Lighting?

Van185

New member
I'm looking for lighting suggestions for a small detail shop. The building will be a metal building 20X26. I was looking for fluorescent lights either two or four bulbs and trying to decide between day light bulbs or white high output lights. Any suggestions? I want to make sure that I have enough light.
 
Are you looking for adequate lighting to for general purpose detailing or more for paint correction?

From my limited understanding (there are several people on here that will hopefully chime in) if you are going for the ultimate in lighting you want MH (metal halide). If you are going to stick with fluorescent, then T5 is going to be your best bet.
 
I would have a electrical contractor look at your system to see if your box/breakers can handled the load you might need for your shop. From there you can add the necessary lighting for your shop.
 
If what you're after is general purpose task lighting, you have a couple of options. While T5 will give you the highest usable light output per lamp and be the most energy efficient, they are still on the expensive side and aren't always readily available in terms of fixtures and replacement lamps.

For the best "bang for your buck" balance between energy efficiency, availability, and price what you'll want to go with are T8 fluorescents. If as I suspect this is new construction, or if you're doing an extensive remodel to an existing structure I would suggest consulting a lighting contractor before you start the project -- they will have access to a much wider variety of fixtures than the local Home Depot or Lowe's and can come up with something specific to your project that will work best for you. If you're on a budget or in a hurry, though, the stuff you can pick up at big box stores will work great for you (all of my own shop lighting came from Home Depot).

More important even than the fixtures though are the lamps themselves -- what you want is something in the "natural light" spectrum (5000-6500K) with a high CRI (color rendering index). The closer you can get to normal sunlight and accurate color rendering, the better it will be to work under and it will show you the true condition of what you're working on.

For correction work you definitely want a mix of light sources since different defects show up better under different conditions. Part of what will determine that is the ceiling height you have to work with. Some types of lighting like MH typically work best in "high bay" situations where the lighting is mounted far overhead and away from the work surface -- it would be too intense to be useful if mounted too close anyway.
 
If what you're after is general purpose task lighting, you have a couple of options. While T5 will give you the highest usable light output per lamp and be the most energy efficient, they are still on the expensive side and aren't always readily available in terms of fixtures and replacement lamps.

For the best "bang for your buck" balance between energy efficiency, availability, and price what you'll want to go with are T8 fluorescents. If as I suspect this is new construction, or if you're doing an extensive remodel to an existing structure I would suggest consulting a lighting contractor before you start the project -- they will have access to a much wider variety of fixtures than the local Home Depot or Lowe's and can come up with something specific to your project that will work best for you. If you're on a budget or in a hurry, though, the stuff you can pick up at big box stores will work great for you (all of my own shop lighting came from Home Depot).

More important even than the fixtures though are the lamps themselves -- what you want is something in the "natural light" spectrum (5000-6500K) with a high CRI (color rendering index). The closer you can get to normal sunlight and accurate color rendering, the better it will be to work under and it will show you the true condition of what you're working on.

For correction work you definitely want a mix of light sources since different defects show up better under different conditions. Part of what will determine that is the ceiling height you have to work with. Some types of lighting like MH typically work best in "high bay" situations where the lighting is mounted far overhead and away from the work surface -- it would be too intense to be useful if mounted too close anyway.

Great post Mr. Hann, thanks for sharing.
 
MY building is new construction with a pitch type ceiling. I'm mostly going to be doing detailing work with some correction with swirl removers only. No paint touch up or anything like that. Just detailing with the PC and FLEX. As for the light fixtures I am on a budget starting out. I got a price from a contractor and it was over $1000 for lights and I just can't afford that much with the building and all that goes along with it. I was just trying to get started and wanted to do it the best way possible with advice from those of you that know what I need. Thanks for all the help so far.
 
MY building is new construction with a pitch type ceiling. I'm mostly going to be doing detailing work with some correction with swirl removers only. No paint touch up or anything like that. Just detailing with the PC and FLEX. As for the light fixtures I am on a budget starting out. I got a price from a contractor and it was over $1000 for lights and I just can't afford that much with the building and all that goes along with it. I was just trying to get started and wanted to do it the best way possible with advice from those of you that know what I need. Thanks for all the help so far.

Mind sharing what he included in that quote?

To be honest $1000 doesn't sound particularly out of line for a shop that size (essentially a 2-car garage); I had about $400 in my single bay when all was said and done, and that was with re-using several existing fixtures and just retrofitting ballasts to save some money.

You can probably get away with installing new lighting in phases as you get the cash to do it, just make sure you plan ahead when it comes to running wires/conduit/etc. and laying out where your fixtures will go. Good perimeter coverage as well as overhead lighting are key.

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