former owners

[bmwrd0]

Sometimes you just need to walk away.

The florescent lights in my shop were starting to flicker a bit, and one set was getting pretty dim. Well, today they died, just leaving me with task lighting. And being a basement shop, I need more than that, so I picked up some replacement bulbs today. Well, they worked for about a half hour and them flicked off. See if you can spot the problem:


Well, the former owner (one of them at least) sheetrocked in a ceiling, but left no way to access the wiring or ballast of the lights. They are suspended(!) on chains from the floor above, but there is no way to get to them. So, I get to either cut an access panel, trying to guess the location of the wiring, or just pull it all down.

Now, I hate florescent lights with a passion, so I think I am going to get rid of all of it, and put up some other type of lighting. On the plus side, this will give me another inch of ceiling hight, not a bad idea when the ceiling sits at less than six feet.

So, I know what I am doing this weekend!

[goodfellow]

That's a weird way to install a light. The former owner must have though long and hard about that fix -- LOL.

[DeadNutz]

That's real nice. I wonder what the wiring looks like behind that sheetrock.

[bmwrd0]

Yeah, there has been some... interesting... wiring in the house. Built in 1913, it had knob and tube run throughout, but upgraded around '60. So, I have found in-wall splices mixing Romex and K&T, along with some further oddities from the '90s. Any old house has weirdness to it, but the neighborhood here wasn't always as nice and many of the houses have a track record of half-assed homeowner "fixes." On the plus side, my neighbor is an engineer, so the last owner would call him to help fix anything that came up when he owned it. So the most recent stuff is good, but I am always finding something new, and any fix takes three times as long and costs twice as much.

Also, nothing off the shelf works. I had to install a new wall fan in the upstairs bathroom, and ended up having to modify a standard unit by removing mounting tabs, chassis punching for new electrical, etc. The old unit was a ceiling fan that was too thick for the walls, so they built a box around it. Which still didn't fit.

[TexasT]

https://www.amazon.com/Linkable-BBOUNDER-Utility-Ceiling-Fixture/dp/B07BGTVY4T/ref=asc_df_B07BGTVY4T/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=242082743678&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=3972885374805266316&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9027201&hvtargid=pla-483240446764&psc=1

Get you a ten pack and you can mount em and chain em all over the place.

[jabberwoki]

Yep raise the roof... sounds like a great plan.

[muddy]

Time for LEDs !

Sent from my E6910 using Tapatalk

[bmwrd0]

So, I started tearing into it tonight

The wiring doesn't look bad, it just seems that someone decided to drywall around them. Stupid, but what isn't these days. So, the plan is to strip out the old drywall, and then install some sort of LED bars or strips. Should work, I will just put one over each work bench.

Or, I could do this

Fairy lights! It is what I have in the main part of the basement, and actually works pretty good. But, the light level might not work for a shop...

[bmwrd0]

In the middle of the project.

I have pulled all the big stuff down now, only thing left are the nails that held it up. I only found two mice nests, not too bad. Instead of trying to pull everything out of the shop I went around the room, putting a drop cloth over what was directly underneath to keep the major bits out of everything. I also closed the lids of all the tool boxes to keep everything out. Seems to have worked pretty well.

Now I just need to pull out all of the old drywall, which is no fun, as the basement is only accessible by a small door at the bottom of a shot flight of stairs. And then I need to carry everything around to the front of the house and into the back of my truck, so I can take it to the dump. But my back to decided to make issues yesterday, so I am moving really slowly on this part.

[DeadNutz]

When the drywall crew did the shop I had them leave the underside of the mezzanine open and not capped. Plenty of storage room for long items between the 2x12 floor joists. I have 7' height under the joists and beams and about 14' from the center beam to each wall. I keep empty long boxes, long pieces of metal stock and lumber in there as it sure beats leaning 1by pine boards up against the wall. I just don't concentrate weight in one area and there are pretty stout beams holding it up.

[pep]

just a thought, strip the ballast or just cut the wiring off. LED tubes in, Very easy mod, and still have the reflector.

Going on 5 years, not one failure, 35 tubes

for reference
https://www.superbrightleds.com/cat/linear-bulbs-t8-t5-bulbs/


Here is the wiring diagram two ways to wire, using the same tube.
1 without the ballast
2 with the ballast

Why anyone would keep the ballast is beyond me

cheers

[J.A.F.E.]

I got some shop lights at Sams Club for 20 each. They look like regular shop 4' lamps but have a standard NEMA 5-15 plug so don't need to be hardwired. They also have a 5-15 receptacle so they can be strung together.

I'm quite pleased with them in the garage.

[walrus]

T8 rapid start ballasts have a jumper wire between the 2 contacts in the bulb socket. If you put 120 volts(For some LED bulbs)  to those sockets you will get a smoke show when you turn them on. Beware and check your sockets for continuity.

[fatfillup]

T8 rapid start ballasts have a jumper wire between the 2 contacts in the bulb socket. If you put 120 volts(For some LED bulbs)  to those sockets you will get a smoke show when you turn them on. Beware and check your sockets for continuity.

thanks for the heads up

[bmwrd0]

So, I have it all pulled down now and only a few misc. nails to get out at this point. I feels so much more open even though I only pulled a half-inch or so of drywall out. Funny how that works.



So, next I need to shut down power on that circuit so I can wire in recepticles to plug in the new LCD lights I ordered and which should arrive tomorrow. I plan on putting them in a few better areas, so I get better light where I want it. One over each bench and one over the tool box. That will give good background light and good specific light at work areas.

Anyway, I picked up a mobile shop vac a few years ago and dang if it isn't the handiest thing. I highly recommend one if you do a lot of home repairs, as it share beats lugging a full size vac around and up stairs.

[fatfillup]

Vac is nice.  I assume the hose and all store in the unit making it easy to store and carry

[skfarmer]

I got some shop lights at Sams Club for 20 each. They look like regular shop 4' lamps but have a standard NEMA 5-15 plug so don't need to be hardwired. They also have a 5-15 receptacle so they can be strung together.

I'm quite pleased with them in the garage.

i have not used those but i have used similar ones. i have about 20 of them in my shop and plan on putting up more. i installed a lot of them on the wall. much nicer when working under a hood or vehicle. string them together for an easy install and the each have a switch if you want to turn one or more off.

[J.A.F.E.]

Good lighting makes things so much nicer. If nothing else it helps to find the bolts you drop down between the engine and some obstruction or under the car. Ever notice they always seem to migrate to the spot under the car hardest to reach?