lighting a 30 x 40 shop

[jlandry]

Hey guys, I am looking at possibly putting two rows of (4) daisy chained 8' flourecents. I will be running them with half on each circuit so I can turn half off or on as needed. Anybody with a similar size shop/setup can give advice? I know there can never be too much light but will this be overkill or not enough?

Thanks in advance, Jamie

 

[Brandon_K]

How tall are the ceilings?

 

[jlandry]

10 ft sides going to about 12 ft in center

 

[regguy1]

Not enough...consider at least 3 rows. I put 5 rows of 4 (20) 48" fixtures in my
26' x 30' with 6500K T8's and it's very nice.
You might be able to achieve more even spacing with 48" fixtures ??

 

[jlandry]

thanks regguy1, I thought about possibly adding another run down the center if needed. Thanks for the info.

 

[Brandon_K]

You might want to consider halide low-bay lights. 12' is pretty short though and it depends on how far up you can you can get them. Also look for low-bay's with uplighting, especially if you'll have a drywalled ceiling, it will reflect a LOT and reduce shadowing by huge amounts.

Stop by your local lighting shop or electrical supplier and ask them what they recommend. Different dealers carry different lines and many lines have different photometrics. They should be able to easily recommend for a small shop. MH's have their drawbacks, they aren't quite as efficient, without uplighting they can shadow (so can flourescent though), but I'm still a huge fan of MH.

 

[rlme36]

Hey guys, I am looking at possibly putting two rows of (4) daisy chained 8' flourecents. I will be running them with half on each circuit so I can turn half off or on as needed. Anybody with a similar size shop/setup can give advice? I know there can never be too much light but will this be overkill or not enough?

Thanks in advance, Jamie

I just did 4 rows of 8ft lights by metalux in my 36x30 for a total of 16 light fixtures and think it could still use a little more. I am at 14ft, but that isn't that much taller than yours. I have 2 circuts with each row on a switch.

If you can fit more I would recommend going that route, more light is better and you can always not turn a row on if you are on one side of the garage.

rob

 

[Salem747]

Check out the High output florescent. That's what I used and they are also cold weather starting. I have 3 x 8' in my 31x24' with 10' walls and OSB interior.

The bulbs are expensive but very bright you can get them up to 100W! For a florescent that is LOTS of light.

http://www.homedepot.ca/webapp/wcs/...Ntx=mode+matchall&recN=0&N=0&Ntk=P_PartNumber

 

[Strouty]

I bought the cheap electronic ballast lights from home depot, then played with different bulbs. I have a 12'6" ceiling and 8 rows of 4 lights. It was cheap and the bulbs I ended up with look like sunshine! I think the fixtures were $10 each and the bulbs were $7 for two, I found contractors packs later on, they are much cheaper. I think I have about $500 and I feel like I am outside. It is actually nice to come inside when it is cloudy outside. My shop is 30 x 60 so you wouldn't need as many fixtures. They are pretty much evenly spaced across the whole ceiling.