I was just curious as to the type or work light everyone uses. I have been using incandescent drop lights for a while. I was considering trying a fluorescent one. Any thoughts?

Stan

Stan, First off... Welcome to ECN

I work mostly in residential/commercial service.. So I end up pretty much anywhere at anytime! I get the most use out of my Mag-lite over anything! I have a 500W halogen I use if I need to lighten up a larger area (panel change at night) but this puts out alot of heat! I've used the incandescent work lights before & they did alright as long as I used a rough service lamp inside.. The small flourescents seem to be the way to go nowadays for getting light into attics or crawlspaces & such! They seem to be built pretty tough & very little heat is produced.. Which is VERY appreciated when that attic is about 150²F already!!!

-Randy

Welcome to ECN!

In response to your question, I use the DeWalt swivel head work light that uses the 14.4v batteries from my drill.

Other than that, for area lighting I use a standard Quartz/Halogen floodlight. I used to have one on a tripod that I salvaged from a jobsite, but it got lifted, so I'll probably get another one.

The only poroblem I've had with the standard "garage" style work/drop/trouble light is I keep knocking the lamp and blowing the bulbs!

Maybe I'll invest in a FL hand light...

I have an older garage trouble light that I put a compact florescent bulb in. Less heat and it seems to not mind the abuse. Of course the trouble light should be a bigger one so the compact florescent doesn't touch the frame.

i have few diffrent troble light from small battery powered flashlight and cordless dewalt 18 volt fexible neck flashlight for bigger area i have fluorsecent troble light, 500 watt quatzhalogen light and 400 watts MH hid floodlight set up as area light aka large area light also i have monster 1500 watts MH too but big one i dont use it not too often at all due the amout of light and power usage most of the time largest one is allready wired up for 277 volts for big commercal area

merci, marc

On a project that we may be on for a couple
of evenings i think the temporary string
lights are wonderful. 100' with 10 bulbs
you can light an area really well with those.
they are great for new construction, for other times i have stand lights and i have found that the 18v milwaukee flashlight will
light up a area pretty well.

I add a pigtail to a recycled 2' x 4" lay in 4 lamp flourescent light from office remodel jobs that otherwise would get trashed. When working late to get a new resturant project open on time or other jobs where lighting is needed but heat isn't , it works great.

I have one of the new LED headlamps. I love it when working in the attic or crawl, it keeps you hands free and not as cumbersome to drag around as the 18v DeWalt. As an ex-coal miner it just feels natural to have a light on your head when you're crawling on your knees. I also have a homemade 500w quartz light stand that I use sometimes. I used a trouble light a few times and after blowing bulbs on the wrong side of the attic a few times I gave up on them.

I like those reflector type clamp-lamps.
I own a halogen floodlight, but my brother has it.

Its a little pricey but I really like my led flashlights, one runs on three "C" cells, the other on four "N" cells. Throw light about 100' and man are they bright. the small on fits into my headstrap just like a maglite does.

Nothing like being inside a commercail building full of whirling machinery when all the lights go out. (Ever notice they don't put windows in factories.)

Lol Dave

I like the clamps on lights for regular bulbs I get from Home Depot. They have two kinds. Get the one with the 15' cord and the heavy duty clamp. This way, I can mount them high up out of the way. I use either a spiral florescent bulb or a halogen.
Being an electrician, I run extinction cords and three way adapters and then more ext. cords.
Also I've adapted one of those 20,000 lumen mercury vapor lamps, whoops, luminaires.
~Peter

In the past when I was working for my dads company, he did alot of residential rewires, I would install a phenolic or porcelan keyless lampholder first thing in an attic after installing the new service. Otherwise, I like to use a flourescent drop light, only problem is the handle where the ballast is located can get rather hot but not as hot as an incandescent. Had a bad experience once with incand. drop light in an attic when a helper left it laying in some blown in cellulose, it heated the plastic shroud and had a small spot of the cellulose smoldering. No more incand. for me and my helper got a talking to.