Lights ? Wiring ?

[cvcman]

Ok I was thinking of using regular incandescent bulbs, maybe 100 watt in my 28 x 40 unheated pole barn...thoughts ??

Also I was going to run 12 gage wire and use 20 amp breakers for lights AND outlets ?? Thoughts

 

[kd3pc]

depending on "ceiling" height, you may need more bulbs or more watts

I used 12 and 20 on my garage, no 14 and 15 at all.

 

[BDT/NWMN]

I ran 12 gauge wire in conduit for My 24 X 30 pole shed outlets and lighting, and used 100 watt incandescent bulbs; which were replaced by 10 watt led bulbs when they came down in price.

There are cheaper ways to wire a pole shed, but I favor the durability of the conduit.

 

[justinthurn]

I would NOT use incandescent bulbs. You can run 9 or 10 100 watt equivalent led bulbs for the same electricity cost of 1 100 watt incandescent. You can still use the cheap single bulb sockets, just put led bulbs in them instead.

 

[PhysicsDude]

Incandescent lights work well as heaters. They are effectively heaters that also happen to give off light.

What about during the summer? Do you also want the extra heat when its not winter?

You can also get IR heat bulbs that use 300W or so of heat. You could get quite a bit of heat from a few sockets, and keep it separate from the regular lights.

For lighting a garage/barn/workshop type area, screw in bulbs are pretty terrible. 4 foot tube type fixture give off much more usable light. If you use the pole barn for something other than basic storage, I think you'll be pretty unhappy with the light you get from a bunch of screw in lightbulbs in your ceiling.

20A/12G circuits are always a good idea for outlets. Not necessary for lights, but if you intend to use the lighting circuits as heaters its probably a good idea...

 

[Platonic Solid]

Time to start a new thread: "Worst Light Fixture Ever".

 

[machsnell]

Time to start a new thread: "Worst Light Fixture Ever".

Haha. Good one

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

 

[Norcal]

Only thing they would be good for is providing a minimum amount of light to walk through the building, which is not a very good reason to use "The worst light fixture ever".

 

[cvcman]

maybe these ???
https://www.ebay.com/itm/4-pack-BR4...884802?hash=item33db330042:g:RoQAAOSwbF1aDJkk

 

[astrohip]

Ok I was thinking of using regular incandescent bulbs, maybe 100 watt in my 28 x 40 unheated pole barn...thoughts ??

Also I was going to run 12 gage wire and use 20 amp breakers for lights AND outlets ?? Thoughts

Is there a reason you specifically mention "incandescent"? LED makes so much sense these days, I really thought most people, in a "starting from scratch" situation like you, used LED.

I've got a dozen LED fixtures (same shape as fluorescent) lighting a 50x50 shop. Plus outdoor lighting, and corner spots, and a security light on a photocell. All on one circuit. You can't do that with lights that draw more watts.

Plus no heat gain. And in a metal shop in Texas, in the summer, that's worth it's weight in gold.

 

[cvcman]

Is there a reason you specifically mention "incandescent"? LED makes so much sense these days, I really thought most people, in a "starting from scratch" situation like you, used LED.

I've got a dozen LED fixtures (same shape as fluorescent) lighting a 50x50 shop. Plus outdoor lighting, and corner spots, and a security light on a photocell. All on one circuit. You can't do that with lights that draw more watts.

Plus no heat gain. And in a metal shop in Texas, in the summer, that's worth it's weight in gold.

Im thinking LED floods now...

 

[Platonic Solid]

cvcman - What's the desired use of the space? How often will you use it? What's your max budget for proper lighting? (assuming proper is even a consideration)

 

[Shiftless]

Costco sells FEIT BR30 LED flood lights with 110 degree beam spread, 750 lumens, and 2700 K color temperature for around $2.50 each. They draw about 10 watts.
No reason to run incandescent unless you want heat.

 

[cvcman]

cvcman - What's the desired use of the space? How often will you use it? What's your max budget for proper lighting? (assuming proper is even a consideration)

Storage space for tractor, motorhome, car etc,,,probably wont be using much at night....I don't really have a "budget"
Im thinking 8 of the 100w LED floods,,,they will be 16ft off the floor

 

[cvcman]

Costco sells FEIT BR30 LED flood lights with 110 degree beam spread, 750 lumens, and 2700 K color temperature for around $2.50 each. They draw about 10 watts.
No reason to run incandescent unless you want heat.

Yea you wouldn't get enough heat outta the incandescents to say so,,,Im thinking the LED floods ,,,maybe 8 of the 100 watt

 

[Alchymist]

Shed is 12X16, and I used 4 x 150 watt incandescent lights about 9' off the floor. Reasons being it's storage, and I'm not in there often or for more than short periods, but I want to see when I am in there. (Other reason is that I'm cheap and I had the bulbs and fixtures). For the same reason the shed has 240 volt sub panel - because I had the stuff.

 

[Shiftless]

Shed is 12X16, and I used 4 x 150 watt incandescent lights about 9' off the floor. Reasons being it's storage, and I'm not in there often or for more than short periods, but I want to see when I am in there. (Other reason is that I'm cheap and I had the bulbs and fixtures). For the same reason the shed has 240 volt sub panel - because I had the stuff.

Based on your usage it seems as though you made the right choice. If you rarely use the lights, it makes sense to just use what you already have, in essence free to you, for lighting. Those 4 bulbs cost what... 12 cents an hour to run?
If you spent $40 to upgrade to LED floodlights, you could get the operating cost down to maybe what...2 cents per hour? That would save 10 cents per hour so your payback period would be 400 hours. If you only have the lights on for 5 minutes looking for something once a day, it would take 13 years to break even assuming the 4 bulbs never burn out or you have a box full of replacements.

 

[Platonic Solid]

Storage space for tractor, motorhome, car etc,,,probably wont be using much at night....I don't really have a "budget"
Im thinking 8 of the 100w LED floods,,,they will be 16ft off the floor

Best advice I can give is to put light fixtures where you walk - over all walkway/pathway intersections.

 

[Alchymist]

Based on your usage it seems as though you made the right choice. If you rarely use the lights, it makes sense to just use what you already have, in essence free to you, for lighting. Those 4 bulbs cost what... 12 cents an hour to run?
If you spent $40 to upgrade to LED floodlights, you could get the operating cost down to maybe what...2 cents per hour? That would save 10 cents per hour so your payback period would be 400 hours. If you only have the lights on for 5 minutes looking for something once a day, it would take 13 years to break even assuming the 4 bulbs never burn out or you have a box full of replacements.

With our current electric rate, about 6 cents/hr.

 

[Shiftless]

With our current electric rate, about 6 cents/hr.

Do you mean that you can run 4 150 watt bulbs for 6 cents per hour?

wow!

I pay 20 cents per Kwhr for the base amount and up to 40 cents for high useage.
Much higher motivation to go with LEDs

 

[Alchymist]

Do you mean that you can run 4 150 watt bulbs for 6 cents per hour?

wow!

I pay 20 cents per Kwhr for the base amount and up to 40 cents for high useage.
Much higher motivation to go with LEDs

Unless I did the math wrong! Our electric bill runs on average $100 a month. Couple window air conditioners for a couple months in the summer, propane heat supplemented in the winter with occasional electric area heaters. I think the highest bill I've seen in the last 9 years (when we bought the place) was about $160. Our water heater is electric, and I don't think twice about cranking up the welder or other power tools. One of the benefits of being on a rural electric coop. Propane not so nice dollar wise.