Shop light advice?

[LarryD]

I'll be doing wood working, vehicle repair, maintence, etc.

I helped a friend of mine put lights in his wood shop and we used T-8's with electronic ballasts. He was concerned about color rendention so we used a tube with high CRI (89?) to give a more true light and allow him to see his finish work better. He has a 40 x 50 shop with 16' vaulted ceilings. We ran three banks of lights all switched seperately and the results are good. The light is very close to true light so for wood working, particularly finishing, he likes the results.

The T-#'s designator refers to 8ths of an inch, i.e. T-12= 1 1/2 inch tube diameter. T-8 is a one inch diameter and I think the current popular tube.

Her is a website that expalins some common dislikes regarding Flourescent lighting-
Lighting Design Lab Articles - I Hate Fluorescent!

 

[BobRip]

Yep, the T12 HO's (110 watt bulbs) were recommended by my electrician (skip the electronic ballast ones, they're not as good). After installing 9- 8' fixtures in a 30x40x10 area, I'm glad we used 3 circuits (3 on each bank). One set will give good general lighting, two sets are good for seeing what you want to do and 3 sets feel like it's suntan time!

For that high ceiling problem, the lights can be suspended with conduit or chains.

What is wrong with electronic ballast? I put two in the kitchen and the light is much brighter and the power consumption is down.

 

[InlineDieselFan]

Put your light on as many circuits ans switches as you can. Then you are able to adjust the lighting to how you want it.

I have a 42x48 shop 15 foot ceilings, the three 70 Watt HPS lights are on a swtch and a light sensor, I wish they were on three seperate switches. Then most of the time I would only have one light on, not all three.

Also it depends on how you have or will have your bays set up. I have a bathroom and office area, taking up a 12x 24 area, storage area above that. In the 12x16 work area I have two fixtures that are eight foot long and hold 4-4foot flourescant bulbs. In the wroking bay I have five of these fixtures. Then in the storage bay where the tractor, sits and PWCS, only two of these fixtures.

No matter how many or how big your lights are you will still need to have some sort of portable lighting, you can not light the under neath of your vehicles form the top very well.

steve

 

[CATMAN]

InlineDiesel kinda has the same idea as myself, when it comes to working on cars or pickups, you may consider a end bay with horizontal lights on the wall pointing inward to help see under the hood, but it seems like I am always using 500 watt halogen w/portable stand and trouble light. Try to anticipate where your shadow might be on some of your tasks to consider light fixture placement. I have heard of lights built right into the floor at some service shops, but I haven't personally seen it. (Dream Shop I guess) What color are the walls?

 

[texasjohn]

Walls are highly reflective.... building has radient barrier buble wrap on all sides and roof. The inside of the buble wrap is brilliant white.... This reflects light extremely well... The 6 skylights I have plus the white walls make it extremely bright inside during the day... almost dark glasses time!

Good points re needing portable light to see under stuff... I have a couple of these already.. so am good there.

I did some interesting calculations from the responses.... the number of square feet that an 8 foot fixture, 2 bulbs each, covers varies from 77 to 266 sq feet.

I am currently thinking Metal halide for outside, flourescent inside using T8 4100K bulbs, electronic ballast. Am still researching T5 bulbs, don't know if they come in 8'lengths yet.

Have been amazed at the different pupil lumens per watt from various light sources... varies from 29 lumens/watt for Tungsten halogen up to 190 lumens/watt for T5 5000K flourescent!!

More study needed before I make a decision... but have got good info

 

[npaden]

Remember that metal halide, mercury vapor, and high pressure sodium bulbs all require start up time that varies depending on the outside temperature. In colder weather regular flourescent bulbs can require start up time as well.

However, electronic high output flourescent lighting doesn't require start up time and is very energy efficient. I would incorporate some electronic ballast high output flourescent lighting regardless of your final choice so if you have to go out and get something in the shop on a cold winter night you won't have to wait 5 minutes for the lights to turn on so you can find what you went out there to get.

FWIW, Nathan

 

[npaden]

One other thing. Proper reflectors can make a HUGE difference. Under the inverse square law, for every foot away from the bulb the light travels the light strength reduces by 4 times. So with 17' ceilings you could lose a lot of light to your working surface. A reflector focuses the light and creates less loss. Even though your building is white inside you don't really want your ceiling to be brighter than the floor which is what you would end up without proper reflectors. I'm in the reef aquarium hobby and light is important to corals and studying reflectors you can sometimes get double the amount of light where you want it by using good reflectors.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[caylor]

I have a 40'x30'x12' shop and had initially installed flouresent lighting at the 12' eave height, and I now am in the process of replacing each of these fixtures with 300W halogen fixtures. Like the one shown here:

300 Watt 36" Halogen Shop Light

The halogen gives great light (and no buzzzzz) and while not the most energy efficient, I find that the amount of time I have them on is limited to the early morning and evening hours when outside is dark.

 

[Dusty]

I have a 500 watt halogen outside light that was seldom used. A few weeks ago, the mercury vapor light failed, so the halogen was put into regular service. It operates only during the dark hours and has a half power setting until the sensor detects movement, and then it goes to full power. I was quite surprised that after 5 weeks of no more than 12 hours a day use, the bulb burned out. While halogen lighting is very bright and doesn't have the hum associated with many of the other high output lighting, I don't believe that it is a good choice for longevity, but a great choice for high intensity lighting at an affordable cost. With some of the highest electrical energy costs being in the Northeast, energy consumption is something that I am always considering when making changes or purchases. Sometimes it is a trade off.... pay more for the fixture and bulb, and save on the energy, and other times it is less expensive to pay the energy bill. Presently the cost of a kilowatt hour is .09763 and next month it it going to .11 something. The delivery portion of our electric bill is almost equal to the cost of the energy that they deliver. So much for deregulation saving the consumer money. Dusty

 

[npaden]

FYI, the buzzing sound is really unrelated to the choice of light, but rather the choice of ballast firing the light. Electronic ballasts are silent.