Workshop Lighting

[Andy J]

Was in Wickes today buying items to prepare for my workshop. Interested to see they now do LED 5ft tubes which come in single or double fittings.

Has anyone used then as workshop lightning? Was going to use standard Fluorescent tubes but willing to consider the use of LED lightning to save a few watts.

[Trevor]

Yes, I’ve replaced the fluorescent tubes with LED tubes in my workshop and it’s a big improvement. Go for a daylight (cool) colour temperature.

[Gary Manuel]

I replaced 8 x 5ft tubes in my large tandem garage with 8 of THESE single LED battens from Toolstation at £24.98 each. Light is brighter, whiter, more diffuse, comes on instantly, uses less power, don't buzz (and more importantly for me, don't trip my RCD when I switch them off). These particular ones have cable access in the centre, similar to fluorescent fittings rather than at one end like most LED ones have.

Highly recommended. It's just like daylight in there now.

Edited By Gary Manuel on 30/11/2020 18:52:56

[john stones 1 - Moderator]

My word, must be a big Tandem.

[Gary Manuel]

Posted by john stones 1 on 30/11/2020 18:54:27:

My word, must be a big Tandem.

As the PG chimps would say in the adds ........

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"Do you know this pianos on my foot dad?"

Edited By Gary Manuel on 30/11/2020 18:57:07

[Former Member]

[This posting has been removed]

[Nick Somerville]

If your workshop has a pitched internal ceiling then suspended led batons work well. I have a flat ceiling and have a pair of surface mounted square daylight led lights and they are perfect. Some visitors have said they didn’t know I had built skylights. Still use a angle poise type workshop lamp for close up work though.

[leccyflyer]

I've had the LED tubes fitted to my new workshop and they are superb - the brightest lights I've seen, instantaneous turn on, run cool and quiet. I was a bit sceptical with the plan but they have been everything that the electrician promised they would be. Fantastic.

[Frank Skilbeck]

I changed to LED tubes over 3 years ago, they have been brilliant

[Craig Carr]

Posted by Trevor on 30/11/2020 18:41:27:

Yes, I’ve replaced the fluorescent tubes with LED tubes in my workshop and it’s a big improvement. Go for a daylight (cool) colour temperature.

My fluorescent tube in my workshops just gone. Do these LED replacements fit the existing holder (with the starter removed )?

[Former Member]

[This posting has been removed]

[Ronaldo]

LED strip lights. A thumbs up from me Got mine from Tool Station, 3 x 6' ones, much better lighting and as a bonus are cheaper to run.

[Tim C]

You can get led tubes to replace the flourastent type, they come with a new type of replacement starter

[Andy J]

Looks like I will be purchasing LED tudes then. Thanks Guys

[Martin McIntosh]

My 5ft kitchen tube blew a while ago and got the Wickes LED one with three available settings. The brightest is just way over the top, but the workshop maybe?

However, CPC are doing 10 and 20W square LED lamps at a very reasonable price. They are very bright indeed. I got the 20W ones but five of those may well be too much (5x3m shed). I currently have 5x 4ft daylight tubes which, considering the amount of time I spend in there, must be costing quite a bit. Now of course I just need to gee myself up a bit and get round to fitting them.

[Dale Bradly]

LED tubes are available to retrofit into fluorescent fittings, but i would advise against them in most circumstances, as you are still relying on old ballasts to run things, and worn tombstones to connect the lights to.

Over here* fluoro fittings are unavailable for purchase anymore, and replacement tubes are becoming hard to find.

Fluoro fittings are as likely to have a failure of the electronic ballast, or wirewound if even older, and both now non repairable.

Put up dedicated LED batterns, they are cheap, simple, and reliable.

Be aware of manufacturers light colour descriptions, (e.g. warm white, cool daylight etc) as there is no standard around these, and often have no basis in reality. Look for description in °K, avoid 3000K as it's too yellow, 4000k is a comfortable and works in most situations, 6500K is very stark white but works well in certain situations.

*I'm an electrician in NZ

[Andy J]

Done a further price search on Wickes, Screwfix and Tool Station looking for 4 or 5ft tubes with an output colour representative of daylight which I believe is 6000K. Seem to be few available, so will be stuck to using cool white with a colour temp of 4000k.

