Best kind of lighting for work bench?

[dlucy]

I'm assembling a miniature work bench, just enough room for a sodlering station and a few pirces of test gear, and I'm ready to decide on lighting. I'll be doing occasional noise or distortion testing... and using a new digital auto-ranging oscilloscope (Rigol DZ1054Z) and I know some kinds of lighting will interfere.

What kind of lighting (e.g. LED, florescent, incandescent, halogen, etc) is best for making gear faces and stereo guts easy to see without causing undue interference with test gear?

 

[rcs16]

When I am measuring amp THD, in the <-90dB (<0.003%) range, I have to turn all the noisy lights out because if I don't THD usually doubles.
Now this is on a amp module open to the air and not shielded in a chassis.
Over the soldering bench I have lots of light, two PLL-40W twin tubes and regular LED screw base lights over head.
So bare none, incandescent/halogen is the least noisy lighting by a large margin. Do not use a phase dimmer
But LED's are not inherently noisy and do not have to be, that depends 100% on the PS driving them.

 

[AudioAvarice]

Get a 'daylight' colour led (best colour rendition for picking out components etc) with a good diffusion filter to even out the light spread, and minimise bright reflections.

 

[Nashou66]

As stated above , the closest to natural light . I like Chromalux lights .

But I also have a 3 foot LED from Home depot . But in my Magnified Light I use the Chromalux lights.


Athanasios

 

[pac1085]

I noticed something similar to rcs16 with the noise, especially when using my hp 3562a. I haven't come up with a solution yet. I just have the cheap LED workshop lights from lowes/homedepot/wherever.

Was half tempted to put incandescents in down here.

I also want to try out some products from this company. They are pricey but supposedly really good (and great CRI too)
waveformlighting.com
could maybe use their strip lights with some sort of quiet linear supply

 

[Quadman2]

Thinking (outside the box) what about some sort of head gear lighting set-up.

There's been some new products on the market that appear to be light-weight in build, and offering some serious illumination as well.

Surgeons, I believe at times make use of this kind of lighting, so why not for audio use as well, with little or no shadows as a result.


Way out suggestion?

Q

 

[Nashou66]

Thinking (outside the box) what about some sort of head gear lighting set-up.

There's been some new products on the market that appear to be light-weight in build, and offering some serious illumination as well.

Surgeons, I believe at times make use of this kind of lighting, so why not for audio use as well, with little or no shadows as a result.


Way out suggestion?

Q

I actually have one of those !!! Thanks for reminding me, I rearranged my work shop and it has to be down there somewhere !!!



Nashou

 

[mrehorst]

Thinking (outside the box) what about some sort of head gear lighting set-up.

There's been some new products on the market that appear to be light-weight in build, and offering some serious illumination as well.

Surgeons, I believe at times make use of this kind of lighting, so why not for audio use as well, with little or no shadows as a result.


Way out suggestion?

Q

Surgical loupes usually use a small spot light that casts very sharp shadows (I was a dentist and used loupes and a headlamp everyday for many years). If you want no shadows you need a large diffuse light source. Surgical overhead lamps are very large so that even when the surgeon's head and hands are blocking part of the light, a lot of it still gets where it's needed without having to keep moving the light around.

 

[Quadman2]

My belief has been more solidified when it comes to medical use of the head lamp, as there's been a fair bit of study into illumination in recent times.

A quick look-see at the findings indicate that necessary lighting, esp for cavity application, and centre concentration may cause unwanted glare/strain for use of past
designs. So, with this in mind, all parameters of light have/are now being taken into account in the ongoing search for adequate and different types of lighting. As a result there's some great looking light devices available today.

I use a HL for taking the dog for a walk at night, and oft encounter many who shared that they were going to get one for this nocturnal canine event. Some times you need BOTH hands at times, particularly when it's time to scoop-the-poop! Handling a flashlight, leash and bag is quite the juggling act...while being in the dark.

With the above; where there's a need; there'll be a product. Maybe one for audio, eventually?

Q

 

[Lavane]

I used LED. LED in my big lighted magnifier, and thin LED light bars under the shelf above my bench. The thin bars are rechargeable, and clip into magnetic mounts. I can easily unclipped one and use it by hand too if needed.

 

[AudioAvarice]

I have an Acebeam PT40 headtourch that I've been thinking of modifying with a diffusion filter, as it causes to much reflection, even on the lowest setting.

 

[2N697]

I have had quite a few of the 4 foot LED (imitation of a fluorescent ) shop lights. They are pretty bright, so if your seat is low and the light is high above you, they can be fairly blinding if you happen to look directly. And the ones I have had are all over the place as far as power supply quality; I have had several fail prematurely, and some produce a very visible and annoying flicker. What I like about them is they do put out an impressive amount of light- hard to beat for the money.

 

[Lavane]

I have had quite a few of the 4 foot LED (imitation of a fluorescent ) shop lights. They are pretty bright, so if your seat is low and the light is high above you, they can be fairly blinding if you happen to look directly. And the ones I have had are all over the place as far as power supply quality; I have had several fail prematurely, and some produce a very visible and annoying flicker. What I like about them is they do put out an impressive amount of light- hard to beat for the money.

Inrecently installed those 4' LED light bars in my garage. I like them a lot better than fluorescent lights. They're also cheaper. I held one over my bench, but it was too bright.

 

[Lavane]

These are the around 12" light bars I put at my bench. They cab be switched to on, or motion activated. They're light weight and clip magnetically to a couple metal clips. They're rechargeable by USB.
The light is softer than the LED lighting in my bench magnifier.

 

[dly66]

Have twin tube 4ft LED shop light above bench. Also have 300 lumen LED headlight on the side to slip on when I need more focused light especially when working on something in the shady areas of an item.

 

[arts]

I have three 48" fluorescents arranged in a "U" over my largest bench that I use for big, heavy work. They generate so much electrical noise that I used to have to turn them off and just run a couple of incandescent bulbs during test runs and alignments. I tried LED's and they were even worse. Sigh, now I just work in the dark with a flashlight