More lighting questions from a new guy

[jim7]

Hi all...

I just finished a building a pole barn for my shop.. I am currently insulating and walling.. It is a 30 x 64 building with 10 foot ceilings.. I am going to be using it as a shop for hobbies.. I am going to wall it with the bright white dura panel metal from Menards.. It only has 4 windows on one side of the building.. I think that lighting it is turning into the hardest part... I have read the 2 stickies multiple times and have just confused myself more... I would like to run 4 foot or bigger led tube lighting. I have also used the http://www.visual-3d.com website found in those posts to try to figure it out.. Right now the software is showing me 12 lights run parallel with the front of the building in rows of three...So 4 rows of three starting 8 feet from the front then 16 feet apart that will give me 8 feet from the last row to the back of the building... Does this sound right?? I saw on the sticky that they have updated on some current recommended light fixtures and bulbs...Please give me your opinion on this setup...Thanks and sorry about another light question from a new guy
Jim

 

[cory58]

Assuming you are using the 2-tube set up recommended in the Best Light sticky, that seems like somewhat small # of fixtures. What is your fc target?

 

[cybrdyke]

It is a 30 x 64

the software is showing me 12 lights run parallel with the front of the building in rows of three...So 4 rows of three starting 8 feet from the front then 16 feet apart that will give me 8 feet from the last row to the back of the building...

So, the front of the building is the 60' side?

The side to side spacing seems OK, with 4 perpendicular rows covering the 30'. But 3 fixtures covering 60' seems like a stretch. 16' spacing (end to end) is alot.
What fixtures/lumens are you using in the software?
What did you use for a fc target?

 

[anuccite]

My theory is going to be..... Keep adding fixtures until i'm happy....

The Visual tool is great.... and gave me a start.... But it could not account for the fact that I took a fixture and removed ballasts, direct wired my LED's .....(or at least I didn't know how to manipulate it..)

If you start with what it told you..... you can always add more in the space between

 

[jim7]

]So, the front of the building is the 60' side?

The front of the building is is 30 it has a 18 foot garage door and a service door the only windows are located on the left side...4 of them... I spoke with a guy at one of the sticker recommended retailers and he ran some numbers and came up with 32 lights 4 running parallel with the front and going 8 rows deep...that would put them at 8 feet apart being the building is 64 feet long... I want to do it right and being a shop I need enough to light but that seems like it would be crazy bright...let me know what you think... he was using the 2 bulb max light fixtures 2250 lamp lumens 36 watt llf 1.0 reflectance ceiling 80 % walls 50 % floor 20% I guess the results were average illuminate 44 fc number of luminaries 32... any of that make sense to any one...and the used the 5000k lights also
Thanks for all your help
Jim

 

[anuccite]

Also What I did / am still doing..... I bought 3 light fixtures, and since I'm direct wiring them to bulbs, I have them split where I can turn on 1 light, 2 lights, or all 3.....

I also can turn off some sections if I don't need all the light at that time....

You could by adding some wiring and switches, create different light levels, You have 32 fixtures.... put them on 4 different switches 8 fixtures each.....