Another lighting question

[Ellen Benkin]

I know most people use flourescent fixtures in the shop and that is what I have. But my shop is in an old garage with a very steeply pitched roof and there is no cieling to reflect the light. As a result, even with the flourescents hung less than 4' from the top of the workbench, there just is not enough light to do detailed work. I recently visited a friend who also works out of a garage with no cieling. He installed some track lighting that shines directly on the workbench and some of his power tools (like the lathe). Has anyone else tried that? What kind of bulbs do you use? I would like to get light without the heat generated by some bulbs. Thanks for any suggestions.

[Steve Cox]

Your most effective solution might be to paint at least the inside of the ceiling if not the whole garage a lighter color (white on the ceiling). Incandescents can give you the spot lighting you want but you will have the heat and they use lots more electricity. One other question, do your flourescents have reflectors on them? That will also make a pretty big difference. Another thing to try is to change the bulbs. If you are using cool white bulbs, try to find some that have Kelvin temp of about 5000 degrees (written 5000K). I think you'll be amazed at the difference that can make.

[Byron Trantham]

Steve is right. Make sure what ever the reflective is, its light (white). Lighting is always a problem (for me). I have a lot of fluorescent light and I always wish there where somewhere else! :mad:

[Bruce Gray]

I struggled for years with dim lighting in my two story shop. The walls and ceiling are all varnished wood, and I had simple incandescent lighting. I kept adding more lighting, including task lighting, but it never seemed enough. Many others have suggested white painted walls and ceilings, and I'm sure that would have helped, but I didn't want to lose the warm 'ambience' of the wooden walls.

Eventually, I decided to brute-force the situation with fluorescent lighting. For the downstairs, I installed a total of 26 four-foot tubes for my 17'x17' shop. These are in dual tube T-8 fixtures with small white relectors, about 8 feet from the floor. Upstairs, which is slightly smaller, I installed a total of 18 tubes.

With all that, the lighting seemed good to me so I borrowed a light meter to be a little more scientific. The lower level averaged about 1300 lux (at workbench height). Upstairs is about 925 lux.

For a reference, I found the some suggestions for the proper light level:

Warehouses, Homes, Entertainment Venues: 150 lux
Offices, Schools, Stores: 250-500 lux<O:p</O:p
Libraries, Supermarkets, Show Rooms, Laboratories: 500-750 lux
Manufacturing. Drafting, Operating Rooms: 750-1000 lux
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The light level in my shop is on the high side of the recommendations (my wife says I should use sunglasses), but I'm happy with it. BTW, a two story shop is a really bad idea ...but you live with what you have.

Bruce

[Ellen Benkin]

Thanks for the advice. The walls are white, and there's no way I can paint the "ceiling", which is really the underside of the roof. The structure is not strong enough to support rafters and a ceiling without very expensive retrofitting. I guess I'll just hang a lot of flourescents and see if that works. The ones I have are reflectors and I do have good bulbs in them, the light just seems to get lost. Maybe more will help.

[Dan Oelke]

I hate to beat this horse - but don't say you can't paint the ceiling. It wouldn't be as easy as a flat ceiling - but think about a white coat on the rafters/trusses, roof boards, etc.

Painting the underside of the roof (and all the rafters) white would help you. All that dark/rough surface just eats light. The problem is that to do it you need some serious spray equipment because those surfaces just won't go with brush/roller.

You might want to look up white-washers in you local yellow-pages. In "dairy land" they spray the insides of old barns - hand-hewen beams, stone walls, rafters, ceilings, etc. Of course the white goes everywhere (and at high pressure) so you would need to do serious drop clothes before they came in. They like to use high-pressure it helps blow crap (litterly) off the walls. No idea what they charge or if you would be just as good off renting a paint pump with gun extension.

[Dan Racette]

I bought 400 watt "high bay" fixtures from Ruud lighting (through my local electrical contractor) and got them installed. The fixtures were $90 each with a bulb. Bulb replacement is about 10000 hours. I only needed 6 for my 30 x 45 building. I have white foam insulation on the ceiling. I will be adding a photographic umbrella. (looks like a rain umbrella, but is whitish, and has reflective particles in it).

The resultant light is unbelievable and extremely white and crisp. (the 'high bays' are meant to be suspended much higher, like in a warehouse or gymnasium. I knew that they were much to overpowering, which is why I devised the "reflectors'. I also have it so I would only need to turn on 3 of six, to light one half the shop if I am not using the other half. I don't like flourescent lighting unless it is powered by and electronic ballast, as, a "tar" ballast cause me extreme migraines and insomnia. (but hey, that's my own problem!! :)

[Ken Garlock]

Thanks for the advice. The walls are white, and there's no way I can paint the "ceiling", which is really the underside of the roof. The structure is not strong enough to support rafters and a ceiling without very expensive retrofitting. I guess I'll just hang a lot of fluorescents and see if that works. The ones I have are reflectors and I do have good bulbs in them, the light just seems to get lost. Maybe more will help.
OK Ellen, but would it support a false ceiling. It seems that you could hang white acoustical tiles on a wire and rail matrix without adding a significant amount of weight.

I have never done this, but I did sleep at a Holiday Inn once. :)

[Bryan Nuss]

Ellen, an alternative to fluorescent lights for close work is a halogen light.

I have a Shopmaster III Deluxe 4-ft. Halogen
600W Model 83000, see at

http://www.applighting.com/html/shoplights.html

I have it mounted about 4 ft. above my workbench and have it wired through a dimmer switch. It provides excellent task lighting for detailed work, plus it helps to warm the shop up on a cold winter's day. It puts out 7 or 8 times the wattage of a regular 4 ft. fluorescent, and uses two 300W bulbs. You can almost get a suntan if you crank it up full power. They are not expensive... around $40 or $50 If I remember correctly.

I use fluorescent lighting for the main part of my garage/shop, but use this halogen light as a "task" light. If you do get one, be sure to use a dimmer switch ($5 to $7).

[John Hart]

Hi Ellen,
I would wonder about the separation distance between your fixtures. Typically, on a two bulb fixture using a refractory lens, the separation should be about 6 feet. I would think that if you had this coverage, your lighting would correctly spaced and complete. Mine works very well...but I don't have your ceiling problem.

[Dan Forman]

Check the light output of your flourescent tubes. Most are around 2200 lumens, but for a couple dollars more you can get 3400 lumen bulbs.

The false ceiling sounds good too, would insulate a bit in the summer, hold heat down int he winter as well. Could be done cheaply with masonite or something similar if appearance isn't a factor.

Dan

Oh, I guess you don't have winter there. :D

[Ellen Benkin]

The false ceiling is a good idea and I didn't think of it. Thanks for the suggestion.