Thread: LED strip lighting over machines? any experience?

Des, both fluorescent and LED strips create a strobe effect that can be dangerous in a workshop, a lathe chuck for example can appear to be rotating very slowly or even in reverse (depends on the speed it is rotating at). In large workshops the fluorescent lights were spread across 3 phases thus negating the strobe effect. One way to use fluorescent or LED strip lights is to use an incandescent globe in addition to the other lights placed over each machine, this will also negate the strobe effect. The incandescent light does not flicker (even though it is using ac voltage) as the filament continues to glow red due to the heat it is operating at.
Alex.

Had a 6' length left over from a kitchen job. Cobbled up a 12v power supply with a switch & fitted the led strip over a small milling machine in a dark corner of the workshop. Works so well I shall be getting more ( as soon as they are on special at Aldi!)
Mark

I have 13 "LED Fluoro replacement tubes" in my shed.

2 of these are above my MW lathe and 2 are above my WW lathe and have not see any stroboscopic effect on these lathes or any other machinery with these lights.
I have repeatedly tested both lathes out across the speed range using the VFD to look for stroboscopic effects.
It could be because there are so many and there is plenty of scattered lighting around.

On Ebay These tubes cost $100 for a pack of 10 including delivery and they slot directly into regular flour lighting fixtures.
The only modification requires is that the fluoro starters need to be removed.
If you know what you are doing for a bit less power draw remove the fluoro ballast as well but this is not essential.

I rate them very highly and would recommend them to anyone that already has flour lamps

Originally Posted by BobL

I have 13 "LED Fluoro replacement tubes" in my shed.

2 of these are above my MW lathe and 2 are above my WW lathe and have not see any stroboscopic effect on these lathes or any other machinery with these lights.
I have repeatedly tested both lathes out across the speed range using the VFD to look for stroboscopic effects.
It could be because there are so many and there is plenty of scattered lighting around.

On Ebay These tubes cost $100 for a pack of 10 including delivery and they slot directly into regular flour lighting fixtures.
The only modification requires is that the fluoro starters need to be removed.
If you know what you are doing for a bit less power draw remove the fluoro ballast as well but this is not essential.

I rate them very highly and would recommend them to anyone that already has flour lamps

Wow, are you still having trouble with people ignoring safety directions in your shed, must be catching!
The strobe effect is a fact, because you have not seen it does not change facts.

Originally Posted by alexm1

Wow, are you still having trouble with people ignoring safety directions in your shed, must be catching!
The strobe effect is a fact, because you have not seen it does not change facts.

Well it sounds like you might need to update your LED Knowledge.
LED technology has developed to a point where a well designed and well made LED powered by DC has 10x less of a stroboscopic effect than an AC powered incandescent lamp.
So it all depends on the effort / cost the manufacturer goes to when making the AC lamp driver - if the AC driver is good enough the LED will not cause noticeable strobe.
The other issue is dimmable LEDs which are difficult to make strobe free and can be 20x worse than an incandescent lamp, so stay away from these.

The effect is further reduce when there are multiple LEDs generating light as the different direct and indirect pathways reduce this effect.

Unfortunately the manufacturers are not required to report the degree of strobe effect from their lamps so the only way to find out is to test them for yourself.
It's not that hard to do - just illuminate and machine with said lamp and spin any variable speed machine through its frequency range and watch for the spinning object speed appear to slow down and speed up. If you are lucky you might strike the luck spot where the object appears dead still.
We did many experiments on measuring RPMs at Uni using a strobes so I have a good idea of how to do this.

I installed 4x 1200 led strips over my lathe, super bright 5000k, no strobe, closest thing to daylight lighting I have ever used, will be updating all the lights in the shed and house

For many years, I've had individual 60W incandescent light for each power tool (band saw, scroll saw, drill press, miter saw.) I have changed all of those and others for focussed 8W LED. I'll never go back.

you can find the old oyster lights that have led lighting that will give you all the light you want go for brightest white light I use them in my shed and they light up like natural light. Available at lighting shops

Thanks All!!!!! looks like some great experience to draw from, and several good options to pursue. Thank you all.

Strobe effect from LEDs.
If LEDs are run from 12vdc they will not strobe.

It really depends on how the LEDs' are driven, some have a resistor, some have a poor driver and others can have a good driver that won't visibly flicker.
Saying that they don't strobe as a rule is a bit silly as is trusting parts made at the lowest possible price to all be the same.

I ride mountain bikes and often night ride and you still end up riding with someone that has a strobing light, it's really weird, they turn their head or move the bars and you see a few snapshots of the bush.

I have also worked on a truck engine lit with a failing bay light and one of the pulleys appeared stationary and as stupid as it sounds I almost touched it because it took a moment for my old brain to work out what was going on.

I would think that with the strips there would be minimal chance of strobing as you have a driver every three lights or so and I don't believe the drivers are synchronised.
I could be totally wrong though......?

Originally Posted by ivanavitch

Strobe effect from LEDs.
If LEDs are run from 12vdc they will not strobe.

In videos of cars with LED lights a strobe effect is very noticeable.

Originally Posted by Chris Parks

In videos of cars with LED lights a strobe effect is very noticeable.

That's probably because motor vehicles often use PWM to control intensity. As well as making them dimmable they also do this to derate the LEDs to increase their lifetime .

Today I purchase a basic Osram standard bayonet fitting non-dimmable LED from Bunnings.
This evening I tried it out with the MW lathe running and no strobing effect with that one in full RPM range of the lathe.
I will try it out on the WW lathe tomorrow evening because I can cover a much wider ranges of RPM with that

Bob, when I am off holidays and back at work we can use the photon ux100 and actually measure it, we are good for up to 800,000 fps.