As soon as we have a roof, the electricians will come.
Questions:
What kind of lighting you use? Considerations, electricity is way overpriced in this Island, so led's are in my mind, also fluorescent lights, but I am afflicted by vertigo and some fluorescent units really get me dizzy, so perhaps a combo of LED's and in fluorescent lights.
I will have both 220 and 110 circuits, the floor is the concrete slab and so that kind of rules out receptacles in the floor, walls or ceiling?
I switched to LED lights 2 years ago. Wish I had done it 10 years ago. I love them. No flicker, no buzzing transformers, instant on even in the cold. Great color rendition. I knocked one off the ceiling twice, they are unbreakable apparently. And of course you save electricity. I put 2 circuits in for my lights. When I go out to shop to just get something or going to sit at the workbench and draw I turn on one circuit that only has 2 lights on it. When I'm working in there of course I turn them all on. They also appear much brighter than my older flourescents.
I built my shop in 2015 and I retrofitted old fluorescent fixtures I salvaged to LED. It actually took more time to clean and touch up paint the fixtures than it did to rewire. Choose LED bulbs that have color intensity greater equal to or greater than 5000; that should get you a good color perception. There are several youTube videos out there on the wiring. You can buy LED fixtures pretty reasonably online and at the big box stores but take care on the color intensity of the included bulbs if you want more true "daylight" like color.
I've just recently finished (sort of) my new shop. I'm on an island, too. The shop is roughly 26 x 32, the working area (26 x 18) has a 9' cieling with 6 cieling mount led strip lights, not the tube type. The turning area has a sloped cieling with two 2 x 4 skylights and 5 can lights with leds. There are also outlets in case I feel the need for drop lights. Good light for both areas.
I can't agree on the 5000k color temp. I've spent my working life in color controlled lighting and doing critical color matching for clients. 5000k looks like a cold fishbowl to me. I prefer the warmth of 3200 - 3500k. your color rendition will adapt, and its a much more comfortable environment - at least for me. Unless you're doing critical color matching across remote locations, 5000k lighting is overkill.
Take a look at this LED fixture, not suggesting you purchase them from main land but this is the fixture I will go with when I redo my shop. I'm suggesting this type for you main lighting. These are NOT bulb type, instead they have a strip of LED's.
If you do a search on Rockler you'll see some LED's with metal shroud around them, they make excellent lights for a workbench or over the lathe etc
I have 2 of the 2500 lumen one over my lathe and 3 on articulating arm over the workbench. Also of these 4400 lumen in another area on a swinging arm I made out of 1" x 3" pine that reaches off the wall. I swing it one way and it adds light to a counter top and swing in from there and move my router table under if when using it. Works great.
At present I have flourecents on the 9 foot ceiling but will change them to the LED fixtures some day.
For those of you with buzzing Flouresent fixtures more than likely you have higher wattage bulbs than the transformer is rated for. You can fix that with higher rated transformers or lower the bulb wattage you are using..
I built a similar shop within the past year. Shop is 18x25 (working area closer to 18x18) with 9ft ceilings. I put in 2x2 panel drop ceiling, and 2x2 flat panel LEDs 4000k color. 14 LED panels, I think 5000 lumens each if I recall. I found them on internet for about $70ea, although lumens may have gone up and prices down in the last year. Light is good, but I still have an incandescent spot light on my lathe.
The LED lighting has some pros and cons. The typical LED lights are made as cheaply as possible
and the quality of illumination from most of these luminaires is horrible. The exposed Light Emitting
Diode is very harsh on the naked eye compared to other light sources. A diffused lense is a good option
to soften the light source. Another option is indirect lighting which reflects the light source into the work
space without having a direct line of sight of the LED.
The LED lighting is an instant on light source not affected by cold temperatures in an outdoor shop. The
LED modules and power supplies can be negatively impacted by higher ambient temperatures in a shop
that is not air conditioned. Higher temperatures will kill the LED's and cause the power supplies to fail early.
In a conditioned work space you can get many years of service from the LED luminaires. Most of the LED luminaire models are obsolete within several years as the design and technology is rapidly changing from
year to year. Most manufacturers do not provide replacement parts for the LED modules, it is wise to purchase a couple of spare luminares for your future replacement needs, or you will be forced to purchase a different newer model to replace a failed installed luminaire.
