Pole Barn Lighting Options

[BoylermanCT]

64 per sq ft should be plenty. I put in 12 4' 5000 watt Harbor Freight LED's in my 30x40x12 pole barn which is 50 per sq ft, and it is plenty bright in my barn.

 

[oldtimer 66]

I must be old. From my previous post I calculated my lumens per sq. foot currently. I have 175 lumens per sq. foot. And it's still not enough. I have had cataract surgery and new glasses since the upgrade. It must be me. TaDa!

 

[newbury]

Those are the ones I commonly see complaints about… with RF interference. If you go up to about $35 each (17500 lumen) you get filtered drivers

Out of all the ones I've bought only 1 light caused RF interference. I keep a radio running about 10 feet from where I test the lights when I first get them.
I do read the reviews first and don't buy if there are complaints about interference.

 

[airbiscuit]

I've been chasing the same animal. LEDs were expensive when I first started, so I had a combination or 3bulb 4' T8 fixtures and plain vanilla ceramic light holders. Put LED light bulbsin the ceramic holders, and life is good. As T8s burn out, I replace them with 4,000 lumen (each) T8 LEDs (=12,000 lumens per fixture). Then I put a few "flower" style LED lights in the ceramic fixtures. I think I like them best.

I do get RF interference, but I like the bright light. When looking at LED lights, pay close attention to the Lumens. They may be the same length, or look alike, but vary widely on light output. I found inexpensive, bright LED lighting that has RF noise, and that works for me. If you find inexpensive, bright LED lighting that has zero RF noise, please let us know.

 

[CloverKnollFarms]

I’m sort of leaning toward (18) 12000 lumen lights…

That’s 96lm per square foot.

Working with an electrician this week to map out the outlets, since they can be connected (3) in series across each truss

 

[herm0016]

i am going for 100 per sq foot as well.

 

[airbiscuit]

You can also hang a 10,000 strip light over a work bench to give it more light than the rest of the shop.

 

[3Ts]

Those strip lights reduce the shadows significantly as well.

 

[CloverKnollFarms]

The plan is to have (3) 8’ strip lights across each 40’ truss

 

[CloverKnollFarms]

Well, I went with (8) 27000 lumen UFO lights. I’d say that is sufficient