# Home Gym Lighting



## Terry Gardner (Feb 27, 2016)

Hi my first post. I have a home gym which is 10 meters by 5 meters and 4 meters high. Outside is a verandah 10 meters by 2 meters. I am looking for the best way to fit the most effective and economical lighting system. Any thoughts by members? Thanks in advance.


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## jayrdwein (Mar 8, 2016)

LED Lighting is the best option its economical but a bit pricey. If you want to save try LED for now.


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## Lynx_Arc (Mar 8, 2016)

I think it depends on electricity costs and how long you expect to live there too. LED lighting is slowly becoming more efficient giving you more light for less power but the initial cost of lighting systems can be a big issue. You will have to decide how bright you want the place to be lit (lumens) and then go from there and the higher the lumens the more cost goes way up with LEDs and at times the efficiency goes down too. If you only plan to live there for the next 5-10 years and don't plan on using the area a LOT during the week (hours) then T5 or T8 fluorescent may be a better investment as it is fairly efficient, cheaper cost and in 10 years LED lighting solutions will be a lot more competitive in price/value. If electricity costs are fairly cheap it may be the way to go but if costs are high then the savings of LED over fluorescent lighting IF... and only IF you can get lighting that IS considerably more efficient than fluorescent options could save you money and pay you back over the years.
I haven't done the math for years now but last time I looked LED fixtures that equaled fluorescent ones in output cost 3-5 times as much and efficiency wasn't but equal to perhaps 20% more efficient. If you do go shopping don't buy into the "savings" touted by fixtures if you are considering LED vs fluorescent as such savings will be over incan lighting you need to bring a calculator and do a lumens/watt comparison as I've seen in the past LED fixtures sold that were actually LESS efficient than fluorescent ones.
Once you get the lumens/watt you can figure out cost to operate them and then compare the savings of the two. 
In the past people were equating you would have to run some LED lights for 20+ years over fluorescent to break even on the cost. I'm thinking now it may be closer to 10 years if you don't need a huge amount of light.


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## neil.corrigan12 (Jun 16, 2016)

I would also like to add that you can apply natural lighting in the morning to save some electricity plus it is very energizing compare to artificial lighting of most gyms. Artificial ones can be use when natural light isn't enough to make the surrounding inviting to everyone. And of course LED is definitely a hit and can save you a lot of money compare to regular fluorescent.


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