closet lighting ?

Have two small closets that it would be nice to have lighting in.

One is a small linen closet about 18" wide x 18" deep & the other is a pantry in kitchen about 18" deep by 40" wide.

Was planning on using two 40" T5 microflourescent enclosed fixtures mounted vertically on wall by doors of each closet - this way all shelves would receive lighting. They would be hardwired & controlled by motion sensor switch. Would have liked to use door jamb switch, but it is an existing house so their installation would be very difficult.

In my reading the 2008 NEC it states that enclosed surface mounted flourescent fixtures must be @ least 6" away from storage items. Obviously 6" space in an 18" x 18" closet is alot.

Is there anything else that can be done in this lighting scenario in terms of other lighting options such as low voltage, etc. that would reduce required spacing to lets say 1" or 2" instead of 6"?

Thanks,
Matt

The issue is any bulb can get hot, especially if it is insulated and can't dissipate the heat it does make, thus the distance requirement. A low-voltage bulb can get as hot, or even hotter, than a more traditional, line-voltage bulb. You can solder electronics with a 10W iron...couldn't do pipes with it as they would radiate too much heat and it would never get hot enough, but for a small wire, plenty.

What about affixing some sort of LED lighting strand to the backside of the closet door frame?

To keep temp. down at any voltage you need high efficiency lighting; flourescent or LEDs. Or you need a large surface area for the amount of watts dissipated.

To rest your mind, check out these temps.
http://www.tcforensic.com.au/docs/article10.html#2.1.1
and keep in mind that Romex is allowed to go to 60C or 90C.

Use your 'digital probe' for your lighting.

no burn ever at 42°C(108°F)
burned in 30 sec at 54°C(129°F)
5 sec at 60°C(140°F)
1 sec at 71°C(160°F)

The glass bulb of a general service lamp can reach temperatures between 200 and 260 degrees Celsius (400 to 550 degrees Fahrenheit).

I have 5 ea. 25w bulbs in my closet but there are no flammables in it. They switch on with a microswitch against the door. All 120v.

Another one with clothes in it has a CFL and someday I'm sure that unprotected bulb will break.

A 40" T5 is gonna be blindingly bright in most closets & cabinets- you're talking about the same light as two 75W incandenscent bulbs in a very tiny space. T5-14W (~24-25" fixture outside dimension) would deliver more reasonable lighting levels. A single T5-14 delivers about the same amount of light as a 75W incandescent- probably more than enough. A slightly shorter T5-13 would deliver about a 60W incandescent's-worth.

LEDs of good color rendering are dramatically less efficient than T5 (less than half) so for equivalent light levels you wouldn't be gaining anything- you'd be losing. (The only exception is if you went with truly ugly high color-temp LEDs with lousy color rendering, but high efficiency, some of which beat T5s on raw lumens per watt. Those are better for security lighting than closet lighting.)

T5 lamps themselves don't put out much heat- the hottest spot in the fixture is the ballast. If you use extruded aluminum fixtures the ballast heat is spread a bit.

If you want more length, lower intensity, look into cold cathode fluorescent fixtures, which can be very low-profile and low heat, but lower efficiency too (about the same efficiency as compact fluorescents, roughly 1/2-2/3 the efficiency of T5.)

Brightness is not too bad - the bulbs are covered with a white translucent cover that emits "soothing" general lighting that is not "overpowering" ("as the salesperson said" @ local lighting/electrical supplier) even for a small space. The wife likes the idea of having lighting to every shelf & so do I. Plus we both like good lighting - may have something to do with aging process.

Have call into local electrical inspector to see what he recommends about the 6" space requirement. However, based on responses & some limited research, it seems I will be finding some way to maintain the required spacing.

Thanks,
Matt