Over the many years I have used trouble lights, I have ruined many
incandescent bulbs by dropping the light. And those trouble lights are
prone to falling due to poorly designed hooks.

I thought using a CFL was the solution. WRONG!
Those CFL bulbs are more fragile than an incandescent bulb and make a
bigger mess when they break, not to mention the toxic mercury inside
them getting into the environment. Besides that, the higher wattage
CFL's dont fit in a standard trouble light. So, the limit seemed to be
a (way to dim) 60W equivalant. And in cold weather, they are almost
useless.

The good news is that they still sell the 100W incandescent "Tough
Bulbs". They were designed just for trouble lights. They still will
burn out or break if dropped hard enough, but far out last the common
bulbs.

Those "tough bulbs" can still be used in home fixtures too, if you
require an incandescent bulb. I use them in my garage lights, because
the CFL bulbs dont get bright enough in cold weather.

I have not yet tried a LED bulb in my trouble lights, due to their high
cost, and some LED bulbs only light up on their top (not much light from
the side of the bulb), so they would not work well in a trouble light.

I guess trouble lights were appropriately named, since they are always
causing troubles. But I wanted to share the fact that those "Tough
bulbs" are still available in the larger wattages and can be used
anywhere you desire an incandescent bulb. They are more costly than the
standard bulbs, but still cheaper than the LED bulbs and comparable in
price to CFLs.

On Sat, 13 Dec 2014 13:14:02 -0600, wrote:

Over the many years I have used trouble lights, I have ruined many
incandescent bulbs by dropping the light. And those trouble lights are
prone to falling due to poorly designed hooks.

Yes, and you can modify the hooks to make them work better in many
cases. I closed the hook and use either a shower hook or a zip tie in
a lot of places. No one solution fits all though.




I have not yet tried a LED bulb in my trouble lights, due to their high
cost, and some LED bulbs only light up on their top (not much light from
the side of the bulb), so they would not work well in a trouble light.


Most of the newer bulbs glow around the globe so they would work. The
real problem is the cost. At $20 plus, I'm sticking with incans for
the trouble light.


I guess trouble lights were appropriately named, since they are always
causing troubles.

Yep.

On Saturday, December 13, 2014 2:14:29 PM UTC-5, wrote:
Over the many years I have used trouble lights, I have ruined many
incandescent bulbs by dropping the light. And those trouble lights are
prone to falling due to poorly designed hooks.

I thought using a CFL was the solution. WRONG!
Those CFL bulbs are more fragile than an incandescent bulb and make a
bigger mess when they break, not to mention the toxic mercury inside
them getting into the environment. Besides that, the higher wattage
CFL's dont fit in a standard trouble light. So, the limit seemed to be
a (way to dim) 60W equivalant. And in cold weather, they are almost
useless.


I used a CFL in a trouble light. Think it was 100W, it fit fine. It
did break though and you're right, it's a much bigger mess. I agree
cold temps are a problem. On the plus side, they are cool so you
can't burn yourself on the hot metal housing.





The good news is that they still sell the 100W incandescent "Tough
Bulbs". They were designed just for trouble lights. They still will
burn out or break if dropped hard enough, but far out last the common
bulbs.

Those "tough bulbs" can still be used in home fixtures too, if you
require an incandescent bulb. I use them in my garage lights, because
the CFL bulbs dont get bright enough in cold weather.

I have not yet tried a LED bulb in my trouble lights, due to their high
cost, and some LED bulbs only light up on their top (not much light from
the side of the bulb), so they would not work well in a trouble light.

I guess trouble lights were appropriately named, since they are always
causing troubles. But I wanted to share the fact that those "Tough
bulbs" are still available in the larger wattages and can be used
anywhere you desire an incandescent bulb. They are more costly than the
standard bulbs, but still cheaper than the LED bulbs and comparable in
price to CFLs.

