Shop lighting

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75
Location
New Jersey
I have my shop in the garage & have noticed that fluorescent lights say "do not use below 60 degrees", my garage gets way below 60 in the winter.
Does anyone have any suggestions for shop lighting?
Thanks
Dennis
 
Dennis, are these the T-12 standard flourescent bulbs that have been around forever? 1 1/2" diameter? If so, that may be true because of the magnetic ballasts used to run them. Get some T-8 fixtures with the electronic ballasts and the temp shouldn't bother them. I know over the winter my unheated shop got into the 30s quite often, and my T-8 fixtures from Home Depot never flinched. Popped right on and worked great. Jim.
 
Get some T-8 fixtures with the electronic ballasts

If you do what Jim says you will not be disappointed. They are instant on, do not make any noise and create really great light, especially if you use daylight bulbs. If you switch over you will never go back to the dark ages. A little pun there; very little but a pun non the less.
 
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Another vote for electronic ballast and T-8's. I run GE SP65 ECO lamps. Very happy. There's a good article on shop lighting here but a guidline is:


1. Measure the distance between the light source and the horizontal work surface (X).


2. The distance between rows of fixtures (Y) should be a maximum of 1 1/2 times the distance X.



3. The distance between a wall and a row of fixtures (Z) should be approximately a third to half the distance Y.
 
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The only problem I have with t-8's is that the ballasts don't last. In my branch store, t-8's were used when this store was built. That was 7 years ago and I have replaced almost every ballast in the work room area. The ballasts started going bad after 4 years of use.

At my main store, the ballasts have never been replaced. These are the old fashioned ones and are 17 years old. All I have done with these is change the bulbs.

Oh yea, you can get the big fat bulbs with fixtures that have cold weather ballasts. I have those in my boiler room.

Joe
 
my shop lights are the old t-11 style and they humm a bit when it`s cold but they warm up and work just fine for me.....
 
T-12 H.O

i used the t12 in the old shop and have had great results in cold weather start up..we get some below zero weather in winter.. and they still came on, the shop is heated but the garage isnt and they worked out there as well..the new shop will also have them and the hum sometimes is from a loose ballast but the light is great..thanks for the formula on light placement i think i got lucky and meet the requirements from just puttin them where i thught would work the best for me.
 
The other issue with the T-12s, is that they are supposed to be dissappearing soon. Kind of like the old R-12 refrigerant, except not an ozone issue with the bulbs, unless their ineffeciency causes more coal or oil fired generator emmissions. This does not apply to the HO T-12, just the old regular style. The HO units I think achieve this because they use electronic ballasts, like the T-8s. Jim.
 
The only problem I have with t-8's is that the ballasts don't last. In my branch store, t-8's were used when this store was built. That was 7 years ago and I have replaced almost every ballast in the work room area. The ballasts started going bad after 4 years of use.


I really hate to hear that. Mine are only about a year old so have not run into any problems. I wonder if you could have run into a bad batch or something. I cannot see any reason why there would be a difference in longivity between the T12 ballast and the T8 ballast but then again I am far from being an expert in electonics.
 
T8, T11, T12? :huh: Affected by temp.? :huh:
I just get wats on sale at Wal-Mart. They work. Wassa big deal? :dunno:
Sumptin' new I gotta remember now. Too much for an old timer. I'm going back to candles. ;)
 
I have incandescents in my shop and prefer them actually. For some reason the way the light passes through the air with florescent lights, it makes spinning things appeared stopped. Of course its no big deal unless you THINK the radial Arm Saw blade is stopped when its still spinning. With incandescents you don't get that. Just the lighting I prefer anyway...
 
Travis, that is a drawback. It is a strobe effect. Because of that, I put some incandescent spot lights that shine toward the spinny part of all of my tools. Some are recessd cans, some are swivel cans on the surface. I have each pair on a wall switch. But honestly, with the T-8s I've not had that flicker problem. The moving blades all appear to be moving at the right times,:) so i've only used the spots one time. Jim.
 
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