# Best lighting for my workshop



## richard2345

Hello,

I'm about to install overhead lighting in my workshop, and was wondering if anyone had any recommendations on lighting hardware. The shop is an enclosed brick building, about 8-feet by 14-feet with 9-foot ceilings. There is a large picture window on one side of the building, but the building is in the shadow of my house so the natural lighting is not great.

At this point, I'm not sure if I want LED or halogen lighting, but I probably want to avoid incandescent or fluorescent lights. The ceiling is also made out brick with two symmetrical barrel arches, so I'm probably going to put one hanging light on each side of the building.

So, what hardware should I get? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Would be interested in hearing what has worked for people.


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## crank49

Halogens, while a bit more efficient than standard incandescents, are still just incandescent lights with a bit of gas added to increase the brightness. They get hot, they use much power.

Why would you not want fluorescent lights? Oh, I know there is a tiny bit of mercury in there, but way less than the amount released by burning coal for electricity to run an equivalent incandescent or halogen light. And some fluorescent lights are very efficient with very good light color. The T5 HO can be had with a color of 6000K; almost as good as sunlight.

LEDs are probably the future, and they are available right now, but at a high price. There are even LED bulbs mounted in tubes that can retrofit existing T5 fixtures with almost equal light, but use a little more power, and at $50 a tube, they bring new meaning to green energy.


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## GT350

I have 8 two tube T12 4' with standard ballast fluorescent lights in a 20×25 shop with 8' ceilings. They have been in there about 20 years and some of the bulbs are original. I use cool white bulbs and I really like the light color and level, I wouldn't change a thing. When I originally started putting the lights in I got high output fixtures and installed one and it gave me headaches so I sold it to a friend with high ceilings.
Mike


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## helluvawreck

I second the fluorescent lights. However, I certainly don't recommend the cheapest. The cheaper ones that I've seen are not very well made or engineered. BTW, welcome to Lumberjocks.

helluvawreck aka Charles
http://woodworkingexpo.wordpress.com


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## reedwood

crank is right on the "money".

I'll bet LEDs will be better and a 1/3 of the price in 3-5 years. Too expensive now and therefore, not green at all.

I have 2' x 4' fixtures that use 4 T12 bulbs in my woodshop. I pulled them out of the dumpster from an office demo. but, I hear they are phasing out the big T12 bulbs. 
The T5 fluorescent bulbs are pretty efficient and don't put out significant heat.

I installed some flush in a shop garage ceiling (see my project - a shelf made for memories) and would recommend adding more or getting a unit with 4 bulbs as 2 is not quite enough.

Lowes sells a cool looking shop unit made to look like stamped steel. Might work.

They also make clear tube covers for shatter protection, if they are exposed. You Will hit them with a long board eventually.

On second thought - Those arched brick openings and ceiling sound very cool….. maybe this room needs a more decorative fixture worthy of it's history?


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## mechanicalengineer

I agree with Crank49. T5 fluorescents are the way to go. The fixtures and bulbs are a little more than T12's, but give better light and are more reliable.


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## EPJartisan

The prices of LED bulbs are going down and down every year. I have been watching the technology for a decade now. There are several new inventions that are making the bulbs cheaper… CREE technology and cheap man made sapphires came out about 5 years ago. Since the price has gone down, and the producers now understand how to reach the market (via built in dimmer technology to work with modern households) There is also a company in canada that are using criss-crossing "V" shaped channels to direct super bright LEDs from the edges across huge panels for consistent light. The LED bulbs are now bright enough to light my whole kitchen… and depending on the product can be a nice warm white… 3000-6000k

Last autumn, I retro-fitted all the ceiling lights in my condo to LED.. they were halogens and supposed to last 5 years each burned out after only 1. The LEDs reduced our electric bill by a third.. an this last winter we actually turned on two radiators. We had no idea how much heat came off those halogen bulbs. AND not one LED has burned out yet… they are supposed to last 15 years… yes I paid much more than other bulbs.. but not much more than Halogen… and the savings already paid for them all.. 25 bulbs = $500… saving on electric since Sept = over $600.

