Skip to question in bold at the bottom if you have ADD and don't want to read my lovely explanation of the whole situation. I did read the lighting sticky before posting, but this is a specific question regarding Lee Valley's lights.
I have a number of LED lights by various sources, and I love them, but I know they vary like the wind. We just put a bid on the house next door to convert into a shop ( I AM SOOOOO EXCITED!!!!) Although the bid hasn't officially been accepted yet, I'm planing my expenses for the renovation. The whole place will be gutted and turned into one big 24'x32' open dream workshop with 12' ceilings. (This is an 1820 home- apparently people were taller back then, or liked to play baseball indoors, because ceilings and doors are huge.) I would like to consider the Lee Valley strip LED's in channels in the ceiling.
I live where electricity is the 2nd highest $/kwh in the world, so I love LED's. I also plan to go solar in the near future, so I'm liking the idea of a 12v lighting system. Another plus is this home is stone construction with 18" thick walls, and the remote control switch Lee Valley offers makes installation of this system much easier- just run 120v outlets to the attic, and plug in the remote receiver and wire the lights up to that- no need to run wiring to a switch- big plus, as I hate surface wire moulds.
My plan is to do two strips of LED's 32' long total (divided into four 16' strips due to voltage drops- with four transformers total.) The strips would run lengthwise through the shop on the ceiling roughly 8' from the walls. There will also be three big hanging fixtures with 100 watt equivalent LED bulbs each, and two or maybe three ceiling fans with option to have lights, but hopefully this is not needed.
So the question- how bright are the Lee Valley 120/m LED strips per meter? Lee Valley doesn't say, but for the 120/m lighting from other suppliers, they rate them at 900 lumens/meter. Can anyone using them comment on brightness per meter compared to a 60w bulb? (or whatever comparison would convey to me about how bright to expect them to be)
I love the idea of two long strips of light throwing out diffused light from multiple angles so there are no harsh shadows, with the three hanging lights centered over the areas where my workbench and table saw will be for even more direct light there.
Thanks in advance,
Malcolm