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Thread: Shop lighting......

  1. #16
    Join Date
    Feb 2013
    Location
    Logan, Utah
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    18
    Great straightforward article, helped me answer what lighting I need in my new to me 14 x 24 foot shop in the bowels of the earth.

  2. #17
    Glad that it helped, John. Thanks for taking the time to read it.

  3. #18

    Shop lighting

    Thanks ken for the link it was certainly a helpful article. I think shop and home electrical inspection of existing panels, systems, machinery and wiring are also equally important in maintaining a safe working environment free from electrical hazards and fire. Shop and home safety inspections along with appropriate up gradation of cables and connections can help in increasing life span of various electrical equipments.

  4. I'm curious, being we are at the later part of 2015 and newer technology in lighting upon us has there been any changes in the shop lighting area? Myself I just got through doing a remake along with an addition to my shop which included replacing all fluorescent lighting with LED flush mounted lighting, by doing this it added better lighting also lifting my ceilings by 5+ " once after removing the fluorescent fixtures.

  5. #20
    Join Date
    Jun 2015
    Location
    Sacramento, CA
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    Quote Originally Posted by Randy Blackstock View Post
    I'm curious, being we are at the later part of 2015 and newer technology in lighting upon us has there been any changes in the shop lighting area? Myself I just got through doing a remake along with an addition to my shop which included replacing all fluorescent lighting with LED flush mounted lighting, by doing this it added better lighting also lifting my ceilings by 5+ " once after removing the fluorescent fixtures.
    What flush mounted LEDs did you use?
    If at first you don't succeed, redefine success!

  6. Hi Ben

    I used both Halo's and Commercial Electric, the Halos are surface Mount Lumens 675 soft white and the CE's are recessed T65's Lumens 670 not much difference between the lumens and the mounting as for as relation to the ceiling and their depth go.

    test2.jpg

  7. #22
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    Jun 2015
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    Quote Originally Posted by Randy Blackstock View Post
    Hi Ben

    I used both Halo's and Commercial Electric, the Halos are surface Mount Lumens 675 soft white and the CE's are recessed T65's Lumens 670 not much difference between the lumens and the mounting as for as relation to the ceiling and their depth go.

    test2.jpg
    Gotcha. Hadnt though of doing recessed lighting like that. All of my current fixtures are 4FT dual tube fixtures with exposed romex running to them. Looks like a network on my garage ceiling. Been thinking of upgrading to LED but trying to figure out the best and most cost effective way.
    If at first you don't succeed, redefine success!

  8. Ben the surface mounted are made to fit into your existing ceiling light boxes, if you buy the boxes that have the sheet rock clips on them you won't need stud mounted boxes and you can put as many as you want and where ever you want in your shop, I did that to a few areas in my shop.

    The recessed are designed to go into cans but as I mentioned there's not really much difference they both fit flush up against the ceiling, I believe I have just under $300 in cost for 9 lights.

  9. #24
    Join Date
    Jan 2013
    Location
    Pittsburgh, PA
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    868
    I'm sure this is a great article but I got turned off when I saw that the author neglected to consider LED shop lights. I have a number of these two-tube LED fixtures now and find them to be cost-effective at $35 for a two tube fixture, which has light output comparable to the light output of a 2-tube 40 W fluorescent fixture. And they come right on when the temperatures are low, compared to what I am used to with standard florescences.

    Anyway, thanks to Ken for posting this…
    Too much to do...Not enough time...life is too short!

  10. #25
    Join Date
    Jan 2004
    Location
    Lewiston, Idaho
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    Actually Bill...Leds were not readily available when the author first wrote this article for FWW in 2002 nor were they that available when he revised it for use here.

    IMO.....and I am a fan of LEDS. The upstairs of my home is gradually going to all LEDs....our new remodeled kitchen is totally LEDs......but in my shop, I get better even dispersion of light using fluorescent tubes where LEDS are more lighting for specific work areas. Thus, I prefer the fluorescent tubes for my shop. I have good lighting everywhere that is not limited to just a particular work area.

    It's subjective IMO. Each to their own.
    Ken

    So much to learn, so little time.....

  11. #26

    Pixie flat panel LED's

    Quote Originally Posted by Ken Fitzgerald View Post
    Actually Bill...Leds were not readily available when the author first wrote this article for FWW in 2002 nor were they that available when he revised it for use here.


    IMO.....and I am a fan of LEDS. The upstairs of my home is gradually going to all LEDs....our new remodeled kitchen is totally LEDs......but in my shop, I get better even dispersion of light using fluorescent tubes where LEDS are more lighting for specific work areas. Thus, I prefer the fluorescent tubes for my shop. I have good lighting everywhere that is not limited to just a particular work area.


    It's subjective IMO. Each to their own.




