I can see again!

[TomG]

Today's project was upgrading the horrific lighting in my shop. The old T12 fluorescent fixtures have slowly gotten dimmer over the years as my eyesight has gotten poorer to the point where it felt like I was working in a cave.

After a bit of research, I decided that switching to the newer T8 style bulb was the most logical option. The old 40 watt T12 bulbs used more energy but produced less light than the 32 watt T8's, especially with the aging ballasts in the fixtures, plus the newer technology in the T8's make colors more vivid in the light. The old T12 bulbs I was using had a color rendering index of 62, but the new T8's have a CRI of 82. A CRI of 80 or above makes the colors really pop. I also went to a bulb with a slightly higher color temperature of 5000K vs. the 4100K bulbs I was using. 5k is close to the color temperature of sunlight at noon.

I decided to go with two bulb fixtures with wrap around lenses to evenly distribute the light and solid state instant start ballasts. They were $29 at the Depot and the bulbs were about $4 ea. The fixtures are Lithonia 4 foot, 2 lamp wraps, #987210 and the bulbs are Phillips F32T8/TL850 Alro II's.

The results were startling. I wish I had taken a before and after shot, but believe me, it is like night and day. I can't believe that I waited so long to do the upgrade. Now I need to clean the shop because the clutter is much more apparent.

Tom

[PixMan]

Looks great! I need to do that soon too, but fundzrlo so it may not get done before a certain friend arrives from down under.

[Hawkeye]

Good job, Tom. I always recommend 5000k to my customers, whether in TB or T5 fixtures. Our eyes are designed for daylight, so I can't understand why the lighting stores try to push their customers to staying with incandescent colours. It may  seem a bit stark at first, but you get used to the better vision really fast.

[Shawn]

That looks great, I have lamps all over the garage and even resort to reading glasses occasionally. The 3d foamy on the cabinet looks like fun, I built a plane this summer and crashed the crap out of it.

[awemawson]

Looks very good. Having a dark light absorbing ceiling doesn't help your situation - tacking some plasterboard up (dry lining US speak?) would make an enormous difference.

[Mayhem]

(09-22-2014, 12:47 AM)Shawn Wrote: ...The 3d foamy on the cabinet looks like fun, I built a plane this summer and crashed the crap out of it.

Now I understand why you are building the flight sim Shawn

Mike raises a good point. Even with the single batten fluro tubes the space in my shop that I am working on at the moment is so much brighter with a coat of whit paint on the walls.

Ken - I'm sure the visitor from down under could help you with your lighting upgrade...

[TomG]

Mike: I do like a warmer color in the evening for reading and winding down, but for work the colder color is much more efficient.

Shawn: I've built and flown a number of those foamies and they are a blast. They are made of 1/4" fanfold foam like that from the Depot and glued together with low temp hot melt glue. I can build one up in an evening. Let me know if you would like the plans.

Finishing the ceiling is on the to do list for this fall, both for insulation and lighting purposes. It's one of those things I've been meaning to do for years but never got around to.

Tom

[f350ca]

I need to follow suit and do the same Tom. Its interesting, I installed the same T12 fixtures in the cabinet shop and machine shop at the same time. I've replaced a case and a half of tubes in the machine shop but none in the cabinet shop. The cabinet shop is nice and bright but the lights downstairs are yellow looking, even after wiping off the tubes. Could the metal dust be shorting out the pins on the tube and weakening the ballast?

[Shawn]

I am a member at a foam builders site that has tons of free plans but me being me I had to build one from scratch this summer. It flew great just not in my hands.

[TomG]

That's possible Greg. I had several ballasts that failed and all were weak. The new solid state ballasts are much more efficient anyway so that a good excuse in itself to change them out. The T8 bulbs will fit the T12 fixtures, so you could just shotgun the ballasts and re-use the fixtures. I think solid state ballasts are about $15.

Tom