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Taswind
Newbie

Joined: 13/12/2012
Location: Australia
Posts: 31

Posted: 01:15am 06 Jul 2014

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G'day All
Have finally made the move to go full off grid and have sold our house in town and brought a early 1900s farm house , no one has been living in it for a few years so a bit run down

but are working our way through the most important things before we start Renovating it , have got the solar up and running for power , only 1500 watts so far but are going ok for power .

First real thing to do is get a new workshop up so I can unload all my tools out of the containers that everything is stored in .

Workshop / shed is ordered and ground work is started , so am wondering what do all you off grid guys use for lighting in your workshops ?

norcold

Guru

Joined: 06/02/2011
Location: Australia
Posts: 670

Posted: 07:37am 06 Jul 2014

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I use the old standard 240v flouros, cheap, readily available, good light and proven. If you run a search on this 4M you`ll find at least one discussion on this subject. But like anything there is new tech out there, I guess it comes down to whether you wish to experiment or want something that time has proven.

Bit like Pb acid battery compared to the Li family of batteries for storage. Pb`s been around awhile, Li`s the "new kid on the block", looks very promising as does LED lighting.

Have found refrigeration the largest consumer of power, thus suggest if like most you want the best "bang for buck", invest in the newer less power consuming refrigeration but stick with the older cheaper flouros for light. But welcome to RE it is very rewarding to set up a good working system but not cheap, with a good size battery bank being the heart of the system and the most cost. My take of course.

We come from the land downunder.
Vic

solarwind

Regular Member

Joined: 03/02/2008
Location: South Africa
Posts: 51

Posted: 10:47am 08 Jul 2014

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I agree with norcold about using what you have (fluorescents). LEDS still far to expensive for large scale use.

Good luck! Sounds like a nice project!

Johann

You don't have success until you've tried it!

Taswind
Newbie

Joined: 13/12/2012
Location: Australia
Posts: 31

Posted: 10:34pm 12 Jul 2014

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Thanks for the replies , was thinking flouros but was worried about mounting them up high in the shed , but am thinking that if I make some reflectors from mirror stainless this shouldn't be a problem .

Will have a search for the other discussion on this subject , thanks for the heads up norcold

yahoo2

Guru

Joined: 05/04/2011
Location: Australia
Posts: 1166

Posted: 05:23pm 13 Jul 2014

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I have older flouros in one of my sheds and they chew a lot of power.
If you can find a cheap luminaire that has a diffuser that holds the T8 size flouros and fit a single quad phosphorous tube you would have to go a long way to beat that for general lighting.

The led floodlights are good but they cast a shadow and dazzle you at the same time if they are not in the perfect position. I sometimes have to use a headlight to fill in the gaps.

I would like to try one of Tortech's 50 watt or 120 watt highbay lights in my workshop to replace my old flouros, they might be a good option for a higher shed.Edited by yahoo2 2014-07-15

I'm confused, no wait... maybe I'm not...

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