Faithfull Halogen 500w 230v Floodlight
Cost: £20 – £50
Background:
I have my car in the garage at long last but it has a down side, light. There is a light in the middle, the usual single pendant style that has an 80w bulb in it, this was fine for looking around the garage when it was the external storage area or junk room. The single bulb is nowhere good enough for working on a car in or around it. Something had to be done. I looked at strip lights but I am very worried about the strobe effect of making moving engine parts look static, so it was a bulb that had to be in there. I was thinking of a spot light, the sort of outdoors type, but I wasn’t going to pay silly money for one. Looking on eBay I noticed a light on legs, perfect! I could move it around where I wanted, in the garage, into the man cave to work with in the evening or in the garden for a BBQ or similar. Mobile “site light” or flood light it was to be.
In the box:
In the tall box that came well packaged, had the frame which is the adjustable pole and the head unit. The head unit had the bulb already installed and just need the handle screwed to the top of the head unit in order to move it. The head unit was then mounted in a U shaped bracket for up down movement. A single sheet of A5 paper with the instructions was supplied.
Contstruction:
This is a tubular design where the legs fold up flat to the main trunk of the light. The legs are held in place by a sprung loaded clip that sits in recess to hold the legs up at a 35 odd degree angle or 90 degrees to the trunk to sit it flat on the floor. The legs are independent and can be positioned on uneven ground within reason of course. The head unit is attached to the trunk by a single thumb screw which allows the rotation. The head can be rotated 360 degrees and the light can be moved up and down within the cradle. The cable is attached directly to the head unit and the cable is a little short at around 3 meters. The plug is already fitted with an 13 amp fuse. The cable is stored neatly around the trunk by a couple of little pegs that stick out. The head unit has a metal reflective plate behind the bulb and has protective metal rods in-front of the glass lens. The Bulbs are the standard R7’s.
Results:
It works or it don’t. The head unit is able to take a max of 500w but the bulb supplied is 400w, a little cheeky if you ask me. The legs when moved down have a bit of play in them but hold the unit upright sufficiently fine. The clever bit is the height adjustable trunk which extends from a modest 78cm to a very respectable 183cm. The adjustment is a simple twist of the collar at the top of each tube section. The light has to be switched on from the wall, which is a pain, I would liked to have seen an in-line water resistant switch. The light produced with the 400w bulb is epic. I swamps the area with light and you can’t look anywhere near the bulb. In fact it was so bright that I would not be able to work near it with that amount of light. So I have swapped mine out for a 240w version. Which is still very bright and but not over powering. Within a minute or so the head unit is hot due to the bulb. Care should be taken when moving this around after it has been on for a considerable amount of time. Replacing the bulb is simple, undo the wing nut and unscrew the bolt, that has been threaded not to fall out once undone. the bulb is held in place by sprung loaded clips each side.
Conclusion:
The light is great for what I want it for and in that respect so I can’t moan. But, and there is always a but, I would like the switch on the cable and a longer amount of cable. This is the 230volt version and has a power efficient bulb and does not appear to cost the world and his mate to run it. The legs are not brilliant but support well enough when in place. It would have been nice to have had a cover bag to put this in once it has cooled down and not required for use any more. I can see the unit getting damaged if you are not careful as the unit is top heavy. The handle is useful for moving the light into the correct position. At a low price this is a great buy, but the high price I would like it to have been a little more sturdy.