Lighting

[Gypsy]

Hello Everyone,

I am doing some renovations to my sweat shop and was wondering what would be the best lighting to put back in?? Can lights, florescents, track lighting, natural light from windows?? My shop is in a bonus room with a 6x6 window on the south side.

Thanks Holly

Edited January 5, 2012 by Gypsy

[mlapaglia]

Holly,

Natural light is the best but you wont get that all the time. Florescent lights are the worst for letting you see the true color of the leather and the dyes. I am from the old school that says incandescent lighting is the next best thing to sunlight. Lights directly overhead, can lights or track lights, will give you the most even coverage for lighting and color. I would still put a goose neck or two around the bench, maybe one on each side to give you good fill lighting. Low voltage track lighting is not very good for the same reason as florescent because of the color of the lights. Until they get LED's perfected Id stay away from them too. For the color of the light reason. If possible set your ceiling lights on 2 or 3 switches so you can shut down what you dont need at the time.

I prefer 2 can lights over each bench with a center light or lights in the room for general lighting.

Let me know if you need help designing the layout.

Michael

[Gypsy]

I added a picture of what is going on. I was thinking the same as far as can lights around the edges and something in the middle.

Thanks for the advice!!

[mlapaglia]

I added a picture of what is going on. I was thinking the same as far as can lights around the edges and something in the middle.

Thanks for the advice!!

Based on the picture Id do as you said but Id add a set of track lighting over each work bench so you can move then to suit the project. This assumes you have the money for the lights. if not make sure you have the can lights for the bench over the center of the bench and on a separate switch. There are many times I shut down all the lights but the ones over the bench and work. Helps me to focus sometimes. Also I can light the room but turn the ones over the bench off if there is too much light from the window but not enough to shut down all the lights.

Michael

[KAYAK45]

Great question.

Answer--All the above and twice as many. I have dimmable can lights in the ceiling for GENERAL LIGHTING of the area. Next I put florescent four tube fixtures left over from an office renovation I got for $10/each over each WORK area. Next I have three goose necks with color correct bulbs for the COLOR area, and last, two magnifying glasses with lights.

Wew.

I don't (or haven't yet) used them all at one time and keep the cost down with lots of switches

Oh that doesn't count the lights on the sewing machines!

GOOD LUCK

Kevin

[dirtclod]

When i built my shop i put outlets ever 3 foot on the walls and ever 4 foot in the celeing and used 4 foot floresent lights with cords so i can move them around. If you put your lights in one place your pretty much stuck working right there. In my shop i had everthing set where i though i wanted. But last year i moved my bench and one sewing machine and i was able to move the lights where they needed to be. Oh you get daylight blubs for the 4 foot lights. I don't have them because they cost to much when i looked. The goose neck lights are nice to have on your bench to if your like me and want need quite a bit of light to work.

[Gypsy]

WOW...this is alot to take in!!

If I do can lights ...they will have to be set in the angle between the wall and the celing. I like the idea of track lights so I can move them around.

[TwinOaks]

This certainly is right up my alley.........I'm a lighting technician / electrician for Sylvania.

Some of what's above is right, some is wrong, some can go either way.

First, forget recessed can lights. I don't think you have the room for them except right in the center of the room, especially if you plan to insulate the ceiling. The regular incandescent cans are at least 6 inches deep and require a minimum clearance around them. Based on what I see in the picture, I'd suggest running your power above ceiling and surface mounting everything you install. That's actually good news because "shop lights" are pretty well self contained and often less expensive than the fixtures that are recess mounted.....as well as easier to install.

On to fluorescent lights.....it's come a long way from what it once was. Older fixtures typically didn't show colors well because of the types of lamps (bulb) used in them. The most common was the F34CW.....34 watt, 'cool white' color, that used a magnetic ballast and if one lamp went out, the other went with it. With the new T8 lamps, which are 32 watt and run off electronic ballasts, that's a thing of the past. What you need to look for is a higher "CRI", for 'Color Rendering Index". That's one part of it, the other part is the base color of the lamp which is rated in the color of temperatures....in Kelvin (unit of measurement). The most common colors are 3000K, 3500K, 4100K, and 5000K. Lower numbers have more red in them and are commonly called "warm" colors. The higher the number, the 'whiter' the light, with the exception of the 5000K....it has a blue-ish tint. The 5000K and up are called "daylight" and are usually only used inside signs and displays over water.

