Lighting a shed

DJ98

Want to improve the lighting in the lambing shed, currently there is just a sinlge bulb in the middle of it (100 watt I think), the size of the shed is 45ft x 20 ft, was thinking of fitting an led light strip in the centre if the shed, would this provide adequate lighting and is it a big job to fit these.

Also looking at getting plug sockets installed in the main shed, would this be a major job, electriciy already in shed and work would be done by a qualified electrician. Thank you.

_Brian

Hard to say how big job to be honest, depends if power supply in shed is suitable to drop a socket spur off. If it is then the socket isn’t a big deal.

In larger sheds I think a few light points are better than one central one. Again if existing wiring is workable then it’s no big job.

Stanford

You may require a Fuse Board with seperate breakers for sockets and lights, get an electrician to do it or you risk a fire hazard

_Brian

Stanford wrote: »

You may require a Fuse Board with seperate breakers for sockets and lights, get an electrician to do it or you risk a fire hazard

In fairness OP said he was getting a sparks in to do the work

Stanford

_Brian wrote: »

In fairness OP said he was getting a sparks in to do the work

You are correct, my mistake

Seanieke

The new led floodlights are only 20 watts so you could easily put in 4 or 5 of them around the shed & use the same power. As for a socket, all depends on where the power for the shed is coming from. If it's from a breaker in the house & has the correct size cable coming out, no problem. If it's wired off a shed that's wired off a shed that's wired off a pump house (I've seen it) then I'd just be glad to have light!

DJ98

Seanieke wrote: »

The new led floodlights are only 20 watts so you could easily put in 4 or 5 of them around the shed & use the same power. As for a socket, all depends on where the power for the shed is coming from. If it's from a breaker in the house & has the correct size cable coming out, no problem. If it's wired off a shed that's wired off a shed that's wired off a pump house (I've seen it) then I'd just be glad to have light!

Power is coming from house but breaker box also located in shed opposite lambing shed

joejobrien

Take sound advice regards LED lights if you should ever consider use of generator on farm . Currrent not stable from generator. potential to Blow unlike flourcents. Not every electrician will tell you this.

Seanieke

DJ98 wrote:

Power is coming from house but breaker box also located in shed opposite lambing shed

Sounds like it's well set up so. Shouldn't be any hassle to upgrade.

I'd go down the LED floodlight route if I were you. One 20w would give the same light as the old 100w lamp. So throwing a few in the shed certainly won't do any harm. They're down now to around €20 each so won't break the bank either.

Dickie10

put in plenty of lights anyway and throw one or two up outside if needs be it became a pet hate of mine, a lack of light so got a sparks in 4 years ago , some comfort now cant beat decent lighting around the place, sure you will save giving it to tax man

DJ98

Dickie10 wrote: »

put in plenty of lights anyway and throw one or two up outside if needs be it became a pet hate of mine, a lack of light so got a sparks in 4 years ago , some comfort now cant beat decent lighting around the place, sure you will save giving it to tax man

Very hard to do anything arounfd the yard or in shed at the moment without using flashlamps and headtorches

_Brian

DJ98 wrote: »

Very hard to do anything arounfd the yard or in shed at the moment without using flashlamps and headtorches

Often I don’t bother switching on yard lights as I’d have my head torch on anyway.

Inside the sheds though I can’t stamd not having plenty of light. Fittings are so cheap and led bulbs leaves running costs low, there’s no reason not to have them.

DJ98

_Brian wrote: »

Often I don’t bother switching on yard lights as I’d have my head torch on anyway.

Inside the sheds though I can’t stamd not having plenty of light. Fittings are so cheap and led bulbs leaves running costs low, there’s no reason not to have them.

Very hard to lamb sheep during the night without proper lights

DJ98

https://www.farmlighting.ie/store/p13/IP65_LED_Non_Corrosive_Fitting_with_%2F_without__2_x_LED_tubes.html

Are these the lights I should be looking at buying for the lambing shed, how many would be needed in a 20x45 ft shed?

