Lighting question of course!

[howpeculiar]

I am currently building my 28x71 pole barn, and am looking at my lighting requirements right now. The building is going to be divided into two rooms, with the larger being 38 foot and the smaller being 32 foot. The larger room has three doors and three four post lifts, and the other room has a large single door and a 2 post lift. Ceiling height is 14', and I will be lining the walls and ceiling with white duraliner (metal). I have been playing with calculators and reading a bunch on the internet, and I think I have the right layout in mind now. I believe that (4) of the 70W and (9) of the 110W Diva Light LHB series lights will work out nicely, but would like to get some verification from an expert before I spend $1600 on lights. I want to surface mount them, and I want each room to be separate. I would like to have a dimmer on them, and would really like the option to have a set of switches in each room for both sets, though i know there can only be one dimmer slide. Am I on the right track here? The 2 post lift goes all the way to the ceiling.

I have not figured out how to attach a useful file here, is there a host i need to send it to? I have a pdf and a jpeg of the layout....

 

[howpeculiar]

Lets see if this works:

 

[American Locomotive]

I suspect the proposed layout in the 3 bay area will leave you with spotty coverage. Also you may want to consider a light over front of the hood in the 2-post area so you can see into the engine bay better.

 

[Platonic Solid]

Suggest the following 13,700 Lumen or similar fixture.

Qty. 12 in 38'x28' (4x3 layout) = 107fc @ 30" workplane.

Qty. 9 in 32'x28' (3x3 layout) = 93fc ...

With that many lifts you'll need task lighting under them regardless of how you layout fixtures at 14ft.

 

[howpeculiar]

Okay, here is another pass, almost double the cost! The guy at Bees I talked to thought that what I had above was plenty of light, but perhaps a salesman isn't the correct person to talk with. In this cut, I have added a bunch more light. I was using the DIVA lights as my reference, so this just makes it (21) of the 110W and (2) of the 95W. This is awful expensive. Am I overdoing this? The lifts in the storage bay are not service lifts, I have a 4 post up at the house for people to borrow to do brakes and whatnot, the bay with the 2 post is my service and project bay.

 

[cybrdyke]

Lets back up a little....
Since you are referring to the area with the 3 lifts as a "storage area", does that mean that you wont be wrenching in there? If that's the case, you dont need nearly as much light. If you can picture a well-lit commercial warehouse, you'd be looking at around 35 foot candles in there. That's plenty of light to do most tasks. You can always use task lights when you need more in that space. You still have the issue of the raised autos blocking the light. You will still have that issue even if you add more fixtures, so I dont think that's the answer. Will there ALWAYS be cars on those lifts? If so, then you're doing the right thing to place the fixtures around the lifts. If not, then you should think about lighting it as if there were no lifts there.
For the smaller room, where you are working, anything over 75 fc will be great. You'll still need task lights under the hood to eliminate your own shadow, and you'll still need task lights under the raised auto. Tossing more fixtures onto the ceiling wont eliminate the need for that very much.
For switching in the smaller room, you can get a 3 way dimmer switch (on/off/dim) and put one at the man door and one at the wall between the two rooms. They both will operate as a dimmer. You can do the same in the larger room... One dimmer switch on each end of the room. Both will work as a dimmer.
Hope that helps.
Good luck,
CD

 

[Platonic Solid]

... The lifts in the storage bay are not service lifts ...

That's a critical omission. With that number of lifts, I assumed this was a business. I'll wait till you respond to cybrdyke before any further recommendations.

 

[howpeculiar]

Not a business, just a hobby. I store cars offsite, and wanted to be able to store them here during the winter. I still get the garage on th ehouse which has a 4 post in it that I have been using forever. The room with the three lifts will almost always have 6 cars in it, and will have pallet racking in fron of it for storage, but with a long run of bench space integrated in it which will have its own lighting.

In the shop side, I am familiar with the challenges a 2 post make for lighting, i am looking to get decent light in the room knowing full well that you sometimes need more light, particularly when you are underneath the car. I usually use a combination of handheld Astro LED lights and LED drop lights. I think I can get what I want with 8 100W fixtures per room:

 

[Platonic Solid]

I agree with your plan for both sides.

8 lights in the large room gives you 73fc at workplane, which is certainly more than you need for storage, but it gives you plenty to find stuff stored on the shelves. 73fc may be high for this use of space, but once it's filled with cars the actual fc will drop substantially.

The shop side has a mean of 83fc. You'll have between 90fc and 100fc where you want it around the lift.

 

[howpeculiar]

Lights are ordered, i will let you know what I think in a month or so. We pour the floor next week, so not ready to install lights yet.

 

[howpeculiar]

Finally have the lights in one side of the pole barn up, and they are AWESOME! I used the ALEO 110W LED panels, and they are everything I was looking for! Here is video of hanging them with shots once they are working:

 

[Platonic Solid]

Cool!

Here's the correct link to your light hanging video:

 

[stevelh]

Looks good! Where did you get them?

 

[howpeculiar]

LED Lighting wholesale is who I bought them from, but they are very similar to any of the wholesalers offerings. I really like them. With the brackets, they were $107 each, 100W equivalent, and I went with 5K, since a shop should be bright.