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How do you light your workshop? ... Who's using LED's

Jersey John

Stainless
Joined
May 29, 2015
Location
Beccles / Suffolk, United Kingdom
Hi folk ...

Having just spent the last two+ weeks swinging between the rafters of my workshop installing 3"/75mm thick Kingspan Therma TP10 to reduce the huge amount of heat being wasted and ultimately saving my heating bills I now am looking at replacing my lighting.

Currently I've got three long twin tube flurescent units plus a few down lighters ...

I'm thinking of going to an all LED system with either 4K (Cool light) LED's or 6K (Natural light) LED units

What are you using??

... all comments greatly appreciated.

Stay safe

John:typing::scratchchin:
 
Everything that's replaced gets LEDs.

Just had the power company swap my outside dusk til dawn lights over to LED. They put out around 24,000 lumens each. It's daylight 24/7 around the building. And I think they start saving me money in 3 years. (lower rental on the LED lights even though I had to pay for the install).

Shop is primarily lit with 400W incandescent bulbs. As they go out, they get replaced by an equivalent LED "corncob" style bulb that fold out to shine down. Very pleased at the light.

As 4' tubes go out (whether T8 or T12), I've been replacing them with 5000k LED direct wire replacement tubes. Home improvement store has a kit that I've gotten very used to installing.

I'm going to LEDs for more light. The eventual savings is just icing on the cake.
 
I use 24 T5HO (4') tubes. Now that LED replacements are available for T5HO, that's what I'll do when they need replacement. The T5's, at 54W each, use a lot of power.
 
Hi folk ...

Having just spent the last two+ weeks swinging between the rafters of my workshop installing 3"/75mm thick Kingspan Therma TP10 to reduce the huge amount of heat being wasted and ultimately saving my heating bills I now am looking at replacing my lighting.

Currently I've got three long twin tube flurescent units plus a few down lighters ...

I'm thinking of going to an all LED system with either 4K (Cool light) LED's or 6K (Natural light) LED units

What are you using??

... all comments greatly appreciated.

Stay safe

John:typing::scratchchin:

Six to nine 150 Watt incandescent lamps, winter months.

It's MOST of the heating system. And some dam' fool outlawed 100 Watters. So I had to use larger ones. To reduce energy consumption. I did say "dam' fool"? Same crowd that gave me a "water saving" toilet you must flush three times if not four?

At least until the current crop of dam' fools sort out starving folk so turds get smaller. ELSE elected to public office.

"Both" probably ..given chronic lack of QC inside the silly-circle AKA "Capitol Beltway".

As the "heating plant", the incandescents are on 24- 7. As spring arrives, they automagically burn out in gradual stages. Go figure that's kinda "built in"? And also.. I start dropping back from 24-7.

Now .. given the "infrastructure" is ignorant medium "Edison base" sockets?

Screw-in LEDS replace them once the cold season has passed. Outdoor rated "flood lamps" mostly. One "spot" over the best bench.

All get switched OFF when the shop is not active. To reduce load on the A/C.. which is hardly ever run. Can you say "motion-detector switch?"

If, then a mere handful of H-F blue coin-purse-shaped battery LED's are gutted and wired up four in series? One side or the other of the series'd-up 12 V Marine/RV batteries as back-up the starting goods for the 10 KW Diesel insure you won't cut yer throat or get trapped amongst predatory machinery in a power fail situation.

No windows, y'see.

Works for me, lo these many years.

The screw-in LEDs are simply put by for next year when weather has turned cold enuf' to again heat with incandescents.

Not very efficient as lighting, incandescents. But 100% efficient for HEAT, given "visible" light ALSO decays to heat, regardless. Entropy thing.

Cheap enuf?

Well......ANY "new tech" as arrives nearly ALWAYS has a version to fit those ignorant Edison-base screw-in fixtures. So I haven't had to pull wire in 30 years.

Started this "habit" with "halogen", then CFL's in the summertime. Before LED's came along.

Works a treat for heat.

Cheap, too! I needed a step-stool to reach the dam' drawbar in any case.
 
started using the 4' led's from horror freight. they're $19.99 when on sale . one 50w will replace 2/ 80 watt
fluorescent tubes . i pretty much buy them as the ballasts fail. better color as well. i won't be trying to
replace 40 , 8 foot tubes + ballasts... when they expire , i'm going all horror freight led's.

fuck a bunch of "relamping existing fixtures". i just need to see. the old fl stuff sucked and gave me an
instant headache for 60 cycle madness.

solid state is my future.
 