    I have replaced my garage lights with Pixie flat lights from Home Depot, we (my 4 person lighting design practice) specify them all the time. They are in the short run more expensive ($190 for a 2' x 2', which is brighter than a 2 lamp 4' fluorescent fixture) but we prefer the quality of the light. For me, it is a bit warm (2700K) and the 3000K color I want is even more expensive and I'm waiting for the price to drop on those, which it will. On the other hand, the inexpensive 4000K light, while a bit blue, is a better light for seeing detail.

    these are edge-lit panels and the light distribution is better than the fluorescent tubes, and it's suprising how much hight the ciel feels when you swap 3" thick fixtures to 1/2" thick fixtures.


    There are a lot of other manufacturers but they seem to have some downsides, like a J-box mounted in the back that sticks out and makes the installation tough. The Pixie's are 1/2" all in.


    Side note, a fantastic task light is the Reliable UberLight 3000TL which is also somewhat blue-white. In general you see detail (increase in visual acuity) about 30% better in blue-white light than in warm white light. The combination of flat panel general lighting and a couple of UberLights is about as good as it gets at this point.

    Brian(J)

  12. #27
    Join Date
    Jan 2004
    Location
    Lewiston, Idaho
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    Brian,

    I really like LEDs. I remodeled our main bathroom about 12 years ago. It's extremely small and I installed a 48" light bar on the wall above the vanity. Initially it had 6 - 60 watt decorative globe incandescent bulbs in it. Now as the incandescent bulbs are dying, I am replacing them with the equivalent globes in LEDs. It's amazing how much more light the LEDs produce at a much lower power consumption. Currently 3 LEDs are in that 6 bulb fixture....1 at each end and 1 near the middle to attempt to balance the light from the fixture.

    LEDs are just beginning to be more readily available to the average person. So far, I haven't seen the incredible increase in life as they advertise. I have experienced about 30-40% failure rate in the 3 years since I started buying them. But the savings in power is incredible!

    We just did a major remodel/expansion on our kitchen. Every light in the kitchen is LED. An island separates the kitchen from the dining area and as the incandescent lights fail in the chandelier over the dining table, they are being replaced with LEDs. The LED strips under the upper cabinets provide mood lighting but also light the kitchen enough at night to do minor things like make a sandwich but the strips only consume IIRC a total of 3 watts. That's very little power consumed for marginal lighting. Even when we turn on the main recessed LED cans in the ceiling for real light, the entire consumption of power is less than a 60 watt incandescent bulb would use.

    I'm a fan!
    Ken

    So much to learn, so little time.....

  13. #28
    Quote Originally Posted by Ken Fitzgerald View Post
    Brian,

    I really like LEDs. I remodeled our main bathroom about 12 years ago. It's extremely small and I installed a 48" light bar on the wall above the vanity. Initially it had 6 - 60 watt decorative globe incandescent bulbs in it. Now as the incandescent bulbs are dying, I am replacing them with the equivalent globes in LEDs. It's amazing how much more light the LEDs produce at a much lower power consumption. Currently 3 LEDs are in that 6 bulb fixture....1 at each end and 1 near the middle to attempt to balance the light from the fixture.

    LEDs are just beginning to be more readily available to the average person. So far, I haven't seen the incredible increase in life as they advertise. I have experienced about 30-40% failure rate in the 3 years since I started buying them. But the savings in power is incredible!

    We just did a major remodel/expansion on our kitchen. Every light in the kitchen is LED. An island separates the kitchen from the dining area and as the incandescent lights fail in the chandelier over the dining table, they are being replaced with LEDs. The LED strips under the upper cabinets provide mood lighting but also light the kitchen enough at night to do minor things like make a sandwich but the strips only consume IIRC a total of 3 watts. That's very little power consumed for marginal lighting. Even when we turn on the main recessed LED cans in the ceiling for real light, the entire consumption of power is less than a 60 watt incandescent bulb would use.

    I'm a fan!
    Ken,
    the early failure rate for screw-in replacement LED lamps was all over the map, we are not seeing many failures, at all these days. A project I did a year ago used 430 LED lamps (SORAA Snap MR16) and I think we lost two the first few weeks and none or few after that.
    For under cabinet LED is, I think, the very best option, nice thing about most LED's is they are easy to dim so we put in bright ones and dim them back.
    Have you seen the Phillips Warmglow? Fantastic lamp, and when dimmed it shifts just a bit warmer.
    I tested the Pixie panels in 4000K last night and I am installing them in my shop. More money but much better light output and light quality.

  14. #29
    Join Date
    Jun 2010
    Location
    Upland, CA
    Posts
    1,344
    Brian,

    Those Pixie Panels look very interesting. For someone that doesn't have lots of ceiling height, I can see them working out very well. If they really have 4000 lumens spread evenly over almost 4 square feet, that should be impressive. Add nothing sticking down to glare directly and a smooth surface that won't hold dust and they would seem worth $189.

  15. #30
    I have 4 myself (2 car garage), will be getting another 4 (shop) and have about 40 on projects currently. When replacing 8 year old 4' T5 2-tube fixtures/wrap around lenses with the Pixies the perceived light is brighter but not 50% brighter. The ceiling gets less cluttered and with an 8' ceiling replacing a 4" thick fixture with 1/2" makes a difference in ceiling height, as you generally feel the ceiling to be at the bottom of the light fixtures.
    I like them a lot.

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