LED Work Light Question

[Mike Goetzke]

At my Menards I found two work lights with same wattage and lumes but one has many more leds but they are smaller. Which is better?

 

[Peter_C]

Buy both, and pick the one you want to keep, then return the crappy one, and buy another of the one you do like, or if you like both, keep them. One light is never enough.

FWIW I mostly use cordless lights these days. Color temperature is important too.

 

[Mike Goetzke]

It’s a 20,000 lumen double tripod light work light. I have one that I use for spray finishing. I paid about $100 for it. We also use it for indirect lighting for puzzles and legos. I found a light today that looked identical to my current one on clearance for $60 but it has less but larger LEDs. Just wondering if size/number of LEDs made a difference. Guess probably will just keep them both.

 

[Azheim]

I’m no expert on this, but I heard on YouTube that more leds is generally better. All other factors being equal, if you use fewer leds to achieve the same lumen output you need to put higher current through each individual led. The result is the leds burn out faster.

This is more relevant in led bulbs than work lamps, IMO. In my experience, the cause of failure is usually the power cord or some other component before the bulbs themselves.

 

[Steve1]

Which is better?

The one with replaceable bulbs.

 

[Cheese]

At my Menards I found two work lights with same wattage and lumes but one has many more leds but they are smaller. Which is better?

That's a tough one to answer Mike, it's really dependent upon who produces the LED's, how the system is designed (think heat sinking capabilities) and who assembles the parts.

However in general, the trend over the years has been going from many smaller LED's to fewer larger LED's. Some of the advantages are the fewer connection/solder points and the higher lighting efficiencies.

Here's a great example, this step light originally contained 18 separate LED's.

[attachimg=1]

Now they come equipped with a single LED chip. The single chip on the upper RH side is 2X brighter than the original 18 LED's while the larger chip on the upper LH side is 3X brighter.

[attachimg=2]

 

[rtfosmoe]

Picking the right work light can be confusing. From what I've seen, it's not just about how many LEDs are in the light. It's more about the kind of light they give off. Lights with many small LEDs usually spread the light out more, suitable for lighting up a big area. But if you need powerful light in one spot, fewer big LEDs might be better.