They also have trouble lights now that are LED period. IDK how
well they work and haven't tried an LED in a regular one. What you
point out is why I strongly disagree with those that want to force
this stuff on us. I say, let the free market decide what to use and
where. If it's anywhere as good as they claim, there is no reason
to force us to change.

I've used CFL's in trouble lights for years. If you drop the trouble light, there is a chance the bulb inside can go dead, but that's true of both incandescent and compact fluorescent bulbs. Generally, because of the housing the bulb is in, it won't break when you drop the light, and it's just a matter of replacing the bulb.

So what. A 19-something watt CFL bulb will cost you $4 compared to $1.50 for an incandescent bulb. If you're reasonably careful with you're trouble light, you're not going to be dropping it often anyway.

I think it's much ado about nothing.

If people want to use incandescents I think they should be able to if they want to. For me, the fact that I save quite a bit of money using CFL's is all the incentive I need to switch to CFL's and probably eventually LED's.

On Sat, 13 Dec 2014 13:16:25 -0800 (PST), trader_4
wrote:

I used a CFL in a trouble light. Think it was 100W, it fit fine. It
did break though and you're right, it's a much bigger mess. I agree
cold temps are a problem. On the plus side, they are cool so you
can't burn yourself on the hot metal housing.


And those damn plastic housings that melt. I'll never buy one of them
again, regardless of the bulb in use. I'm surpised they passed the NEC.
They are a fire hazzard.


The good news is that they still sell the 100W incandescent "Tough
Bulbs". They were designed just for trouble lights. They still will
burn out or break if dropped hard enough, but far out last the common
bulbs.

Those "tough bulbs" can still be used in home fixtures too, if you
require an incandescent bulb. I use them in my garage lights, because
the CFL bulbs dont get bright enough in cold weather.

I have not yet tried a LED bulb in my trouble lights, due to their high
cost, and some LED bulbs only light up on their top (not much light from
the side of the bulb), so they would not work well in a trouble light.

I guess trouble lights were appropriately named, since they are always
causing troubles. But I wanted to share the fact that those "Tough
bulbs" are still available in the larger wattages and can be used
anywhere you desire an incandescent bulb. They are more costly than the
standard bulbs, but still cheaper than the LED bulbs and comparable in
price to CFLs.

They also have trouble lights now that are LED period. IDK how
well they work and haven't tried an LED in a regular one. What you
point out is why I strongly disagree with those that want to force
this stuff on us. I say, let the free market decide what to use and
where. If it's anywhere as good as they claim, there is no reason
to force us to change.

Yep, I've seen the all LED trouble lights. They are quite costly too.
I'd think they would need a lot of LEDS to be bright enough. Years ago,
I bought a battery operated rechargable LED light stick. It was costly
but I had to buy it for a job I was doing, so it was a business expense
and got written off for that job. It put out fairly good light. But
after about 4 years it would not hold a charge anymore. The battery was
built in, and the only way to get to it was to smash the case. I
carefully cut the case open with a hack saw blade, but it would have
needed to be taped back together. I was willing to do that, but not
when I found out some battery cells would cost more than the light cost,
and would need to be soldered, which can damage batteries. It went in
the trash.

I saw an ALL-LED trouble light in an autoparts shop, and I was actually quite surprised at how bright it was. The individual LED's were so bright that you had a hard time looking directly at them, kinda remeniscent of incandescent bulbs.

Maybe before you hoard a whole bunch of incandescent bulbs for your trouble light, check out an LED trouble light. I expect it will impress you as much as it did me. And, you could save yourself a bunch of money on incandescent light bulbs.

On Sat, 13 Dec 2014 13:14:02 -0600, wrote:

Over the many years I have used trouble lights, I have ruined many
incandescent bulbs by dropping the light. And those trouble lights are
prone to falling due to poorly designed hooks.