Sylvania's high CRI lamps are the 800 series, for 'CRI 82'....as in 830, 835, 841, and 850. Here's how a fluorescent lamp would be listed:

FO32/841 xxxxxxxx ----for F_luorescentO_ctron (means T8) 32 _watt8_{00 series}41_{00 Kelvin color} , the xxxx is for nomenclature such as 'Eco' for 'economy', or 'xp' for 'extended performance'.

The color and CRI of the lamp makes all the difference in the world. In a grocery store, we use the 3500 color lamps for most of the store, but the meat dept. and shelves get the 3000 color- it's redder and makes the meat look better. If I was to put in very white light (4100) or even the slightly blue (5000 and up) lamps, I could easily shut down the meat sales ...it makes the meat look like it's gone bad. The color is that important.

The best way for you to see the difference is to go to the local box hardware store and look at the lighting displays in the paint dept. They typically have one set up to show the effects the lighting has on the colors so you can see what it will look like in your house.

Alternately...Dress Barn uses the 3000 lamps, Steinmart uses 3500 lamps, Ross stores use 4100, and Tractor supply uses the 5000 color.

Incandescent- There's a pretty wide range of options, including low voltage. The down side to these is lamp life and HEAT. I have several stores that use a 50watt 12v track lighting system, and the real world life is somewhat shorter than we'd like. They are pretty expensive for what you get at ~$8 retail. They also get too hot to even consider touching. Regular halogen lamps don't get quite as hot. Either of them produce a pretty stark light, which could cast sharp shadows. There is the option to use 'soft' lighting, which is little more than a frosting on the inside of the lamp to diffuse the light. If you decide to use a low voltage track system, be sure to allow for the power supply, which is a step down transformer that turns your 120V house current to 12V.

LEDs really are the future, but as stated before, there's a limit to what they can do. We're working on that (in the industry), but regardless, they all produce some pretty stark lighting. If they're a little ways off, 5-8 feet, it's not any worse than a regular halogen flood light. The downside to LEDs is the cost. At ~$25 apiece, using them gets expensive....but that last a very long time. And despite the energy sipping nature of LEDs, they still produce heat because all the LED "replacement" lamps have a regular medium screw base (light a regular bulb) and a transformer built into the base of the unit. You'll probably also notice a bunch of fins or vanes....that's for heat dissipation.

If you have the coin, you could go with a LED power pack and LED strips, which is how we back light channel letters on signs. They are UBER-bright and since they're available as flexible ribbon or 6 inch 'sticks', you can use one power supply and stretch a string to pretty much any configuration you want.

Now that you're more confused than ever...............I'll offer my suggestion. Run 4 lamp fixtures and use BOTH 3500 and 4100 color lamps (2 each) to get the most uniform color. Get fixtures that include a diffuser lens, and paint the ceiling and angled part of the ceiling in high gloss, which will help reflect the light around the room. I'd suggest dividing the ceiling into thirds (lengthwise) and center the fixtures at the 1/3 and 2/3 marks. That will give you lighting that is NOT directly overhead so that you have some light shining on your work at an angle. Wire the room so that you can turn on banks of light as you need them.

Another thing I would recommend is to remove every other stud along the wall, add a jack stud to either side, and in the new open space where the stud used to be, add in cove storage. Don't forget to add venting under the roof.

[Sylvia]

I think I just earned a college degree in Lumen and Lighting.

LOL Great stuff TwinOaks.

This certainly is right up my alley.........I'm a lighting technician / electrician for Sylvania.

Some of what's above is right, some is wrong, some can go either way.

First, forget recessed can lights. I don't think you have the room for them except right in the center of the room, especially if you plan to insulate the ceiling. The regular incandescent cans are at least 6 inches deep and require a minimum clearance around them. Based on what I see in the picture, I'd suggest running your power above ceiling and surface mounting everything you install. That's actually good news because "shop lights" are pretty well self contained and often less expensive than the fixtures that are recess mounted.....as well as easier to install.

