Does anyone regret installing high bay lighting in their shop?

[johnnyh55]

I just built a 40x40 shop with 14ft ceilings and I am looking for some lights, I stopped by a few electrical supply houses and they have provided me with layouts for high bays and 8ft strip lights. They told me the high bay's need to be hung 18 inches from the finish ceiling in order to allow them to cool properly and keep the warranty where as the strip lights can be installed almost tight to the ceiling. The one thing I don't like about strip lights is when one decides to go out, you need to replace the whole fixture. With high bays, you still need to replace the whole fixture but it seems much easier since it's only a hook and the wiring. They showed me a high bay in their warehouse and they have like a 30ft ceiling and I noticed when looking directly at the light it blinds you, I wonder if I will notice it more in my shop since its only 14ft and the light needs to be 18 inches from the ceiling, it will be at 12.6 feet. I asked them about traditional fixtures and he said we can get them but they are more expensive and harder to get because of less demand for them, those would of been perfect as I would only need to replace the tubes if they go out. What would you guys do for 14 ft ceilings, high bay's or strip lights or some other type of lights? One layout for high bays as 9 lights in total of 13 000lumen each giving around 56 foot candles and for strip lights, 16 8ft 75W strip lights of 9576 lumens each would put me at 75 foot candles and 12 strip lights would put me at 56 foot candles

 

[dcg9381]

High bays are great... A few lights can really light up the shop. If I was going to do it again, I'd get high bay UFOs that can be dimmed. I've not had a single light failure in 3+ years.

 

[Maxcustody]

I have high bays and 14’ ceilings, however my ceiling trusses are open. Like you said if I look into them they are very bright, but I am not spending much time staring up at them.

 

[Innovate1]

I have a 30 x 40 with 14.5' ceilings and did 4' tube lights. 12 dual tube fixtures with LED bulbs. Seems plenty bright to me although it seems like a lot of folks here want it super bright. I posted more details when I did them a couple years ago. If you want I can look up the details.

 

[Noltz]

We have high bays in our commercial shop, with a strip of tube LEDS that run in front of the cars for "underhood" lighting.
It's pretty nice honestly, and the highbay lights have been on 10 hours a day for 2 years with no failures. There's been 5 of the LED tubes that have gone out.

I just moved and now have a 30x40x14 shop of my own that needs to be re-lit. The 5 twin-tube fixtures are woefully insufficient.

 

[Noltz]

I have a 30 x 40 with 14.5' ceilings and did 4' tube lights. 12 dual tube fixtures with LED bulbs. Seems plenty bright to me although it seems like a lot of folks here want it super bright. I posted more details when I did them a couple years ago. If you want I can look up the details.

You have a link to a picture of your shop? I'm in the same situation.

 

[sparky 1971]

I just built a 40x40 shop with 14ft ceilings and I am looking for some lights, I stopped by a few electrical supply houses and they have provided me with layouts for high bays and 8ft strip lights. They told me the high bay's need to be hung 18 inches from the finish ceiling in order to allow them to cool properly and keep the warranty where as the strip lights can be installed almost tight to the ceiling. The one thing I don't like about strip lights is when one decides to go out, you need to replace the whole fixture. With high bays, you still need to replace the whole fixture but it seems much easier since it's only a hook and the wiring. They showed me a high bay in their warehouse and they have like a 30ft ceiling and I noticed when looking directly at the light it blinds you, I wonder if I will notice it more in my shop since its only 14ft and the light needs to be 18 inches from the ceiling, it will be at 12.6 feet. I asked them about traditional fixtures and he said we can get them but they are more expensive and harder to get because of less demand for them, those would of been perfect as I would only need to replace the tubes if they go out. What would you guys do for 14 ft ceilings, high bay's or strip lights or some other type of lights? One layout for high bays as 9 lights in total of 13 000lumen each giving around 56 foot candles and for strip lights, 16 8ft 75W strip lights of 9576 lumens each would put me at 75 foot candles and 12 strip lights would put me at 56 foot candles

Check out the greatest light fixture ever thread. If you're going to use strip lights, get the type that use LED tubes. A tube fails, toss it in the trash and install another.

If it were my shop, and I know it's not, I would use three rows of four 8' four lamp fixtures with four 50k frosted lamps per fixture. The side rows about 6' off the walls and another right down the middle, unless the door opener is in the way, then off just enough to miss it.

 

[Stuart in MN]

14' ceiling is going to be right on the edge when it comes to high bay fixtures, I think 15' or 16' is about the lower limit for them to work properly. Personally I'd go with regular fixtures.

 

[Poolshark314]

Majority of my 24x40x14 shop is lit by 4 high bay UFOs. I think they are plenty of light for a 24x32 space. They will be very bright if you stare at them, but I don't stare at any lights UFO or not

 

[great white tj]

I have 4 high bay lights in my 24x24 shop. When I built the shop 20 years ago I put in 3 8' dual tube lights. Over the years my eyes needed more light. I still use the 8 footers at times. But I turn on the high bays every day for the past 2 years. The trusses are open and it is 12' 4" from the floor to the bottom of the trusses, the high bays are at 14' """ let there be light """ and yes they put out A Lot Of Bright Light.

 

[Mzungu]

I installed 150 watt highbays in my 38x44x12 shop. They're great. Buy one and try it out. I moved the first one around a bit until I was satisfied with the angle of light it cast on the garage door wall and the side wall, then spaced the others accordingly to how much overlap I wanted. I have no shadows whatsoever. As for the 18 inch thing, that's new to me the lights I bought are half heat sink, my hooks are 4 inches long.

