Knights' Electric, Inc. LIC. #432135

Michael Ragsdale is the General Manager of TEGG Services at Knights' Electric, Inc. Ragsdale has 20 years of electrical experience at Knights' Electric. For the past 5 years Ragsdale has been Information Technology (I.T.) Manager for Knights' Electric.

As TEGG Services General Manager Ragsdale oversees the entire operation of TEGG Services at Knights' Electric with supervision of sales representatives, administrative assistants and service technicians.

The TEGG Services operation is one of many programs and procedures that Ragsdale has been involved with Knights Electric over the past 20 years. Ragsdale, who began as an apprentice electrician with Knights' Electric, has also served as a foreman, administrative assistant, estimator and project manager. As I.T. Manager for Knights' Electric, Ragsdale has designed the software and hardware for the computer network used by the company. "Over the years I think I've done just about every job at Knights' Electric," points out Ragsdale," including pushing a broom in the early days."

Ragsdale initially received over 100 hours of training for the TEGG Services General Manager position. The TEGG Services training sessions take place at TEGG Services headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Ragsdale will return to TEGG Services headquarter for additional training along with new TEGG Services sales representative and electrical technicians that Knights' Electric has placed in those positions.

"The nice thing about TEGG Services is that it's so beneficial to the customer for safety, reliability and power quality," says Ragsdale, "and customers can also save money by using TEGG Services to properly maintain their power system."

Wall and ceiling in the great room with track lighting.

Knights' Electric, Inc. often works with lighting designers hired by the architect, contractor or owner of homes and businesses. In those cases the lighting designer creates the lighting plan that often includes decorative fixtures, changeable track lighting and a lighting control system with dimmers and timers to create mood or ambient lighting effects.

Knights' Electric has the capability to create a lighting design for a customer with their in-house personnel and expertise. Matt Sweeney, Residential Project Manager for Knights' Electric created the lighting design for a recently completed upscale horse ranch in Napa Valley that includes interior, exterior and landscape lighting.

The great room of the barn structure features low voltage track lighting to achieve a "glow" effect in up lighting and down lighting that creates "spot light" effect. The versatility of the track lighting system allows for movement of attached lighting fixtures into different positioning along the track and gives options in directional illumination. With a wide variety of different types of lighting fixtures and the use of dimmers the desired lighting effect can be achieved.

The key to reaching the desired lighting design is listening to the owner and working with them to achieve the results they desire. Knights' Electric has the resources to satisfy a customer's vision with suggestions, ideas and cost saving solutions to produce a lighting design that is pleasing and affordable within a proposed budget.

Dan Beltran, Knights' Electric Foreman, worked day-to-day with the owner of the horse ranch to insure that objectives and desired goals were met with the overall electrical design/build plan. Special attention and emphasis on detail was placed on the interior lighting design and the results are spectacular.

Sconces light the stable walkway with overhead stable lighting for horses like the one on the left.

The horse ranch exterior lighting design was conceived to meet three objectives ? function, beautification and security. Knights' Electric worked with the owner to blend a design that achieved these goals. The areas of lighting design include the parking lot, the main building and stables, a lit indoor arena, the large outdoor arena and landscape lighting.

In the horse stable area there are two rows of stables that run parallel to each other from the main building. The two covered walkways that run in front of stables are lined with wall sconces that create a well-lit corridor for nighttime use. There are a total of 130 of these metal wall sconces that enhance the rustic architectural elegance of the entire structure. The sconce lighting also serves as nighttime emergency lighting.

The stable lighting is created with 100-watt halogen positioned for up lighting. Dan Beltran, Knights' Electric Foreman on the project notes, "Those halogen lights in the stables are really bright but the dark wood soaks up so much light that what's left is a soft glow and that's what we wanted." When lit, the stable lighting is soft enough to keep the horses comfortable, which is important because these lights stay on all night for security lighting.

The landscape lighting features up lighting into the recently planted trees that surround the property. The tree lighting is achieved with power lines to each individual tree base with a transformer that fits in a protective sleeve to bring the power down to 12 volts. A single fixture with a 35-watt light supplies enough illumination to brightly light the young trees. Beltran is pleased with the power of the light, "As the trees grow, the light can be adjusted but it won't need to be moved from the well it sits in. We won't have to add lights because this light will be bright enough to light a full grown tree."

Knights' also completed the indoor horse arena lighting and the large outdoor horse arena lighting with ten 30-foot light standards. The outdoor arena lights are so luminous that they aren't used after 9 p.m. They will only be used in the winter season when daylight ends at 5 p.m. That will be the next installment of the coverage on this project.