Shop Lighting opinions

[dadiOH]

Airflow to dissipate heat.

[Hoosierpopi]

looking at replacing the flourescents with something else brighter.

As I age, I can appreciate the need for strong lighting in the shop.

What I and my buddy have done is to paint the place white - walls and ceilings - high gloss "Ultra White" from HD, then we went with the fluorescents you are ready to replace.

John went with the eight-foot two-bulb fixtures, I went with the cheap ($8.79) "Shoplights" from HD or Lowes. In either case, replacing the fixture is about the same price (8ft) or cheaper (4ft) than replacing the ballasts when they go.

Transporting the eight-footers is a bit much, I think, and they need to be "wired-in."

The shoplights come with a power cord that allows for simply plugging in the fixture and hanging it upon a couple of screw eyes (or a bent nail ;) and this makes it easy to re-arrange the position of the fixture should your first educated guess prove to be off a few cm.

You can use the current location of your power outlets as a guide, but I went with a uniform "string of fixtures about six-foot on center in each direction (lengthwise - widthwise) to locate the duplex outlets in my ceiling and wired one side Hot and the other switched. Using X-10 outlets, one could easily control area lighting in a large shop with this approach and I have done that as well in one shp which has two "sections" so as not to waste power but still allow one of the "three-way" switches to control the lighting (and charging station) circuit. THis circuit also controls power to the compressor so it doesn't recharge at three AM and wake the wife to wake me to go shut it off!

So, I say "stay with fluorescents- just add more of them!

[Mike Marlow]

On Mon, 12 Jan 2009 10:38:48 -0500, Highland Pairos cast forth these pearls of wisdom...:

To allow the ballast to cool. Most ballasts cannot be mounted directly to a surface - they need airflow.

[Hoosierpopi]

"ballasts last about a year and can not be replaced"

his has NOT been my personal experience on two counts.

FIrst, I have cheap shop lights that have lasted over six years (and some that did not - see below).

Second, you can replace the balasts in these fixtures - but the cost of the replacement is often half again or even twice the price of a replacement fixture. Add to this the fact that replacing the ballast involves removing the hanging fixture to the bench, opening it, cutting wires, adding wire nuts to connect the new ballast, reassembling and then re-hanging the fixture it makes no sense to replace the ballast even if the cost is a bit less than a new shoplight.

PS: For those that "quit" prematurely, I have a great solution. I save the cartons they come in. Just need to save one carton of each brand. Then, if it quits, I simply return it and exchange it for a new one. If they have changed the packaging (they do from time to time to frustrate such returns), just buy a new one, slip the old one in the new box and return that one.

They (retailers) know that a significant percentage of this Chinese stuff newer saw a QC test and count on the customer to accept the premature failure and buy a new one while calculating a higher "Returns & Allowances" factor in determining their "Markup." to account for the high crap rates.

[Hoosierpopi]

Ed:

Take 'em back, demand a refund or try exchanging them if they are not all "Finicky" in the cold. I changed out a couple that did that - they are not all flickering in my case. Could be you got a bad lot. If you got 'em from Lowes, return them and get a set from Wal-Mart, or HD.

[mac davis]

Sort of a double edge sword though, Barry... My problem with fluorescent is that if you have high ceilings (mine are 10') the fluorescents diffuse... probably the wrong word?.. more than incandescent..

I've dropped some of my T-8 fixtures down a couple of feet and they're much more effective.. OTOH, I also have 2 or 3 goose neck lamps with incandescent "true color" bulbs, for when I want to see details when sanding and such..

mac

Please remove splinters before emailing

[mac davis]

yep.. I also like mirrors, though they're a bitch to keep dusted.. I have several 18" x 30" mirrors from a garage sale and have them mounted high on walls and angles to reflect light towards the lathes and such.. Even one mirror makes quite a bit of difference..

mac

Please remove splinters before emailing

[-MIKE-]

Well, you've certainly had a different experience than me. For the last

9 years, I changed out those cheap ones, like they're disposable. None lasted more than 2 years, some less than a year. The ballasts were twice as much as the fixtures. When I did open one up, I found all the ballast parts scattered in the fixture housing, all attached in a different manner, with wiring all tangled and soldered.

