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Funny you should ask this just now... I've just come back from 3 hours sorting out my local taxes. (This is "on topic" honest)! I have damaged eyes so that I can't stand lots of fluorescent tubes. They turned some off so that I could see... toward the end some of the staff were commenting that they felt good... not the usual end-of-the-day headache. So the lighting you put up with at work has a direct effect on your Railroad hobby... and your overall health. Too much light... especially too much light of the dwrong kind is bad for your health in general and your eys in particular. Simple solution... and I've seen this work in practice... get tubes changed to "daylight white" and add at least one tungsten halogen filament (ordinary light bulb) per room... the different lamp breaks up the frequency of the tube light... light/seeing/colour all depend on the frequency at which particles move. (Same as sound to your ears but to your eyes). Now that affects two other things... your perception of colour and what happens with "colour" under different light conditions. The simplest example that is at your fingertips is to print off a hard copy of the picture of Bond, Colorado and hold it next to the picture on your screen.... you will have completely different effects. Solution... spend loads of $$$$$ getting professional expertise or experiment on what works out for you. Your basement / trainroom will almost certainly be different from everyone elses... just how long since you painted the ceiling last will change things... and you will not have noticed... not even if you are a smoker and the ceiling is stained. FIRST thing to do if you are working on your lights/wiring... do it with the fuse out/breaker tripped out (removed if possible)... AND put a label on the box telling people not to turn it back on (it hurts)! As ndbprr says ALWAYS keep your loading below the rating of the fuse/breaker. I wouldn't mess about with a plug -in adaptor to the light fitting. (A drop-out should never happen but if it did it could spark... you also don't want hanging wires). If a feed from there is the way to go, then put in a junction box and feed proper connections in conduit to whatever new lights you have... or have installed. What's the cost of an electrician doing a proper job for you? ... against the cost of a fire? Personally I would tend to stick with the light as it is and run additional new lights for a layout / work bench. These could be wired from sockets in the wall PROVIDED you avoid running cables across the floor where they will be a trip hazard... and fire hazard. Questions to ask yourself. What's the aggregate value of all your train stuff (and whatever else you have stored)? What's the value of your eyesight? My eyes were damaged by accident. I am incredibly fortunate to have no damage other than being photophobic to specific types of light (like a vampire)! Most of four days being blind gave me a sudden appreciation of having sight. Oh yes... and wear eye protection when drilling etc... Then again... if you do some work on your lights you could improve the ventilation (especially if you spray paint / use solvents)... YOU DO HAVE A SMOKE DETECTOR DON'T YOU... AND CARBON MONOXIDE DETECTOR IF YOUR HEATER IS DOWN THERE... If the other half is not looking you could run in a networking cable and upgrade your sound system...
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