Pole Barn Lighting

[HR_Mutt]

The barn is FINALLY!! getting built. Looking at light fixtures from the Thomas catalog,(unable to find in their website),220volt, glass globe. There are a lot of options for watts, bulbs, hi-bay/lo-bay etc. Does anyone have a suggestion for 40X64X14 barn lighting? It may not be heated all the time so cold weather performance is important.Thanks

Regards
Mutt

 

[wroughtn_harv]

Down here in norte tejas we don't get near as cold as ya'll do. But I love my electronic flourescent lighting. They say they're instant on down to zero degrees and I believe them.

I have them outside under the shed over the welding table. I think they're the greatest. And I haven't had any problem with them and my autodarkening welding helmets as mentioned in another thread either.

 

[BOOMERANG]

Send us some pics of your barn as its being built. I'm getting ready to build one myself and am always looking for ideas. Thanks !

 

[weedsportpete]

I'm looking at flourescent lighting also, for cold weather. One electrician said High Output fixtures/bulbs will start in cold weather, and 'normal' ones will start slow in the cold and wear out the ballasts a lot faster than normal.

Is that what your 'electronic - instant on' lights are - High Output? Or is that a sub-category of high output lights?

Are they easy to install? I've got to put up 10 to start with, in the barn, and more later, in the arena. I've found them locally at Home Depot for $45 (8' two bulb fixtures), and the bulbs go for $5 or $6. That adds up to about $600 (w/tax) but he wants to charge me $750 total parts and labor. Is that fair?

Maybe it is, but I'd rather do it myself. I don't have any experience yet with lighting electrical work..

Pete

 

[Anonymous Poster]

14' of height dictates that you will need LO BAY fixtures if you go with any HID type light, Mercury, Metal Halide, or Sodium.
If color rendition is important to your work, you should use either color corrected MH or Flourescent. If cost of operation is a consideration, go with Sodium.
Flourescent should not be mounted more than 10 feet above your work surphace, as the wavelength of the light and tube output tend to be less than effective more than 10 feet from the fixture. If you go flourescent, you should use either a tube guard, or enclosed fixture.
HO flourescent come in at least 2 output ratings, 800 and 1500 milliwatt, so you need to be specific as to building use to make a correct decision. Tubes are only efficient for 2000 hours, and if not maintained, will destroy the ballast.
Traffic patterns in the barn will dictate the number of fixtures, and their location.

 

[Gary_in_Indiana]

Pete,

Installing those lights is a project you can do yourself with minimum effort. Make certain your power is off to the connection you're making and it's black to black, white to while and the ground. Viola'! You've got lights installed. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

 

[rockyridgefarm]

I'd use some of both LO bay HID and flourescent. HID's will shut down and take a while to come back on. Flourescents may have lower output when really cold.

I put HID's in a shop that is open 6 days a week over thee years ago and have yet to change a bulb.

 

[rdln]

Consider your mounting distance from a reflective surface. in a shop with a white cieling the $45 dollar fixtures are fine but when you say "arena" it sounds like you might need the reflectors that dont come with the Home Depot HO flourescents. That has boggled my mind for a while now, the fact that HOs that are needed for cold starts and likely not in a heated area with reflective interior finishes dont come with reflectors (from Home Depot, Lowes) but the standards fixtures do ???????.

 

[HR_Mutt]

Thanks to all with the good info. The original plan was to go w/ 4-6 HID w/ MH equally spaced. Each would be on its own switch. Maybe a couple of the electronic flourescents over the benches, mounted lower. Attached is only pic I have with a tractor in it/w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif. (sand delivery)
Regards
Mutt

 

[Chillimau]

Franz, Would a 16' height also require a low bay? How big a difference is the operating cost between MH and Sodium? Any good web sites for lighting info?

thanks

Gary

 

[cj7]

try this site.

www.national-lighting.com

Gary a lowbay style fixture is generally used from 15' to 25' above finished floor.

