Thread: Workshop Led Strip Lighting.

Originally Posted by Ewan

Hi Ray,
Sorry BT.......hijack underway....

Most standard fluros punch out close to 100lm/w. You just won't get this from led strip lighting. Even high powered LEDs with good heatsinks struggle to achieve that sort of output. If it was me......I would be running the fluros without the ballast, or high powered LEDs, Cree xre's or the newer equivalent. The ones I have are 5x3w and put out about 800lm. I have a box of sample bulbs I just wasn't happy with......

Cheers,
Ew

Cross thread posting...

Hi Ewan, I've copied your post here to avoid cluttering up Bob's thread.

Led strips come in many different types, we used them on that job in Austria last year ( over 5000 of them ) the ones we used on the outdoor poles in that job were the 5050 ultra bright, rather than the 3528 type, also I'm just going plain white, not rgb.

I'm not sure how the 6500K colour will be to work under, i'd prefer a warmer colour I think... but we will see.

The methodology is to measure the lux at various locations with the fluorescent tubing, and then swap to the led strips and re-measure the lux for comparison. I'm thinking the 120 degree led illumination angle will give higher lux underneath than the same lumen output from the fluoro's


Regards
Ray

That three months went sooo quickly!

Originally Posted by RayG

So, Lumens is possibly a better yardstick than watts, I know how bright a 100 watt tungsten filament globe is.. so my rule of thumb is that a 100W tungsten filament light globe is about 1600 lumens, a 36" typical fluro tube is about 2800 lumens.
There is a heap of 188 watt solar panels on Gray's at the moment, but it's pickup only in Tasmania... Get someone to pu for you and organise the transport later.

Near as I can tell 100 watts of Incandescent is about the same as around 30-35 watts of CFL, is about the same as around 15-20 watts of LED.

Along my (white melamine) bench I have had a 18w CFL about every metre, in order to get a "daytime use" brightness, but it's never been quite enough. It's a good nightime level. Have recently upgraded most of them to 9w LED globes, with a couple of 18x LED Floods at critical points. Now it's at a good daytime level. There's a big mother 43w CFL in the centre of the shed (5x3 metres) as well as other CFLs around the perimeter (in the same pattern as the bench).

Based upon that, it seems to me that a 60w Incandescent for every sq.metre is about right for daytime. O'course your Lab ("shed") is gi-normous as I recall from pics. No wonder you want to go Solar/LED!

Originally Posted by RayG

I'm not sure how the 6500K colour will be to work under

Ray, to be blunt, it'd be bloody awful - horrendous, in fact. I don't even like cool white fluoros, at around 5000*K, but 6500*K would be like working in a Police Disco.
EDIT: to be clear, they might look white in the eBay pic, but that's prolly because of the auto-balance camera, I would think.

I'm watching this one too as I want to do some led lights too

Originally Posted by DaveTTC

I'm watching this one too as I want to do some led lights too

wot he said

I have invested a lot of time and money in solar adventures in the last two years. I have done an overkill aquaponics system to an under done garden lighting system. I have led flood lights working on 12v sensor for a perimeter security system around the shed as well as driving a CCTV camera system. The wife reckons our backyard will fly away like the Starship Enterprise one day with all the panels we have. Solar projects are fun to do and rewarding if you get them right. I also have a back to grid solar array which has been done through the Government rebate scheme. The 12 volt components are really cheap and things like programmable timers and dimmers are very cheap out of China. I have to go to Bunnings soon so will post some pictures up a bit later. LED lights including the strip lighting is very bright so it should not be in your direct vision or you get those white spots in your eyes for a while - like a welding flash.

Hi Ray,
Thanks for moving the post over, i'll shift it from BT's thread in a mo....

The fluro's i use are 36w, 4000k. I like the colour, its a nice middle of the road. They put out 3250lm (when brand new of course) per tube, 90lm/W. The downside is they throw out light in 360deg, but you just add reflectors.
The strip you linked too is (going by the best light, most power) is 62lm/W, 30% less. The output will also drop over time more than a fluro will.
The other thing not mentioned by the listing is CRI, colour rendering index. Not sure if you have looked into it, but the sun is 100, most incandescent's high 90's, fluro's in the 80's, most LED's designed for interior lighting 70+. Not sure on what the strip lights will be, but the lower the number the less colours will look as they would do in sunlight. Color rendering index - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Don't discount ebay for solar panels, i have some that are fine and were cheap.

Cheers,
Ewan

Interesting projects Rod, feel free to post details in the thread if you are so inclined, I remember following the peltier cell project. What I'm trying to do is pretty simple, and that is... save some money on the power bill.. A grid connected system will only give me 8c per kw hour for any excess generated during the day, which means lighting the workshop is still costing me the full 30c per kwh ( or whatever the rate is today )

I'll work out the payback time when I know all the costs, but rough estimate is that I should get payback in less than 12 months. Even if pans out to be 2-3 years it's still worth investigating.

