Looking for a 'snake' style reading light

Morning All-

I just returned from a work trip and need to come up with a desk lamp for computers.

These systems are in long rows- so some sort of flexible LED light that has a 'shroud' on top (so the beam doesn't reflect in the users eyes) and can cast a bit of light around the keyboard.

I was hoping for a flexible necked light (like a snake) and saw one, but it was pumping 3 watts of power which (I'm going to guess as I haven't done the calculation yet) that it will exceed the 5 fc arbitrary limit right now.

Anyone know of any products that are similar to this requirement? I'm willing to search a bit more too if you know of any sites that have items like this ( http://www.theledlight.com/night-reader.html ). Dimmable would be even better

Thanks much!

Jason

Maybe there are a couple on this page that might interest you.

Lowe's had some flex neck LED lights designed to clamp to your grill. They do have a shrouded head and run on batteries. Seems like I saw two different styles that cost somewhere between $10-$20.

Geoff

purduephotog said:

Morning All-

I just returned from a work trip and need to come up with a desk lamp for computers.Jason

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Josh where is your computer USB plug located regarding the height of your heyboard?

I have my PC on the desk so it is convenient to use this in a front USB socket. it will light the best part of a keyboard if placed 10-12 inches above it http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.55

but do not go for the single led version. Too little light

Another option is: http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.5452

Best of luck, kostas

Littlite has the best gooseneck lights that I know of. They are heavily used in the entertainment business and can usually be found in local musician/guitar stores. They do have dimmers and are extremely rugged.

Codeman said:

Littlite has the best gooseneck lights that I know of. They are heavily used in the entertainment business and can usually be found in local musician/guitar stores. They do have dimmers and are extremely rugged.

Click to expand...

We received an engineering sample of the Littlite today. This lite is EVERYTHING I am looking to recommend ... except (always an except) it's TOO bright. What a killer- there are two white LEDs in series and it would appear that, without physically modifying the hardware up there, that we may have to reject it based just on that. I'm of the opinion a little sharpie will take care of the issue but ....

There's room for a larger shroud and an indent on the backside of the head to take a disc shroud, so we can probably use it... if I can just overcome the dimmer issue.

The LED lights dont' have dimmers. I'm hoping soon.

There's also a 'red' LED mode which is more acceptable low level illumination, but again we could really use that mode with the white LEDs. The light is just TOO bright to be used the way we need it... however I'm going to keep plugging away.

Thanks all for the suggestions this is one very nice light- I'll probably buy one for home!

Jason

They are nice lights.

FWIW - I've been using a red incand version (L-3/18) with dimmer for my home theatre for over 6 years. My guess is that I have the dimmer set to <5% output. I use it to read DVD labels/discs without having to turn more lighting on. Since it's located within my field of view when watching movies/TV, I have it set as low as practical to minimize it's impact on my viewing. I don't need it on during the daytime, but I leave it on since I'm lazy. I'm using a Q5 bulb, which is a 5 watt, 380mA tungsten-halogen bulb, but they do have 2.4 watt, 230mA incandescent bulb. Getting below 5fc isn't a problem with the Q5, so I'm confident that the 2.4W bulb wouldn't have a problem either.

It averages being turned on 7 hrs/day during the week, 16 hrs/day on the weekend. That's 67 hrs/wk for 312 wks, or a total of almost 21k hours. I have yet to swap bulbs. Littlite's incan bulbs appear to make LED life a bit less important, IMO.

Given my experience, you might want to re-consider going with LED's since you can get the dimmer with their incandescent bulb models. The bulbs cost $8 four years ago, but even if they're $10 now, a 6+ yr lifespan averaging almost 10hrs/day is a good ROI. I don't know whether the dimmer's usefulness would offset that cost for your purposes, but it's certainly worth considering, especially if LED life is the only reason for going that route.

We have a very small LED book light that runs on AA batteries. It is not to bright and can be moved around easily. I put one on and left it on for about 4 days and the batteries held up pretty well. It will dim over time.
Have a look http://liotec.com/Specialty page.htm

Regards