halide lighting

[tom chapman]

does anyone have or recomend halide lights in a shop . my shop is 36 x 24 with 12 foot ceiling. i was looking at the 400 watt . and doese anyone know what it would cost in electricity . its a hobby shop as far as running time . thanks

tom

[Marcus Isaacson]

I don't have experience with a 400 watt MH light, but I did have a 175 for a yard light in front of my garage when I bought my house. It was very bright and lit up about 1/4 of an acre in my front yard. I would think that 400 would be extremely bright and might be overkill from a single point of light. I use fluorescent lighting in my shop and it does a pretty decent job lighting everything up. It is approximately 65% the size that yours is and I have 7 two bulb light strips. About 470 watts if I have everything on at the same time, which normally isn't needed.

Another thing to consider if you haven't used MH lighting before, is that it is a very strong single point light source. You might want to consider putting 3 or 4 separate 175 watt MH lights around the shop on different switches. It should be about as bright as day in there.

Of course, this is just my opinion and I am sure others will chime in.

[John-Paul Murphy]

The halide lights I am familiar with use transformers and require about 10 – 15 minutes to reach maximum output (there may be others available). They do produce a great amount of near natural light but are not as efficient as fluorescent because they waste energy producing a huge amount of heat. The T8 fluorescent type will generally start even when very cold. My t12s will not. Fluorescent are also not as natural a light. I do many different things in my shop. I use fluorescent for general lighting overhead and spot / flood lights where ever I am working. No matter how bright overhead something is always blocking the light or I need it at a different angle. IMHO I would get inexpensive fluorescent overhead lighting and good moveable spot lighting.

[Ed Balaschak]

State of the art metal halide (both quartz and ceramic metal halide) lamps with the latest electronic ballasts provide similar efficacy to T8 fluorescent lamps with an electronic ballast (range of 85-95 Lumens/watt). LPW is what matters not the heat!! The heat is distributed differently. Warm up is well under 10-15 minutes....but you don't want to continually turn these guys on and off. They like to be on for long periods of time.

The issue with MH is that the fixtures available (12' is low!) will not distribute the light well for areas with low ceilings...and the fixtures are EXPENSIVE! MH lamps are excellent for spot/flood area lighting (ceramic metal halide at 3200K color temp is nice in a shop. for detail lighting...I work for a lighting company so I have tested a few in my shop). If you want to see examples in action go to a Crate and Barrel store and look at their displays.

Fl lamps are more reasonably priced due to volume. The starting for the T8/T12 lamps are only good with an electronic ballast...that is what helps give good control especially in cold weather..plus they have lower levels of mercury than T12's. T8's are a good choice for the shop in general. It also might pay to get the "cover guard" product. If you hit the tube with tool or piece of lumber you will not get coated with phosphors, mercury, and glass.

Ed

[Tim Sproul]

IME, different woodworking tasks require different lighting.

You don't want 400W lights with only a 12 foot ceiling as your main lighting. I will probably hurt to look level with the floor as the light from fixtures in front of you will be very intense. I'd do T8 flourescents for general lighting and build in enough task specific lighting as needed. You could try the newer T5 high output fluorescents but these may be too bright too. Put the general lighting on several switches as some tasks - surface prep and detail carving - are best done with only one or a few points sources of light.