Regards
Ray

Originally Posted by Ueee

Hi Ray,
Thanks for moving the post over, i'll shift it from BT's thread in a mo....

The fluro's i use are 36w, 4000k. I like the colour, its a nice middle of the road. They put out 3250lm (when brand new of course) per tube, 90lm/W. The downside is they throw out light in 360deg, but you just add reflectors.
The strip you linked too is (going by the best light, most power) is 62lm/W, 30% less. The output will also drop over time more than a fluro will.
The other thing not mentioned by the listing is CRI, colour rendering index. Not sure if you have looked into it, but the sun is 100, most incandescent's high 90's, fluro's in the 80's, most LED's designed for interior lighting 70+. Not sure on what the strip lights will be, but the lower the number the less colours will look as they would do in sunlight. Color rendering index - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Don't discount ebay for solar panels, i have some that are fine and were cheap.

Cheers,
Ewan

Thanks Ewan,

I was busy writing a reply to Rod when you posted... the led strip should put out 3900-4500 lumens, but it's spread over 5 meters, the fluoro puts out 3250 lumens but over 3' ( lets call it 1 meter ) so the same lux would require 5 strips, but I'm going to run two side by side, then connect in series ( to get 24v ), so the lumens per meter of fixture will be 1560-1800.. the fluoro fittings I have have a plain white reflector and the roof insulation is painted with a flat white anyway... amazing what a difference having a white roof made to the lighting..

So the overall light output will be more than the fluro's but the distribution of light sources is sufficiently different to make it tricky to predict if it's going to work.. the bright white bluish light might be the killer..

Regards
Ray

I use a couple of 12V LED strip lights to illuminate my lathe. It is a very flat white light but that doesn't seem to matter. I think it would irritate me if it were the same all over, but with a couple of fluoro's providing general lighting it seems to be alright. There's nothing that says you couldn't put a coloured filter over part of the strip light to give some colour to the environment.

Michael

I actually find for reading blue when scraping cool white light is better. The blue seems to be easier to see.

I won't tell you the tariff i'm on Ray, or our power cost, you'll cry.....

Ray, your back-up supplier in Preston Melbourne, is the one I would suggest to use. I have used them before and will almost certainly use them for my next project, which is probably going to be lighting the shed as per you are wishing to do.

Best part about them is that they actually own their premises, so they are a real bricks and mortar shop, meaning they are there for the long haul.

Second point is that it's the second generation of the family running this show with technical help (electronics that is) from the first generation.

Third point is that they seem to have the right balance of product and realistic pricing of that product.

Fourth point is that they are flexible and can and will offer helpful possible solutions.

Fifth point, I have no links with them, just a very satisfied customer.

Mick.

Hi Ray,
It is OT however the solar panels and switchboard are universal to any installation.
First is the solar collector for the aquaponics setup.
The frame and panels face north and tilt at 32 degree to match the latitude for Perth. It would be nice to have tracking on the panels but I haven't got that far and probably won't. Each panel is 60 watts and two of them (120watts) charges a 12 volt, 24a/h sealed lead acid battery. As solar panels don't have an off switch I have put in an inline fuse at the panel. You might be able to see a yellow sealed fuse in the underneath photo of the panels. I didn't use the regulators stuck to the back of the panel and also didn't want to tear them off in case they ripped the backing material.
DCP_1343.JPGDCP_1404.JPG

The switchboard is a stripped out House Meter Box and the panel was CNC'd. The 12v timers are programmable and run the water pumps and air pump. The volt meters aren't needed but it does provide me some feedback on how it is going. I have fused inputs and outputs on the panel to make it as safe as possible. The messy wiring took ages to do - there is an art to creating wiring tangles so I hope my example is appreciated.

DCP_1346.JPG

Next is the aquaponics tanks. The fish underneath the grow beds are goldfish as I was not allowed to have editable varieties - normally trout and Baramundi are cycled over the year. In the photo of the tank top right side you can see a 12v 10w floodlight running off the solar.

DCP_1359.JPGDCP_1401.JPG

And here is another switchboard again in a stripped out meter box that drives a water wheel and two runs led strip lights (total 10 metres) and two 5 watt spot lights. These come on for one hour a day by the timer and are powered by a 20 watt panel. I have a 40 watt panel that I will use to beef up the charge.
DCP_1402.JPG

I have another 1kw of panels behind the shed that other projects are running from but it is a bit dark to go taking photos.

You waiting for me to say something about the colour Young Rod?

Take it as said.
All I can say is blue is very calming.