It was bound to happen. I've become my Dad. I'm knocking on the door of 50 and I can not see. I see alright, I just can't seem to get enough light. I've tried all kinds of ways to brighten the work bench. All I seem to achieve are darker shadows. The bifocals, thats a different story. I just take the glasses off for close work. Not always smart when working with solder, etc.
So how do you overcome this in your work space? Or am I the only person afflicted with this rare aliment?
Rod L.
I have the same problem. Here is my set up.
I also keep a minimag flashlight in my train tool box.
Jim
Geez, I am only 41 and I am having the same problem...
Is incandescent better than flourescent? Or, vice versa? What about halogen? I have been thinking about this issue as well and have not made a determination as to the best way to light my workbench.
Regards,
John O
I too am curious to see ( pun intended) if there's any good lighting ideas. Seems the only time these old eyes are satisfied is if they're working with direct sunlight.
Bruce Webster
I have found that you need a few different lighting sources.Ambient lighting a faint background light to the area
Direct lighting, provides a higher degree of light to the areaFocused lighting, provides direct light to the subjectThe problem with shadows is due to not enough direct lighting. I like to have light coming from the left and right at the same time as light from above. This basicly eliminates any shadows on your subject matter. The key is to have the same amount of light coming from all directions, maybe a bit brighter from above. Also the RENUE? lights from GE (the bluish colored lights) tend to give the best light IMHO.Brent
Get checked for cataracts. If that's your problem, the lens-replacement operation is no big deal. You even get to correct refractive problems that you may be wearing glasses for.
And, if you get one eye corrected for close and the other for distant, you can largely get away from bifocals and reading glasses. It's called monovision. You don't notice the moderate blurring in the eye that's out of focus--everything looks normal.
Bob Nelson
Rod L,
Have you tried using flourescent lights mounted on the wall or ceiling? These give off a lot of light for low watts used. There are new styles of flourescent lights that use the regular screw-in base and use only 23 watts for 60 watts of lighting.
Incandescent give a decent amount of light but use more power than flourescent for the same amount of light.
Halogen give off a lot of light & heat and run your electric bill up as they normally use between 300 & 500 watts.
Depends upon your roof but you may want to look at putting in a sky light.
Lee F.
Besides room light, I added these on each side of the room.
From Lowes.
Also found this helpful [needed a bigger one or two]
God bless TCA 05-58541 Benefactor Member of the NRA, Member of the American Legion, Retired Boss Hog of Roseyville , KC&D Qualified
ChiefEagles wrote: Also found this helpful [needed a bigger one or two]
Far from running your electric bill up, halogen lamps are about twice as efficacious as ordinary incandescents (and half as efficacious as fluorescents) and come in much smaller ratings than 300 watts.
Most of the energy put into any incandescent lamp turns into heat. So, since a halogen needs half the power of a regular incandescent for the same amount of light, it generates half the heat. They give the impression of giving off a lot of heat because their envelopes are a lot hotter; but a high temperature is not the same as high heat production.
Of course, a 500-watt halogen will put out about 500 watts of heat. So will a 500-watt non-halogen incandescent; but it will give you only about half as much light for your 500 watts.
Forgot about track lighting, which is nice also as you can move the light fixtures around and point the light where you want it, can change light bulbs too for differant levels of light.
To hide unsightly wires you can use wire mold(a form of conduit), sold at home improvement stores, has many angle pieces available.
The type of halogen lights that I was talking about where the floor lamp models that shine light at the ceiling. I am sure that current halogen lights have improved somewhat.
Halogen lamps have always had about twice the efficacy. The point of putting halogens into the lamp is that they deposit evaporated tungsten back onto the filament. This makes it possible to operate the filament at a higher and more efficacious temperature without sacrificing the longevity of the lamp. It also allows the lamp to have a much smaller envelope, since there will be no deposited tungsten to darken it. A side-effect of the small envelope is that it gets much hotter than a large envelope.
Lee's advice to use Wiremold is good. But don't be tempted to hide wires behind ordinary wood or plastic molding. The NEC forbids using anything that doesn't look like it was meant to have wires in it. They're understandably afraid that someone sometime will drive a nail or screw through the wire.
Low-voltage (12-volt) track lighting is more efficacious than 120-volt. Generally, lower design voltage is better for incandescent lamps. I don't have a number for the improvement from 120 volts to 12, but our 120-volt lamps are about 20 percent better than European 230-volt ones.
I was having an ambient lighting issue in the train room. The major source of light was from an overhead ceiling fan/light combo with a limit of 100 watts so I had 4 25 watt incandecent bulbs. This did not provide enough light to work on the layout for me and was planning to add track lights. I experimented and got some of the fluorcent type replacement bulbs for the overhead light fixture. I'm not sure of the equivalant numbers but a 23 watt bulb gives off the equivalent light of a 75 watt incandecent. I put in 4 of the 23 watt fluorcent bulbs and WOW what a difference. I have completly thrown out my plan to add track lights, as I now have plenty of light to see by. The difference was huge, is within the wattage limits of the light fixture and they operate without adding heat. I love 'em!
The reason I mentioned Wiremold is that it looks better than regular conduit inside the house however it can be more difficult to fit into place or attach to a wall.
Bob, are you trying to say that halogen lights are more efficient by using the word efficacy?
Jim, I have heard somewhere that California is planning to ban regular incandescent light bulbs and replacements can only be the newer style flourescent light.
lionelsoni wrote:Lee, yes. Efficacy is a special kind of efficiency used for evaluating the performance of lamps. Efficacy excludes the electromagnetic radiation at shorter and longer wavelengths and considers only the light that we can see. It can be expressed as lumens per watt or as a dimensionless value that is the ratio of the useful light power out divided by the electrical power in. Very roughly speaking, the efficacy expressed the latter way of ordinary incandescents is about 5 percent, halogens 10 percent, and fluorescents 20 percent.
One can learn sooooo much by reading Bob's posts To the original question (certainly take Bob's advice for everything, but most importantly, getting your eyes checked, many vision issues can be fixed...to a point, so get it done), onto the lighting issue. The best method for a workbench is to have a combination. One type lighting for your surrounding environment. This is usually best by a flourecent type mounted high overhead. Second, would be a focused light, I personally like a focus beam halogen that can be directed. This is what we use in surgery. I would also suggest a magnifying glass of some sort that you can either wear, or the type that you can swing into position so you can look through it at your subject. Also, a good mirror that you can use to direct more light to certain areas is a good thing to have on hand. It is also good to let you look into areas that you otherwise can't position your eye to directly view. I personally like a dental mirror.
Dennis
TCA#09-63805
Bob,
Very interesting to know, didn't know that light bulbs were rated like that.
Great Stuff! As always, I learn a great deal from this forum. I like Brent's idea of using multiple sources to eliminate shadows.
Thanks for the info!
Lots of great advice here; Thanks to all.
I see the answer is in trying different combinations till I achieve the best results for my work area. At least there is comfort in knowing I'm not alone on this subject. Bob, If I retain even a fraction of the advice you give, I'm better for it. I even have a folder on the hard drive labeled for your advice and answers. I call it "Bob's Best".
Thanks.
Rod LaFrance
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