lighting for car workshop

[sparky16]

Doing project and not sure whats best too use for lighting in car workshop. Flurocesnt fittings or hp sodium. Any ideas people

 

[malcolmsanford]

IMO flourescents.

 

[sparky16]

Thanks buddy

 

[Adam W]

Yes, use HF fittings though to satisfy 559.9.
Either that or spread the lights out across different phases.

 

[mogga]

define "Car workshop" 5mx4m garage can be a workshop so can the one along from me aroun20mtrx30mtr with 10mtr heigh room??
Iv done a couple of valet bays for local garage wall mounted thorn Aquaforce (not for IP rating) but for damage and giving better light spread on sides and into cars

 

[SirKit Breaker]

define "Car workshop" 5mx4m garage can be a workshop so can the one along from me aroun20mtrx30mtr with 10mtr heigh room??
Iv done a couple of valet bays for local garage wall mounted thorn Aquaforce (not for IP rating) but for damage and giving better light spread on sides and into cars

Thats exactly what i did, and put one on each side in the floor pit. I also fitted a flourescent inspection lamp on a recoiling lead in each pit as well.

 

[KWCFC]

Type in mechanics forums through google and ask them. Alot of Mechanics on them forums have showrooms, you may be surprised on how much they can help you.

 

[RecycleElectron]

I have a 7m by 8m car workshop and I have 7 off 5 foot HF (to avoid any possible strobe problems) doubles about 4m up. Side illumination for the ramp is very useful if properly constructed. I switch them in groups as you don't need them all at once, for example some of the roof ones get obscured (or smashed if you get it wrong) by a car on the ramp. I still use a good old light bulb over the lathe and 24V for the hand-lamps (or battery LED). I have a friend who has a very high workshop and he uses a mixture of sodium lamps on chains and tubes on the walls. White walls help a lot if welding is not too much of an issue.

 

[sparky16]

thanks for all the replys people much appreciated, using fluorescent fittings. Now for the hard bit ive too design a lighting installation too provide average illuminance of 500 lux in workshop and too be controlled from main switchboard area.

Is there any special lamp too be used for fittings anyone know?

 

[sparky16]

define "Car workshop" 5mx4m garage can be a workshop so can the one along from me aroun20mtrx30mtr with 10mtr heigh room??
Iv done a couple of valet bays for local garage wall mounted thorn Aquaforce (not for IP rating) but for damage and giving better light spread on sides and into cars

The workshop has 12 booths in it so is quite a big one

 

[grantr37]

as mentioned here by RecycleElectron, workshops using any fast rotating equipment should have lighting which will not have a strobing effect, as this may cause an "optical illusion" and make machinery (or engine parts) appear to be idling when they are spinning very quickly or even make them appear to be stationary/still....this means that the lighting should be separated and on two different phases, one to the left and one to the right to balance the tiny amount of time that they dim/brighten on the peak/rise and fall/drop of the AC power supply(waveform) I have seen a large fast rotating sanding disk machine in a woodwork shop have this issue, when the motor was switched on it caused the flourescent lights in the room to pulse at around mains (50Hz) in a very noticable fashion as it was connected to the same supply point and phase, each very quick pulse/burst of rotation (about 50 surges a second) drew enough current to make the lights dip a little at the same time, and the noisy workshop drowned out the running noise of the machine, so it looked as if it was turned off....got told that somebody leaned over a similar sander with long hair a few years before and got smashed up pretty bad when they got pulled in, slammed and sanded in the face at the same time..... rotating plant is dangerous...imagine getting pulled into a large grinder or band saw...lighting needs to be on different phases if AC, or a high quality DC driver circuit....and for a garage area with water/oil/fuel fumes, would be good to be EX grade (intrinsically safe) and preferrably SELV (separated extra low voltage, with a step down transformer isolated from mains) if used in the inspection pit or a car cleaning area/wash area or outside....


The idea behind having different phases for AC lighting in a workshop/garage is that light A and Light B kind of meet in the middle with the dimming and brightening of the Lamps/Tubes/CF cancelling each other out if placed correctly so that when one is dimming the other is brightening a little and vice versa


(ALL Happening very quickly, about once every 20 milliseconds/50th of a second-50Hz, but if not correct is enough to trick the human eye)


Light A full brightness
Light B is dimmer

Light A starts to get dimmer
Light B starts to get brighter

Light A is dimmer
Light B Full Brightness

Light A starts to get brighter
Light B gets dimmer

Light A Full Brightness
Light B is dimmer


and so on...in a permanent cycle, overlapping instead of strobing/fast flickering...

 

[MarkieSparkie]

You probably have a three phase supply and can therefore balance your lights across phases to avoid strobe effect in the way already indicated. However, in the situation where you only have a single phase supply and troubled by the strobe effect from fluorescent lamps, the strobe effect can be effectively eliminated by phase shifting pairs of lamps, one lamp with a lead capacitor and the other with a lag capacitor.

 

[sparky16]

yes it is a 3 phase supply so i will split the lighting over 2 phases then thanks.