blueline wrote: Mon Nov 13, 2023 9:21 pm
To Tom's bad experience, I'll add that in general you get what you pay for. All else being equal, I'll willingly pay three times as much for something that offers superior performance and lasts five times longer. I have no use for the buy today and throw away later today product mentality. Gotta look closely at some of the items sold at big box stores.
High quality commercial grade lights are going to be superior in many ways, safety being maybe the most paramount, but as you've already pointed out, they will be considerably more expensive. However, they should be more dependable and give better, more even light.
Another thing that you might want to look into is the color temps of the whatever LED's you end up buying. 5000k in LED's is pretty bright and it's a bluish bright white that can be harsh. It seems brighter than regular 5000k Daylight florescent lamps. Some are ok with that but others don't care for it, me being one of them. I don't know about 8' strip lights, but there are some LED fixtures that are Kelvin temp adjustable. If not adjustable, you can still find fixed color temps at different levels from warm to cold.
That pdf is for the symmetric lights. I would get the shl lights because they are going to hang about 6 ft from the ceiling and I don’t care for the cave effect from lights that are directed completely downwards.
Any opinions on 4K vs 5k?
Color temps are subjective choices. Work spaces tend to be in the 5000k and higher for better visibilty but 4000k would be ok I think. If you want brightness, 5000 is good but I wouldn't go over that unless it's an industrial space.
There are a lot of examples online but the problem there is that you cannot tell exactly what it will be like until they are actually mounted in your space. Ideally, you'd be able to visit an enclosed space lit entirely with fixtures of one specific Kelvin temp with neutrally painted light walls and no outside natural lighting so that you could see if you liked the brightness and color temp. It would then be easy I think to decide whether you wanted to go up or down from whatever Kelvin those lights had.
The difference between say, 4000 and 5000 is obvious but still subtle. I think 5000 is good but 4000 would probably work fine too. Your wall color and ambient light from windows plays into everything too.
Big metal building. Dark as hell. I want to be bright like hades in there. I want it to be so bright I walk out with a tan.
Re: Shop lights
Posted: Tue Nov 14, 2023 8:40 am
by Tom
Mojonito wrote: Tue Nov 14, 2023 5:20 am
These seem to be the best I can I find.
That pdf is for the symmetric lights. I would get the shl lights because they are going to hang about 6 ft from the ceiling and I don’t care for the cave effect from lights that are directed completely downwards.
Any opinions on 4K vs 5k?
Those look better but the illustration in the instructions make me worry that this is a 2-piece design where the heavy LED part clips on under the electrical channel. If so, beware. I'm sure with care you can make them safe, but unless you install them yourself most electricians just push them together and assume they are fine. See video below to see how that works out.... I'll see if I can dig up what we originally spec'd and what we eventually installed instead.
From the instructions on that light you linked....
light diagram.jpg (240.13 KiB) Viewed 877 times
Why you don't want that....
Re: Shop lights
Posted: Tue Nov 14, 2023 8:50 am
by blueline
Mojonito, if the building is that dark and also metal, I'd keep it at 5000k minimum. 6500k might better suit your needs.
That video hurts my heart. I would love to know what works. I just want to be able to run 8ft because the space is so large I will likely run 8 or 12 lights
Re: Shop lights
Posted: Tue Nov 14, 2023 9:09 am
by Tom
This is what we eventually used. They come in various K values, and have a separate system to prevent anything from falling. We went with 4000k. The higher numbers felt too institutional for our faux-rustic garage, but would be right at home in a high ceiling metal garage. Best to get some samples and see what looks best in your particular space.
Going in here. Pics from before I bought the places. The inside is getting finished with lots of storage, work benches, and a big effin lift. The cars get parked in the attached garage.
Re: Shop lights
Posted: Tue Nov 14, 2023 11:05 am
by Tom
Mojonito wrote: Tue Nov 14, 2023 10:14 am
Going in here. Pics from before I bought the places. The inside is getting finished with lots of storage, work benches, and a big effin lift. The cars get parked in the attached garage.
Holy cow, what a fantastic space! The possibilities are endless. For lights, I can see why you are talking about hanging them. You might consider getting away from tube lights and going with high output UFO lights like these:
These type of lights put out 3 or 4 times the light of a typical LED shop light, so you can light more space with less overhead clutter, fewer points of failure, and more lumens per dollar. Just an idea.
I really wanted one of these fans in our garage but it just didn't work, so we did normal hvac. But for that garage....
Mojonito wrote: Tue Nov 14, 2023 10:14 am
Going in here. Pics from before I bought the places. The inside is getting finished with lots of storage, work benches, and a big effin lift. The cars get parked in the attached garage.
Holy cow, what a fantastic space! The possibilities are endless. For lights, I can see why you are talking about hanging them. You might consider getting away from tube lights and going with high output UFO lights like these:
These type of lights put out 3 or 4 times the light of a typical LED shop light, so you can light more space with less overhead clutter, fewer points of failure, and more lumens per dollar. Just an idea.
I really wanted one of these fans in our garage but it just didn't work, so we did normal hvac. But for that garage....
Those fans are awesome! I currently have a couple 5 ft rolling fans to move air but that fan is now on the wishlist. Thanks! I also think I found the lights. They’re made right here in Texas. I went from $400 on lights to $1500. Thanks guys.
I’m going to connect two and place them where each 8ft is currently so I will have 8 of these fixtures total. Each one puts out 18600 lumen so 148000 lumen total. I might need sun block!
Re: Shop lights
Posted: Tue Nov 14, 2023 3:09 pm
by blueline
Looking forward to pics when completed - inspection time!! Lol. Also, did I read it correctly that there's an additional garage structure?
Re: Shop lights
Posted: Tue Nov 14, 2023 3:37 pm
by Mojonito
Yes. Two actually. The barn is plumbed with electricity. Plans for that to be a finished man cave to put the really cool cars and motorcycles and then the attached three car garage.