The quality of power supply used in each fixture can also be a source of harmonics on your electrical system. Cheaper power supplies have poor harmonic ratings which can cause heating issues on neutral conductors, cause breakers to trip, and other related issues.
Jorge - I'm a little to the west from you - all the way over on the upper left hand corner of the country. We live on Lummi Island in Washington state. It's part of the San Juan Island archipelago a stones throw from the Canadian border.
I installed T5 fluorescent light fixtures with high output bulbs. They are incredibly bright (much brighter than T8 fixtures) even though I turn on just 1/2 of the bulbs at once unless I want more light. There is no detectable flicker or strobing and the color temperature is perfect for me.
I do have some LED fixtures in the shop and in the barn and they are fine. However, the jury is still out on how long they will last. Two of my LED lights have failed in four years. Heat is a problem - I now look for fixtures with good heat sinks, for example, LED strips bonded to a thick metal housing.
Another concern is if LEDs will keep their brightness over time. One company has already been sued by the government when lights they advertised as good for tens of thousands of hours lost a high percentage of their brightness after just a few years. Time will tell if the fixtures being installed now will still be working and useful in 10 or 20 years.
If the LEDs in a fixture fail the entire fixture may need to be replaced. If installing LED lighting in the shop I would either install receptacles in the ceiling and use plug-in fixtures or look for LED tubes intended to replace fluorescent bulbs.
BTW, I used a light meter to check some LED fixtures when new. If you write the numbers on the fixture it will be easy to monitor the brightness. It would be nice to know whether the eyes or the lights are dimming with age!
Thank you JKJ for my morning chuckle....My eyes don't get dimmer and my hearing's not going bad either!! The old 4 foot florescents in my shop were replaced with LED tubes from Costco. No need to mess with the wiring or anything, just pull the old tube and plug in the LED tube. They had the complete fixture, or just the bulbs on sale a while back and will probably do it again...wish I could remember the price. So far, so good. On a different note, am pleasantly and constantly amazed at the depth of knowledge of this group and their willingness to share...Thank you all.
The other major factor that most people do not take into consideration is the quality of the light.
When you stare directly into the sun your retina closes down because of the intensity of the light
source. When you install a direct line of sight light source your retina will adjust depending on intensity
of the light source. If you have lighter and darker work spaces exceeding 20% differential between the
light levels your retina will continue to adjust between these work areas each time you redirect your vision.
This can cause fatigue and headaches during the work day. The tendency is to purchase the fewest number
of luminaires to provide the level of lighting desired. This approach usually ends up with a poorly illuminated work space that has various light levels throughout the work space. Installing high levels of illumination (foot candles) can also be counterproductive. Depending on your age and the type of work task being preformed usually determines the foot candle level of illumination required in a work space.
As mentioned before in my prior post if you can utilize diffused lenses or indirect luminaires you will cut down on the glare coming off of the fixtures. The glare causes your retina to close down requiring higher
levels of illumination to see fine detail work. If your eyes retina is fully open you can read a newspaper using (1) foot candle of illumination. A low glare lighting system can allow your eyes retina to be fully
open and allow for lower levels of illumination and better work performance.
Using a larger number of smaller wattage fixtures in a work space is another approach that will usually provide a better quality lighting system. You could install (1) 50,000 watt luminaire in the center of your shop and light the entire area or you can install (50,000) 1 watt luminaires and have really nice lighting.
The solution is a number between 1 and 50,000, working every day in a poorly illuminated work space can
be counterproductive and lead to headaches and eye strain. Working in a quality illuminated work space will allow you to work longer and avoid headaches and eye strain and hopefully increase a persons creativity.
There are Apps that you can install on a smart phone that will measure foot candle levels in your work space. There are also a number of software programs that can also be used to assist in design layout and calculating illumination foot candle levels. Some of these programs can be accessed and used on the internet, or you can use basic formulas provided by the (IES) Illumination Engineering Society.