I thought using a CFL was the solution. WRONG!
Those CFL bulbs are more fragile than an incandescent bulb and make a
bigger mess when they break, not to mention the toxic mercury inside
them getting into the environment. Besides that, the higher wattage
CFL's dont fit in a standard trouble light. So, the limit seemed to be
a (way to dim) 60W equivalant. And in cold weather, they are almost
useless.

The good news is that they still sell the 100W incandescent "Tough
Bulbs". They were designed just for trouble lights. They still will
burn out or break if dropped hard enough, but far out last the common
bulbs.

Those "tough bulbs" can still be used in home fixtures too, if you
require an incandescent bulb. I use them in my garage lights, because
the CFL bulbs dont get bright enough in cold weather.

I have not yet tried a LED bulb in my trouble lights, due to their high
cost, and some LED bulbs only light up on their top (not much light from
the side of the bulb), so they would not work well in a trouble light.

I guess trouble lights were appropriately named, since they are always
causing troubles. But I wanted to share the fact that those "Tough
bulbs" are still available in the larger wattages and can be used
anywhere you desire an incandescent bulb. They are more costly than the
standard bulbs, but still cheaper than the LED bulbs and comparable in
price to CFLs.


They are generally a 130 or 135 volt bulb with a plastic skin over the
glass, and they DO work. Generally sold as "rough service" bulbs.

On Sun, 14 Dec 2014 03:33:51 +0100, nestork
wrote:


;3320974 Wrote:

They also have trouble lights now that are LED period. IDK how
well they work and haven't tried an LED in a regular one.


I saw an ALL-LED trouble light in an autoparts shop, and I was actually
quite surprised at how bright it was. The individual LED's were so
bright that you had a hard time looking directly at them, kinda
remeniscent of incandescent bulbs.

Maybe before you hoard a whole bunch of incandescent bulbs for your
trouble light, check out an LED trouble light. I expect it will impress
you as much as it did me. And, you could save yourself a bunch of money
on incandescent light bulbs.
And the BIG advantage to the LEDs is they won't brand you when your
body parts get between them and the floor when you drom them, or when
you brush against them while working under the car. Those metal
reflector/guard units can get hellishly hot with a 100 watt "flame" in
them!!!!

On 12/13/2014 01:16 PM, trader_4 wrote:
I say, let the free market decide what to use and
where. If it's anywhere as good as they claim, there is no reason
to force us to change.

Well stated

On Sun, 14 Dec 2014 02:06:02 +0100, nestork
wrote:


I've used CFL's in trouble lights for years. If you drop the trouble
light, there is a chance the bulb inside can go dead, but that's true of
both incandescent and compact fluorescent bulbs. Generally, because of
the housing the bulb is in, it won't break when you drop the light, and
it's just a matter of replacing the bulb.

But if the glass breaks, the CFL makes a much bigger mess. No matter
how careful I am with trouble lights, they /WILL/ fall and break. When
working on cars, the chance of them falling is worse than when working
in the house (it seems), but all it takes is another cord, like from a
power tool, to get tangled in the trouble light cord, and down they go.


So what. A 19-something watt CFL bulb will cost you $4 compared to
$1.50 for an incandescent bulb. If you're reasonably careful with
you're trouble light, you're not going to be dropping it often anyway.

I'd rather lose $1.50 than $4.00. I also think the "Rough Service"
(Tough) incan... bulbs are tougher than a CFL.

I think it's much ado about nothing.

If people want to use incandescents I think they should be able to if
they want to. For me, the fact that I save quite a bit of money using
CFL's is all the incentive I need to switch to CFL's and probably
eventually LED's.

I use CFL in all my indoor house fixtures, to save money on electricity.
I finally broke down and paid the high price for a LED bulb to use on my
outdoor porch light. My reasoning was that I leave that light on almost
all the time after dark, to avoid tripping when I go down the steps, or
other people visit. Plus the CFL bulbs dont work in winter. I also
bought a low wattage LED bulb for in my barn, because that light is left
on 24/7 so the animals have a little light. I used to use a 15W
incen... bulb. They dont need much light, just enough to see. Once
again, the CFL did not work in cold weather. This LED bulb only uses
3W, works in all weather, and saves me 288W in a 24 hour period.

The 15W incan used 360W every 24 hour day.
The 3W LED uses 72W " " " "


I did some calculations. In a 30 day month, the 15W bulb used 10,800
watts. (roughly 11KWH), and at $0.14 per KWH, that is about about $1.50
per month.

The LED uses about 2,160KWH per month, which is around $0.30 per month.

Thus I save $1.20 per month, or $14.40 per year. Those smaller LED's
are cheaper. I bought that bulb on sale for around $8. So, it was paid
for after around 7 months in power savings.

Anyhow, my point agrees with what you said.
["If people want to use incandescents I think they should be able to"]

I dont want to get into a political discussion, but I'm really tired of
the government telling us what to do and buy. This is (supposed to be)
a free country. They have no right telling me what light bulbs I can
and can not buy, or telling me I cant buy chocolate because it's
fattening, or even telling me I cant smoke, as long as I respect other
people's right to clean air.

I can and do agree with govt. control of unsafe products, such as food
additives that are harmful, or controling what gauge wire we use to wire
a 15A circuit, but those are for our safety. Everyone knows that
smoking is bad, but it should be my choice, as well as how much
chocolate I eat, or what kind of light bulb I buy.

I use CFLs indoors because the save me money. I use incan... in my
garage because CFL is worthless in cold weather. I use LED in my barn
because all of the above and because those smaller size bulbs are
affordable. I WILL use more LED bulbs, when the price comes down, and
as design and color improves. Actually the color is not bad now, but
the price is the biggest drawback. Yet, I prefer an incan bulb in my
trouble light, because that is what seems to work best for now. And my
trouble light is not used daily or for long periods of time, so the
savings on electricity is not significant.

In the end, I use what works, and saves me as much money as possible,
without having to struggle to read a book, due to poor lighting. I dont
need the govt. to tell (and force) me what to use.

On Sat, 13 Dec 2014 13:16:25 -0800 (PST), trader_4
wrote:

I used a CFL in a trouble light. Think it was 100W, it fit fine. It
did break though and you're right, it's a much bigger mess. I agree
cold temps are a problem. On the plus side, they are cool so you
can't burn yourself on the hot metal housing.


It seems some of the CFLs in the higher wattage, are getting smaller in
size. I could not fit soem of the older 100W (equivalant) sizes in a
lot of fixtures.

By the way, there is one drawback with incan bulbs in trouble lights. I
once had a trouble light fall, while working on a car. I had spilled a
small amount of gas on the ground. The bulb broke and I had an instant
fire. Fortunately the fire went out quickly and did not do any serious
damage. The trouble light was a little charred, but still was usable.
But if there had been more gas, it could have been much worse.

However, I suspect a broken CFL could spark a fire just as easily.

On Saturday, December 13, 2014 10:17:13 PM UTC-5, nestork wrote:
;3320974 Wrote:

They also have trouble lights now that are LED period. IDK how
well they work and haven't tried an LED in a regular one.


I saw an ALL-LED trouble light in an autoparts shop, and I was actually
quite surprised at how bright it was. The individual LED's were so
bright that you had a hard time looking directly at them, kinda
remeniscent of incandescent bulbs.

Maybe before you hoard a whole bunch of incandescent bulbs for your
trouble light, check out an LED trouble light. I expect it will impress
you as much as it did me. And, you could save yourself a bunch of money
on incandescent light bulbs.




--
nestork

So, being so impressed, did you buy it?

No. I have a trouble light meant for an incandescent bulb and plenty of 13 and 19 watt CFL's to go in it, so there was no need to buy the LED based light. I don't use my trouble light often enough to justify buying an LED based one just to save money, as most of the time my trouble light is hanging in my closet. I wanted to try the LED one just out of curiosity to see how bright it was.

But, if I was in the market for a new trouble light, I'd probably have bought that one. The reason isn't just because of the lower electricity usage, the reason is mostly due to the much lower heat output. I use my trouble light most often when painting acrylic grout sealer onto the grout lines in my bathroom ceramic tiling, mostly on the walls around the bath tubs. To do that, it's most effective to hold the trouble light and small bottle of sealer in my left hand and paint with a small artist's "script" paint brush in my right hand. That way, the reflection of the light off the grout line lets me know whether the grout line has been completely covered with liquid sealer or not. It gives me some "feed back" on how good a job I'm doing. That LED trouble light was both light in weight and produced very little heat, and that's what I'd need for applying grout sealer. As it stands now, I use a 13 watt CFL bulb in my trouble light for applying sealer, and prior to CFL bulbs becoming available, I'd use a 15 watt incandescent bulb in the trouble light just because of the smaller amount of heat it gave off. That LED trouble light would have given me much more light with much less heat than using an incandscent, which is nice to have for your normal applications for a trouble light, but which is what you really want for applying grout sealer to grout lines in a small room like a bathroom.

nestork wrote:

But, if I was in the market for a new trouble light, I'd probably have
bought that one. The reason isn't just because of the lower electricity
usage, the reason is mostly due to the much lower heat output. I use my
trouble light most often when painting acrylic grout sealer onto the
grout lines in my bathroom ceramic tiling, mostly on the walls around
the bath tubs. To do that, it's most effective to hold the trouble
light and small bottle of sealer in my left hand and paint with a small
artist's "script" paint brush in my right hand.

Have you ever tried one of the lightweight LED headlamps like the Petzl
Tikkina? I've started to use them for a lot of things since the light is
focused where you are looking and you're not trying to juggle a light in one
hand or trying to prop it up to shine where you need it.

On Saturday, December 13, 2014 2:14:29 PM UTC-5, wrote:
Over the many years I have used trouble lights, I have ruined many
incandescent bulbs by dropping the light. And those trouble lights are
prone to falling due to poorly designed hooks.

I thought using a CFL was the solution. WRONG!
Those CFL bulbs are more fragile than an incandescent bulb and make a
bigger mess when they break, not to mention the toxic mercury inside
them getting into the environment. Besides that, the higher wattage
CFL's dont fit in a standard trouble light. So, the limit seemed to be
a (way to dim) 60W equivalant. And in cold weather, they are almost
useless.

The good news is that they still sell the 100W incandescent "Tough
Bulbs". They were designed just for trouble lights. They still will
burn out or break if dropped hard enough, but far out last the common
bulbs.

Those "tough bulbs" can still be used in home fixtures too, if you
require an incandescent bulb. I use them in my garage lights, because
the CFL bulbs dont get bright enough in cold weather.

I have not yet tried a LED bulb in my trouble lights, due to their high
cost, and some LED bulbs only light up on their top (not much light from
the side of the bulb), so they would not work well in a trouble light.

I guess trouble lights were appropriately named, since they are always
causing troubles. But I wanted to share the fact that those "Tough
bulbs" are still available in the larger wattages and can be used
anywhere you desire an incandescent bulb. They are more costly than the
standard bulbs, but still cheaper than the LED bulbs and comparable in
price to CFLs.

dedicated LED (not bulb type) trouble lights are better than either...

wrote:
Over the many years I have used trouble lights, I have ruined many
incandescent bulbs by dropping the light. And those trouble lights are
prone to falling due to poorly designed hooks.

I thought using a CFL was the solution. WRONG!
Those CFL bulbs are more fragile than an incandescent bulb and make a
bigger mess when they break, not to mention the toxic mercury inside
them getting into the environment. Besides that, the higher wattage
CFL's dont fit in a standard trouble light. So, the limit seemed to be
a (way to dim) 60W equivalant. And in cold weather, they are almost
useless.

