Shop Lighting

[jacurl]

I was wondering what people are using for shop lighting. I live in north central TN, and have an in ground garage. I am trying to figure out what type of lighting to install. I keep trying to decide between halogen or fluorescent. I tried a halogen workshop light and it seems to be to yellow, however it does get somewhat cold here so I was concerned about fluorescent flickering in the winter. I have not natural light in the garage, so I have to install it. Any ideas or suggestions are appreciated.

 

[cbonner]

Don't go flourescent unless you have a heated garage! I live in the upper part of Southern CA, and it does not even come close to what other people would consider cold (about 20 degrees in the morning and warming into the 60's mid-day). Anyhow, come winter time, when I go play in the garage in the morning or later evening, my flourescents are a hummin' and a flickerin' like there is no tomorrow. I have heard there are electronic ballasts that take care of the issue, but those are a bit on the pricey side. - Craig

 

[bnoles]

Joe,

Hallogen produces too much heat in the summer as well as the yellow effect mentioned. I am down below you here in GA and we get pretty cold as well, but I used florescent fixtures with "Daylight" type tubes. The warm up pretty good in about 5 minutes and produce no noticible flicker for me. I have been pretty happy with this set up for over 2 years now. I also have a few magnet and clip on goose neck fixtures with 60 watt regular bulbs to assist in areas where I need the boost.

Hope this helps.

 

[DocStram]

What Bob said. (and I'm below him in Macon, GA)

 

[Chuck B]

I bought 2 flourescent light fixtures with 2 bulbs in each one they are the T12 ones I beleive.for my Basement shop I have never had a flicking with them they are made for cold temps. I got them at HD for $30 each. You can get them with a plug or hard wire them to a switch.

 

[keithz]

Try Xenon bulbs for some white light. I just changed to it from incandecent and really like it.

keithz

 

[Trapshooter]

I live in Northwest Ohio, I use the screw in flourecent (I'll call the bulbs FL cause I don't like to spell it out) light bulbs on the ceiling and I have dedicated lights at my drill press and lathe. You can get daylight looking FL bulbs that are not yellow. I also have a light post outside that has FL bulbs, no flickering. I do not use the long tube FL bulbs, cheap ones will flicker.

 

[woodwish]

When I built my new shop I installed all FL lighting but used the new ones with the skinny tubes (T12?) and electronic ballasts. They are not really that expensive unless you are comparing them to the those cheap $9 shoplights that barely work anyway. Even though my shop does get that cold I have had no flicker like I do in my garage where I have to older style FL lights. I have a 24" ide shelf that goes all around the shop abot 7' from the floor and a 10' ceiiing. I have most of my lights on the ceiling but I do have a 2 tube-4' fixture right above the lathe with two small halogen spots on both ends of it. Never can have too much light. Biggest advantage of FL over Hal is operating costs, and the elec. FL's are even cheaper to operate with more light than the older style.

 

[dbriski]

I have both the T12 and the T8 FL blubs. Definitly get the T8's, they are the newer skinnier ones. They are more expensive, (just a little bit) but they seem brighter (even though they are lower wattage) give a cleaner light, and light up instantly with no flicker. They are much better than the T12 (standard Ones)

 

[Rifleman1776]

Flourscents affected by cold? That's a new one. Flicker in cold? That's new too.
I use flourscents, most light for the dollar and even, almost shadow free. They only flicker when the bulb is almost burned out. Go with better fixtures and bulbs. The el cheapos are almost impossible to replace bulbs, I ended up discarding and buying better.

 

[tas2181]

If you are buying new flourescent fixtures make sure you buy the cold weather ones if you are in a cold climate.
They are a little more expensive but don't flicker below 40 degrees.

 

[alamocdc]

It certainly gets cool in my shop and I have three banks of FLs. No yellow and no flicker, and I'm using GE bulbs. But I try to have dedicated lights on my machines for added clarity.

 

[byounghusband]

My shop is in my 2-car garage in which I have only about 2/3 of one side. I have two double 8' FL (T12) for general light. I have a double 4' FL (T12) above but not directly over the lathe area. I bought three cheap home depot light hoods (look like funnels) and GE Day light bulbs for a photo booth that didn't work. (got a 500W halogen for that) They have spring clamps on them. This past saturday, I clamped one of them on the tail stock of lathe and discovered turning under good light....[:0] It was a little different because it got in the way of finishing, but nice to see better. When I get around to building shelves and a tool rack on teh wall above the lathe, I will have one or two of these permenantly mounted over the lathe.