500 Watt Halogen Lights on Stand

I need to purchase some of those 500 Watt Worklights on a stand. I am thinking of buying one of the "Commercial Electric" models available at The Home Depot.

One of the Models is $30. The other is $50. They should function the same, but the $50 model is supposedly more heavy duty.

I do not plan on beating up the lights very much at all. In fact, they will not be used extensively. Does anyone have experience or thoughts about these lights? Thanks.

Reply to
johnny
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I've bought a few of the cheaper models, never had the first problem. Can't relate to the more expensive ones, couldn't see the point. I'm not a contractor, but I have used my "cheap" ones quite a bit, and they are great. Summertime though, they put out a hell of a lot of heat....

Remove the nospam from my address to email me!!

Reply to
Xlat

Have a couple of the single lite cheaper ones, sure helped me paint a house this summer. It got too hot during the day, so I just waited till it cooled down turned on the lights and painted till I wanted to stop.

Dave

Reply to
David Babcock

I just bought the $30 model at the Home Depot last week. Yellow in color, twin 500 bulbs. The stand is light weight, maybe a little flimsy perhaps, but works well

Reply to
Ron

Yup. I've used them on construction jobs. The tubular lamps are not rated for rough service. If the light stand gets knocked over once, the bulbs are gone. The replacements can be $8.00 - $12.00.

Now I just make my own using rigid conduit and some weatherproof lampholders. Floodlights and rough service bulbs last longer on a construction site and are cheaper than the halogen bulbs though not as bright.

You might want to find out how much a replacement lamp costs before purchasing the unit.

Reply to
John Grabowski

On 7 Jan 2004 10:11:42 -0800, snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com (johnny) wrote (with possible editing):

I bought the cheap ones and wish I hadn't. The problem is that the stands are poorly designed - flimsy and tip easily. As others have said, the bulbs are expensive and not very shock resistant. Next chance I get, I'm going to replace them.

Reply to
L. M. Rappaport

This is Turtle.

I use these type lights on roof tops in the hvac business and found that the cheaper is just fine. you are going to tear them up no matter what you do and the bulbs are high , so Get the cheapest there is and plan on changing them out everyso often. I get these type lights from Cummings tools co. when they have a sale in my area and the 500 watt no stand $9.95 and finger bulbs are $1.99 . The 500 watt single 5 foot stand type is $14.99 and the 1000 watt double lites with 5 foot stand is $19.95 and the 500 watt light bulb are $1.99 each. I get a year or two out of these and use about 3 or 4 finger bulbs a year. But mostly kill the finger bulbs with falling when the light is on or just burns out after a lot of use. Now my last one fell off a 20' building and I just get a new one out of the spares boxes I have. I keep a spare or 2 in stand by. now abuse will kill them faster than anything.

TURTLE

Reply to
TURTLE

I was in a Walmart a couple weeks ago, and saw a fluorescent version of the

500 watt lights. Looked like a good idea, and a lot less heat output.

But if you have photo-grey lenses in your eye glasses, the UV will darken your glasses, adn you're back to being blind.

Reply to
alt-hvac Moderated

$1 at the dollar store for a replacement bulb.

Reply to
Childfree Scott

I've used them for years and the most aggravating thing is how fast the bulbs burn out. So I replaced the 500's with Sylvania 300 watt bulbs instead and difference in useful light output is really small. Since they operate cooler you don;t burn your hand as bad when you grab the wrong part of the lamp to move it. A feature of the better lamp assemblies is how well the locking knobs at the various frames stay put. The cheap ones loosen up evry time you touch them, so check that if you can before you buy.

Joe

Reply to
Joe Bobst

The crucial thing here is the quality of the socket holding the light tube. Inexpensive units have sockets which do not withstand the truly serious high temperatures generated by 500W halogen tubes. The sockets actually melt, the ceramic fittings on the end of the tube vaporize and crack, and the glass will melt (quarz!). I have had VERY bad experience with low-end lights of this type. On the other hand, I only paid maybe $10. However, much of the money you are spending is probably for the stand, and the lights themselves could be total shit.

Reply to
donald girod

This is Turtle.

Hey Scott , really do they have them at the Dollar stores for a $1.00 ? I haven't check at Dollar stores but the best price i have seen is $1.99 for the 500 watt fingers. Sorry but always looking for a bargin .

TURTLE

Reply to
TURTLE

On Thu, 8 Jan 2004 18:47:26 -0500, "donald girod" wrote (with possible editing):

Actually, the sockets on mine are ceramic, but the stand is quite flimsy.

Reply to
L. M. Rappaport

Yes, but not all of them. Next time I see one I'll report back the name of the store and exact location, but I've definately seen them.

Reply to
Childfree Scott

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