Metal Halide Lighting

stevet · 02-16-04, 07:28

I started a thread about this yesterday but it seems to have disappeared. My post count also dropped. What happened?

I wanted to know if anybody knows were to purchase a Metal Halide work light? Do they even make these? I find mall parking lot lights show defects in silver paint better than halogen. I think these lights are metal halide, they give off a yellow light.

Jesstzn · 02-16-04, 08:50

I did a search in Google and found lots of sources but they are pricey

stevet · 02-16-04, 08:54

Jesstzn,

Are they portable lights or fixtures?

Jesstzn · 02-16-04, 09:02

All I found were fixtures avaialble from electrical supply houses

stevet · 02-16-04, 09:04

All I can find are fixtures too. Thanks.

Dave Holmes · 02-16-04, 09:30

I know exactly what you mean. Those things show every flaw on my pearl white, almost to the point I don't want to go to the grocery store at night!
A possible place to check would be at a construction safety place. I believe I've seen construction crews using the same lighting.

Dave

Mike Phillips · 02-16-04, 11:14

Quote:

Originally posted by Dave Holmes
I know exactly what you mean. Those things show every flaw on my pearl white, almost to the point I don't want to go to the grocery store at night!

Dave

Are you sure about that?

We installed some metal halide lights in the garage at Meguiar's and maybe it's just me, but I don't like them. They don't show every flaw?

I'm getting ready to light my garage and want to see every scratch, cobweb and swirl in the finish. More than that, I want to capture it all on digital film.

Any and all suggestion would be appreciated.

Mike

Mike Phillips · 02-16-04, 11:17

Also, as a note to lighting,

When I first started playing with Lab Sample A, I was comparing it to other products on black paint using a cheap halogen lamp. (The kind you get at Harbor Freight I think.)

Anyway, I found it did a better job of showing swirls and cobweb better than these expensive, new halide lamps we installed.

Mike

stevet · 02-16-04, 11:30

I guess it depends on the color of the car. I have a silver car with only two spots that have marring. I used my new PC and removed it, so I thought by looking under halogen. I go to the mall and check it out under the lights and I can see very fine micro marring that was not visible under halogen. It's a PITA to have to drive to the mall at night and check my work every time I want to remove defects.

Another thing I notice is that too much light actually hides defects on silver. When I use the portable 500Watt halogen if I shine it directly on the spot I'm working on the light reflects too much and I can't see anything. I try to shine the light across the surface and it shows more defects that way.

I also can't see anything in bright sunlight on silver. The best way seems to be at night under lights.

detailbarn · 02-17-04, 05:08

From what I read Metal Haldie lights are good in buildings with tall ceilings 10' and above. I'm not sure why but I read it in a warehouse jounrnal. I am planning to use a combonation of lighting when I redo my garage this year. So far my plan is 4 metal halide light simliar to the Griots Garage units , 4 four bulb 8' flourecents and two tracks of halogens on adjustable tracks. I figured with this amount of different light I should be able to see everything wrong with a cars finish. I plan to run them all on seperate switches so I can control what I want to see. So are their any lighting experts out there , what do my setup sound like?

Accumulator · 02-17-04, 09:01

Stevet- Welcome to the "owners of silver cars who DO see all the marring" club

Your observations are about the same as mine.

Best method I've found: in a dark garage, turn on the 300W incandescents, sometimes the ones on the OTHER SIDE OF THE SHOP and inspect the car. I see more that way than I do under ANY other form of lighting.

FWIW, I haven't tried metal halides, but with flourescents (48 (!) 8' tubes, plus some 4' ones, cool white bulbs, five different switches), halogens (several, with 500W bulbs in each), and incandescents (300W each, total of 8 fixtures on three switches) available, I go with the latter every time for swirl-spotting. I know I'm a broken record on this, but I think it's just SO glaringly (oops, pun

) obvious that I don't get why I seem to be a lone voice in the wilderness on this one. I used to have flourescents and halogens, I only went with the incandescents when I discovered how much better they were for this. It seemed like "going backwards"/old fashioned in a way, but it just plain worked better.

Mike Phillips · 02-17-04, 12:09

Quote:

Originally posted by Accumulator
I only went with the incandescents when I discovered how much better they were for this. It seemed like "going backwards"/old fashioned in a way, but it just plain worked better.

I'm looking for results.

When you say incandescents, can you recommend a bulb style/size?

I'm going to Lowe's sometime this week to get some lighting. I don't have any fixtures to start with, so I'm thinking about using track lighting.

All I know is I really need to see what I'm working on, especially the sides of cars. My friend has offered to weld me up a movable light wall on wheels so that I can move it to the side I'm working on.

Suggestions?

Mike