Lighting Upgrade

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Rktpwrd

Builder of Cool Shjt
Supporting Member
Feb 2, 2015
4,152
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Calgary, Alberta, Canada
As the title states, lighting upgrade. Only this is to the lighting in my shop, not to our cars. Sorry guys!

At the request of a member on my build thread, I figured I had enough info to create a new thread, so here it is.

After many years of beg, borrowing and calling in favours to use anything even resembling a garage for my automotive obsessions, I knew exactly how I wanted to lay mine out come the day I could actually have a garage of my own.

First off, I knew I wanted a bright, clean, well lit and well organized shop. Lighting would be key. My shop is a 24'x24' detached garage behind my house. When I originally laid out the lighting, I installed and wired up the lights in two banks on two switches.

The front bank has 9 overhead fluorescent fixtures, the rear bank has 6 (just simply due to obstacles like overhead door brackets, garage door opener etc).

Originally, all the fixtures were 4' T12 dual bulb units. They were budget friendly at the time, and offered good clean lighting for what they were.

IMG_2081.JPG


At 10+ years on, the ballasts were weaker, the lights got dimmer, and with more car posters etc on the wall, there was less white paint to reflect back all contributing to making it darker.

After finally getting annoyed by a couple burnt out ballasts and having to use a flashlight just to see in the damn bolt bin, I figured it was time to do the lighting upgrade I'd been considering for some time now.

This time, I figured I could easily double my light output without adding any more wiring or junction boxes, and no crawling around in the attic just by replacing the two bulb units with four bulb ones.

In case anyone's not aware, T12 style lights are slowly being phased out, T8 and LED's are the new standard. At $15 a bulb, LED's are currently out of my budget, but the new fixtures will accept them, so that may possibly be another upgrade at some point in the future.

Rather than replace all the fixtures with the exact same ones throughout the shop, the rear bank got 8' T8 4 bulb fixtures in an "end to end" configuration...

IMG_2086.JPG


...and the front bank is getting 4' T8 four bulb units. The bulbs on the front bank lights are the "side by side" style, rather than "end to end" like the rear bank, simply because I already have 3 more lights on the front bank.

Here's one of the new lights in the foreground with one of the old two bulb units in the background:

IMG_2083.JPG


The new fixtures have electronic "instant on" ballasts, rather than the old magnetic style. Quicker on, and no more annoying buzzing.
:)

So far, I've replaced 10 of the 15 lights I have in the shop, and I can tell you, the difference already is remarkable! No more dark corners, no more shadows, and much needed light over my work benches and band saw.

I still have the last five 4' two bulb units to replace, but at $100 per light plus bulbs, that'll be on an "as I can afford it" basis.

The only downside that I've come across so far is that now I can actually see the dust bunnies accumulating in the corners, and I'm temporarily light blind when I step outside into the dark at night!
Oh well, I'll cope...
:D

Here's a couple more pics, enjoy.

IMG_2084.JPG


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IMG_2088.JPG


IMG_2087.JPG
 
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pontiacgp

blank
Mar 31, 2006
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don't advertise all those lights too much, they'll force you to buy carbon credits....:D
 
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85442/86buick

G-Body Guru
Feb 12, 2013
746
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Perth Country , Ontario
Thank You for sharing this, gives me a few idea's for my own lighting upgrade. Which is long overdue.

On a side note at work ,we are upgrading to LED 's in both the plant & office area's. A night & day improvement , with the upside of lower hydro cost and a long bulb life.
In Ontario ,Hydro costs are dramatically increasing , never to go back down. Just another tax on the working man.
 
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axisg

Comic Book Super Hero
Jul 17, 2007
2,685
2,354
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YYZ
always good when you get better lighting for a reduced monthly cost. Check online and if you have an electrician friend for rebates.

