LED lighting for workshop

[mikej460]

If you use battens then I recommend you don't put a line of them down the centre as I did. I bought LED battens from Screwfix and installed 4 down the middle of my shop (garage), initially I was very pleased until I tried to do some marking out and realised shadows were a big problem. I suggest either two either side of centre or panels (which is what I will be installing in my new workshop later this year).

 

[shed9]

If you use battens then I recommend you don't put a line of them down the centre as I did. I bought LED battens from Screwfix and installed 4 down the middle of my shop (garage), initially I was very pleased until I tried to do some marking out and realised shadows were a big problem. I suggest either two either side of centre or panels (which is what I will be installing in my new workshop later this year).

For my own install on the first building I'm running three lines of three 4ft units so nine altogether which is probably overkill for an 8' x 16' space. I've upped the intended number over the last few days purely to avoid the issues you mention.

 

[Terrytpot]

Apologies for resurrecting this thread but come Monday I've got my friendly sparky round to wire up my double garage and along with a bunch of double sockets and a pair of 16amp sockets I really need to get the lighting sorted. In my previous really small single garage (we moved house in August) I had 4 led battens that were about 5' long and were lovely and bright. This time round I think 600x600panels will make more sense for avoiding any shadow issues but was wondering if there are any suggestions on how many I'll need...the garage is roughly 6m x 6m with one small window to the rear providing a little daylight and if anyone has any specific panels they can recommend I'd be grateful to hear of them.

 

[Fitzroy]

I just bought fittings for my workshop I tried to follow the guidance see link below. I ended up going for 4 panels (1200x300) at 4.4K lumens each so 17.6k total in a shop of 5.5x2.8m. I’ve not installed them yet so can’t comment on the specific panel performance yet.

https://www.ukworkshop.co.uk/threads/estimating-your-workshop-lighting-needs.29154/post-329298

 

[Sideways]

That is a good thread to refer us to.
The one caveat I'd offer, having specified and selected lighting for an engineering factory is that the recommended levels may be a bit low.
If you do detail work like machining, 700 to 1000 lux at the machine is not unreasonable. That may be using task lights where the precision work is always done in the same place but we lit an entire bay at 500 lux because it was used for mechanical assembly and installation. The improved light was worth every penny.
For marking out, hand cutting joints, etc it is nice to have lots of light.

 

[Inspector]

Before I bought lights for the shop I did a lot of searching and came up with 100 foot candles per square foot for woodworking. After figuring and converting it boiled down to 1000 lumens per square meter. So I bought 16 of, 4000 lumen batons to light up my 646 square foot/60 square metre shop. It jives with this table. Illuminance - Recommended Light Level It is very bright and nice to work in, better that the aerospace plant I worked in.

Pete

 

[Stuart Moffat]

I built a 2 room workshop, each is 10M x 5M approx. In the room where I do woodwork I put in eight 600x600mm panels in two rows of four. From memory I think they are 4000k and 4000lumens and 30 watts. They are superb and I no longer have any individual lights for different machines.
in the other room with outdoor machinery there are 6 panels.

 

[Yojevol]

Apologies for resurrecting this thread but come Monday I've got my friendly sparky round to wire up my double garage and along with a bunch of double sockets and a pair of 16amp sockets I really need to get the lighting sorted. In my previous really small single garage (we moved house in August) I had 4 led battens that were about 5' long and were lovely and bright. This time round I think 600x600panels will make more sense for avoiding any shadow issues but was wondering if there are any suggestions on how many I'll need...the garage is roughly 6m x 6m with one small window to the rear providing a little daylight and if anyone has any specific panels they can recommend I'd be grateful to hear of them.

My 6 x 10 w/s was lit with 8 x 5' tubes which served me well for many years but a couple of years ago they started to fail. I've now replaced half of them with 600 x 600 panels and am very pleased with the result.
Brian