I switched to LED's, 5K is white enough without making everything glare. If you can get LED's that work well on dimmer switches, get those and install the dimmers. Some LED's only come in certain lumen output for the color scale you want and can be pretty distracting if too bright.
 
Replaced all the 4' T8 fluorescent tubes with LEDs that were compatible with the ballasts in the fixtures. If you get new fixtures get LED specifics without the ballast, somewhat cheaper. All around more and better light and no buzzing flickering.
 
Replaced all the 4' T8 fluorescent tubes with LEDs that were compatible with the ballasts in the fixtures. If you get new fixtures get LED specifics without the ballast, somewhat cheaper. All around more and better light and no buzzing flickering.

Sorry. NELA Park trained at this s**t.

That's dumb.

A "ballast" is a swinging choke and current-limiter. One engineered to play a complex role in pre-warming, then igniting a "Fluor" coated Mercury-vapour lamp, stabilizing the plasma-carried arc, and preserving the hardware that generates and sustains it.

The whole deal is alien to an LED's very different needs.

Solid-state Voltage conversions and regulation in their onboard PSU. For AC line Voltages, anyway.

Dee Cee, as-in motor-vehicles, one can simply series them to be happy @ battery-on-charge/float Voltages. For battery NOT on charge? Different count of diode junctions in the string, depending on available Voltage.

Those H-F ovals have nothing more complicated than a series current-limiting resistor, The "array" to match the batteries is the PCB that holds the Diodes.

Result with a ballast still in-circuit, not even disconnected and abandoned in-place is akin to ...

..wearing Birkenstock sandals over top of combat boots, rather than "instead of",

..carrying extra mass with every step you take, as a waste of nutrition.

Whywuddja?
 
I've got 48" single tube fluorescent fittings with HF ballasts. I did buy a quantity of LED tubes to try them for re-lamping, but was rather disappointed with the result, even when replacing 10 year old fluorescent tubes. A 22W 4ft LED tube puts out 2000 lumenns, a 36W 4ft fluorescent tube puts out 3000 lumens, so the advertised savings come at the cost of dimmer light. If you are doing a fresh installation, then LEDs or T5 fluorescent make sense, but not to re-lamp existing fittings.

As a datum, in the 30 square metre shed, I've got 14 36W tubes. With the white walls and ceiling, that gives a nice, bright, even, illumination.
 
My perspective is from a 20x25 garage with block walls, concrete cieling and concrete floor which all absorb light like standing inside of a black hole.

I've got a 150 watt corn cob in the middle of the garage, three LED four-footers, a four foot fluorescent, a 10 watt LED task light and I'm considering adding another cantilevered four footer or some creative festoon-hung LED tape lighting right under my garage door track since I've got a bunch of it for free.

I think I measured the total lighting load at right around 300~350 watts of mostly LEDs. Well over 35,000 lumens but you'd never know it with how well concrete absorbs light. Paint makes a big difference. Not sure how the old timers even functioned in a basement dotted with three 100W, 1200 lumen incandescents in the days of yore. They would've needed a second 20A branch circuit to attain the levels of lighting which are possible today.
 
Comments on 4K, 5K or 6K??

"Back in the day" when I had 18 retail stores to lamp-up on the cheap energy-wise but on the wonderfully good sharp and elegant display-case-wise, I had no LED's but.. there were and are speciality Fluorescents with highly precise Kelvin temps.

I equipped our advertising Department with the entire lot. Switch selected. Our catalogs grew higher quality as we made them work well for customers with incandescent, fluorescent, or natural North (or NOT "North" daylight).

Do the same over your layout, print deciphering, paint or anodize decision-making, or critical metrology bench.

SELECT, then, off your OWN experience and the sort of work you do and on what materials ... because there IS NO single standard answer.

ALSO give that zone double or triple fixture locations. Include dimming. And/or/ELSE then 1, 1+1, 1+1+1 ... 3 thirds fractional switching on each string.

NOW you can switch-select intensity, colour, offset "veiling" reflections, cut shadows. Or enhance them.

Or at LEAST haul in a "Torchiere" style ceiling-bounce floor lamp with dimmer as is easily re-positioned.

Magic follows, either way! You will even FEEL better, end of a long day.

