About 15 years ago, I bought (what was at that time) a rather high end (and expensive) reading lamp for my desk. Internally, it converted 120VAC to 12VDC and used a 50W halogen bulb for illumination. I was very pleased with it for a while until CFL's came out, then I converted to them instead because Im rather energy conscious and CFL's consumed less power than incandescent bulbs. So the expensive little lamp sat in a box in my basement for the past 5 years being unused. Its actually lucky to have avoided the garbage can several times throughout the years.
Like many of you, Ive converted many of my old LED flashlights to XM-L and wound up with several LED's that were destined for the garbage can. There was one MCE in particular that delivered a very pleasing tint and I began to wonder what I could use it for. While going through boxes a few weeks ago looking for something else, I happened upon the old desk lamp. Then I found several old wall-wart transformers that I had saved and began some testing with my multimeter and MCE. I found the perfect transformer to power the MCE direct drive without overheating the LED or transformer and began surgery on the old desk lamp the next day. The new transformer fit into the cavity inside the lamp and I was able to use the stock fused connectors with a few modifications.
I initially installed a rheostat in place of the switch so I could dim it. After using the converted lamp to illuminate a few projects, I found that I only ran it at full power, so I converted it back to the original switch. Besides, the old analog rheostat is far more valuable to other projects (DD Mag conversions!) It came out of an old jet fighter and was probably the absolute best money could buy in its day.
Gutting the lamp of its old transformer, bulb assembly and wiring. Laying out the new pieces.
I drilled a hole in the top of the reflector large enough for the MCE to fit. The photo doesnt show it, but the MCE is actually sticking out well past the hole into the reflector so there are no obstructions to the beam. You can see some Fujic paste inside the hole.
Since the top of the hood was already heavily vented to allow heat to escape from the old incandescent bulb, all I needed was to build a makeshift heat sink out of copper to carry the heat from the MCE to the hood.
Here it is in my hobby room providing 100% of the light after dark. The beam is absolutely flat with no hotspots or distortions... pure flood light. The lamp moves up and down and tilts so its the perfect hobby/project/reading lamp.
It consumes far less power than the old incandescent, seems to put out at least twice the lumens, has a much more pleasing tint and runs much cooler. All that while retaining a stock factory appearance.
Measured through my P4400 KILL A WATT meter:
Before the LED transplant - 52 watts
After the LED transplant - 3.7 watts
Im glad I didnt throw the old thing away after all!