Does anyone have a recommendation of the best kind of light to opt for? I have a small workshop, 10' x 10' sloping roof, only about 6.5' tall, no natural light as the door and the window face north. I'm looking for lighting which isn't going to blind me or cast too many shadows. I normally despise fluorescents due to glare and or flicker, are they better these days or am I right not to want them? What do others have which works well for them?
due to the height i think 2 twin 5' florescent fittings and a bench mounted led spot lamp for close work would be great plenty of light bouncing around to solve shadows
The best type is a corrosive resistant high frequency fluorescent fitting. They are a little impact resistant too which is often necessary in a shed or garage.
buy single perlescant tubes/fittings and run them down either side of the workshop above head height. Also, paint the walls in flat white emulsion....shadow free
Finally one I can answer, go for T5 fittings if you can (skinny tubes) a 49watt will give you similar output to an older 58watt T8. That said, the energy saving isn't going to make that much difference in a garage so whatever you can lay your hands on at a good price will do.
Not in a garage but I fitted LED lights in my mums kitchen last year, they are really bright and have a decent spread so there are no shadows
http://www.ledhut.co.uk/led-strip-lights.html I've used these many times for kitchens. They are bright but choose warm white not cool white. They can be cut to required length and joined by soldering fly leads onto the cut ends. My only reservation is the method of fixing; normally you would stick it to the underside of a Formica wall cabinet - which is a perfect surface. It wouldn't work on timber so a strip of plastic or similar material would have to be fitted first.
I have those dreadful stick on lights in my shed ( now being converted to a studio) ............would be rather naff for a workshop though
one more for fluorescent fittings. go for 2 twin 6 foots loads of light. go for high frequesncy if you can afford them, not much more, no starters and less flicker which you wouldn't see anyway, also new fittings now should come with the brighter triphosphor tubes not halophosphate which are not outlawed, go for daylight tubes (6500K) aswell, if no daylight then cool white (4000K)
as per my post go for 5' as 6' tubes are getting harder to get and are a lot more expensive There is some talk of them not making 6' in the future
would these be any good http://www.screwfix.com/p/linolite-sylvania-white-cabinetlite-t5-light-21w-960mm/74495
Place I used to work at had 8ft strip lights... try getting hold of those, they were a right mission!! I've heard that 6ft strips are being phased out too Also get daylight tubes if you can stretch to the extra cost