I now see Halogens as very yellow and I never noticed how much they change the color of other things. Currently, my studio is a 1/4 incandescent (ceiling lights), 1/4 fluorescent (hanging workbench lights), and a 1/4 LED (gallery lighting) and 1/4 halogens (which I will replace shortly. In my fluorescent lights, I use a combination of bright white and a natural.


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## laanguiano

T8 all the way to the bank


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## Marty5965

I use the hanging "shop" lights from the Borg with Daylight T8s and they seem to work just fine. At $20 each you can add as many as you want to end up with shadowless workspaces everywhere. Of course, you will probably need to turn some off when finishing if you can't see your raking light.


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## crank49

I agree the T-8s are the least expensive choice right now. 
I think the T-5s are giving better light color and longer life, especially when switched on and off frequently.
Then the LEDs are longest life, and most expensive; short term.
Yes, I think that about sums it up.


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## kdc68

*+1 Crank49*...

"I agree the T-8s are the least expensive choice right now. 
I think the T-5s are giving better light color and longer life, especially when switched on and off frequently.
Then the LEDs are longest life, and most expensive; short term.
Yes, I think that about sums it up."

I might add this…. more lighting the better. When you get older, you need more light….


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## richard2345

Thanks for all of the feedback! It appears Fluorescent lighting is the most common currently. Does anyone know where a good place to purchase the fluorescent and LED bulbs and hardware (fixtures)? Is there a good online store, or is this something typically purchased at the local electrical store? I'm going to buy the hardware and bulbs and the electrician will purchase the wires, switches, junction boxes, etc.


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## richard2345

Thanks again for the feedback.

EP - Do you happen to have any images of your shop lighting on LumberJocks? Your setup sounds interesting.

Reedwood - Yes, we had the arched ceiling restored to its original condition. The building had completely fallen down when we moved in 3 years ago, and we spend a lot of effort rebuilding it to its previous specs. So I would be interested in choosing a light that fits aesthetically. Any suggestions? I was thinking perhaps two hanging lights with bowl shaped reflectors, but I may have to get creating so they put out as much light as fluorescent tube lighting.

Any tips on where to find good lighting hardware would be appreciated. I'm not 100% keen on going to the salvage yard, because when I do that I usually buy really cool stuff that ends up sitting around for a year because of how much work is required to refinish or retrofit the material for my use! We're restoring the whole house, so unfortunately my workshop doesn't always get as much attention as I would like.

Great suggestions by all here. Thank you!


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## Tedstor

IMO, quantity beats quality when it comes to lighting. Or at the very least, quantity can overcome quality in most cases. 
I have two flourescent fixtures that each hold four 36"(?) bulbs. I only have about a 10X10 area to illuminate. I'm pretty sure I'm getting a good dose of UV every time I enter my shop. But there are virtually no shadows and the visability is great.

I'm actually moving to a new house next month and will have to set-up a new shop in the garage. I'll probably stick with the 36" flourescent fixtures for general shop space. But I have a cheap track lighting set-up that I'll likely hang over my bench.


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## BillWhite

I have 8 2 tube T8 flours on the ceiling (15' x 20'), and task lights for some of the tools. 3 years and I've changed 1 tube.
No buzz, flicker, etc.
Note about the task lights:
I started using "oven" light bulbs for drill press, lathe, and grinder. They can handle the vibration better than standard incandescents.

Bill


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## mbs

I put 8 skylights in my shop and during the day I can get away without using lights if I'm not doing fine work. Here's a pic of what the natural light looks like. These are 2' x 4' skylights. the ceiling is 10' high and it is finished with drywall. I also think Crank has the best lighting recommendation.










I know you don't have the option I'm recommending but for other readers who are building or retrofitting their shop they may get value in this recommendation.