 

[tycham]

I have finally finished erecting my 40 x 60 x 18 metal building. Electrical is next so I am looking at lights. Since I have an RV lift in one bay and an RV wintered in the other bay I am thinking lights down the sides (6 ft from wall) and then down the middle. Comments/ideas

 

[b-boy]

High bays are great... A few lights can really light up the shop. If I was going to do it again, I'd get high bay UFOs that can be dimmed. I've not had a single light failure in 3+ years.

This is what I have. They are great. I keep them at about 40%. If I turned them up all the way I think I could do surgery in my barn.

 

[slimpickins]

Deleted

 

[dmittz]

I have an 18ft ceiling in my shop that i'm buikling right now. I just installed the first high-bay light to get a sense of how many fixtures I need.



Holy cow, these things are bright (15,471 lumens each) i'm not going to need many at all! For a high ceiling application like mine LED high-bay's seem an awesome value as they were inexpensive and easy to install too.

 

[u2slow]

I have done a number of side light strips (walls, and edge of shelves) and lighting directly over work areas because I haven't got to finishing my 19' ceiling yet. (Might do a few pendant highbays later.)

If you use fluorescent fixtures you can change the LED retrofit tubes as they burn out.

 

[William Payne]

there really is no excuse unless you want a specific look to not use LED’s these days.

It’s like being blind and being able to see again. LED’s just give off so much light. My shop is only half lit right now until I get the other half done but with what’s lit being LED’s it’s still super bright.

Nothing compares at all period. The old style lighting in comparison just ***** and is dark.

Also why load up so much of your power on lighting. Save the amps for what matters your machinery.

 

[Dagny]

A 2 foot or 4 foot fixture between 15 and 25 thousand lumens is not as harsh as the ufo fixtures We put the ufos in loafing barns but farm shops turn out better with bigger not so concentrated fixtures.

 

[rockwind1]

This is my 42x42x14 shop with 4 28,600 lumen dimmable high bays.
There is a bit of light puddling directly under the fixtures and I may decide to add two more and adjust the spacing a bit. For now I consider this to be perfect.
Don't forget to also wire in a few smaller fixtures so you don't have to fire up the big guns just to go in and fetch a screwdriver or something.


what style lights are those? They don’t look like ufo’s

 

[slimpickins]

Deleted

 

[6togo]

I'm in the process of deciding what light type as well for my 35' x 50' x 13.5' garage. I looked at both types of light and thought the UFO's were it but I don't like the lights hanging down I prefer surface mounted. That narrows it quite a bit even though some linear's have a mounting kit. However the kit still has the light down about 6" off the ceiling which I get for heat dissipation but not the look I want. I been looking at the Prime lights stingray's they might get the job done and have replaceable bulbs.

 

[rockcrawler]

I have 14ft. walls and high bays, along with all my other lighting, and love them. I was fortunate enough to get all the lighting in my shop for free from a place that was closing and had lights on pallets that were never used. All new in box. When the electrician showed up to install the lights in my shop, he said, that’s a lot of lights, it’s probably going to be too bright. I joked with him and said I want it to be seen from space. I think it’s perfect. I don’t have any dark areas and the lighting seems very even.

 

[JoinerCP]

Resurrecting this, we purchased a lot of lights for the shop and I think I've overdone it.

We purchased:
https://www.primelights.com/products/led-6-lamp-t8-stingray-6xl-highbay-fixture-132-watts-clear-pl-6srhbld132xlfm

I'm in the process of overhauling the space and I'm going to put the lights on two separate breakers but I'm also considering dimming. I went to the MFGRs website and I can't find if they are dimmable like any other light. Does anyone have a suggestion? It'd be great to run these on lower power, hopefully extending the life and making the space more comfortable.

 

[JoinerCP]

Resurrecting this, we purchased a lot of lights for the shop and I think I've overdone it.

We purchased:
https://www.primelights.com/products/led-6-lamp-t8-stingray-6xl-highbay-fixture-132-watts-clear-pl-6srhbld132xlfm

I'm in the process of overhauling the space and I'm going to put the lights on two separate breakers but I'm also considering dimming. I went to the MFGRs website and I can't find if they are dimmable like any other light. Does anyone have a suggestion? It'd be great to run these on lower power, hopefully extending the life and making the space more comfortable.

N/M - just called the company and confirmed these are not dimmable. I'm going to run 2 distinct branches so the lighting can be reduced during daytime.

 

[Hardworkinguy]

I have a barn that is 32X40 and 14' ceilings. I went with the UFO-looking round LED high bay (aka "stadium lights" on ebay) that I bought on EBAY. I used 6 in total,and paid about $50 each when I installed them. That was probably 7-8 years ago. They still work fine,plenty of light,left me with zero regrets.
An example:

Pardon Our Interruption...

 

[dcg9381]

I love our high bay UFO lights (16' eves). My ONLY regret is not installing a dimmer system.

 

[NakeDiesel]

I built my shop a little over 10 years ago and put 27 8' 4 bulb T8 fixtures up on my 14' ceiling in my shop. Shop's 40' x 80' with 3 12'x12' doors on one side and opposite those is a bathroom, commercial kitchen/honey room with my bee equipment and compressor/paint room. A main row down the center and then a section on each side, each with their own switch. 2 weekends ago, I upgraded the yellowing fluorescent bulbs with direct wire led 6500k 24w led bulbs and wow, what a difference it's made in there. I used the light change out as an excuse to get the boys over to help move stuff around while I cleaned up the shop and rearranged it a bit.

Here's a pic of almost all of them changed except the last fixture for comparison: