John Rumm wrote in message ...
N. Thornton wrote:

I'd make it one 5' fluorescent light plus a white ceiling to soften
the light. More enthusiastic folk might run to 2 strips, but 3.... no,
just plain unpleasant.

In my workshop (approx single garage sort of size) I went for 4 x 5' 58W
single tubes - one on each end wall, two equally spaced in the middle.
With the ceiling and walls painted off-white I find these give a nice
even light for working in.

Ouch.


It's not just the level of light that counts - but also having it
arriving from several directions so that you are not always working in
your shadow.

Yes. Mounting a light in the middle of the ceiling, bulb pointing
down, is not good. Mounting it the other way up with a white painted
ceiling helps a lot. If you go for multiple lights, the best option is
to mount them on the wall high up, with tube shielded from view, and
the light bouncing off the ceiling and upper wall. Trough or shelf.

Fl lights last so long that the tubes need to be cleaned occasionally,
or the light output falls a lot. Stay well away from 'cool white'
tubes.


(when I installed the lights I put them on a double switch so that I
could switch two pairs of two independently

I'd definitely recommend that.


Regards, NT