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## woodworkerforchrist

I dont know much but when I had my 2 car garage shop a few years back, I put regular 60 watt bulbs and flourecent both. I had 10 of each and alterated them. I heard that flourecents can sometimes make a spinning blade seem like its not; and they take a bit to brighten up in the cold; but I still like them. So I had the regular bulbs in between to help. They were on seperate switches so I could have either or both on. It worked great!! I miss my shop. Someday I 'll maybe have a new one. Just my 2 cents.


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## RonInOhio

Lighting for a shop is not as straight-forward as it may seem. Lots of different bulbs and characteristics of lighting you can research. T12's are not as efficient as T8's generally speaking.

Color temperture as well as lumens determine intensity and glare. The higher K bulbs produce less glare (softer lighting) and less shadowing.

I would not want halogens in my shop. Not for overhead lighting anyway. Perhaps task lighting.

My understanding, that a flourescent bulb can cause a spinning blade to appear stationary, is a myth.


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## EPJartisan

Here are some bad photo's of my studio lighting. Fluorescent tubes… 4 hanging on a tight cable so I can slide them to focus light and the rest are on either gate hinges or lazy susan bearings. The ceiling light is a 300 watt bulb.. I have to find a replacement for yet. Otherwise the rest are CFL bulbs (i think I forgot to list those)




























The swiveling lights I have a protective cover, because they git hit all the time.









one bright white and one natural light creates an even light color.









My gallery is small and the lights are nt on often, but with Halogens I would blow fuzes all the time, so I have more than half switched to LED bulbs so far… branches are hung from the ceiling.



















Plus I have very large windows.. on both sides of the studio. It's mid-day, in an hour or so the windows will shine really bright with the sun.


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## AlaskaGuy

Last year I put 16, T-5 fixtures in my shop. No complaints.


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## SCOTSMAN

I have alot of lighting mostly fluorescents and some low voltage halogen and I would reccomend the strip lighhting as it is very good to use and cheaper than most other methods .I can only say I have a great well lit shop and am very pleased with it.Don't skip on lighting it is foolish to do so.A well lit shop makes a lot of difference at the end of the day.Spens now like clamps it's abig outlay at first but then they last a long time. apoart from tubes bulbs etc Have lighted fun. Alistair


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## Grandpa

I built my shop and arranged my tools then went to a commercial supply place in our city. The guy talked to me and we shot down all kinds of recommendations from each other. He said "our supplier has a man that makes a living recommending things like this so let me fax this to them and see what he says. He came back to us in a few days and said that he thought I should have cold weather flourescent bulbs in standard fixtures. I needed 7 of them in my 30' x 40' shop. The cold weather bulbs are very expensive. At least I thought they were expensive. The fixures with bulbs were going to be about $110 each and that was in 2000. I shopped around and found some used fixtures with 13 cases of bulbs for $25 so you know what I have. BTW I didn't mention that these were 8 ft bulbs with 2 per fixture same as recommended by the pro. I had older fixtures and ballasts and bulbs. This is what the pro recommended. Halogen lights like I thought I wanted in the begining take many feet for the light to flare out and light a large area. I went into the shop in my company's manufacturing center. They had NICE halogen lights. The man explained that those lights were 35 feet from the floor so they had room to spread the light. I went back and I believe this man is correct. I vote for the flourescent lights. There are more effecient lights out there than I have so I would shop a bit and pick the right fixtures for today and consider where you will be getting bulbs and parts. 
Also remember that a 50 year old person requires 50% more light to see as well as he did when he was 40 years old. A 60 year old person needs 100% more light to see as well as he did when he was 40 years old. Get plenty of light and use several switches and more than one circuit. Never know when something will trip a breaker.


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## reedwood

Hey Eric!

I love that tree light fixture! Cool idea for a very cool shop with tall ceilings.

But - that guy up in the corner needs some proper work clothes! Where's his work boots? Safety first! Ha!

On a serious note. I'll bet that 300 watt bulb puts out some heat…. definitely in need of your inspiration.

Good to see you again.


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