The Trouble with Trouble lights

The  Trouble with Lights

If you have been around long enough to remember the long orange cord attached to a light bulb then you are OLD. Like myself this is a little device that once you use it you wonder how you lived without it, or in some cases why you did not get electrocuted by it. Either way we all remember the “trouble light” , now I do not know who named the light TROUBLE but the fellow really hit the nail on the head with it, this light bulb could make working in the dark SO MUCH brighter, you could see what you were working on in the dimly lit reaches of the back yard shop. That bolt that you could not really see if it was turning or not suddenly became visible, or that hose clamp you know is there somewhere could not easily be seen. 

For those of you that have the newest and lightest ( in weight and brightness LOL ) work lights out there right now have the honour of not having to look for the box of light bulbs for another incandescent glowing orb. OR and I know a few of my friends have done this and do hope you can relate . Out underneath the truck on the front lawn just doing an oil change and notice stuff that needs inspection, usually around 930-10 at night when you need the truck in the am, you just grab the LONG orange cord and head out not really paying too much attention to the fact that you used the last light bulb in the box last week when you need the light. You though the very bright 100w light under the truck and it lands just right POW. and then it starts , the hunt  the Grabbing of the last working light in you home before the better half come home to a dark space, usually the porch or bathroom for me as they were within easy reach and could be grabbed without much attention or witnesses to the act. Most of the time though they were just turned on or had been on for a bit. Now I know that it may seem like common sense BUT being in a hurry and not so much of a sound mind figure I can easily unscrew said glowing globe of hot magma type heat, without gloves or other such protective equipment. Hot potato has nothing on hot light bulb HA HA HA. You do usually treat this bulb with a little more care than the first of course and finish around midnight , next morning just hoop in the truck and off to work forgetting that you left the thing under the truck and flatten it like a pancake. Been there done that. 

Then came the flashlight , the battery powered 6v to start with, big yellow and fairly bright for what they were. These seemed light the answer as the were very portable and no cord. Used them in our logging trucks and  still have a couple around here in the emergency case in the vehicles ( bets on the battery being dead though ? ) they work great until you forgot to turn it off and left the shop, the worst part about the battery being dead was that a new one was usually only 1 or 2 dollars shy of a new unit  ( MARKETING 101 eh ) so by the end of a season you had a box full of good lights and no batteries. Even used the small 4 D beating stick for awhile, that thing was awesome and you could see the beam from space for sure. Someone decided they needed it more than me though and one day it just disappeared from my truck?? I thought I had the world by the tail when I found one with a retractable cord, no more dragging the orange beast all over the yard.

Fast forward to the Honda shop days and still using the long orange cord, only this time when it drops it hits the concrete floor. Buying hard surface bulbs by the case for them because of the skill set one needs to drop the d***m thing every time you turn around. Now we have the roving salesman that come around from various suppliers that have all kinds of fun and expensive objects that turn darkness into day ( just a quick note to WARN you all of the tool truck here ) with really cool names as big Bertha  and such. These were the most exciting thing that I had seen for a long time, as far as trouble lights are concerned anyway and fell backwards into the clutches of the tool truck, very good for them and not so good for the bottom line but you know LOL. These fine instruments of light saber quality came in halogen then and they works great, had magnets on them to hold it at any angle on a metal surface, another PAS here DO NOT LEAVE ON AIR CLEANER and close the hood. Used these for a couple years before they would burn out or maybe you would get one wet and it would become file 9 material. Now these lights were like buying the big yellow flash light as the bulbs were close to the price of a new unit ( marketing 101 again eh ) and became too expensive to operate day to day. 

AND technology changes again with the introduction of LED rechargeable “ work “ lights ( we had to stop using the term trouble somewhere along the way ? I believe when we went to “cordless” ? )   that only required you to put them on a charge station at night and it would last almost all day. Yes I know this was also a LONG time ago but here we were with the latest and greatest light that the tool truck would carry and it was a FANTASTIC time to be a work light as we sang praises to this little object of shining light. Rechargeable, magnetic, adjustable brightness and it would also let you know when it needed charging, truly a remarkable invention to say the least. They have not changed that much since they came about other than the range of sizes from very tiny to the very large and then we had to learn what lux was as they charge more for the larger numbers. You can now get these fine work lights everywhere and at very reasonable prices compared to what we started paying for them way back “in the day” 

Do hope you enjoyed this little walk down memory lane and that I shed a little light on the subject ( I know my wife thinks I am this funny all the time, lucky lady you know) Have a great day and let me know what you think of these articles.