Hanging lights between joists

[zakthor]

Ok got the boards and brackets installed. Nice and flat.

Next is Lots of holes to drill in joists and junction boxes.

My goal is to have it be just slightly brighter than the national ignition facility.

[70SATMan]

Whew! I'm tired just looking at all of those mounts. Great job!

[zakthor]

Well… I was smart and called inspector who said no to soow through joists, only conduit.

In my head I had a beautiful symphony of symmetric traces and only 4 junction boxes. Was going to quite beautiful…

Now I need a junction box in each bay… two columns of alternating junction boxes. So it greatly simplifies the routing. Pisser I need 8 more boxes which is $160.

All the bits have been trickling in. Bugger is I can’t start assembling , drilling, etc until I’ve got all the bits. Plan to do most assembly on the ground. The thwn is supposed to arrive tomorrow but it’s holiday cooking.

I did cut and strip the soow. Got a big pile now. Each fixture gets 2’ to junction box. Super glad the soow fits the cable glands.

Never cut liquidtight before so I’ll need to mess with it. I’ve heard the #1 thing is put the cone on while it’s on the ground.

[zakthor]

And real electricians showed up today to do the main work and… ive got a 200a panel fed by 2/0 aluminum to meter, and meter is fed with 1/0 aluminum. My service isnt sized for my new welder.

Got to figure it all out once theres a new year.

[zakthor]

Ok finally have all the bits, was waiting for my glands to arrive.

I wired all the fixtures today. Rented a right angle drill and made 11 holes in joists from top of ladder. Never had to deal with clearing plugs from hole saw… joists are old 2x fir. took for freakin ever, two clearings per hole.

Finally started wiring up the junction boxes, wrestling the liquidtight through the little holes.

I got 4 boxes done today before the light gave out, 8 to go. Got the liquidtight hanging in my stairway to keep it warm and maybe straight.

Electricians tomorrow to finish and ill finally have power to the light switches.

Realized at the last minute that since i have a jbox in each bay i can go with each circuit lighting a checkerboard. Should even out the light on single circuit.

[zakthor]

Visited by an extremely grumpy inspector. Basically yelling at me about ‘where is the work?!’, etc. They flipped the lights on and off, eyeballed the 12 jboxes and 24 fixtures and filled out the completion ticket.

Im a fool. Ive always ranked inspector visits high on my list of life learnings - theyve always been cool cars asking circumspect questions and eager to share from their deep knowledge. So im feeling kind of ripped off.

And i say as much. ‘I was expecting all sorts of probing questions…’

They ask ‘such as?’

‘What runs in the conduit?’
‘How did you join the wire in the jboxes?’

They just hmmf and slap the sticker on the panel.

I ask what they think of wago 221.

Omg. Blows up: theyre a fire hazard! I need to pass them because theyre listed but i stringmy advise you check them every year…

I say: i thought they were amazing, the way the spring holds the stranded wire?

Shouts: There is no spring!!!

I get one and show them. Each wire gets its own spring latch. Its amazing and holds way hard.

Oh… ive never seen one like this before…

Im got 24 joins of 2x 12g with 2x 18g and im not comfortable with my ability to wirenut that joint reliability. Too many twists and i tear the strands out of the wire. The wagos are recommended for areas with vibration… hvac, etc. wouldnt these be safer? Easy to verify and i can add wires without disturbing the others.

Anyway they left, work passed. Relief.

Im surprised… i was expecting 1 leg to be bright enough but its dim. All lights enabled is ‘good’. I guess the gravel floor and slatted fence steal luxes.

Ps: gaps in pitcher above: sunco sold out of 4000k t8 bulbs so 4 fixtures are empty. Ive got 1 leg 4000k, the other is 5000k. Checkerboard. The blended light helps with color. Cant stomach buying high cri bulbs itd cost $2000. The cheap sunco bulbs were $3.50 sach.

[jyl]

Woah that’s a lotta light.

Must have to wear a bikini in there!

[zakthor]

Originally Posted by jyl

Woah that’s a lotta light.

Must have to wear a bikini in there!

Well… banana hammock.

The light is good and comfortable, no flicker. Also theres hardly any shadow. But its not too bright. I was welding out there last night and i can see fine with the auto darkening hood on.

Im still surprised that it isnt brighter. One leg is supposed to be 1850 lux but definitely isnt enough.

[herr_oberst]

You can always paint the joists white if you want it brighter.

(That's an incredible array of lights. Nicely done.)