The good news is that they still sell the 100W incandescent "Tough
Bulbs". They were designed just for trouble lights. They still will
burn out or break if dropped hard enough, but far out last the common
bulbs.

Those "tough bulbs" can still be used in home fixtures too, if you
require an incandescent bulb. I use them in my garage lights, because
the CFL bulbs dont get bright enough in cold weather.

I have not yet tried a LED bulb in my trouble lights, due to their high
cost, and some LED bulbs only light up on their top (not much light from
the side of the bulb), so they would not work well in a trouble light.

I guess trouble lights were appropriately named, since they are always
causing troubles. But I wanted to share the fact that those "Tough
bulbs" are still available in the larger wattages and can be used
anywhere you desire an incandescent bulb. They are more costly than the
standard bulbs, but still cheaper than the LED bulbs and comparable in
price to CFLs.


--
Incandescent "tough bulbs" typically have two differences that make them
stronger. One is a bulb coating of silicone rubber to make the glass bulb
more drop resistant; the other is the addition of extra filament supports
to keep the filament from breaking from physical shock. Some premium
versions used to have rhenium-tungsten alloy filaments too, but I don't
know if that's still done.
TK

On 12/22/2014 7:42 AM, =+= wrote:

....Don't post after the signature indicator next time (if is one)...

Incandescent "tough bulbs" typically have two differences that make them
stronger. One is a bulb coating of silicone rubber to make the glass bulb
more drop resistant; the other is the addition of extra filament supports
to keep the filament from breaking from physical shock. Some premium
versions used to have rhenium-tungsten alloy filaments too, but I don't
know if that's still done.
TK

Don't think in 50+ yr I've _ever_ seen the former, the latter is only
thing I've ever seen. At least w/o some special order something; just
what's on the shelf from the normal Ace or farm supply from the usual
suspects like GE or the generic store brands.

I generally just bought 130V-rated bulbs; essentially afaict the same
heavier filaments at significantly less $$/bulb...

--

No, I haven't been looking for a more powerful light source; 15 or 25 watt incandescent bulbs provide sufficient light. It's really the heat output that's the issue. A 60 wall incandescent light just produces too much heat when applying grout sealer, making the work uncomfortable. That's why I switched to a 13 wall CFL bulb for use when sealing grout. And, as I said, if I were in the market for a new trouble light, I would have likely bought that LED based trouble light, because of it's low heat output.

=+= wrote:
wrote:
Over the many years I have used trouble lights, I have ruined many
incandescent bulbs by dropping the light. And those trouble lights are
prone to falling due to poorly designed hooks.

I thought using a CFL was the solution. WRONG!
Those CFL bulbs are more fragile than an incandescent bulb and make a
bigger mess when they break, not to mention the toxic mercury inside
them getting into the environment. Besides that, the higher wattage
CFL's dont fit in a standard trouble light. So, the limit seemed to be
a (way to dim) 60W equivalant. And in cold weather, they are almost
useless.

The good news is that they still sell the 100W incandescent "Tough
Bulbs". They were designed just for trouble lights. They still will
burn out or break if dropped hard enough, but far out last the common
bulbs.

Those "tough bulbs" can still be used in home fixtures too, if you
require an incandescent bulb. I use them in my garage lights, because
the CFL bulbs dont get bright enough in cold weather.

I have not yet tried a LED bulb in my trouble lights, due to their high
cost, and some LED bulbs only light up on their top (not much light from
the side of the bulb), so they would not work well in a trouble light.

I guess trouble lights were appropriately named, since they are always
causing troubles. But I wanted to share the fact that those "Tough
bulbs" are still available in the larger wattages and can be used
anywhere you desire an incandescent bulb. They are more costly than the
standard bulbs, but still cheaper than the LED bulbs and comparable in
price to CFLs.


Hmm,
Good news is I replaced my old trouble light with new LED array trouble
light. Bright and light. Also there is such thing as shatter proof CFL
bulbs.