing much concrete I could find. They're a California company, but that's about all I could really dig up. Well, after talking with the (English speaking) person on the phone for a bit, I got the impression that they actually knew something about them, and not just sales hype and hyperbola. so I ordered a bunch for the bench, and my kitchen.
The upside - the chips are decent quality, and are soldiered to the strips well. They also back up their light claims. When I powered them on, I was impressed to say the least. The ones I am using in my bench are the ultrabright "design series" in their "bright white" color temp. which are the "dimmest" in that line. and I'm actually glad I didn't go brighter.
The downside - they aren't the cheapest ones out there. With the connectors and power supply - that 4 foot strip was $75. Conversely - the "color bright" units I bought for the kitchen were $175 for 16 feet and the power supplies.
Here's a few shots of my bench with ambient light, the old halogen lights, and the led's. I'm still working on hiding the wiring for the LED stuff though. for now good old 3M double sided tape is holding them in place. One additional thing - they recommend mounting to some sort of heat sink for the really bright ones, and the higher voltage ones, so I mounted them to a cheap aluminum bar from home depot. I will probably recess them and make them a bit nicer install some day - but it's a work bench, and they're really not visible anyway - and the rough look seems to fit somehow.
The lights are not off in the room. all the other lights are still on, the ambient light is actually pretty bright, I changed out the light bulbs from the first picture so the room is actually brighter than it used to be when the first picture was taken. these things are bright enough where the camera seriously adjusts the shutter to compensate.
I had an issue awhile back with the halogen lights I was using and the heat they generated. I was surprised at how hot the wood got with them. to the point where it was actually cooking the resin in the wood. Got me to thinking that's not such a good idea... so I went in search of LED's.
What I discovered there was there are about as many LED makers as there are cars. And about the same variation in quality. After being disappointed with several sets I found one that I like. Most of the ones I found were cheap chips, and often poor backing and they'd heat up and fail quick.
Ended up buying from a company called FlexFire. They have a lot of internet hype - but nothing much concrete I could find. They're a California company, but that's about all I could really dig up. Well, after talking with the (English speaking) person on the phone for a bit, I got the impression that they actually knew something about them, and not just sales hype and hyperbola. so I ordered a bunch for the bench, and my kitchen.
The upside - the chips are decent quality, and are soldiered to the strips well. They also back up their light claims. When I powered them on, I was impressed to say the least. The ones I am using in my bench are the ultrabright "design series" in their "bright white" color temp. which are the "dimmest" in that line. and I'm actually glad I didn't go brighter.
The downside - they aren't the cheapest ones out there. With the connectors and power supply - that 4 foot strip was $75. Conversely - the "color bright" units I bought for the kitchen were $175 for 16 feet and the power supplies.
Here's a few shots of my bench with ambient light, the old halogen lights, and the led's. I'm still working on hiding the wiring for the LED stuff though. for now good old 3M double sided tape is holding them in place. One additional thing - they recommend mounting to some sort of heat sink for the really bright ones, and the higher voltage ones, so I mounted them to a cheap aluminum bar from home depot. I will probably recess them and make them a bit nicer install some day - but it's a work bench, and they're really not visible anyway - and the rough look seems to fit somehow.
The lights are not off in the room. all the other lights are still on, the ambient light is actually pretty bright, I changed out the light bulbs from the first picture so the room is actually brighter than it used to be when the first picture was taken. these things are bright enough where the camera seriously adjusts the shutter to compensate.
Last edited:
