Hi-bay lights in shop

[mr.jake]

Hi all, Ill be renovating a newly acquired shop soon and wondering about lights. Ive picked up some 6 bulb t5 hi-bay lights relatively cheap and was hoping to make them work in a shop that is 32x48x9. The shop will be getting a concrete floor and is being lined with white steel. Is there a way to make high bay lights work, I was going to use a 1-2" spacer to hold the lights down from the ceiling a bit. Any help would be appreciated, thanks.

 

[Stuart in MN]

If the space is only 9 feet high, you won't have very good light distribution with high bay fixtures. They're designed for ceilings more like 20 feet high. There will be a 'hot spot' directly underneath each one.

 

[mr.jake]

What is the actual difference between high and low bay? Is it just the reflector design? If so could they be modified to distribute the light better?

 

[Platonic Solid]

Reflector design and total lumen output is the difference. 6 F54T5HO lamps = ~28,000 Lumens. At 9ft you wouldn't want any more than ~6,000 Lumens. One F54T5HO lamp would suffice per 4ft strip location, but at 9ft the glare would be annoying. Recommend scrapping this plan. If you install them, the excess electricity will out-weight fixture cost in short order - even if the fixtures were free.

 

[mr.jake]

Thank you both for the input, ill likely give these lights to my dad for his shop as its has a 20' ceiling. Ill find some t8 lighting for my needs.
Thanks again!

 

[Charles (in GA)]

The high bay T5HO fixtures generally have a bright polished aluminum reflector, and is focused to keep the light "close to the fixture" and not spread out. A nearly identical white painted reflector on these fixtures is designed for low bay installations to spread the light and not cause as much glare.

 

[mr.jake]

The high bay T5HO fixtures generally have a bright polished aluminum reflector, and is focused to keep the light "close to the fixture" and not spread out. A nearly identical white painted reflector on these fixtures is designed for low bay installations to spread the light and not cause as much glare.

So in theory I could paint the reflectors white and basically have a low bay version?