Shop Lighting

[RT66DOC]

My shop is a 30x50 metal high roof building with two Kenworth-sized overhead doors and four small windows. I love it. Only problem is the lighting is lousy - couple old fluorescents - dim city. There are two large translucent roof panels but they don't add much.



I'd appreciate advice/suggestions about a better setup. More overhead fluorescents? fluorescents around the walls? overhead halogens (if that's what those big round hanging jobbies are)?



How do y'all illuminate your workspaces?

 

[JApol]

How big are your flourescents and how far above the floor are they. My dad has a 14 foot ceiling in his shop. He has 8 footers and he ended up having to lower them on chains so they would actually do some good for lighting

 

[RT66DOC]

Roof/ceiling is about 20' up. Fluorescents now (ONE 8 footer) is mounted to the wall about 7' off the floor. Hey, I said it was pretty crappy lighting. :-laf

 

[Paychk]

http://www.labsafety.com/refinfo/ezfacts/ezf128.htm



http://www.shopfloortalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4424



http://shopfloortalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=657&page=11&pp=30



http://shopfloortalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1162



http://shopfloortalk.com/forums/showthread.php?p=49149#post49149

 

[gathomas]

The answer; Metal Halide lighting, they are expensive inital purchase, but they provide brillant white light, especially in cold weather (most flourescents do not) although you can get cold weather flourescents (electronic ballast) they also cost more.

If you can afford them Metal Halide is the way to go. They come in diffrent voltages, and diffrent wattages. If you want an example of what this type of lighting looks like, I suggest you visit a fairly new/ moderen convience store/gas station that has a canopy over its gas pumps. Most likely it will be MH lighting.

The height of your garage will not be an issue with MH lighting, just check out the height of the gas station canopy. Also check out how bright that lighting is!!!!



gathomas... . Electrician

"97" 3500 Auto #5 TST. Gauges, BD transmission, Amsoil

 

[robertyoke]

I have a wood frame 40 x 80 with 14. 5 ft high celings and 6 400 watt mh lights and if all are on it's like daylight! the building is finshed inside and painted off white so that helps. if your are down here stop by and take a look.

-robert

 

[gregdoerfler]

we call them high bay lights you should be able to goto any good electric supply house( not home depot or lowes) and they should be able to tell you how many and the spacing of the light to get good light. only downfall to those they take about5 minutes to get to full brightness, you could leave the flourescents for if you just want to run in and get something. they will be around $150 each but will give you great light. good also found these. . http://www.fullspectrumsolutions.com/lighting_fixtures.shtml

 

[LesStallings]

I'm putting the new(er) T8 flourscent fixtures in my new shop. They are brighter that regular fixtures and have the electronic (non-buzz) starters. The fixtures run about $50 each, without bulbs. They are supposed to last longer and be more energy efficient.

 

[KWentling]

I've got six 8' two tube (T12) high output flourescents in my 30x50 with 14' eves and they provide excellent general lighting. I've got white walls and ceiling that reflect well also. I've got them hung about a foot below the peaked ceiling, two across at the center and one lengthwise on each side of the overhead tracks of the door one one end and I duplicated the location on the opposite end. I may add two more over my workbench that's across an end wall because there is a little shadow there. I'd do it again the same way. You can pick those fixtures up pretty cheap at one of the box stores.

Kim

 

[WCPoe]

Shop lights

RT66DOC, if you go with the flourescents be sure to get the 8 foot length with cold start ballasts. I believe mine are 96watt high output bulbs. I have 3 of the lights over each bay.

 

[Tony T.]

The answer; Metal Halide lighting, they are expensive inital purchase, but they provide brillant white light, especially in cold weather (most flourescents do not) although you can get cold weather flourescents (electronic ballast) they also cost more.

If you can afford them Metal Halide is the way to go. They come in diffrent voltages, and diffrent wattages. If you want an example of what this type of lighting looks like, I suggest you visit a fairly new/ moderen convience store/gas station that has a canopy over its gas pumps. Most likely it will be MH lighting.

The height of your garage will not be an issue with MH lighting, just check out the height of the gas station canopy. Also check out how bright that lighting is!!!!



gathomas... . Electrician

"97" 3500 Auto #5 TST. Gauges, BD transmission, Amsoil

This must be what our shop at work just had installed last week from reading your description above. I noticed the difference "Big Time" the following morning at 6:00 am after the install. I could have sworn they had a direct tap from the sun to get that bright of light in that shop. Big improvement IMO.



Tony

 

[Dl5treez]

Metal halide bulbs have a core temp of over 1000 degrees C. They better be bright.



I work in a roughly 300ft x 900ft warehouse with 36 foot ceilings. Approximately 1/3 of the warehouse has flourescent lights, the rest is all metal halide. 277/480v units.



Switching to the flourescents lowered the temperatures in those areas about 7 degrees F, but also cut the electric bill enough that they paid for themselves in one year.



Granted our units are likely much larger than what you're looking for. The bulb is slightly smaller than a 2 liter pop bottle.

 

[rubberneck]

We run 6 metal halides (400watt) in a 40x 60 metal building with 16ft ceilings (14ft doors) It is sweet. like said earlier though, you need a few flourescents for those occasions where you just want to run in and then out as the halides take a while to come on.

 

[CJ8Rockcrawler]

I went with 6 - 4ft t8 flouresents in my 20x30 garage with 10 ft ceilings... very efficient, relatively cheap and still makes the garage brighter on a sunny day w/ the garage doors open. I did the whole white wall and white ceiling thing too.

 

[jwduke]

Flouresents around the walls is VERY nice, makes lots of very useful light.

 

[RT66DOC]

Thanks for all the input, Gents.



I took a look at those Ultralux Full Spectrum high bays on "fullspectrumsolutions.com". Looks like they are cheaper, brighter and more energy efficient than the MH lights. $189 price included lamps.

 

[MLeppen]

Doc, I don't think your cieling height is appropriate for a high bay fixture. Low bay lighting fixtures would be better for a small building with low cieling.

My barn is 40x80 with 8 400watt MH low bay with coated bulb and diffuser lens 30% up 70% down mounted 14 feet above ground in the rafters so I don't see them. #ad

 

[daveshoe]

High bay or low?

I am no expert on lighting, but in my experience,the T12 lights just need replacement lamps too often. The fact that I have older fixtures may be a contributor.

The guy who set me up in a second building asked me where I wanted the light to focus. Being an idiot,I asked him what he meant. He explained that if you want the light rays to provide the clearest image at benchtop height, that he would subtract that from the ceiling -to- floor height and that would enable you to work more comfortably at that specific height. Sort of like putting on your reading glasses to read a newspaper. He said the most common mistake people make is not considering the focal point,but just the floor -to -ceiling height. He set me up with low bays for a 12' ceiling,and I am very happy. 1600 watts total lights a 36x50 really well.

 

[KWentling]

My T12s are on third year and I have yet to replace a tube. This is just a home workshop so they aren't used everyday so they don't have that much run time on them.

Kim

 

[Rotty]

Paint the walls white. Even if you have enough lights, reflectivity is major. I did not believe this until I finish the interior of my building.

I had 8 quad tube 4' flourescent fixture spaced about 4 feet apart and it was still dark until I finished the walls with plaster board and painted them white.

Now it is light as day inside when I turn the lights on.

These fixtures had double ballasts, and I wired them so I could have 2 tubes lit or 4 tubes lit. Sorto of like 1/2 throttle, full throttle. :-laf But when I turned on all lights, there was no need for trouble shooting light even in the day time.