Lyonspride Posted December 15, 2014 Share Posted December 15, 2014 A slightly related question - can you mix fluorescent and other lights on the same circuit? I have three fluorescent tubes in my garage, and would like to add some more lights - LED or energy saving. Geoff Energy saving = CFL and CFL=Fluorescent CFL are just a small fluorescent tube, twisted and bend to make it smaller. You can mix CFL bulbs and incandescent bulbs in the same fixture, so no reason why incandescent can't be on the same circuit as a fluorescent strip light. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dombanks Posted December 15, 2014 Share Posted December 15, 2014 Why replace flourescent tubes with LED? Narrow spectral bandwidth, makes things appear odd colours. Some colours may even appear black under LED lighting. Almost the same power usage More expensive was under the impression they were more efficient and used less current to run... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darrell O'Neill Posted December 15, 2014 Share Posted December 15, 2014 There's not a huge energy saving to be had from fluorescent/led tubes at the min. The main advantage is life expectancy, which is why they re becoming popular in commercial installs. For a garage such as you are saying, the twin 5ft will surfice. Go for a 'daylight' tube circa 6500k If you want decent colour rendering. Forget led floods, they won't work and give decent spread at relatively low mounting heights. I've just done a very high spec install in a paint and decoration centre where we investigated all types of lighting and fluorescents still came out on top. Go for a high frequency type of fitting over the old type with starters. A good quality lamp and reflector if you wish. Should all come in around £40 per fitting from memory. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darrell O'Neill Posted December 15, 2014 Share Posted December 15, 2014 Oh. And nothing wrong with mixing different types of lamps on a circuit. Although, sometimes, and I add 'sometimes' you may experience nusceince tripping with some forms and loads of LED lamps on certain types of standard MCBs in the fusebox. Be wary, very wary of cheap LED lamps and fittings. The LEDs themselves maybe the same quality as those found in many premier brands but the fittings themselves just aren't good quality and I spend a large quantity of my working life replacing faulty, damaged and downright dangerous cheap fittings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lyonspride Posted December 16, 2014 Share Posted December 16, 2014 Be wary, very wary of cheap LED lamps and fittings. This ^^ Typically the way the cheap LED bulbs are made is to run the mains (240v AC) through a rough bridge rectifier circuit, giving about 300v DC across the LED array, each LED needs around 3v, so they link around 100 LEDs in series (or 2x 100 or 3x 100). What can happen is a slight increase in mains voltage can cause an LED to short circuit, which in turn raises the voltage on the remaining LEDs starting a chain reaction where they start to fail, until eventually the thing just blows completely. The mains voltage in my area varies from 240 during the day to 250 at night. These cheap bulbs are designed to run on the 220-230v European mains voltage, so they're running too hard right from the start. There have been people who have had nasty shocks from the ones with the metal surrounds and i've heard about some where the bayonet came loose and broke off from the plastic part, leaving the metal part in the fitting, ripping the wires from the PCB and leaving them exposed. Regardless of the fitting type, they are a significant risk. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dhutch Posted December 17, 2014 Share Posted December 17, 2014 My garage is about 5*5, steel frame steel clad affair, and is lit with a load of cheap 4ft exposed-tube florescent. I made do with a number of large '100w equivalent' CFLS for a while, and was looking at covered florescent strips, ex-office 4-tube units, led strips and floodlights, and doing it all out with conduit and the works. But at the end of the day, its a garage, I use it infrequently, its only me working in it. You want good light, but your not in there often, and they dont post well, so I went down to wilkos on bought all the 4ft units they had, and two 5ft units, and then went back for another few 4fts. There are now about 5*2 tubes in total, plus the remaining cfl, cabled up in twin and earth cable tied to the steelwork and junctioned in the 'maintenance free' boxes there now are. Daniel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deanspoors Posted December 19, 2014 Author Share Posted December 19, 2014 So I went for 4x Twin 5ft HF Daylight Fluorescents with reflectors, Grand total of £125 all in, excluding wire as I already had that. Really pleased with the outcome, plenty of light and the right colour too. Dean 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TAFKARM Posted December 20, 2014 Share Posted December 20, 2014 I have garage envy Dean. I've not even got power in mine.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B.RAD Posted December 20, 2014 Share Posted December 20, 2014 Green with jealousy here too, that's my dream garage! Just needs a workbench at the back and a pit Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dombanks Posted December 20, 2014 Share Posted December 20, 2014 Me too Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SootySport Posted December 20, 2014 Share Posted December 20, 2014 So I went for 4x Twin 5ft HF Daylight Fluorescents with reflectors, Grand total of £125 all in, excluding wire as I already had that. Really pleased with the outcome, plenty of light and the right colour too. Dean Makings of a proper Mancave there. Needs ceiling boarding out, painting, fridge , sofa and probably more stuff I can't think of now, although I'm guessing you've already thought of these and it's work in progress. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TAFKARM Posted December 20, 2014 Share Posted December 20, 2014 Never got why anyone would want a sofa in the garage?! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SootySport Posted December 20, 2014 Share Posted December 20, 2014 Never got why anyone would want a sofa in the garage?! Thinking time Russ, sitting down with a glass of your favourite tipple and admiring your car. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pistonbroke Posted December 22, 2014 Share Posted December 22, 2014 A Sofa would take up valuable space you could use for another box of junk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrisisWolf Posted December 22, 2014 Share Posted December 22, 2014 Makings of a proper Mancave there. Needs ceiling boarding out, painting, fridge , sofa and probably more stuff I can't think of now, although I'm guessing you've already thought of these and it's work in progress. Indeed. I can say I have power in mine but that's it. Wish I had a double, or that size! Think the floor needs a good bit of paint to clean and brighten it up. I don't see a stereo or unsuitable poster. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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