Retirement Shop (1 Viewer)

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I have this retractable cord reel that will hang from the center I-Beam, just left of center in the shop. That will give me power on that side of the lift approximately 8 feet behind the lift post. That will likely suffice for my power needs on that side of the lift. However, adding receptacles to the lift post is an interesting idea in and of itself and certainly worth consideration.

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After mucking around with the local electrical/lighting retailer that handles Lithonia, I ordered the lights through Home Depot today. Gave the local guys more than 2 weeks to quote and they never came back with anything even after two follow up visits. Contractors are still really busy with new construction around this area so I guess they don't really need to deal with small orders. Lights were actually on sale at HD. Timing is everything; right?

16 of these: Lithonia Lighting Contractor Select I-Beam Series 2 ft. 200-Watt Equivalent Integrated LED Dimmable White High Bay Light Fixture, 5000K IBE 15LM MVOLT 50K - The Home Depot - https://www.homedepot.com/p/Lithonia-Lighting-Contractor-Select-I-Beam-Series-2-ft-200-Watt-Equivalent-Integrated-LED-Dimmable-White-High-Bay-Light-Fixture-5000K-IBE-15LM-MVOLT-50K/309840885?cm_mmc=ecc-_-THD_ORDER_CONFIRMATION_BOSS_STH-_-V1_M1_CB-_-Product_URL&ecc_ord=WB29560228&em_id=b801e58be68a21a5dabf07b140bf92e4c31dff32a05c135c14dc189a0af0a297

2 of these: Lithonia Lighting LED Troffer Dimmer Switch ISD BC 120/277 WH M10 - The Home Depot - https://www.homedepot.com/p/Lithonia-Lighting-LED-Troffer-Dimmer-Switch-ISD-BC-120-277-WH-M10/202986061?cm_mmc=ecc-_-THD_ORDER_CONFIRMATION_BOSS_STH-_-V1_M1_CB-_-Product_URL&ecc_ord=WB29568984&em_id=b801e58be68a21a5dabf07b140bf92e4c31dff32a05c135c14dc189a0af0a297

and 1 of these: https://www.lowes.com/pd/Southwire-...bnODNBxw6OO00u89QLBoC3N0QAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

Just need to get 16 of the V-Hanger pairs and I'm good to go. Already got the Z-Purlin hangers from Zoro. Really cheap at around $1 each. That MC cable with the control pair wasn't readily available. Finally found it at Lowe's of all places.
 
After mucking around with the local electrical/lighting retailer that handles Lithonia, I ordered the lights through Home Depot today. Gave the local guys more than 2 weeks to quote and they never came back with anything even after two follow up visits. Contractors are still really busy with new construction around this area so I guess they don't really need to deal with small orders. Lights were actually on sale at HD. Timing is everything; right?

16 of these: Lithonia Lighting Contractor Select I-Beam Series 2 ft. 200-Watt Equivalent Integrated LED Dimmable White High Bay Light Fixture, 5000K IBE 15LM MVOLT 50K - The Home Depot - https://www.homedepot.com/p/Lithonia-Lighting-Contractor-Select-I-Beam-Series-2-ft-200-Watt-Equivalent-Integrated-LED-Dimmable-White-High-Bay-Light-Fixture-5000K-IBE-15LM-MVOLT-50K/309840885?cm_mmc=ecc-_-THD_ORDER_CONFIRMATION_BOSS_STH-_-V1_M1_CB-_-Product_URL&ecc_ord=WB29560228&em_id=b801e58be68a21a5dabf07b140bf92e4c31dff32a05c135c14dc189a0af0a297

2 of these: Lithonia Lighting LED Troffer Dimmer Switch ISD BC 120/277 WH M10 - The Home Depot - https://www.homedepot.com/p/Lithonia-Lighting-LED-Troffer-Dimmer-Switch-ISD-BC-120-277-WH-M10/202986061?cm_mmc=ecc-_-THD_ORDER_CONFIRMATION_BOSS_STH-_-V1_M1_CB-_-Product_URL&ecc_ord=WB29568984&em_id=b801e58be68a21a5dabf07b140bf92e4c31dff32a05c135c14dc189a0af0a297

and 1 of these: https://www.lowes.com/pd/Southwire-...bnODNBxw6OO00u89QLBoC3N0QAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

Just need to get 16 of the V-Hanger pairs and I'm good to go. Already got the Z-Purlin hangers from Zoro. Really cheap at around $1 each. That MC cable with the control pair wasn't readily available. Finally found it at Lowe's of all places.
Just in case someone decides to buy these lights, the V-Hangers and chains come with the lights. For some reason that information is not readily available on the internet. I was pleasantly surprised after opening the first box.
 