Edited By Andy Joyce on 01/12/2020 09:47:44

[Andy Stephenson]

If your original Fluorescent tubes use a starter, the type that plugs into the side of the batten then all you need to do is to replace these with the ones that come with the LED tubes. If however your original fluorescent fittings have the inductor starter you will need to rewire it without any so called ballast devices in the circuit.

When I installed LED strips in my loft the tubes came with things that looked like starters but the battens had nowhere to instal them. Intrigued, I wired one of the battens to a loose flex with a plug and successfully powered it up. Knowing I didn't need the "starters", I took one apart to discover that it just had a short circuit built in to it. So they are just supplied to bridge the gap in a conventional batten fitting.

I hope this helps.

A.

[Ken Lighten]

My workshop has these fitted, replaced the existing tubes with the type of LED that doesn’t need the whole fitting replaced, just the starter, there is the added bonus that they are plastic rather than eggshell glass so, as I don’t have covers over them, hitting them with a wing isn’t messy!

Ken

Edited By Ken Lighten on 02/12/2020 11:05:25

[FlyinFlynn]

Oh well.....just one word of warning .. I have a 10Watt LED lighting panel above my computer desk, it does a fantastic job of illuminating the workspace BUT.... every now and then I believe the power company decide to transmit data over the grid and it produces a very noticeable flicker which fluorescent and incandescent bulbs do not suffer from.

Has anybody else noticed this or are the larger LED battens immune?

[Gary Manuel]

Posted by FlyinFlynn on 02/12/2020 12:16:59:

Oh well.....just one word of warning .. I have a 10Watt LED lighting panel above my computer desk, it does a fantastic job of illuminating the workspace BUT.... every now and then I believe the power company decide to transmit data over the grid and it produces a very noticeable flicker which fluorescent and incandescent bulbs do not suffer from.

Has anybody else noticed this or are the larger LED battens immune?

Could it be mobile phone interference, similar to the data sound you sometimes get from a PC speaker with a mobile phone nearby?

[Andy Stephenson]

Flicker some times occurs when there's a dimmer in the circuit, The cure is to have a conventional filament lamp connected in parallel.

A.

[Max Z]

Posted by FlyinFlynn on 02/12/2020 12:16:59:

every now and then I believe the power company decide to transmit data over the grid and it produces a very noticeable flicker which fluorescent and incandescent bulbs do not suffer from.

Sounds familiar Flynn. I have a light in the living room with three dimmable LED lamps (230V screw in type), connected to a remote controlled dimmer. It flickers every now and then, almost always a at few minutes before the half-hour.

Like you, I believe this has to do with data sent over the grid, possibly checking the "smart" electricity meter, or changing the tariff, but I have not done a full investigation into the phenomenon.

Max.

[Mike Etheridge 1]

Of course old 'switch start' fluorescent luminaires do flicker at 50 hertz and some people are very sensitive to the flicker as it can cause head aches and Migraine. High frequency fluorescent luminaires solve this flicker issue and do not require switch starters. I have recently specified for my son's kitchen / dining extension dimmable LED luminaires. I was surprised to note that LED luminaires require suitable LED dimmers and will not function with standard dimmers. My son's work is complete, the LED's can be controlled with a smart phone and the colour rendering can be changed. I have just done new designs for his two bathrooms and have included the required IP 67 and 65 LED luminaires that can function the same with diming and colour rendering variations. I will have to ask him whether he has any LED flicker problems.

My old garage 2x 6 feet trough luminaire has just failed-b-nuisance !

The other issue is automatic tap changes on the Electricity Providers transformers. These change when there are peak and reduced demand changes and ensure that the declared voltages are within the agreed percentage. When the changes occur our luminaires flicker at home.

Edited By Mike Etheridge 1 on 03/12/2020 14:11:25

[Mike Etheridge 1]

It is 44 years since I studied lighting engineering, so having read through the whole of this topic, I can see how out of date I am with linear LED luminaires. As I have just mentioned my garage fluorescent lighting has just failed so I will replace it with equivalent LED types and not look to repair the old fitting-thanks chaps!