Re: [RE-wrenches] Wood shop lighting

[Dean T. Newberry]

Hello Todd, We have been researching LED lighting for several years, and the best outfit we've found is at: http://www.ledlightsinc.com/   near Sacramento CA. The data sheet for the 48" T8 replacement is: http://www.ledlightsinc.com/pdfs/4'_20watt_BiPin_HO_LEDemail.pdf Note it runs on 12VDC, so if you're wiring is sized right you could save the power supply cost and run it straight off the batteries. Probably you could put 4 in series to get 48 VDC too, but I haven't tried it. The output is 2900 lumens whereas the generic flourescent T8 is 2500 lumens. I put a pair into the 4 bulb fixture in our kitchen with flourescent on the outside and the LED's on the inside and the LED's seem visibly brighter, as shown here. These LED 48" T8's put out about 60% more light per watt than the fluorescent T8, or use about 60% fewer watts for the same light output. You could replace 8 fluorescents with 7 LEDs for the nearly the same light. And that's not all, the LED's are good for 50K hours whereas the fluorescents are good for ~10K, and need a ballast every two or three lamp changes. The LEDs cost much more, but are about the same cost for 50K hours. The energy savings are doubled for an air conditioned building, and the labor savings are significant too. Wal Mart is using the 5' version of these in their freezer and refrigeration cases to save energy. I have found several other manufacturer / importers for the T8 lamp, none have the output that these do.  Check out the California Lighting Center at UC Davis: http://cltc.ucdavis.edu/  for other LED solutions. Happy tidings,  Dean Newberry Todd Cory wrote: Another efficiency option is to wire the 4 tube fixtures with two sets of two lamps that are independently switchable. Or you could get really fancy and have three lighting levels by switching one lamp on, three lamps on or all four in each fixture. That way there are options for various lighting levels depending on the needs. Todd Travis Creswell wrote: Continuous rows of four 4’ lamp T-8 fixtures (8’ long) on 8’-12’ centers would be the ideal lighting system in terms of performance, efficiency, installed price and maintenance cost.  T-5’s are actually slightly less efficient and really don’t make sense at mounting heights less then 20’.  Plus T-5 lose more light output then T-8 as temperatures decrease which starts to become noticeable at 60f and really noticeable at 50f.  Most shops are kept warm unless they are being used and on the colder days it could take hours for the T-5 lights to get to full output.   I suggest continuous rows because that gives the owner a very uniformly lit space and tons of flexibility when he decides to reconfigure the shop in the future.  “I can’t put this machine over there because that’s the dark corner”.  The fewer the fixtures the worse the shadows which are a bad thing in work shops and continuous rows are essentially shadow free.  For energy purposes I would switch every other fixture for times when not as much light is needed.  IE; 42’ long shop/8’ long fixtures = 5 fixtures per row with 1’ gap on each end of the row, 3 fixtures per row on one switch and two on the other.  I would suggest the basic commodity grade 8’ white painted fixture that every electrical supplier stocks plenty of.  Typical cost is $40-$45 each.  No need for hoods (reflectors) at the heights you mention especially if the ceiling is white.  5000k 800 series lamps are the best lamp for this application.   F32T8SPX50 would be the GE part number and your local supplier can easily cross that with what ever brand they carry.   Best, Travis Creswell Ozark Energy Services   _______________________________________________ List sponsored by Home Power magazine List Address: RE-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org Options & settings: http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org List-Archive: http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org List rules & etiquette: www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm Check out participant bios: www.members.re-wrenches.org -- Dean T. Newberry Talbott Solar & Radiant Homes Inc. 430 D Street Davis, CA 95616 T: 530 219-3606 F: 530 758-8187 E: [EMAIL PROTECTED] W: http://www.TalbottSolar.com/ http://www.TalbottRadiant.com/

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