Shop light suggestions

[DJ54]

I also agree on the 4' LED's. I've got 15 in my 30'X32'X12' shop hung end to end. I mounted 2 X 4's to the metal ceiling, as I'd planned on fluorescent strip lights. I put receptacles on the side of the 2 X 4's, and plug 2 lights into one. They ae not direct mount, but cut the chains down to 2 links, and hung from screw eyes. If one ever goes bad, just unplug, unhook, and replace.

I have 30" light panels at the top of the siding, and even on bright sunny days, with the OH door open, they still brighten it up in there. The only problem I have noticed is, I have to shade over my Jackson Auto Darken welding helmet, to get it to lighten up. At first, I thought the lens I'd replaced a year ago was going bad already for some reason. When I looked down, it lightened up. When I looked straight ahead, it would darken. I shaded over top of the lens with my hand, and it lightened up again. Other than that inconvenience, I love them.

I got the 5,000 lumen LED's at Rural King. I had to order them, and they run them on sale every now & then for $19.99 + shipping.

 

[shibaura_4043]

Six total lights or six 5 packs of lights for a total of 30? The 10k lumen output isn't a lot for a big shop with high ceilings and a dull and or dark finish. Google lumen requirements based on task and determine what you are comfortable with. The "UFO" style high bays are popular. Their is a post with several pages of data that occurred a few months back.

I was hoping for 6 total one between each section of the beams on both sides of the ridge

 

[RNeumann]

From my recollection that would be enough light to find your way around but not enough for tasks. That's only 60,000 lumen total.
Their are better resources but this is a start-
How To: Calculate Lumens Required for Any Room | The Lighting Blog | Lighting by Lux

 

[kenr74]

Thanks for replying , I, leaning towards LED as well. I added a pic to my original post of a LED light I was considering. Do you have any pics of your shop lit up and how you mounted the lights?

No pictures. To mount them I just drilled two holes in each mounting bracket them screwed them into the beams.

 

[s219]

Yeah, 6 lights is not nearly enough in a 40x60. Use the calculator to figure out the right number.

I put in four 3800 lumen LED lights in my 20x20 barn, and it's just perfect for shop type work. My lights are about 12' off the ground.

Those were 4' fixtures. The size doesn't really matter, but the configuration might. Since I was mounting to the bottom chord of the roof trusses, the 4' fixtures were a good match.

So ballpark, that's about 38 lumens per square foot. For a 40x60, I would have needed 24 of those lights to get the same level of illumination from the same height.

 

[orangeandgreen]

Just has a 30x50x12 built and used 4' LED lights from Rural King.

 

[airbiscuit]

If you search Ebay for 150W LED High Bay, you can find some for around $85

1��W 15�W LED High Bay Light Bright White Warehouse Factory Industry Lighting

Can't vouch for them, but you could buy one as an experiment (both for placement and light).

A lot of people vouch for the Costco 4 footers.

In my 30x40 building, I have 12 old school ceramic fixtures with 100W LED bulbs (1600 lumens each), and 7 4' three light T-8 fixtures, with a couple of floods shining up at the ceiling. Nice and bright, but the RF interference blocks my radio and wireless garage door signals.

I think a year from now we will have more/better/cheaper LEDs as options. I have good light now (about 70 lumens per square foot), but I might be upgrading in a year or two.

 

[kenr74]

Not a very good picture but this is what my shop looked like right after the floor was poured. I'm building a work bench now and may put some lights right above it depending on how everything looks once the shop is full. Right now it is very empty and very bright.

I have the 48x30 enclosed section of my shop covered with 21 of the LED lights.

 

[shibaura_4043]

Not a very good picture but this is what my shop looked like right after the floor was poured. I'm building a work bench now and may put some lights right above it depending on how everything looks once the shop is full. Right now it is very empty and very bright.

I have the 48x30 enclosed section of my shop covered with 21 of the LED lights.

thanks for the pic.. what type of LED lights do you have?

 

[woodlandfarms]

Just FYI, I bought 6 200 watters of this style. Hung them face down. Bright as a noon sun... For about 4 months.. then they all burned out.

1W 2W 3W 5W 1W 15W 2W 3W 5W LED Flood Light Spot lights Garden Lamp | eBay

Manufacturer replaced all of them but I am not hanging them up. Turns out (in my opinion) that these type of light are no good for face down work. The LEDs heat up the circuit board and fry them out.

My neighbor who is an EE is going through the boards now, and we will get them back and running (I did not have to return the burned out ones so either I have 6 large boat anchors or I scored).