Hi Heads I'm getting ready to re-do the lights in the shop. Would you use floresent or standard bulbs and why? Thanx in advance for your input.... CJ (Williams)
Posted by Si Allen (Member # 420) on :
I would use flourescent lights with "Daylight" tubes. Cheaper to run and would not introduce an error in colors.
Posted by Jacki Allen (Member # 2672) on :
We just put halogens in in our shop.(we were using daylight florescents) It is an unbelievable difference!! They are a little more pricey but well worth it.
Posted by Bill Preston (Member # 1314) on :
Hi, Ed,
If it were me , I would go with fluorescent-- but because colors don't always appear the same as they would outdoors in natural light, look for tubes labeled something to the effect that they are similar to natural light. Some of the others will really warp the way you might perceive some -if not all colors. White on the walls helps, too. There is also less in the way of hard-edged shadows to contend with. The only 2 drawbacks that come to mind on the fluorescents, is the problem of flickering as they get towards the end of their life, and that they don't like to light up in cold temps very much, unless they have cold weather ballasts installed.
FWIW
Posted by Mark Matyjakowski (Member # 294) on :
All blacklight and only paint with fluorescent(like that ... I looked it up as not to p-off the spelling police haha) paint
Posted by Joey Madden (Member # 1192) on :
Depending on how high your ceilings are depends on the lights and placement. If your ceilings are 12 foot or higher I would suggest low sodium vapor. This is what I used at my big shop in NY. Florescents are fine with day light bulbs for lower ceilings but in order to do vehicles you are going to need alot of them and only 8 footers, as the 4 footers don't have the ballast needed to produce the light you need.
Posted by VICTORGEORGIOU (Member # 474) on :
There's an energy shortage here, and PG&E runs programs that rebate the price of electronic ballasts.
The ballast runs and 400 cycles instead of 60 cycles, so you run a lower wattage bulb that throws out twice the light. I think they say twice the light for a third less power.
We did this at our store and the increase in brightness was spectacular.
The ballasts are a little costy so a rebate program really helps. Vic G
