wantacoe
Well-known member
I know what a high bay light is but I do not know what makes it a high bay? Also, for a 15' ceiling would you use a high bay? Thanks
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What makes a high bay light high bay
- Thread starter wantacoe
- Start date
TTMotorsports
Well-known member
I believe it is the beam angle. Mount a high bay low and it's a super bright narrow spot.
I have high bays mounted 15ft up in my shop and its nice and bright.
I have high bays mounted 15ft up in my shop and its nice and bright.
Beam angle. As a fair approximation, a 45 degree angle makes a spot of light on the floor with a diameter twice the height of the fixture. Half the angle , 22.5 degrees, and the spot shrinks to equal the height, but gets brighter.
Bear in mind the "spot" is not sharp edged like a theatrical spotlight; the edge is the point at which the brightness starts to fall off rapidly.
In other words, to get a certain brightness over a certain area with a certain ceiling height, it requires a certain beam angle.
Start with how bright you want the light where you're going to be trying to see things, then the ceiling height, then refer to manufacturers' specs to find the fixtures you need.
Bear in mind the "spot" is not sharp edged like a theatrical spotlight; the edge is the point at which the brightness starts to fall off rapidly.
In other words, to get a certain brightness over a certain area with a certain ceiling height, it requires a certain beam angle.
Start with how bright you want the light where you're going to be trying to see things, then the ceiling height, then refer to manufacturers' specs to find the fixtures you need.
I know what a high bay light is but I do not know what makes it a high bay? Also, for a 15' ceiling would you use a high bay? Thanks
It's an old lighting term from back in the day. These days, the rules are lot more "fuzzy", but we still use the lingo to describe fixture styles. Highbays were normally considered for use over 20'. They were far too bright and had too tight of a beam to be used much lower than that. Low bay lights (lowbays) were made for ceilings over 12'. You need a wider beam from that height, and not so much light. Common highbays were either 400w or 1000w Metal Halide or High Pressure Sodium. Common lowbays are 250w.
Alot of the fixtures that we discuss here are referred to as highbays, but would actually fall more into the lowbay category. It's certainly not worth it to try to correct anybody's lingo as it doesn't really matter much anymore.
CD