Magnified LED Worklight V2, Part 1

After 5 years of use, the original LEDs used in the magnified work light are failing. Time to replace them and also repair the broken switch.

The switch is rather complicated mechanically as it served both as an on/off push button switch as well as a manual starter for the old fluorescent tube that used to be installed. The switch had broken and with the hold-to-start feature, it was very hard to use as you had to hold the button down and see if the lamp would strike then release and see if the switch would stay on. It might take 30 seconds to turn on the lamp sometimes.

As I had never seen inside the switch when it work, it took a while to realize the shaft was broken. I repaired it with some JB Weld epoxy and sanded that smooth to rebuild the shaft. Then I could figure out how the switch worked and identify the maintained contacts. Since the lamp housing had screws and hole set up for this exact switch, it was best to repair it.

I also located an 8" (200mm) T9 circline LED tube with a 12VDC power supply from M4 Products:
https://m4products.com/xw-round-cw-cool-white-8-round-12-volt-t9-led-tube-light-6000k/
When I ordered, they had a 4500K natural white option, now it seems only the cool white version.

I'm trying to use 12VDC power for as many things as possible on my electronics workbench. One reason is lack of flicker and 60Hz buzzing noise and EMI. It's safer by minimizing exposure to line voltage. Also, I can power this off my solar battery bank.

More to come, we'll fit the circular lamp into the lamp housing and get the power supply installed.

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Intro/Outro:
Louisiana Fairytale by Austin Rogers
https://web.archive.org/web/20170402222425/http://drfiddle.com/show_tune.php?id=94