Halogen Lights

Well you were spot on Mike. I compared a halogen work light beside a infrared heat lamp. Same distance from sheet metal, same amount of time. The infrared heat lamp one hands down, The work light was 500 watts and the heat lamp was 250 watts. Not even close. Halogen did not even come close to the Infrared. The infrared heat lamp did not even have a reflector shield behind it and still walked away with the win.


I swapped my halogen work lights out for the LED's also. Thats one reason I was hoping to find a use for the work lights.Man them things can take skin right down to the mussle.


Thanks so much for all your help. Im going to figure out how to mount the infrareds to my light tree and put some shields behind them. I think I have the 250 volt socket figured out.


How much heat difference is there between a 250 annd 150 watt heat lamp?
 
With all else being equal with the two bulbs, one way to measure would be in BTU's. Multiply 3.14 x watts to get BTU/hour
 
Mike, I ended up using six 250 watt infrared lamps in my lite tree. It will be made out of 1 3/4" tubing. The wiring will all run inside the tubing and connect to a junction box where the power supply comes into the tree. The incoming power supply will be a 12 guage cord connected to an outlet in the wall. Im thinking I can connect all the lights with 16 guage stranded wire. Any thoughts on that?
 
That sounds OK to me. The reasoning being that the lamp fixtures use 16 AWG to connect to the bulb socket. If your intent is to bring the 16 gauge wire to the junction box you will need to find that wire on a spool with the same heat specification as the one in the fixture just to be safe.
 
Mike, when you used the clamp on infared 250 watt heat lamps, how close together did you put them? Im talking center to center. I aborted the idea of running the wire inside the stand. Im going to pigtail each light (6) and plug 3 into an extension cord with a tripple head and same for the other three (using different circuits). Just got to complicated try come up with a way to do and and keep all the adjustment options Im looking for.
 
How close together would depend on the work area I'm trying to cure. Sometimes the aluminum hoods would be touching and other times about a foot apart.
 
ok, that gives me an idea where to start my minimum adjustment. Thanks
 
Mike, when you were using the clamp on infared bulbs, what is the most 250 watt bulbs you used at one time and what area did that cover?
 
Depending on shape, 3 for a fender and 4 for a hood. If the fender if off the car I usually put the lamps under it to heat from the back side this way a lot of heat is trapped and spreads out depending on the shape. I usually will move the lamps around to cover more area if needed.
 
Yur a life saver. So 6 or 8 on a tree that have quite a bit of adjustment would be plenty on most cases? Im talking hood, door, fender and such.
 
That sounds like plenty. I work on mid-sized cars like the Camaro so your mileage will vary.
 
Thanks so much for all your help. Im going to have three switches and each switch will control two lights. Ill probably have more questions before Im done. I never realized light sockets do not have a place for a ground wire.
 
I have come a long ways on my light tree. It holds 8 infrared light bulbs up to 250 watts per bulb. Each light has up and down as well as sideways adjustment. The light bar can be placed in a vertical or horizontal position, or anywhere in between. It has a master light switch and each bulb is also controlled by a on/off switch. The base is made of 1 3/4" steel tubing on castors. The light bar is made of 1/16" steel ( 54" x 5 1/4" x 2") bent into a housing to house wires and switches and positive/negative buss terminals. It is NOT tippy or insecure. Im guessing I have $250 in it and a few hours of fabrication. I think there are better choices for light source than the 250 watt infrared bulbs, but I did not like the cheap flimsy china made stands that cost a lot more money. I do think they come with a better light source, but they do not have near the adjustment options mine does and mine is completely serviceable. I can use one bulb at a time and put it in any position I need it. I have 8 more to add if needed. I can store it in the vertical bar position and take up a small footprint. It comes apart for long term storage. Im not sure there is enough interest to post pictures here so if anyone is interested in the design, let me know you would like to see photos posted and I can try that.
 
Sure, post a picture! I'm sure future searches on the topic will find a picture useful.

Mike
 
Mike, Im working on the internals of the light bar, so soon as I get that part done, I will have enough to post some pictures. Hopefully next week! I hope everyone will chime in and give me their thoughts. Good and Bad, I got big shoulders and can take anything anyone throws at me and turn it into something positive. I also appreciate input for improvements for anyone else attempting to make thier own heat lamp.
 
Still chuggin away, just went over the $300 mark. LOL, Part of that is 250 watt infrared heat lamps at around $10 per bulb (8) and stainless steel buckets at $15 per light bulb (8). There are is so much price range in the bulbs, $5-50 all for a 250 watt infrared heat lamp. I have no idea what the difference is other than some specify "shatter proof".
 
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Ready for electrical and light sockets. I like it but too much money invested. I guess when I figure the stainless steel shields and bulbs alone are $210, its not much in the steel and castors. Labor wise has been a little intense, but a lot of that was coming up with a design. I would guess the professional heat lamps would be more efficient and cost less to run. With one adjustment, the light bar can switch to the vertical position. One master switch for all lights and each light also has its own off/on switch.
 
Wow....that looks impressive! Talk about having granular control of an IR heat lamp assembly.
Are those metal buckets you are using as a reflector?
Looks like you have a lot of room to work there.

Mike
 
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