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Reloading bench lighting

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AHart76XCorporal
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50 posts this site
Reloading bench lighting
01/16/2017

So I finally built my gun bench in my new house. It is an extremely sturdy yet semi-temporary set up in my unfinished basement. I made it fairly removable so I can take it down when I decide to finish my basement. Anyway being that it is unfinished, It's pretty dark. I went to lowes to look at lighting. At the farm we have 8ft High Output Florencent lights, and we keep bulbs with a "5 Year Garuntee" that a salesman stops by and drops more off every so often. It's convienient. So I bought an 8ft high output light fixture to go over my 8ft bench since we keep them at the farm. Well now I'm reading that fluorescent lights can mess with digital scales and ChargeMasters? Is this true? Has anyone experienced it? Also would it be safe to tap into an existing circuit? As of now there is nothing else running off the circuit. When the basement gets finished a reloading room will be put in and that room will go on it's own circuit for sure then. And lastly I read something about a power conditioner? Tried reading around but really it just made me more confused lol

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NY700XSergeant
Rating: 3.2/5 this site
473 posts this site
Re: Reloading bench lighting
01/17/2017

Yes Florescent light has been known to throw of chargmasters.

Honestly I would pick up two (I haven't seen 8ft models) led show lights. The bulbs last unbelievably long, they work better in the cold then Florescent. You don't have a lister that go out. No flickering no humming, the light output is better, and more even
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padom
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XFirst Sergeant
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Re: Reloading bench lighting
01/17/2017 Last edited 01/17/2017 by padom

These LED fixtures are what you want. I have one of these over each of my four benches in my reloading room. I bought the 4 pack and wired them up on different zones so I dont have them all on if I dont need too. Was cheaper than buying them from HomeDepot/Lowes.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B012ENQPXQ/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&th=1

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Citius7XCorporal
Rating: 3.0/5 this site
58 posts this site
Re: Reloading bench lighting
01/17/2017

High output fluorescents will run in the cold so that's not a problem but it is if your throwing your weighs off. If your going to remodel down there I went with can lighting and put in a ton of LEDs super bright and allows me to dim down if it's too much. It's a fairly cheap way to go too. The lights will last forever.
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AHart76XCorporal
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Re: Reloading bench lighting
01/17/2017

Okay, Sounds like I need to go back to Lowes or Menards and buy some LED lights. I'll keep the fluorescent being that we sometimes have ballast trouble in the farm shop. So any kind of LED light fixture will work? I remember at lowes they had a fixture that hooked together 2 4ft sections. Seems like that would be a good option.

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padom
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XFirst Sergeant
Rating: 3.8/5 this site
3050 posts this site
Re: Reloading bench lighting
01/17/2017 Last edited 01/17/2017 by padom

AHart76 wrote:
Okay, Sounds like I need to go back to Lowes or Menards and buy some LED lights. I'll keep the fluorescent being that we sometimes have ballast trouble in the farm shop. So any kind of LED light fixture will work? I remember at lowes they had a fixture that hooked together 2 4ft sections. Seems like that would be a good option.​


Thats exactly what the ones I posted the Amazon link above do. You can hook as many 4' LED fixtures as you want together. They were cheaper on Amazon with free shipping than Home Depot/Lowes.

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SheldonN
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XFirst Sergeant
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Re: Reloading bench lighting
01/17/2017 Last edited 01/17/2017 by SheldonN

I just picked up one of these from Home Depot, works great.



homedepot.com/p/Commercial-Electric-4-ft-White-LED-Linkable-Shop-Light-54103161/205331022

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1stRustXSergeant
Rating: 3.0/5 this site
126 posts this site
Re: Reloading bench lighting
01/19/2017

LED lighting uses a switch mode power supply (like a phone charger). Cheap ones can feed back a little noise into the AC line which could affect an electronic scale or powder measure. When dropping powder charges I use old fashioned incandescent desk lights on the reloading bench. I also plug my Chargemaster into a quality surge suppressor/power conditioner (not the cheap five dollar crap).

