[TheForge] Shop Lighting

[Grover Richardson]

>*>-----Original Message-----
>*>From: theforge-bounces at mailman.qth.net 
>*>[mailto:theforge-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of 
>*>wmullett at bright.net
>*>Sent: Monday, February 27, 2006 5:08 PM
>*>To: Sponsored by ABANA
>*>Subject: Re: RE: [TheForge] Shop Lighting
>*>
>*>
>*>I've not run the full comparison but with energy costs 
>*>already up, you may find that these are already cost 
>*>effective - or soon will be.  Number of fixtures is less 
>*>than standard F40T12 units and with the higher lumens per 
>*>watt, operating costs should be considerably less per lumen.
>*>
>*>From: "Grover Richardson" <grover.richardson at gtri.gatech.edu>
>*>Date: Mon Feb 27, 4:33 PM
>*>To: "'Sponsored by ABANA'" <theforge at mailman.qth.net>
>*>Subject: RE: [TheForge] Shop Lighting
>*> 

Me neither.  Still watching.  With the fluorescents, I find that the bulb
cost at the side work is slightly over $5 per bulb.  They tend to loose a
couple a week.  I would guess that they have 200 bulbs or so.  Nasty
chemical environment, uneven power source with surges.

The problem that I have with leds is that they operate like Zener.  In that
they keep a constant Voltage across them during operation.  The exact
Voltage varies depending upon color (not a problem here) and batch of
manufacture.  The units I have used so far have had dropping resistors in
series which eat up a significant amount of power.  I don't know how they
regulate them in their service, but a regulator that controlled the current
would make sense.

I have a flashlight on a keychain that I use walking down the driveway at
night.  One led is about as good as a 2 cell C cell flashlight.  Just the
beam is not as wide.  I really like it.