The ballasts for the $15 fixture is one a self contained metal housing and can be changed with one screw and a few wire nuts, without disassembling or un-mounting the fixture. Another $18 light had an integrated plug.. the ballast could be changed quicker than two tubes. :-)

[-MIKE-]

Otherwise known as theft.

[Mike Marlow]

On Mon, 12 Jan 2009 11:45:45 -0600, -MIKE- cast forth these pearls of wisdom...:

Are you talking about the $8 fixtures at HD Mike? That's the specific cheap fixture we're speaking about here. I've opened several of those up and have never seen what you describe. I did have a like experience with the $20 fixtures from Lowes. Pure junk. I'm pretty sure they were American Florescent. They quickly stop going into run mode and begin eating up bulbs like there is no tomorrow.

Where are you getting the $18 dollar fixtures you're using? Brand? Always on the hunt for good stuff in case I later decide that the good stuff I've stumbled across does not turn out to be all that good.

[Steve Turner]

Yeah, but they're screwing us over by selling us this Chinese junk so it's ok...

[russellseaton1]

I've installed 37 4 foot 2 bulb fluorescent fixtures in my basement. About $20 each from Menards. Don't notice any buzzing or flickering. Not cheap at $20 per fixture. And they do need to be wired in. So that takes time and effort. But I'm happy with all of the light. Using the cheap bulbs because they are $0.80 per bulb compared to the $5 per bulb for the high CRI bulbs. Couldn't quite reconcile the difference. White walls and white floor are wonderful. Conduit as opposed to regular old 12/2 sheathed wire? Odd codes.

[Upscale]

That's a whole lot of fixtures and light bulbs. Do the street lights in your neighbourhood dim when you turn on your basement lights? How big *is* your basement?

[russellseaton1]

I like light. 1200 square feet. Approximately two rectangular rooms of 600 sq ft each. Six rows of three light fixtures each. With another one light behind the staircase. White painted walls and white painted floor.

[Doug Winterburn]

With that much light, you can probably grow some nice plants ;-)

[Larry C]

I like light. 1200 square feet. Approximately two rectangular rooms of 600 sq ft each. Six rows of three light fixtures each. With another one light behind the staircase. White painted walls and white painted floor.

A 1200 sq ft shop! That's huge! It would take me over a month to fill that size shop with half finished projects, cutoffs, new stock, old stock, half refurbed equipment, coffee cups, etc.

You are lucky.

Larry C

[spaco]

Yup, heat dissipation. It appears that the ballasts are mounted tight to the metal "shade", using it as a sort of heat sink.

Pete Stanaitis

--------------------

Mike Marlow wrote:

[Joe]

1200 square feet. Approximately two rectangular rooms of 600 sq ft each. Six rows of three light fixtures each. With another one light behind the staircase. White painted walls and white painted floor.

Drive-by.

You suck.

jc

[Puckdropper]

"mark" wrote in news:kZsal.13917$ [e-mail]:

If you're looking for something to provide some task lighting that's movable but could be placed in conduit, there's various forms of track lighting available. Most take a standard 60W bulb (so CFL replacements are cheap and easy) and can be turned to light up the area you want them to light up.

I haven't used them in a shop environment, though, so it's hard to say how they'd hold up. It seems that one track light fixture will light up about the same area as one 4' flourescent fixture.

Puckdropper

[DGDevin]

Well, returning a product that fails in an unreasonable period of time (but outside the store's return policy) isn't quite theft. In the case of something the seller knows is likely to die an early death it's more like revenge than theft. Maybe revenge isn't all that admirable either, but neither is selling junk.