On to fluorescent lights.....it's come a long way from what it once was. Older fixtures typically didn't show colors well because of the types of lamps (bulb) used in them. The most common was the F34CW.....34 watt, 'cool white' color, that used a magnetic ballast and if one lamp went out, the other went with it. With the new T8 lamps, which are 32 watt and run off electronic ballasts, that's a thing of the past. What you need to look for is a higher "CRI", for 'Color Rendering Index". That's one part of it, the other part is the base color of the lamp which is rated in the color of temperatures....in Kelvin (unit of measurement). The most common colors are 3000K, 3500K, 4100K, and 5000K. Lower numbers have more red in them and are commonly called "warm" colors. The higher the number, the 'whiter' the light, with the exception of the 5000K....it has a blue-ish tint. The 5000K and up are called "daylight" and are usually only used inside signs and displays over water.

Sylvania's high CRI lamps are the 800 series, for 'CRI 82'....as in 830, 835, 841, and 850. Here's how a fluorescent lamp would be listed:

FO32/841 xxxxxxxx ----for F_luorescentO_ctron (means T8) 32 _watt8_{00 series}41_{00 Kelvin color} , the xxxx is for nomenclature such as 'Eco' for 'economy', or 'xp' for 'extended performance'.

The color and CRI of the lamp makes all the difference in the world. In a grocery store, we use the 3500 color lamps for most of the store, but the meat dept. and shelves get the 3000 color- it's redder and makes the meat look better. If I was to put in very white light (4100) or even the slightly blue (5000 and up) lamps, I could easily shut down the meat sales ...it makes the meat look like it's gone bad. The color is that important.

The best way for you to see the difference is to go to the local box hardware store and look at the lighting displays in the paint dept. They typically have one set up to show the effects the lighting has on the colors so you can see what it will look like in your house.

Alternately...Dress Barn uses the 3000 lamps, Steinmart uses 3500 lamps, Ross stores use 4100, and Tractor supply uses the 5000 color.

Incandescent- There's a pretty wide range of options, including low voltage. The down side to these is lamp life and HEAT. I have several stores that use a 50watt 12v track lighting system, and the real world life is somewhat shorter than we'd like. They are pretty expensive for what you get at ~$8 retail. They also get too hot to even consider touching. Regular halogen lamps don't get quite as hot. Either of them produce a pretty stark light, which could cast sharp shadows. There is the option to use 'soft' lighting, which is little more than a frosting on the inside of the lamp to diffuse the light. If you decide to use a low voltage track system, be sure to allow for the power supply, which is a step down transformer that turns your 120V house current to 12V.

LEDs really are the future, but as stated before, there's a limit to what they can do. We're working on that (in the industry), but regardless, they all produce some pretty stark lighting. If they're a little ways off, 5-8 feet, it's not any worse than a regular halogen flood light. The downside to LEDs is the cost. At ~$25 apiece, using them gets expensive....but that last a very long time. And despite the energy sipping nature of LEDs, they still produce heat because all the LED "replacement" lamps have a regular medium screw base (light a regular bulb) and a transformer built into the base of the unit. You'll probably also notice a bunch of fins or vanes....that's for heat dissipation.

If you have the coin, you could go with a LED power pack and LED strips, which is how we back light channel letters on signs. They are UBER-bright and since they're available as flexible ribbon or 6 inch 'sticks', you can use one power supply and stretch a string to pretty much any configuration you want.

Now that you're more confused than ever...............I'll offer my suggestion. Run 4 lamp fixtures and use BOTH 3500 and 4100 color lamps (2 each) to get the most uniform color. Get fixtures that include a diffuser lens, and paint the ceiling and angled part of the ceiling in high gloss, which will help reflect the light around the room. I'd suggest dividing the ceiling into thirds (lengthwise) and center the fixtures at the 1/3 and 2/3 marks. That will give you lighting that is NOT directly overhead so that you have some light shining on your work at an angle. Wire the room so that you can turn on banks of light as you need them.

Another thing I would recommend is to remove every other stud along the wall, add a jack stud to either side, and in the new open space where the stud used to be, add in cove storage. Don't forget to add venting under the roof.

Edited January 5, 2012 by Sylvia

[TwinOaks]

I just realized that I forgot to add the following:

Stay away from the 28 watt high efficiency lamps/ballasts. The lamp uses "warm start" technology to increase lamp life, and well......it works in THEORY.

[Gypsy]

I had to take an electricity course in college and I am just as confused now as I was then...lol Good thing my husband understood what you were talking about. THANK YOU for all the info...definately absorbing all the info.

Thanks a million!!

Holly