All 16 lights are hung and one bay of 8 are wired. The wiring isn't difficult but it is tedious and time consuming, particularly working off an extension ladder. The difference is almost literally night and day. I have a Lux meter on my iPhone and with the old fluorescents I was getting max readings of 64 Lux holding the phone around waist high directly under one of the fluorescents. The readings fluctuated greatly as I walked around and dropped to around 4 in the corners. With the new lights the light is very steady at around 280 Lux over 90% of the floor and only drops to around 220 Lux in the extreme corners. Very bright but not so excessive that I feel like I need to dim them. Actually not sure I will ever use the dimmers but at least they will be there.

Edit: This iPhone light meter is notoriously inaccurate but thought I would share the values just for comparison and not to be indicative of absolute values.

The install is also much cleaner with the Z-Purlin hanger clips and the MC cable laying in the Z-Purlin tray.

I took photos but I think the iPhone compensates so much for exposure that they are not very compelling. First two photos have the new lights on in the right bay (first photo) and the old fluorescents on in the left bay (second photo). Again, doesn't look very different in the photos but in person the difference was huge. I then removed the old lights from the left bay and as an afterthought snapped a photo in that bay with no lights (and the new LEDs on in the right bay). Basically just as bright in that bay with no lights as with the fluorescents.

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Just to recap, the Lithonia lighting tool calculated 110 foot candles at 30" with 16 of these lights, spaced more or less as I have them (but not exactly in the width dimension). I considered using 12,000 lumen fixtures instead of the 15,000. IIRC those calculated out at around 90 foot candles. So glad I went with the 15,000 lumen fixtures.
 
Finally got a little time and wired up the second bay lights. As luck would have it, I was about 8' short of cable and couldn't connect the last light. I had estimated around 230' to 240' and was pretty careful to have minimal wastage. Regardless, a 250' roll wasn't quite enough. Now I'm cobbling together the 12' jumper that I need. I have bought 25' of the aluminum flex as well as the power cables (12/2 with ground). Just need to find a twisted pair of solid 16 AWG for the signal wire and I'll be good to go.

Dimmer function works well but not sure it will get used very often . I like the lighting level full on. These lights were definitely worth the investment.

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Got all the wires ran and terminated for the lift except for the termination in the breaker box. That's a through wall affair and I have a few other wires to run at the same time. Trying to get an electrician to do those for me but might have to do them myself given that it's a pretty small job.

I used 12/2 SOOW cable from the safety switch to the motor and 12/2 MC cable from the switch to the breaker. I was going to use SOOW cable all the way but then saw that code doesn't allow it to be ran through conduit. That's a 10' stick of 3/4" EMT that I used to run the 12/2 MC from the wall to the lift. I'm going to have to read up on how to bend conduit to obtain certain lengths between bends. I just eyeballed it this time as it was only two bends and I had some latitude with the second bend given the width of the girt. It is level and square though. Aluminum cable compression fittings courtesy of McMaster Carr. Man I love that company.

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If anyone thinks it's trivial to pull 3 insulated 12 AWG and 2 16 AWG wires through 1/2" MC Flex, then please let me be the one to disillusion you. I thought, hey, it's only 12'; how hard could it be? Turns out pretty damn hard. At first glance it looks imminently doable but reality kicks in after the first foot or so. Finally figured out how to get it in and wired up the last light. Glad I didn't have to assemble the other 250' of cable.

Repeating myself but extremely pleased with the lights. No shadows and very nice illumination. They also don't throw off much glare so looking up toward the ceiling isn't an issue.
 

I used lube to pull my 4/0 power cables through 130' of 2" conduit w/ two 90-degree bends, and it definitely helped.
Yes I am well aware of wire pulling lube but at first glance it looked like there was plenty of space in the MC jacket. I did resort to applying a little aerosol dielectric grease that I had handy and it certainly helped. Had I been less naive about the potential difficulty I would have approached the task much better prepared. Again, it was only 12’.
 
I used lube to pull my 4/0 power cables through 130' of 2" conduit w/ two 90-degree bends, and it definitely helped.
If I had only known, I wouldn’t have hurt so bad the next morning. If I had neighbors I’m sure they would have called EMS with me rolling around struggling with the bends in conduit!
 
If I had neighbors, they would have heard me swearing.

I only learned about the wire/cable lube from that fount of all wisdom youtube.
 
Yes I am well aware of wire pulling lube but at first glance it looked like there was plenty of space in the MC jacket. I did resort to applying a little aerosol dielectric grease that I had handy and it certainly helped. Had I been less naive about the potential difficulty I would have approached the task much better prepared. Again, it was only 12’.

Lubrication always helps... ;)

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I have been trying fervently over the last week or so to make a decision on the walls. Actually, I've made several decisions but then just as quickly undecided. I have looked at metal, vinyl, sheetrock, and plywood, as well as metal and wood framing. I thought metal was the ticket two days ago until I realized that you need horizontal nailers to screw into. Current thinking is wood framing with some variety of 3/4" plywood up to the 7'4" girt and then either 1/2" plywood or sheetrock over wood between the 7'4" and 12' girts. That combination would allow me to do most of the work myself and also greatly simplifies framing in the bathroom with load bearing ceiling joists. It also makes hanging cabinets, etc. trivial compared to metal or sheetrock.
 

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