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doctnjXSergeant
Rating: 2.4/5 this site
385 posts this site
Re: Reloading bench lighting
01/19/2017

SheldonN wrote:
I just picked up one of these from Home Depot, works great.



homedepot.com/p/Commercial-Electric-4-ft-White-LED-Linkable-Shop-Light-54103161/205331022
Those are exactly the ones I use. They work great. Also I picked up some clamp on spot lights and use LED bulbs in them and clamp them to the shelves above my bench for focused light in work areas.

homedepot.com/p/75-Watt-Incandescent-Clamp-Light-HD-200PDQ/205139241

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shoot4fun
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XFirst Sergeant
Rating: 3.3/5 this site
4603 posts this site
Re: Reloading bench lighting
01/19/2017

I switched all my shop lighting to LED about a year and a half ago. Best move I ever made!
While some say the LEDs can interfere with electronics I have not found that to be the case so far. I have a FX-120 digital scale and two charge masters on the bench and all work well without drift.
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marknchipXPrivate
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Re: Reloading bench lighting
01/19/2017

Not trying to bash anyone but if you buy the cheap LED stuff you will get backfeed. Buy good name brand lights and you have much less chance of problems. My room is nothing but LED and I hav zero issues with my scales

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shoot4fun
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XFirst Sergeant
Rating: 3.3/5 this site
4603 posts this site
Re: Reloading bench lighting
01/19/2017

I paid about $60 each for mine. But I did buy more of the same brand later for a much lower price. The original LED screw in bulbs we bought to replace incadescent lighting were almost $10 each in the beginning and have dropped to around half that now. I guess I don't know where "cheap" is on these lights. If you know please tell us what to look for other than just price. Things like the components that could cause the back feed you talk about?
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marknchipXPrivate
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Re: Reloading bench lighting
01/20/2017

Most fixtures you buy at the box stores are not the best quality of fixture. Led lighting uses a "driver" instead of a ballast you might know in fluorescent lighting. A lot of fixtures I've seen at the box store use a lamp that has its own internal driver which is the least expensive route but also the least clean. I have purchased 4' and 8' led lights for above my bench that are fantastic. a 4"er cost $90. it puts out more light than I've ever needed. I know they are made by Lithonia and will get the model number tonight if I can remember that long.

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shoot4fun
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XFirst Sergeant
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Re: Reloading bench lighting
01/20/2017

My point is that the overall pricing on LED lighting has come down as acceptance has risen thus causing the $90 light to sell in many places for half that now. I purchased some of mine from Home Depot, some from Lowe's and the last (one of which is directly over my electronics) from Sam's Club. There is one screw in "pig-tail" light still in the shop but it will be gone very soon.
I would say, after purchasing from three different retailers, that one should be more aware of how LED light output is rated in in terms of brightness more than how much you pay. There has been much confusion and deception in those manufacturer claims IMHO.
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marknchipXPrivate
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Re: Reloading bench lighting
01/20/2017

I would agree as acceptance is coming around prices are dropping

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shoot4fun
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XFirst Sergeant
Rating: 3.3/5 this site
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Re: Reloading bench lighting
01/20/2017

And I hope you don't think I am picking at what you're saying. I am just pointing out that it is a confusing choice for the consumer right now. As a matter of fact, the entire lighting industry seems to be in a marketing spin.
marknchip wrote:
I would agree as acceptance is coming around prices are dropping​
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marknchipXPrivate
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22 posts this site
Re: Reloading bench lighting
01/20/2017

Agreed. But LED is the way to go. most issues of interference are not with tube style lamps it is with MR!^,GU based ect.

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MunsonT45X27 MONTHS
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Re: Reloading bench lighting
Sunday at 9:43 PM

So what should you look for if you don't want a cheap one...other than price?

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marknchipXPrivate
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Re: Reloading bench lighting
Monday at 7:48 AM

I paid $98.00 for a 4' light made by Cree. GE,Lithonia and Cooper are the leaders in clean power LED right now.

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MunsonT45X27 MONTHS
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Re: Reloading bench lighting
Thursday at 2:06 AM

So I went to the box stores today and looked at LED lights. Now I've always used the 8' fluorescent lights in my shops, but everything was 4'. Do they make them in 8', or is 4' the new 8'? Are they just as bright as the 8 footers, just Skeds up less space?

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padom
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XFirst Sergeant
Rating: 3.8/5 this site
3050 posts this site
Re: Reloading bench lighting
Thursday at 7:50 AM

Get the 2'x4' LED flat panel lighting. They are extremely bright and if you throw a dimmer switch in they are dimmable.

http://m.homedepot.com/s/led flat panel?NCNI-5&gsitesearch

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marknchipXPrivate
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Re: Reloading bench lighting
Thursday at 8:49 AM

Brightness depends on the fixture you purchase. The more lumens the more light output you get. so 4' vs 8' all depends. make sense?
 
Just buy an led stripe from Amazon. That's what I did. It cost nothing and is brought as hell

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