Thursday, December 12, 2013

Electrical Work in Progress

Here's a few photos of the electrical work in progress.


There are many options in providing lighting for a workshop. After much reading and pondering I decided on bayonet mounted domestic LED bulbs, in particular iGlobe 9w warm 2900k 100w equiv. 16 mounted in the workshop and 4 in the storage bay. I selected a large number to reduce shadows and have even lighting. (The exact number was determined by the rafters layout.) The bulbs are all the same brand, power, and temperature.  

The three main options for lighting were traditional fluorescent tubes, bayonet mounts, or LED strip lighting. 

Fluorescent are what people expect in a workspace. However, they hum, take time to warm up, flicker on warming up, and then flicker with AC current. LED strip lighting is new and perhaps the cheapest. However, it relied on transformers and offered little back compatibility or flexibility.  

The bayonet mounts with LED bulbs were the best compromise. Additionally even with the expensive LED bulbs the installation cost is less than half that of a fluorescent.  They are cheap to run, offer consistant light, switch on instantly, and are said to last 50,000 hours.    

I was also given a large mercury vapour light which I'll mount in the centre. This should add some character to the shed.


The majority of domestic outlets in Australia are 10A 240v which isn't quite enough for the larger 3-5hp machines. The workshop now has 6 x 15A outlets offering plenty options. (Note the 15A sockets have wider earth pins so that you can't plug a 15A plug into a 10A socket.)

I also had the opportunity to install a single three phase outlet. As I don't have any three phase tools this may be overkill. However, I wanted to future proof it as much as I could, and hopefully make my little workshop more attractive if I was ever to sell it.


A work in progress... 

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