Painting your walls, ceilings and floors a lighter color is an additional way of improving the illumination in your work space. This will help disperse the light into your work space in different angles better utilizing the light before it gets absorbed by dark surfaces in the work space.
Both of your posts have been helpful to me. (Had a hard time resisting illuminating and enlightening)
I would like more information on the topic. But in the Reader's Digest version. I have tried to research it and get lost in the volumes of information.
There is much to know. Foot candles, lumens, and on and on.
Can you explain CRI? I read that newer better quality LEDs have a better/higher CRI. (Color Rendering Index) I noticed the ones from Rockler had a CRI of 80. I thought you wanted 90 or higher.
....made by Big Ass Solutions called a Haiku Garage Series. It's 13000 lumens in a very compact and well made fixture, and with my 12' ceiling the shop light level fills like daylight! They are pricy at $399 but well worth the money. I liked the light output so well that I bought another for the car bay.
For the average shop installation a 70 or 80 CRI lamp will suffice. The 80 and 90 CRI lamps
are usually used in retail applications and show rooms where you want the colors to reflect
closer to what might show under natural light. The old style fluorescent lamps tended to illuminate
the surfaces under the luminaire in a poor manor. You have the Kelvin color of the lamp and then you have
the color rendering index for these lamps. 735, 740, 745 these lamp colors would have the same CRI index but the colors would be 3500, 4000 and 4500 Kelvin in temperature color.
When you stare directly into the sun your retina closes down...
your retina will adjust...
your retina will continue to adjust between these work areas...
The glare causes your retina to close down requiring...
If your eyes retina is fully open you can ...
mikeee12345,
I suspect you meant to say when the pupil closes down (becomes smaller in diameter to reduce the level of light focused on the retina), or when the iris causes the pupil to adjust. Or perhaps I don't understand enough about the retina. However, I do understand that people who stare directly into the sun can suffer irreversible solar retinopathy which I suppose could be described as a permanent "closing down" of the affected retinal cells.
I find glare from light fixtures is not a significant issue when the fixtures are mounted high enough.
I don't remember if it was discussed in this thread, but when the light is brighter the pupil closes to a smaller diameter, the depth of field in the eye's camera increases and it becomes easier to focus on things near and far - eye strain from focusing decreases as the eye moves to different things. There is apparently an upper useful limit to brightness but I don't know what it is.
My shop T5 fixtures are supposedly 20,000 lumens each when all four bulbs are on giving 140,000 lumans max in the woodworking area. I usually use just half the bulbs for 70,000 lumens total when I turn on all three zones, or as low as 20,000 lumens with the two fixtures in the woodturning alcove zone. 70,000 lumens is a wonderfully comfortable general light level for me. The lumen numbers, of course, can wildly distort the story. I should get out my light meter and put some more useful lux numbers on the subject.
Also, as mentioned, diffuse lighting is absolutely not my friend when looking for scratches or other surface defects in wood or when evaluating compound curves on the lathe. I'm convinced that some of the lower quality work I've seen was due to lighting issues. Something to keep in mind. I supplement ambient illumination with task lighting fixtures.
The movie and photography have encountered problems while using LED lighting to accurately
reflect color rendering on various projects. For unexplained reasons the CRI and color of the LED
source does not replicate the same performance as other lamp sources have over the years.
Depending on the application and the person, the quality and quantity of light needed will vary.
General lighting in a work shop compared to lighting in a photography studio will be different.
Wood Turners might fall somewhere in between both of those worlds, color rendering could
be critical if you are trying to provide a specific color. Your finishing room may require better
quality lighting to provide a higher level of color rendering.
I have a question for everyone.....When I view the color of a red apple through my eyes that convert
the reflected image into electrical impulses which then send these impulses to my brain which converts those impulses to a visual image in my brain, do I see the same color that someone else is seeing with
their eyes and their brain?
Viewing an object under your shop lighting will be very different compared to looking at the same object
....in CRI values from light source to light source, but the same is true for person to person visual color differences. I have been blessed with excellent color vision, a real asset for a photographer who was also a lab color printer for many years. Human visual color acuity is an amazing process, and you can't appreciate our ability to adapt to light intensity and color values until you have been associated with someone who doesn't have such full visual abilities.
