On 07/02/2012 09:00, Adrian Brentnall wrote:
HI Folks
A group of us are setting up a co-operative art & crafts gallery / shop
out here in south-west Ireland.

We've pretty much decided on some premises - but they're going to need
some work to improve the lighting. Decent lighting's pretty important to
show off the items that are on sale. However, we're on a fairly tight
budget - not just for the capital items (light fittings etc) but also
for the ongoing running costs.

Premises currently have 2 double fluorescents (5ft or so?) in the larger
room (24ft x 10ft) and one double flouro in the smaller room (13ft x
8ft). There are also two recessed downlighters fitted with led spots -
but they don;t seem to contribute much light (if any!!)

Spotlights would be great, but we're concerned about installation &
running costs - and I've used led spots in the past to replace the
little 50w halogen spots on an exhibition stand and they are simply not
bright enough.

So - not wanting to start a 'holy war' on leds vs halogen - but what's
peoples experience on lighting such a retail outlet....

..my gut feel is more fluoro's - not pretty, but highly effective
and cheap to run...??

Indeed, and probably the "backbone" of the general illumination in the
shop. The "non glare" fittings often used in offices with lots of
computer screens can look somewhat more attractive than the traditional
ceiling mounted batten holders.

For sparkly displays, small bright sources will get the best results. If
you use halogen spots, then low voltage are much better than mains (in
terms of quality of light, lamp life, and efficiency), especially with
the dichroic lamps which throw less heat forward, and add colourful
splashes of light from the side/rear.

Metal halides are popular in shops due to a good combination of lower
running costs, bright lights with good specular reflection
characteristics (makes shiny things sparkle!)

Wall washers create more atmosphere than blanket central lighting.

--
Cheers,

John.

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