Green&Red

DJ98 wrote: »

https://www.farmlighting.ie/store/p13/IP65_LED_Non_Corrosive_Fitting_with_%2F_without__2_x_LED_tubes.html

Are these the lights I should be looking at buying for the lambing shed, how many would be needed in a 20x45 ft shed?

I wouldn’t touch those. LEDS don’t come in tubes, I’m not sure what’s going on there, the innocent explanation might be that they’re trying to replicate what a farmer knows but I’d be a suspicious.
It’s also very cheap, not necessarily a good thing. LEDs are different to fluorescents, there’s no changing the tubes, you replace the whole thing. So I’d be looking at the running hours of these things, you’d expect one to last 24/7 for about 7 yrs.

You can daisy chain 4/5 of these from ur old 100W fitting.

Someone made a comment there about generators and LEDs, not an issue. In theory they should be more suited to switching to a genny cause there’s no starter in them

emaherx

Green&Red wrote: »

I wouldn’t touch those. LEDS don’t come in tubes, I’m not sure what’s going on there, the innocent explanation might be that they’re trying to replicate what a farmer knows but I’d be a suspicious.
It’s also very cheap, not necessarily a good thing. LEDs are different to fluorescents, there’s no changing the tubes, you replace the whole thing. So I’d be looking at the running hours of these things, you’d expect one to last 24/7 for about 7 yrs.

You can daisy chain 4/5 of these from ur old 100W fitting.

Someone made a comment there about generators and LEDs, not an issue. In theory they should be more suited to switching to a genny cause there’s no starter in them

You'd be wrong there. LEDs are available in tubes and have been for years.

Green&Red

As replacements for traditional fluorescents while using the existing housing - a pile of ****e
A new fitting shouldn’t have tubes in it

emaherx

Green&Red wrote: »

As replacements for traditional fluorescents while using the existing housing - a pile of ****e
A
New fitting shouldn’t have tubes in it

Nope. Led fittings have no starters or ballest and won't work for florescent tubes. Nothing wrong with led tubes. Sure some are bad, same can be said of any LED type lamps I've had a few sealed units fail too.

Green&Red

Why would you have a tube? Your point about starter and ballast is exactly why you don’t have a tube?

It seems like they’re reusing fluorescent fittings

Edit: there’s also no mention on that page of their running hours. Id avoid. Go into CT or CEF electrical or another electrical supplier and you’ll get a decent fitting

emaherx

Green&Red wrote: »

Why would you have a tube? Your point about starter and ballast is exactly why you don’t have a tube?

It seems like they’re reusing fluorescent fittings

Edit: there’s also no mention on that page of their running hours. Id avoid. Go into CT or CEF electrical or another electrical supplier and you’ll get a decent fitting

Why not have a tube?
Easier to replace than a sealed unit.
Provides some redundancy as there are two tubes in each fitting

So what if they are reusing florescent fittings? all the ES and BC fittings have also been reused for the best part of a century for various bulb types.

But they seemed cheap like you said because they don't have all the components of a florescent fitting.

The life expectancy marked on most bulbs is completely unrealistic, with many failing prematurely.

Green&Red

Having tubes is just adding in additional connections for no practical purpose. And if they are trying to use flourescent fittings then that’s just a really bad idea. The ballast was designed to be used in a flourescent fitting.

It’s very unusual for there to be no run time at all. As you say some of them can be unrealistic but at the very least its there!
If you wanted to go into proper detail the running life is measured until it drops below 70% of its output. I would be very surprised if they were still doing that this time next year.

emaherx

Green&Red wrote: »

Having tubes is just adding in additional connections for no practical purpose. And if they are trying to use flourescent fittings then that’s just a really bad idea. The ballast was designed to be used in a flourescent fitting.

It’s very unusual for there to be no run time at all. As you say some of them can be unrealistic but at the very least its there!
If you wanted to go into proper detail the running life is measured until it drops below 70% of its output. I would be very surprised if they were still doing that this time next year.

