Halogen to LED conversion

How to convert broken halogen work lamps to LED

Halogen to LED

I had two broken Halogen work lamps. These put out a lot of light when they work. However, the halogen lamps are very fragile and very expensive to replace. They also put out a LOT of heat. That is fine in the winter but not so much in the summer.

I saw a couple of people suggest replacing the light with an LED chip. I was surprised to find that the 110V chip was less than the cost of a halogen bulb. So I ordered two and decided to give the conversion a try.

I started by removing the guts of the lamp. Out came the reflector and the bulb holder. I cut the wires off the holder and stripped back the insulation.

I then drilled a couple of holes in the back of the housing to mount the LED chip. It has four holes, but I could only make two land on anything solid so I just used two bolts to attach the chip.

I reshaped the reflector so that it would fit under the chip and made matching holes for the bolts. I then punched a big hole for the wires to come through.

Next I ran into my first problem with the build. I don’t know what the high temp wires are made of but I could not get them to tin with solder. The LED chip has solder connections for the power.

I solved this by finding some small copper wire and soldering that to the board, I then used solder seal heat shrink connectors to attach the jumper wires to the main power.

I fit it all back in the case and plugged it in. I now have nice bright white light that does not also work as a heat lamp. I did not use any heat sink like some recommended, so I will see what life I get out of these chips. For now, this made junk lights useful again.