For my new shop, I ended up purchasing Lithonia I-Beam series T5HO florescent lights. They were expensive at $160 per fixture, but that does include bulbs. I have 15 of these things to hang, so you can figure the amount of money I spent. Ouch! All but two of them are the four bulb fixtures. In my welding room where I want more light for set up, etc, I’m using two six bulb fixtures that were just under $200.
For those who aren’t familiar with T5HO bulbs, they are fairly new. The bulbs are 5/8” in diameter and typically 4’ long. A four bulb fixture only draws 230 Watts but each bulb puts out 5000 lumens. A four bulb fixture is designed to replace a standard 400 Watt Metal Halide fixture. The key is they are the only florescent lights that are bright enough to use in a high-bay application.
The reason I’m using these lights is they are instant on where as metal halide take a few minutes to come on, have extended temperature range ballast, are wet location rated (so I can put them under my shop awning) and are the most economical fixtures available.
It was a lot of money to spend, but this is the last shop I’ll ever build. I’ll post some pictures in the coming weeks when I get all of them hung.