From what I've seen from all LED lighting, it doesn't matter if it's a retro fit bulb or sealed unit it may fail within 1 year or last many years. But when it's a bulb or a tube type it tends to get replaced quicker and easier than the sealed type.

Having sealed units also increases waste at end of life.

I'm sure it is easy to contact the supplier and ask for more detail. But you can buy them from other suppliers online or in a bricks an mortar shop with full data sheets.

Also LEDs, rearly drop off in light output like florescents do they tend to just fail or start flickering.

Green&Red

Green&Red wrote: »

Having tubes is just adding in additional connections for no practical purpose. And if they are trying to use flourescent fittings then that’s just a really bad idea. The ballast was designed to be used in a flourescent fitting.

Those fittings dont use a ballast as stated above.
They are leds that look like fluorescent fittings simple as that.

Green&Red

BrownFinger wrote: »

Those fittings dont use a ballast as stated above.
They are leds that look like fluorescent fittings simple as that.

It makes no sense to do that

emaherx

Green&Red wrote: »

It makes no sense to do that

It makes perfect sense. The LED tubes were invented to replace florescents but in new installations you can use fittings designed specifically for the LED tubes which need to have the same fitting.

Having completely sealed units that need to be replaced every 3-4 years makes very little sense also and for many people this would mean having to hire an electrician Everytime a bulb blows. The LED tubes like the florescent tubes can be replaced in seconds with no tools.


The bulb section on that website says they last 30,000 hours (to answer your earlier concern).

emaherx

DJ98 wrote: »

https://www.farmlighting.ie/store/p13/IP65_LED_Non_Corrosive_Fitting_with_%2F_without__2_x_LED_tubes.html

Are these the lights I should be looking at buying for the lambing shed, how many would be needed in a 20x45 ft shed?

I'd put one in the middle of every second bay at least.

4068ac1elhodqr

What about free light (enhancement of)?
Using simple light refraction of sunlight, via two-litre plastic bottles of 1:20 bleach:water
(multiple, sealed into the actual roof)

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-23536914

Increases light levels for free between sunrise and sunset, maybe even on full moons too.

For very cold winters nights,
a small 75w FIR (red light) will pump out decent levels of directive heat.

emaherx

Sylas Deafening Rower wrote: »

What about free light (enhancement of)?
Using simple light refraction of sunlight, via two-litre plastic bottles of 1:20 bleach:water
(multiple, sealed into the actual roof)

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-23536914

Increases light levels for free between sunrise and sunset, maybe even on full moons too.

For very cold winters nights,
a small 75w FIR (red light) will pump out decent levels of directive heat.

He could try asking his sheep not to have any lambs on cloudy nights.

Green&Red

emaherx wrote: »

It makes perfect sense. The LED tubes were invented to replace florescents but in new installations you can use fittings designed specifically for the LED tubes which need to have the same fitting.

Having completely sealed units that need to be replaced every 3-4 years makes very little sense also and for many people this would mean having to hire an electrician Everytime a bulb blows. The LED tubes like the florescent tubes can be replaced in seconds with no tools.


The bulb section on that website says they last 30,000 hours (to answer your earlier concern).

A decent LED should last at least 7 years with a warranty of 5

There’s also no such thing as “every time a bulb blows”, it’s hundreds of little diodes

arctictree

I have a 3 bay shed with lean Tos both sides so am going to install a light in each bay. That's 6 in total. I already have a 12v battery running a small farm office with 5w led bulbs. These bulbs seem to throw out the equivalent of 40w normal bulbs. I'm going to put 6 of these in the shed on a dimmer switch. That should get me through lambing in addition to the head torch.

emaherx

Green&Red wrote: »

There’s also no such thing as “every time a bulb blows”, it’s hundreds of little diodes

Really? This has not been my experience more often than not their integrated PSU's die long before all the little diodes fail.

No light/ left in the dark is equivalent to a blown bulb.