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Post by ezekiel38 on Jul 12, 2020 23:27:03 GMT -5
I have a 24X8ft reloading room. For twenty some years it has been lit with a wired in 8 ft flourescent light fixture. Ceiling is 8 ft and the flourescent lights have caused some minor problems with electronic scales. Anyhoo the ballast is going out of the light and I'm thinking about upgrading but I want a clean bright light for close work without the problems that the flourescent has caused in the past.
What do you guys who have newer lighting setups like and use? Thanks in advance.
Tom
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Shakey
.327 Meteor
Central Arkansas
Posts: 543
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Post by Shakey on Jul 13, 2020 0:28:21 GMT -5
I recently needed to do a similar replacement on a much smaller scale. A bit of searching turned up LED strips in 2 and 4 ft lengths. They link to one another and each has it's own pull switch so that you can install a lot of strips but only use those you need at the time. They are so efficient though that it is hard to justify turning any off. If I can get this to work, here's a link to something similar to what I got…… Lamps
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Post by ncrobb on Jul 13, 2020 7:09:23 GMT -5
Yep, led strip lights. I changed my shop to these and found that I only needed half as many as fluorescents. The pull chains let me turn on or off as I need more or less light in different work areas. I love them. It took a little getting used to though as the light is very bright and clear.
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Post by contender on Jul 13, 2020 9:05:41 GMT -5
I re-built my reloading room set up about 5 years ago,, and I used florescent lights for my work bench area, and LED track lighting for my loading area. I didn't look too hard before installing them,, but knew that LED was better than florescent for scales etc. About 2 years ago,, my gunsmith buddy, who is a retired GE engineer,, who used to DESIGN lighting systems,, re-did his whole shop,, in LED's. I've been considering a re-do of my lights over my work bench BECAUSE of this.
Short answer; LED's.
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Post by magman on Jul 14, 2020 8:46:32 GMT -5
Never realized how bright LED lighting was until it was put in my new garage. I have some for over workbench lighting. I'll probably replace the flourescent in my loading room eventually.
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Post by ezekiel38 on Jul 14, 2020 10:54:37 GMT -5
Wow, thanks for the replies, I'm researching LED Strip lighting now and Home Depot has some interesting units, four feet long and plug into one another to form a chain.
Thanks for all the input.
Tom
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dhd
.327 Meteor
Posts: 941
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Post by dhd on Jul 14, 2020 12:53:17 GMT -5
I did the LED swap last year. I got rid of the ballasts, changed the wiring to one end, and put in LED 4' bulbs. My shop has 8 4×4 fixtures and took 32 bulbs, but it was worth it. I bought my bulbs and tombstones off of Amazon. As ballasts and florescent bulbs are getting more expensive, it was time for me to make that change. Even with changing the wiring it took me only part of an afternoon. The difference was unbelievable.
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Post by squawberryman on Jul 14, 2020 19:27:19 GMT -5
When putting up strips, resist the urge to run the lights parallel to the bench. Run them perpendicular. A six inch wide light strip run parallel will have shadows in front of AND behind what you are working on when you look straight down on it. The perpendicular solves that. Parallel distracts from working and pictures. I know I didn't like it in mine. Just tack them up each way before solid mounts. The difference is huge.
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Post by colorado0321 on Jul 14, 2020 20:56:55 GMT -5
I've found Inline Fab's press mounted strip lights to be super handy as well. Helps having light right where the action is happening.
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Post by harveylogan on Jul 15, 2020 10:29:56 GMT -5
Absolutely the BEST light out there and it’s $20, I was skeptical because its Harbor Freight, so I tried one; very light weight, quality built, electrical options are plug in to what ever your ability is to hard wire, BRIGHT!!, no hmmmmm, I think it 30k hours of service life. I now have 20+ of them in service. 5000 lumens. You don’t have to hang them, I built a strap, hooked it on the “stud” w/ a cross pin screwed the strap to the ceiling, low clearance situations, my situation 7’ ceiling. Go buy one, bring it home, plug it in and turn it on, you will be blown away. Sound like i work for them, nope just a happy consumer, especially fo $20. go.harborfreight.com/sku/64410/
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alamogunr
.30 Stingray
IGNORE PREVIOUS MESSAGE
Posts: 294
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Post by alamogunr on Jul 20, 2020 11:43:13 GMT -5
My relatively small shop has eight 4' fluorescent fixtures hooked up to two switches. A couple of years ago, a friend that has several businesses converted them over to LED's. He had one of his maintenance men bring me about 2 dozen tubes that they removed from the existing fixtures. I haven't used even half of them yet. When ballasts start to go out, I will probably convert to LED's. I already followed someone else's recommendation and put one of those little strip LED lights on the Dillon 550. Made a big difference.
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Post by foxtrapper on Jul 20, 2020 14:05:33 GMT -5
Costco has the led strip lights on sale every now and then. Have a 6 foot or so plugged wire with a outlet on the opposite side. You can daisy chain a bunch of them together using one outlet. They also each have a pull cord.
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Post by ezekiel38 on Jul 23, 2020 10:45:36 GMT -5
Wow nice to see there a lot of options and I have LEDs in my kitchen. I'm limited in outlets so I'm interested in the plug in then plug from fixture to fixture. The idea of perpendicular mounting is something I would never have considered to eliminate shadows. Solution is a few days away due to vacation. Will keep you all advised. Thanks for all the help, I like this forum for helping, and many other reasons.
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Post by colorado0321 on Jul 26, 2020 18:00:40 GMT -5
An alternative to dedicated press lights - a sewing light w magnetic base. $13 on amazon. Just got it and digging it so far since I don't have to glue anything.
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Post by ezekiel38 on Jul 27, 2020 9:42:37 GMT -5
Cool I like the application of that light. What model of Lyman press is pictured.
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