Adjustable Lumen High Bay Suggestion

[Gary U]

I'm building a 30x40 workshop (stick built) with 12.x foot ceiling height. I currently have two other garages: one with 48" maxlite fixtures with two LED tubes and one with 48" techbrite fixtures with two LED tubes. Lighting is very good in both and is the minimum level I would like to acheive in the new shop. A nice gentleman at Prolighting has recommended some GE high bay fixtures which feature an adjustable lumen level. Anywhere from 3600 to 12000 lumen for the items I am looking at. https://www.prolighting.com/commerc...ow-bay-high-bays/linearhighbays/93150767.html

A 4x3 grid of 12 fixtures yielded 58fc at the 6900 lumens and 100fc at the full 12000 lumen setting. There are 10 different settings so I could conceivably hone in on the optimal amount in different areas of the garage.

I've spent a fair amount of time researching lighting here on the forum and dont recall any mention of this type of adjustable lumen high bay fixture. Seems like a good way to dial in the lighting without having to add more fixtures. Does anyone have experience with this type of fixture? Any demerits I am not considering?

Thanks

 

[cybrdyke]

Selectable highbays have been around for several months now. You are correct that it helps dial in lighting levels or gives options to those who are a little unsure about how much light they want or need. Obviously, if you use the higher levels, you will use (and pay for) more power. There are no technical downsides, but you pay for the "selectable" feature, and you are paying for a 12,000 lumen fixture. If you only use 3600 lumens selection, then you waaay over paid for the fixture.
10 choices is a bit of overkill. Some of those 10 steps are so small as to be insignificant and there is no difference at all between step 9 & 10. But that's nitpicky on my part.
Albeo is one of the better brands.
Good luck,
CD

 

[dscheidt]

Selectable highbays have been around for several months now. You are correct that it helps dial in lighting levels or gives options to those who are a little unsure about how much light they want or need. Obviously, if you use the higher levels, you will use (and pay for) more power. There are no technical downsides, but you pay for the "selectable" feature, and you are paying for a 12,000 lumen fixture. If you only use 3600 lumens selection, then you waaay over paid for the fixture.
10 choices is a bit of overkill. Some of those 10 steps are so small as to be insignificant and there is no difference at all between step 9 & 10. But that's nitpicky on my part.
Albeo is one of the better brands.
Good luck,
CD

how is this better than a dimmer?

 

[cybrdyke]

how is this better than a dimmer?

If you know how much light you want from your highbay, then there's no real benefit from a selectable fixture. You should just buy one with the appropriate lumen output.
But...if you dont really have any idea how much light you want from your highbay and you dont want to do any research or planning, then selectable fixtures would allow you to hang them and play with the light levels until you get what you want. It's kinda sloppy, but it will work.
You could also come up with some scenarios where you want to have all the same fixture, but with different light ouputs. For instance, fixtures mounted near walls at 10' might be a lower level, but fixtures at the ceiling peak of 18', might be set to a higher level. But these scenarios are not very common.
Truthfully, selectable output really only benefits the seller, in this case prolighting.com . They can stock just one item that has multiple outputs instead of stocking multiple items with a fixed output. Then, they push them on their customers claiming some kind of marketing mumbo jumbo about how cool they are. That's what has happened in this case.

It differs from a dimmer because the selector switch is on the fixture and I dont think that people will want to climb a ladder to switch them every time they want to "dim" them. If you wanted a dimming function, you would still need to install a dimmer switch and dimmer circuit.
CD

 

[Gary U]

I'm not totally sure it is sloppy. There is an incredible amount of conflicting information regarding how many foot candles are needed and this would allow one to hone in using the actual space. 50fc? 75fc? 100fc?

For what it is worth, I have not been able to find any linear High Bay lights that were sub 10000 lumens. My other option which is still a real possibility is to just go with 48" strip fixtures with three tubes each. Downside is I would need more of them to accomplish the same thing. Upside to the strips is that even when buying more the price is still much lower. And the tubes are replaceable.

Getting the lighting right is a pain!

 

[cybrdyke]

By sloppy, I mean versus doing it properly by determining the correct light level and getting a photometric layout done. Then, you'll know it's right. But not everyone has accesss to these tools. So selectable fixtures lets you "sort of" dial it in.
Another advantage of selectable fixtures is if the primary use of the space changes, then you can change the fixtures accordingly.
There aren't many highbays under 10,000 lumens. It goes against the definition of what a highbay is. Your 12' ceiling would be the minimum height that a highbay should be mounted. In a new building, I wouldn't bother with LED tubes. Good quality strip fixtures in the range of 6000-8000 lumens will give you a nice even result.
Good luck,
CD

 

[Gary U]

Cyberdyke - thank you for all of the advice!

Seems like the bank of three LED tube strip fixtures provide the right lumen output, are cheaper, and tubes are easily replaceable. Is there something about the strip fixture that makes them better (other than not looking old fashioned)?

 

[cybrdyke]

With new fixtures you get a full size driver vs. the tiny little driver that's stuffed into the end of an LED tube. The large driver will provide multiple advantages:
Any heat will be dissipated over the whole metal fixture.
Full range dimming via 0-10 volts DC.
Better regulation of the diodes.
Nearly double the life of an LED tube.
Selectable power and CCT is common.
5 year warranty.