There is also not a problem with moutnting FL fixtures above 10' I have industrial type fixtures in my building (32'x48' mounted at 12') I average 65 footcandles at 3' AFF.

If the space is unheated standard electronic t-8 can be used with a low temp atart ballast. tube guards will help the lamp warm faster. There are many different fixuters, ballast ouputs, and lamps to choose from.

IMO I would stay away from t-8 HO or any others. These sytems are more expensive and use more energy.

If you go with HID a Metal Halide Pulse Start system would be of choice. This is more efficient than old MH systems and almost as efficient as HPS(orange light).

Of course some of these system cost a little more up front but will pay for themselves with the energy saved verses older technology. Most times this is about a 2-3 year payback.

One thing to keep in mind is that the old t-12 system and some old HO systems are being phased out by legislation. So even though they may be cheaper to purchase now may have problems buying parts in the future.

Feel free to ask any more questions. I do work with energy efficient lighting for a living.

 

[cj7]

HR --

Regarding your swithching. HID's are ment to be turned on and left on. Of course this does not mean you should not switch them just do not expect to turn them off and on all day long. I assume what your thinking is to be able to run only the lighting that you need to do whatever tasks. I would also recomend that you install a few FL fixtures for those time that you just need to "run in and grab something". HID' do have a warm up period.

Looks like a nice barn.

 

[patrickg]

Likewise the HPS, don't like being turned on and off and on and off and on and off. If you would need the genberal lighting on long enough to make HPS practical, then I recommend them for energy efficiency and the golden light is good enough for mose general illumination purposes. I don't recommend them for "task lighting" but the fluorescents are fine there.

Patrick

 

[weedsportpete]

Thanks Gary,

Sounds simple.. I think I can handle the fixtures, and the wiring back to the switch. I'll let the electrician hook up the switches to the box..

Pete

 

[Chillimau]

Thanks, CJ7.

 

[cj7]

Any time.

There really is a lot of information to digest about lighting. If one wants to take the time.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

16 feet is definitely LO bay. I just replaced out some 400 watt HID metal halide HI bay fixtures with 50 watt sodium fixtures in a warehouse, and have twice the footcandles at a far lower consumption. From memory, the HPS 50 watt draws 0.68 amps, and the 400 watt MH drew 8.2 amps. HPS is definitely more efficient in terms of lumen per watt.
An added bonus of HPS over MH or Mercury, CCTV cameras can see in HPS illumination, where they can't see effectively in MH or Mercury illumination. HPS has an infrared component the others don't to the light.

 

[Chillimau]

Franz and CJ7,

Around here you see a lot of gas stations using some type of HID light in the canopies over the pumps, any ideas as to what type they might be? Is HPS the yellowish lights that the utilities use for pole security lights. I have noticed some are yellow and some are more white/blue. Anyway I like the lights in the gas stations, nice white light. I guess for just lighting a storage building the HPS would be good, but for a workshop I would think you would want better color rendition? What is a ball park price for fixtures and how many would you suggest for a 50 x50 workshop (woodworking, metal working, welding, auto repair).

thanks in advance for the info.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

HPS is the yellowish orange light, the ones you are seeing in service station canopys are Color Corrected Metal Halide.
CCMH is being used more and more in lo bay applications, like gas stations and machine shops.
Prices are highly dependant on fixture configuration, especially reflector and lens. You can often find good deals on Ebay, just search "Metal Halide", and Sodium. Don't get too concerned with all the plant light systems offered for sale to growers of certain substances farmed hydroponicly.
Be aware, MH while it appears close to daylight does not offer the best wavelength for certain jobs, and is poor quality light for welding and painting.
MH is also more expensive to run than HPS. You might want to consider HPS for overall lighting, with flourescent fill in lighting over work benches. If your vehicle work will involve car painting, consider flourescent in that area with D suffix tubes, rather than CW suffix for best color matching and fading in paint jobs.

 

[cj7]

What is your ceiling height? Is this an open space or is it divided by walls?