Years back there was a $200 or so household rebate that they were handing out flyers for at Home Depot. It provided a link that you could apply for a credit online. I mailed in my receipt for the new florescent bulbs I purchased and got a chq back in the mail.
My warehouse was also covered under some programme last summer. Ontario Govt was rebating up to $2000 to upgrade commercial lighting and the local electrical company jumped on board. They were given a budget of $1500 in supplies and $500 in labour which got my old T8 and T4 lights / ballasts upgraded to the newer high efficiency lighting in both the warehouse and office. Unfortunately I had just spent $350 on 2 new high efficiency fixtures for the warehouse which were not able to be covered. I had to fill out a form and they electrical company had to hand in all the old tubes and ballasts to collect their funds making it a win-win-win. Didn't cost me a dime ( although I am sure my income tax somehow pays for it )
 
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Kiko

Master Mechanic
Apr 14, 2009
296
336
63
Ottawa, Canada
Donovan,

With your extensive ;) lighting experience, what type of "color temperature" did you choose for your tubes? Also, what's the wattage of each tube?

I usually prefer "daylight" lighting in a shop. Also, I've noticed that fluorescent tubes tend to provide more light (i.e., omnidirectional) vs LED lighting (which is more directional). In my opinion, fluorescent is still the way to go in a garage since it'll bounce more light and provide a more "even" lighting environment. Any thoughts...
 
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Rktpwrd

Builder of Cool Shjt
Supporting Member
Feb 2, 2015
4,152
23,828
113
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Donovan,

With your extensive ;) lighting experience, what type of "color temperature" did you choose for your tubes? Also, what's the wattage of each tube?

I usually prefer "daylight" lighting in a shop. Also, I've noticed that fluorescent tubes tend to provide more light (i.e., omnidirectional) vs LED lighting (which is more directional). In my opinion, fluorescent is still the way to go in a garage since it'll bounce more light and provide a more "even" lighting environment. Any thoughts...

I wouldn't exactly call my lighting experience "extensive"...
:rofl:

I had "cool white" bulbs in the old lights previously and really liked the color, so that's what I went with this time again. They're 4100K and 34 watt versus the 40 watt T12's that came out.
I know some guys that swear by the "daylight" color, but TBH, I've never really been a fan. To each their own I guess.

You bring up a very good point about the directional tendencies of the LED bulbs.
I haven't had a lot of experience with them up to this point, but come to think of it, you're right, the LED bulbs do tend to be more directional than conventional fluorescents. Maybe changing them over to LED in the future wouldn't necessarily be an upgrade given it's intended use. Thanks for that!
 

Kiko

Master Mechanic
Apr 14, 2009
296
336
63
Ottawa, Canada
That's why I put that little "wink" because it's so funny when we all become "experts" in some field because we write about it. However, you are the "expert" in car restorations -- that, I'm sure of! :D

As for LED lighting, I have two handheld worklights -- one is fluorescent, the other LED. Even though the LED is brighter (and produces "cooler" light), the fluorescent is better when I work under the car IMHO. As for reducing the electrical bill by switching to LEDs -- I'm not convinced. Sure, when powered by batteries you can see the difference -- those batteries run forever. But when powered by AC, I'm not sure -- there's a heat sink in there for some reason :confused: and it's not for decoration...

Anyway, thanks for providing the tech info on those tubes!
 
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Rktpwrd

Builder of Cool Shjt
Supporting Member
Feb 2, 2015
4,152
23,828
113
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
That's why I put that little "wink" because it's so funny when we all become "experts" in some field because we write about it. However, you are the "expert" in car restorations -- that, I'm sure of! :D

As for LED lighting, I have two handheld worklights -- one is fluorescent, the other LED. Even though the LED is brighter (and produces "cooler" light), the fluorescent is better when I work under the car IMHO. As for reducing the electrical bill by switching to LEDs -- I'm not convinced. Sure, when powered by batteries you can see the difference -- those batteries run forever. But when powered by AC, I'm not sure -- there's a heat sink in there for some reason :confused: and it's not for decoration...

Anyway, thanks for providing the tech info on those tubes!

Anytime!
Thanks for taking an interest, and asking the "tough" questions!
;)
 

Texas82GP

Just-a-worm
Apr 3, 2015
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Or sunglasses? :p
 
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