Thread: How much light?

Way to technical just provide as much light as you can, daylight is the ultimate

I have lots of windows in the plan but you need light to work at night, and in the winter here it is dark by five o'clock. Budget always looms it's ugly head and my wife thinks I'm nuts wanting 16, 2 tube led fixtures. It will be 27' x 23.5' inside the walls,(6.9m x 6.0m).

Some info here
Illuminance - Recommended Light Levels

They recommend 750 lm/m^2 for general mechanical workshops and 1500 - 2000 for detailed mechanical work i.e. workbenches.

I looked at all this a while ago for my shed where I have 13 LED fluoro size tubes each of ~1900 Lumens.
Shed is ~42m^2 so average is 588 lm/m^2

This plus 2 windows and two skylights is fine during the day, but definitely is not enough at night time especially as I have some crap in the rafters that blocks some of the lighting.
On the plus side the walls in the metal work part of my shed are minorb and the ceiling is Al foil insulation so its fairly reflective, in the WW section the walls are white gyprock which also reflective

To get 1500 lm/m^2 I would need 34 tubes which is a bit much
To get 750 lm/m^2 I would need 17 tubes which means another 4 tubes which seems more realistic

To get around this I have some dedicated lighting above some machines, benches and in my welding bay.
My plan is to add another pair of tubes above each of my main work benches.

Remember that you need more artificial light during the day than at night, especially if you have natural light coming in. I would think up around 30-40% brighter for daytime. The windows in my shed face north (south for you) and get sunlight all day in winter, and the contrast can be difficult.

Thanks guys. Bob my shop will be about the same size as yours so I'll be putting up somewhere in the neighborhood of 16 to 20, 2 tube fixtures with LED's rather than fluorescent tubes. I can find the LED tubes (2310 lumen, 5000K each) cheap enough on Amazon for about $15Can, locating fixtures without ballasts is proving to be difficult. Buying fixtures and tossing the ballasts rubs me wrong.

Natural light should reasonable. Picture attached shows the West windows on the left, North straight ahead and the East to the right. The big opening on the right is for the solid double doors. The South side only has an entry door into the house. It will go across starting just this side of those double doors. No skylights in the vaulted ceiling that is about 11' at the centreline of the room. It will be a little more practical with a roof on it.

Pete

image-2574582219.jpg

I've tackled this in a different way for my workshop. Instead of having lots of light coming down from the ceiling, I've got very little light installed above the shop. Instead I'm planning on making 3-4 boards, each with 3 LED spots, that I can take with me to anywhere in the shop and mount on a french cleat. I can make the boards as simple or as complex as I want, to be able to pull the lights out, swivel them, tilt, etc, so that I can position the lights exactly where I want them for whatever job I'm doing at the time. I want at least 3 boards so that I can go from one piece of equipment to another immediately without moving lights, but I want to keep them to a minimum because I don't want to spend too much money and to reduce the clutter. I've already lined my shed walls with 12mm ply (insulated with batts), and I intend on putting french cleats on the walls wherever I want them - for the lights and tools to be hung. I'll spend under $1000 on lights and I'll always have as much light as I want wherever I need it.

Many of your machines -- table saw, mitre saw, drill press, jointer, drum sander -- should be considered as equivalent to a workbench and provided with additional illumination.

remember that illumination standards are written for industry where the space between machines and on floor storage is generally a lot more generous than is the case for a home shop.
secondly, as you get older you will find that you need brighter and brighter light to see as well as you did when younger.

Originally Posted by QC Inspector

Thanks guys. Bob my shop will be about the same size as yours so I'll be putting up somewhere in the neighborhood of 16 to 20, 2 tube fixtures with LED's rather than fluorescent tubes. I can find the LED tubes (2310 lumen, 5000K each) cheap enough on Amazon for about $15Can, locating fixtures without ballasts is proving to be difficult. Buying fixtures and tossing the ballasts rubs me wrong.

If you read my post you will see I said that are LED fluoros (LEDs in a fluorescent tube).
I didn't have to remove the ballasts on the ones I used but I took the ballasts out because they were heating up and brittle.

Originally Posted by Poppa

I've tackled this in a different way for my workshop. Instead of having lots of light coming down from the ceiling, I've got very little light installed above the shop. Instead I'm planning on making 3-4 boards, each with 3 LED spots, that I can take with me to anywhere in the shop and mount on a french cleat. I can make the boards as simple or as complex as I want, to be able to pull the lights out, swivel them, tilt, etc, so that I can position the lights exactly where I want them for whatever job I'm doing at the time. I want at least 3 boards so that I can go from one piece of equipment to another immediately without moving lights, but I want to keep them to a minimum because I don't want to spend too much money and to reduce the clutter. I've already lined my shed walls with 12mm ply (insulated with batts), and I intend on putting french cleats on the walls wherever I want them - for the lights and tools to be hung. I'll spend under $1000 on lights and I'll always have as much light as I want wherever I need it.

I can't see what why you need to spend anywhere near $1000.
Based on $48 for a new bunnings twin fluoro light fitting and $10 x 2 for 2 LED tubes, $1000 will buy you 36 of these.
[EDIT] Better still see this 4 Foot Fitting Fixture T8 1200mm Batten FOR LED Tube Fluorescent NO Tubes INC | eBay
This will give you 1500 lumens/m^2 (i.e. very high levels of light) across a 45m^2 shed.

FWIW My setup involves 5 used twin fluoro tube fittings and 3 singles that I had in the old shed. I got the twin fluoros for nothing and the tubes cost $10 each = total cost is $130.

I like to have a bright work area too.

My shed has big doors and skylights so I have great light during the day.

My electrician recommended 9 LED downlights for my 6m x 6m shed. The ceiling is 3.3m high at the back and 3.8m at the front. All the walls and ceiling are painted white.
The pics show the Jantec downlights and their specs. It say 1,100 Lumens. They were on special at Cetnaj for under $20 each.
I already had a 600x600mm LED panel which is really bright ( I don't know the Lumens) so I put it over the workbench instead of the downlight.

I am amazed how bright they. They are good to work under and I can easily take photos at night without a flash.

There are three light switches. One for the front , middle and back. I usually only have the front three lights on but turn on the middle bank if I am working on the other end of the bench.

The total Lumens is much lower than the numbers being discussed but it is a good working light for me.

I hope this helps.

9 LEDS @ 1100 lumens, or a total of 9900 lumens in 36 m^2 is only 275 Lumens/m^2 is indeed much lower than any recommended.

OTOH you have nothing hanging from your ceiling which makes a big difference.
I have 588 lm/m^2 but with a lot of stuff in the ceiling my shed looks darker than yours.

For others considering using downlights bear in mind that they do have a 90º angle of preferential lighting so they can create light and dark patches when they are used in low ceilings.

The amount of light needed is very age dependent as you get older

https://www.americanlightingassoc.co...ging-Eyes.aspx