Tool-Time Tuesday: Drop Lights

Fluorescent style drop light

Nothing is more frustrating when working on your car than when you can’t see what you’re trying to do. Even working in the middle of the day with the hood open doesn’t seem to provide enough light.

There’s many different ways to light up your garage or work area to make sure you can see. Having a good fluorescent lighting system in the ceiling is a huge help. However when you’re under the car, deep in the engine compartment, or under the dash you’ll need something more sufficient.

Enter the work light, also known as the drop light. These are lights that are usually cylindrical in shape and plug into a wall. They are much brighter and versatile than a flash light as well. They have a hook which makes it great for hanging and pointing the light to whatever you’re working on.

Traditional incandescent style drop light.

Originally these lights started off by holding a traditional incandescent bulb. These versions would become extremely hot as the bulb was turned on. The one time you actually dropped the light, the bulb would go out as well. Better than no light, but room for improvement.

A huge improvement came along when they started to put fluorescent lighting in the drop lights. These proved to be brighter and withstood hitting the ground. The other benefit was that they were much smaller as you can have a long skinny tube, instead of a large round bulb. These still tend to get warm when turned on, but not burn-your-flesh hot like an incandescent bulb.

The latest variation is LED. This allows for an even brighter light that’s also more durable. Because LED’s are even more compact than incandescent and fluorescent, LED versions are usually smaller as well.

You can also find these lights with a retractable power cord which adds to the convenience of using the light. This allows you to easily pull the light under the hood, use the light, then retract the cord without having to fiddle with an extension cord.

This tool is definitely something that help you working on your ride and should be in every mechanics shop.