Ceiling Lights

[brandon]

Hey all, I know this is probably very broad with many options just curious if you could put in new lighting in your production area what type and brand would you go with and a 2nd choice as well maybe. Thank you!

[mk162]

Depends on the ceiling height.  We have 12ish ft ceilings, and we went LED tube retrofits for our 8ft fluoro fixtures.  We've had them since 2012, so they have paid for themselves several times over.

If you go this route I would wire around the ballast.  Those things get hot and suck electricity.  I've never understood why people would install lights and run them off a ballast.

I know Brandt put some new lights in...he may have some good insight.

[Doug S]

Depends on the ceiling height.  We have 12ish ft ceilings, and we went LED tube retrofits for our 8ft fluoro fixtures.  We've had them since 2012, so they have paid for themselves several times over.

If you go this route I would wire around the ballast.  Those things get hot and suck electricity.  I've never understood why people would install lights and run them off a ballast.

I know Brandt put some new lights in...he may have some good insight.

We did the same thing about 5 years ago.  I haven't had one go out yet and I don't miss the buzzing of the ballast. 

[mk162]

We've had one or two fail.  We bought them so early on it was bound to happen.

The Hyperikon brand are so far the best.

[1964GN]

We replaced the metal halide with LED and they are fantastic. We have 18' ceilings. Don't know the brand.

[blue moon]

like Brad, we replaced few years back with cheap LEDs from Ebay. 4' ones work well, but have changed color over time. We rewired the other half of the space 2 years later and there was a significant shift in color. Not big enough to warrant replacing the bulbs, but enough to bug me.
Pantone book calls for 5000K lights. Get a sample bulb and test it with the Pantone book that has the light checker in the back. This way you'll know it's the right color.

The 8' bulbs we got don't last. almost all were bad after few years. I would convert to 4' if you can.

pierre

[mk162]

like Brad, we replaced few years back with cheap LEDs from Ebay. 4' ones work well, but have changed color over time. We rewired the other half of the space 2 years later and there was a significant shift in color. Not big enough to warrant replacing the bulbs, but enough to bug me.
Pantone book calls for 5000K lights. Get a sample bulb and test it with the Pantone book that has the light checker in the back. This way you'll know it's the right color.

The 8' bulbs we got don't last. almost all were bad after few years. I would convert to 4' if you can.

pierre

We have the opposite problem, the 4ft bulbs we got were trash.  I have so many 1/2 burned out bulbs it's crazy.  In most cases it's a soldered contact that comes loose...an easy fix.

Our 8 foot hyperikons have been really good so far.

[whitewater]

We went LED too - high ceilings. Our power company paid half as an incentive .

[bimmridder]

I'd suggest Econo-Light as a source

[inkman996]

Do like we did and sign up for a government subsidy program, we had our entire place retrofitted with LED's, they even do the install. Been about 5 years now, no humming, no flickering nothing.

[Sbrem]

Our warehouse space has LED tubes, as do our offices. They were already here when we moved in 3 years ago, none have burned out. I don't know what they are though...

Steve

[Lizard]

We have all T5 fixtures. Most are 8 years old with no issues. We recently added about 12 units and considered the LED’s but we have had such good luck with the T5’s we stuck with them.

[GraphicDisorder]

We went with all LED high bay lights back in 2013, super expensive then. Added some after we expanded into our other space. Pretty bright down there.

[Du Manchu]

In our previous shoebox of a shop, it was impossible to get a sizzor-lift inside and around to upgrade the lights.  So we ran some 8’  LED tube-lights on wires  across the room and over the press.  It works great and probably costs $250.  However, it doesn’t come without some worries of mishaps.  It may work for someone out there. 

[ericheartsu]

our electrician built us a grid above our round press, and we put in some high vis lights over the oval. it makes the shop really well lit. makes a big difference.