How to Choose The Best Paint Booth Lighting Solution

As long as we’re surrounded by cars, there will be a demand for their upkeep, including paint jobs. Moving past the 2020 drop, we can see growth in the market value of the paint and coatings industry, that’s expected to continue and is projected to exceed $200 billion by 2028.

Choosing a paint spray booth is incredibly important when painting a vehicle, but lighting is a commonly overlooked aspect that can impact the work.

Let’s take a closer look at some adjustments that can lead to a better finish, improved working conditions, and better energy consumption.

Lighting Factors

Different aspects of lighting can impact your paint booth performance and the resulting paint job. This is why you should consider several factors when shopping for paint booth lighting fixtures.

Mimic Natural Light

In a spray paint booth, you’re aiming for lighting that lets you see paint color without tinting effects. Opting for white, full-spectrum lighting that resembles natural light conditions is ideal.

You should also check if the brightness levels are optimal. Making sure the interior is not too dim but not too bright either will optimize your view of color, texture, and other details.

Spray Booth Light Bulbs

Your lighting considerations need to include the type of light bulb you’ll use. Let’s run down your choices:

LED

LED lighting is an excellent choice for many reasons. They offer directional light emission, have a long lifespan, and require minimal maintenance. LED lights are also a much more energy-efficient choice than a typical light bulb and are environmentally friendly.

Yet another advantage of LEDs is their high color rendering index (CRI), which allows for better color matching and can be a highly desirable feature.

Fluorescent

Fluorescent lighting has some of the same advantages as LED. It has a long lifespan, is highly energy-efficient, and has a low heat output. The main difference is that fluorescent lights offer 360-degree lighting instead of directional.

Neither is inherently superior, and 360-degree lighting may, in fact, be ideal in some cases. However, it will come up short if you need to illuminate a specific area.

Explosion-proof lighting

Lights can overheat and interact with flammable materials or substances, making them a possible danger when working in certain settings, such as a body shop. That’s why we recommend using explosion-proof lighting in these hazardous environments.

You can find both LED and fluorescent lights in explosion-proof forms.

Consistent lighting

Remember that it’s crucial to have consistent lighting throughout the entire interior of a paint booth. Uneven lighting will show through shadows and hard-to-see areas and impact your work, and the lack of consistency in the booth will reflect on the final product.

Lighting fixtures

Before you decide on lighting fixtures, it’s best to review your paint booth. You should have good lighting coverage in all areas of the booth. You can also determine if any areas demand better lighting and use your insight to plan which fixtures will work best.

Corner Lights

Corner lights are perhaps the best choice when it comes to lighting fixtures. They’re easy to install and offer all-around lighting that can also be used to illuminate specific areas.

Ceiling Lights

Ceiling lights are quite common and can distribute coverage from above. However, they fail to deliver consistent lighting throughout the booth. This can result in shadows in the lower part of vehicles.

Wall lights

Wall lights share the same benefits and drawbacks as ceiling lights - they’re conveniently placed out of the way but don’t cover all of the areas of the booth.

The best choice isn’t a clear-cut answer. You’ll usually see the best results if you use both LED and fluorescent lights and install various types of fixtures.

Find the Right Products

JMC Equipment offers a catalog full of high-quality spray booth solutions. Whether you’re looking to install lighting fixtures or another accessory, we can help you out! We are the number one distributor of automotive tools and equipment and have a wide range of high-quality products.

Check out our page or get in touch for further information.