The cheap flourescent shop lights are intended to hang from chains. For clearance (height)reasons, I have surface mounted some of them (with a 3/8 inch spacer under the light housing) up against drywall. My thought is that if the ballast goes bad and begins to overheat, either I should be able to smell it or it should trip the breaker long before it gets too hot across a 3/8 in. air gap. Any reasons that I should be concerned?
You will smell them long before the catch fire.
I dont bother with the spacer. But..each to their own.
Gunner
"Aren't cats Libertarian? They just want to be left alone. I think our dog is a Democrat, as he is always looking for a handout" Unknown Usnet Poster
Heh, heh, I'm pretty sure my dog is a liberal - he has no balls. Keyton
I always hang them so I don't have to listen to the darn things buzz the frame of the entire building when they start to go bad.
If they're UL listed, I wouldn't worry about it.
I have a question, I have those sorts of lights and after I bought them realized that I cant drywall the ceiling due to truss spacing so I am seriously thinking of a suspended ceiling. Can you use these lights with a suspended ceiling? What would be the best way to mount them?
Probably not. If these are electronic ballasts like most new ones are, they just die silently. If Sunpak, really quickly.
Wes
-- "Additionally as a security officer, I carry a gun to protect government officials but my life isn't worth protecting at home in their eyes." Dick Anthony Heller
If they are the industry standard shop lights with a real UL-Listed ballast in them, they are thermally protected and should trip off long before they get that hot.
The spacers are a good idea - the ballast cools by conducting heat to the fixture sheet-metal, then by radiation. If air can get around the back of the fixture, the ballast will run cooler and probably live longer.
If they are the $12 Specials from the Junk Purveyors (IMHO) "Lights Of America" all bets are off. They probably still have some of the simple reactive ballast fixtures in the sales stream (with a FS-2 style starter bulb hidden inside permanently wired in...) and those could easily catch fire first - "Thermally protected? What's that?"
And anything LOA makes with an 'electronic ballast' that lives more than a few months (before a simple transient kills it) might blow the breaker before it catches fire - but with your luck...
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Hang them from chains.
Oooh! Id not thought about that. Indeed the spacers would be a good idea!
Gunner
"Aren't cats Libertarian? They just want to be left alone. I think our dog is a Democrat, as he is always looking for a handout" Unknown Usnet Poster
Heh, heh, I'm pretty sure my dog is a liberal - he has no balls. Keyton
Only thing you have to think about is keeping the sparks corralled if there is a wiring fault. If you are on a drywall ceiling and space the fixture out from the finished ceiling, you also have to fill the gap beteen the box/mud ring and the top of the fixture.
They don't make open back pancake boxes - but they should. This would be a perfect spot for a 3/4" extension.
If you are feeding direct with flex or MC Cable, this isn't a problem.
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Thanks for the replys. These shop lights range in age from new T12 w/ electronic ballasts to $7.99 specials that I bought 21 years ago when I built the garage. All of these lights have a power cord that plugs into outlets in the ceiling
Don: Your thoughts as to why I should hang them from chains (as they were designed to be installed)? I have clearance issues due to a light duty crane that I have built into the garage that covers most of one bay. In the same bay I have just bumped a pocket up the ceiling in order to be able to put a car up on a hoist (again minimun clearances).
=A0Unknown Usnet Poster
=A0 =A0 =A0Keyton
I'm too lazy for spacers- I take off the center cover, and run 3-inch drywall screws through the chain holes, and stop driving them when there's about an inch between the ceiling and the light.
Dave
My shop lights came from a demolition contractor 45 years ago. I have refurbished the ?brass? contact fingers and replaced the ballasts as required over the years. The light over the SB "A" is so loaded with magnets that the porcelainized shade has a 30 deg. tilt. Gerry :-)} London, Canada
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