Humans are evolved for the daily shift in lighting by time-of-day, the movement of clouds or forests, the coming of the seasons.

Stress levels go up, productive efficiency drops, feel-good goes away, overall good health follows it out the door .. if we do not at least TRY to simulate a dynamic, not static "natural" environment.

Your immune and digestive systems will even work more effectively.

So you live longer. And in better health.

Lighting is NOT a "trivial" influencer of our lives. Quite the reverse!
 
I put the 6000K 8' Amazon specials in my shop, and I love 'em! They seemed maybe a bit much the first day, but have either lightened up a bit, or I'm just used to them. I wouldn't go any less, as the interior of my shop is painted white, and it's perfect now. Instant on, even in the cold, and no buzzing ballasts,,, :)
 
I got some Halco Lighting Technologies two pack. One pack has two 24Watt 5500K Lumens frosted bulbs. The style is T8 with single point connection points on the ends.
For 50,000 hours rated life. All I had to do was remove those noisy ballasts from the fixtures. Turn switch on the first time and my first thought was now I've got
too much light.

Made in China and sold by Home Depot. Made me think about a fake brand names. Hallo was an American brand name and it looks like Halco is a replicant.
So the question is, do fake brand name products (I would rather use the term by-products (as meaning shit)) appear across continents? Or does each continent/country
get different names for the same shit?

For $45.95 on a two-pack of 8' bulbs they better work for a while. After 4 months they still work good.
 
I put the 6000K 8' Amazon specials in my shop, and I love 'em! They seemed maybe a bit much the first day, but have either lightened up a bit, or I'm just used to them. I wouldn't go any less, as the interior of my shop is painted white, and it's perfect now. Instant on, even in the cold, and no buzzing ballasts,,, :)

Too "static" when you "get used to" the lighting instead of the other way around.

No need of a "mood computer" running the visual equivalent of Muzak's "elevator schmalz".

Just spot a few dimmer motion-detector switches, some that overlap field of view, others that do not. I use slivers cut from HVAC metal-foil to shape their "field of vision". Some need at least ONE incandescent / halogen to prevent the rapid-response LED's setting-up oscillation.

Mix-in some warm-white, or other contrasting Kelvin temps.

Now juggle the intensity and "ON" response time and the release-delay time settings.

That simple.

Consider it "condiment" lighting, the "appetizer" and/or the "desert dish", similar to seasoning good food instead of same baloney sandwich, different dam' day.

And one more workspace is no longer an oppressively DULL and repetitious eater-of-souls.

Happy and healthy folks make more successful teams.

Even with only one half-ass "quarter wit" player!

DAMHIKT!

:D
 
I'm still using the old T12 fluorescents. They're OK, but I think it's time to move to the LED's. Most of the machine lights are already LED's and I like them much better than the old incandescents. In my case I'm thinking of more of going to zone lighting with multiple fixtures on a switched circuit rather than the individually switched lights. I currently have to make a complete circuit of the shop to switch on all the lights. Again it's not a problem unless I leave something lying around where it shouldn't be. Walking through the place in the dark does get hazardous from time to time.

The biggest problem is I'm not sure exactly what's available. I'll be calling several contractors in the next few weeks to see what they recommend, and get some cost estimates. I'm also thinking of upgrading the service so I have a maximum of 3 or 4 machines on each circuit. I like to leave some machines powered up when not in the shop to keep the readouts active, but there are some others that I only want to have powered up when I intend to use them. It'll be interesting to see what they have to say. I'm sure I'll need to be sitting down when the estimates start coming in.
 
With regard to color temp, I use 4500K which is perfect for me. I can tolerate 5000K if I have to, but NOT 6000K+. If you paint, get something with a good CRI (90+). Most of the 6000K LED cheapos have horrible CRI.
 
With regard to color temp, I use 4500K which is perfect for me. I can tolerate 5000K if I have to, but NOT 6000K+. If you paint, get something with a good CRI (90+). Most of the 6000K LED cheapos have horrible CRI.

What Gordon wrote is very important. A light’s nominal color temperature is a very general guide. The CRI is what tells you how things actually look under the lights. The closer the light’s spectral distribution is to daylight the better or more natural things will look. It’ll cost more but worth investigating before purchase and install.

When the maker of the lights does not supply this information, its likely that the spectral distribution is not something to brag about.
 








 
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