48x39x14 shop build

[bigtiller]

Dang it.....

I'm busy wiring my house and haven't messed with the shop stuff. Haven't even called the company that Terry gave me.

If I'm at risk of having the same problem with LEDs I might be better off to try Terry's solution first.

Eric do you know whether your lights have ballasts or not?

Thanks for you guys' help.

Which post are you referring to? I don't recall who terry is.

 

[ultrarunner]

Some LED are better than others...

When the first CREE LED came out in mass they were very heavy and Interference was rated as very good.

I know the design has changed since then and my first thought is they found a way to make them cheaper... as often happens to be competitive in a world market.

 

[ovrszd]

Which post are you referring to? I don't recall who terry is.

Oh I'm sorry. For some reason I thought your name was Terry. Sorry.

 

[ovrszd]

Some LED are better than others...

When the first CREE LED came out in mass they were very heavy and Interference was rated as very good.

I know the design has changed since then and my first thought is they found a way to make them cheaper... as often happens to be competitive in a world market.

Yeah, I believe the earlier LED's that used ballasts were just as prone to interference as flourescent.

I'll try to find time to address this problem soon.

I really appreciate everyone's input!!!

 

[cat fever]

Richard the shop looks great, make sure you figure out the lighting completely. When I build my shop this summer you'll have all the answers for me.:laughing:

 

[ovrszd]

Richard the shop looks great, make sure you figure out the lighting completely. When I build my shop this summer you'll have all the answers for me.:laughing:

Workin on it my friend, workin on it.....

 

[countrybumpkin]

This reminds me , I need to try my openers with my led lights on, of corse I haven’t tried them outside the building at all yet.

 

[ovrszd]

This reminds me , I need to try my openers with my led lights on, of corse I haven’t tried them outside the building at all yet.

Report your findings.

 

[Fallon]

Yeah, I believe the earlier LED's that used ballasts were just as prone to interference as flourescent.

I'll try to find time to address this problem soon.

I really appreciate everyone's input!!!

There are still a good number of retrofit LEDs out there that you install without removing the ballasts. They are easier to install, but I think the fundamental concept is trash. You are leaving an un-needed part in the system that will burn power & can take out the light when it fails. It also means the ballast & power supply in the tube are able to cause RF interference instead of only 1.

I spent the time removing ballasts as I started replacing fluorescents with LEDs. I got inconsistent results with my multimeter & rewiring the tombstones. After failing once i said screw it & got off the ladder. Picked up a bag of pre-wired tombstones properly configured for the LEDs that came out to $5 a fixture. I definitely have the skill to wire things right & troubleshoot whatever was wrong. But $5 to avoid going it with arms over my head while standing on a ladder was way worth it.

 

[ovrszd]

Yeah, leaving the ballasts is a bad idea. Won't help the interference issue and burns electricity.

In my studies I learned there are two types of tombstone bulb holders. Shunted and non shunted.

Preferred holders are non shunted. That's what mine are. Use LED bulbs that power one end of the bulb. One pin +, one -. Other end does nothing but hold the bulb. Very easy to convert. Only cost is the bulbs which are $10 each. I need 36.

 

[countrybumpkin]

I did check mine today, 180 ft with or without the lights on. I have the Type B bypass bulbs with 11 4 ft, 2 bulb fixtures with 18 watt bulbs.

 

[ovrszd]

Thanks Bryan. I'd be very, very happy with that.

 

[Rustyiron]

Dang it.....


Eric do you know whether your lights have ballasts or not?

Thanks for you guys' help.

I believe they do, click the link and see if you can tell from the pic. They are simple lights that have a built in reflector and screw into a regular porcelain fixture. I bought 6 of them for an experiment, (test actually) before I dicided on them for the whole shop. I got them from Northern Tool and they have 4400 lumens each and at 16' they work very well for my vision, not so much for the FM signal.https://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200679033_200679033
I see the price has gone up about $5 since I bought them. I would recommend them for a shop still at this price.

 

[countrybumpkin]

Haven’t seen those before, I might look at something like that for my cold storage area. I have a 40 x 50 area that has 8 porcelain sockets.

 

[ovrszd]

I ordered conversion bulbs yesterday that will eliminate the ballasts.

I called the company that Bigtiller recomended. They were confident changing the frequency of the openers would solve that problem. They were also confident that I'd still get no FM radio signal inside the building. Suggested I try the bulb conversion first.

I'll report my findings.

 

[bindian]

Here is a question from way out in left field. Can you make the lights wireless? That way you can open the door, then turn on the lights.
hugs, Brandi

 

[ovrszd]

Here is a question from way out in left field. Can you make the lights wireless? That way you can open the door, then turn on the lights.
hugs, Brandi

I thought about that. Could have wired a remote controlled switch on the light circuit. Could have even ran it from my phone. Would have allowed me to turn off the lights so the door opener would work from outside.

The turn off (pun intended) was having to dig my phone out of my pocket in the Winter time.

 

[Ford850]

I believe they do, click the link and see if you can tell from the pic. They are simple lights that have a built in reflector and screw into a regular porcelain fixture. I bought 6 of them for an experiment, (test actually) before I dicided on them for the whole shop. I got them from Northern Tool and they have 4400 lumens each and at 16' they work very well for my vision, not so much for the FM signal.https://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200679033_200679033
I see the price has gone up about $5 since I bought them. I would recommend them for a shop still at this price.

I came across these lights in Menards last night. I happen to see it, and thought "that looks familiar". Then I realized I had looked at it on here the day before. Menards sells them for $29.99 in case anyone is interested. I probably should have bought one since the box would have fit in the 15% discount bag promotion they have this week.

 

[Fallon]

I thought about that. Could have wired a remote controlled switch on the light circuit. Could have even ran it from my phone. Would have allowed me to turn off the lights so the door opener would work from outside.

The turn off (pun intended) was having to dig my phone out of my pocket in the Winter time.

I have my house setup for SmartThings. The hub is about $200 & switches or outlets (mostly Zwave) are in the $35-60 range. It's a mesh network & in theory each hop can be up to 300', but that's in open air with line of sight. I had to put a Zwave outlet outside the shop 150' from the house to act as a repeater (but again a metal shop kills signal).

It's nice to be able to light up (or shut off) everything outside my house & shop from my phone. House lights near the hub generally respond within half a second to a second. Stuff in the shop can take a few seconds due to the number of hops & the range with lesser signal quality. Sometimes operating the main switch in the shop fails to trigger the other switch in the adjoined barn as its suppose to, likely due to poor signal quality & range again.

I also have a standard 120v zwave light switch connected to a 220v relay running my 5hp Quincy air compressor. My previous compressor killed itself when running for days after the tank started leaking. Now turning off the lights in the shop will turn off the compressor. Want to add a controlled valve to the outlet of the compressor so it doesnt leak down due to leaky lines when it's off too. Have a remote controlled linear actuator on the chicken coop too.

It can be a lot of work to set it all up & a bit to maintain it. You can overcome some of the poor signal quality issues you get going in or out of a metal building, but it takes time, money & some understanding of RF to get it done.

 

[ovrszd]

I use a simple contactor to control the air compressor. Lights off = compressor off.