shop lighting

[fabricator]

Any suggestions for types of lighting, considering T-8. Would like for them to be energy efficent. Not finding much info on pros or cons of various styles.Are there any LED shoplights out there?

[hankj]

Garage? High bay? Low bay?

Plenty of solutions, although I've not heard of an LED product that would suffice for shop lighting.

My shop is a 24' x 26' No-Car garage. I use the old style 48" 4-tube flourescent lights, because that's what I could scrounge when I moved in. They are sufficient for my needs. If I need supplemetal ligthing, i plug in a 500 watt halogen work light.

As to the point of your post, I see no problem with T-8 fixtures, depending on how much illumination you need.

OK, back to the Kettle One....

Hank

[nfinch86]

fabricator;
The majority of my shop lighting is the swirl type flouresent bulbs.
I use 150's - 43 watts used . I have several around my shop.
There are 3 in a Fan type light fixture & I have a light bar I made up with 3 more in it ! All told I might have a total of 5 o 6 of this type in my shop, plenty of light with little watts being used !

I also have a 4' shop light over my work bench, but that one draws more watts than I'm real keen on ! Oh well ! But for sure my favouite are the swirl type bulbs @ 150 w it only draws 43 Watts !!!

.............. Norm

[fabricator]

About 15 feet in height would be where the fixtures would hang. and 40 x 70 feet is the footprint of shop.What constitutes the difference between a high bay and low bay? I dont want the crappy fluorescent lighting that flickers and is hard to start in cold weather.

[Machinist]

My choice would be MH 400watt low bays with acrylic full light shields pulls 4 amps on 120 volts and 2ea in a 32'X48' building will lite it like your out side.

[engnerdan]

Only problem I can think of with the metal halides is the relight time. Every fixture I have worked with if you shut it off it takes up to 5 minutes for it to cool and relight.

I am personally using 2 bulb T8 fixtures industrial fixtures (no covers) with instant start ballasts (not the cheap home improvement store lights) and cool white bulbs 41,000K (if I remember right). I am very happy with the amount of light I have and the color of it.

-Dan

[Machinist]

Only problem I can think of with the metal halides is the relight time. Every fixture I have worked with if you shut it off it takes up to 5 minutes for it to cool and relight.

I am personally using 2 bulb T8 fixtures industrial fixtures (no covers) with instant start ballasts (not the cheap home improvement store lights) and cool white bulbs 41,000K (if I remember right). I am very happy with the amount of light I have and the color of it.

-Dan

You are correct on the relight time.

[nfinch86]

My choice would be MH 400watt low bays with acrylic full light shields pulls 4 amps on 120 volts and 2ea in a 32'X48' building will lite it like your out side.

400 watts per light , as far as I know you are paying by the watt not the amp. !

............. Norm

[Blondie_486]

I found some 4' fluorescent light fixtures at home cheapo which are rated for cold weather application. They light dim at first but within 3 or 4 minutes they're nice and bright. Kind of like the low energy bulbs you get for can lighting fixtures in the house. These fixtures ran me 20 bucks a piece and it was money well spent. I have 24 x 28 and it's nice and bright with 6 fixtures. I forget which style bulbs it takes but it's the new style lower wattage tubes. Anyway that's what I'm using and works very well in my shop.

[Blondie_486]

Oh I forgot to mention in the big shop in Cleveland we installed halogen lighting and are very disappointed with it. It was brighter with the fluorescent lighting than with the halogen lighting and the florescents were much less wattage too.

[Pass-N-Gas]

I just finished up a 32' x 52' shop with 14' walls.. The flat false ceiling is skinned with an off white roofing metal the walls were wafer-board (SIPS)..

We installed (4 rows of 5) T-8 8' / 4-4' bulb fixtures - no reflectors. used the natural light bulbs. This gives a very good no shadow lighting..

The fixtures were $40 each and the bulbs are like $1.45? when bought in the master pack of 35 at Lowes

T-8's will start at 0 degrees and only pull 1 amp / fixture on the 120v side of the equation.. these will save you money and more importantly they will not put out the heat the HO's do, I know I have a shop full of HO's as the T-8's were not out at the time I put my shop together.

[ricksidebottom]

Glad this thread popped up. I have 6 3'x4' skylights and 4 400 watt MH. 2 of them are giving me fits. Can't complain, they were free.

Trying to decide what to change too. Most of the time I don't even turn the lights on because of the skylights. I like the idea of the compact florescent bulbs. The shop is 30x30 w/ 12' side walls and a 4/12 pitch roof. Thoughts on new lights are welcomed.

I will be getting rid of Metal Halide (120v) units when I get these changed.

[fabricator]

Here is a link I found for T-8 lights.I dont think there is anything else to know that is not explained here.http://www.lrc.rpi.edu/programs/NLPI...8/abstract.asp

[m.k.swelding]

I have found if you have a lot of lighting in a shop and do any blacksmithing that can be a problem.

[SignWave]

Lite'm up!

In my past experiences, there are basically four types of lighting to choose from.

HPS (high pressure sodium)
MH ( Metal Halide)
MV ( Mercury Vapor)
fluorescent

Each of these have their pros and cons.

HPS is you best bet if you're looking for maximum lumens per watt of power used The draw back is that this form of lighting has a very poor color rendering index and that means that everything in your shop will take on that fugly orange yellow tinge. Ewww best left to light the driveway and front road. 2800 degrees Kelvin is not a pretty color to work under..
Some people use these , but I cant say i'd want to work in that environment.
your next closest bet is Mercury vapor. This too provides decent lumen output per watt used, but again.. everything will take on a greenish tinge.. again ewww. 4000 degrees K approx.

Metal Halide Lamps provide a really nice white/blue light that makes it easy to distinguish colors of objects. It is however more costly to run than either MV or HPS. Not by much but there is a difference. Also as you know, these lamps burn very bright. I personally find thins really annoying especially when I'm on my back under the work looking up.. So some good diffusers are a very good idea. Good idea in general just in case a lamp decides to pop. S*it happens now and again and there is nothing worse than hot projectile glass (quartz) flying towards you or anyone.

Last but not least, is the good 'ol tube lamps. Floros come in a variety of sizes all the way up from 12" to 96". They come in a variety of color temperatures so pick the color you like best. Personally I like daylight tubes. They are more expensive, but the color is pretty close to that outside at high noon. T8's are 32W each and will not run properly on a ballast designed for T12' as the T8's draw more current. think of it this way... The bigger the cable or diameter of the tube, the less resistance to the flow of electricity. Floro's are also easier on the eyes. If you get good rapid start ballasts, you should be able to fire them up to -20. There are also ballasts called "preheats" but If I'm not mistaken, this is the type you will find mostly over the stove and on aquariums. push the button and hold till it fires..

For your shop, I would think that two maybe three rows of twin lamp 8 footers would provide you with sufficient lighting.

Each lighting system has pros and cons. What one will do, the other may not. they might be cheap to run but fugly to look at... (hmm that reminds me of something... ewww) anyway.. I'm sure you get the idea.

Good luck.

Also, I don't know what the US Electrical code book says , but the canuck one allows you to put up to 20 amps worth of floro's on one cct. This can be handy at times. If this is also part of the USEC, make sure to size your wire accordingly... #12 AWG