used t-8's, 52 of them

[steelin3rd]

so I am building a 40 x 60 pole barn shop. it is just about lighting time and it was going to be a huge expense for the amount of light i wanted.

i found a general contractor on craigslist doing a big remodel on a mapco. i bought 52 4x2 T-8 troffers with electronic 120-277 instant ballasts with bulbs for $200. i checked out the lights, they are about $80 a piece new. he says they were only a couple years old and that they all worked when taken down. i also ended up with a bunch of MC whips (no wire). they had gotten water in some and near them as the roof was leaking. i figured i would take a gamble. i would like to use about 35-40 of them in the shop.

any thoughts or concerns with the water? i checked and the ballasts in it are around $14. im hoping 4 out of 5 of them will work. i thought about setting up a little cleaning/ testing station and running each one through it.

the pic is all the lights loaded up in the boxvan.

 

[jlckmj]

Nice buy!

jim

 

[Delta74]

the ballasts should be fine, just make sure there dry, when they were hanging there the water would drip off them and unlikely any would get in.

take a good look at the fixtures you may be able to convert them to 4 lamp models just by adding a second a ballast and ends, if so it opens alot of possibilities to you such as wireing the second ballest to a second switch for low or high light output, or wire them both and do every second light on a switch, or both with 4 switches from low light to OMG i need sunglasses.

atleast that assumes you are not planning to install all the lights, just gut the spares for the parts.

anyway good find and good luck.

 

[steelin3rd]

i should have mentioned, these are 4 lamp fixtures with a single ballast.

 

[green.bubbly]

I have never had to illuminate a 40x60 building but 40 four bulb units seems like an awful lot.

Great find by the way.

 

[steelin3rd]

i was waiting for that comment from someone.

ive learned thru my years of fixing whatever that the better you can see the better you can work. to me this means 2 things, eyes or magnifiers, and as much light as possible. I have a workshop in my basement that is about 225ish sq ft and i put 5 2 lamp t-8's in it. they were telling me that may be too much, but i love it, work better and more efficiently with it, would actually add a 6th if i could do it over again.

i was a commercial electrician in a former life, but never had any experience with lumens calcs or lighting plans, just followed them. so i am guessing the amount of lighting but i basically want about 1.5-2 times what everyone things is way plenty. i will be switching each run individually to control lighting power depending on the situation.

if you or anyone has a calc on my building i would love to see it. basically i want to overdo it, and control my overdoing with a switch depending on the situation. lights i have are cheap as they come, so money isn't an issue as it was before i found the deal.

 

[bczygan]

i was waiting for that comment from someone.

ive learned thru my years of fixing whatever that the better you can see the better you can work. to me this means 2 things, eyes or magnifiers, and as much light as possible. I have a workshop in my basement that is about 225ish sq ft and i put 5 2 lamp t-8's in it. they were telling me that may be too much, but i love it, work better and more efficiently with it, would actually add a 6th if i could do it over again.

i was a commercial electrician in a former life, but never had any experience with lumens calcs or lighting plans, just followed them. so i am guessing the amount of lighting but i basically want about 1.5-2 times what everyone things is way plenty. i will be switching each run individually to control lighting power depending on the situation.

if you or anyone has a calc on my building i would love to see it. basically i want to overdo it, and control my overdoing with a switch depending on the situation. lights i have are cheap as they come, so money isn't an issue as it was before i found the deal.

The latest findings on lighting are that you can have too much lighting. It can actually make it harder to see and create fatigue. The light provided by fluorescent fixtures is general illumination. It is to make sure you don't run into walls or trip over stuff. It should be an even but diffuse illumination. Task lighting should augment the general lighting. Task lighting needs to be located and designed specifically for each task. For both types of lighting, pay careful attention to the color spectrum you are providing. For task lighting pay attention to the exact location of fixtures, reflectors, bulb types, color temperatures etc. Usually you need light from more than one direction for task lighting to properly illuminate the subject. This doesn't mean you blast the subject from all sides with as many lumens as possible, but rather you paint your subject with light in a way that gives depth and meaning to it.

 

[Zengineer]

52, 4-bulb T-8 fixtures in a 40x60 foot shop is around 250ft-candles... you are pretty much just wasting about $300 a year in power at that point.

Realistically, if you have poor sight, and are getting on in years, 150-175 ft-candles would be considered "bright". If you install 36 of your fixtures as general lighting, you would be up around 170ft-candles, and you could save the others for task or bench lighting if you so desired after that...

For reference, 50ft-candles is considered a well lit shop space.

 

[steelin3rd]

Thanks for your input Zeng!! Sure helps a lot.

So I had guessed it pretty close saying 35-40 lights. Maybe I will go with 4 runs of 8 or 9 lights, each run being individually switched.

I do intend on doing some of them for task lighting as well, and a couple outdoor lights. Possibly a few ceiling fans, would love to find some old industrial ceiling fans.

 

[PassnThru]

Here is a web based tool that can help (from Lithonia):
Lighting Design Tools (Interior)
They also have some downloadable software that I used when planning out the lighting in my garage.

 

[marty_p]

What a GREAT score, buddy!

 

[steelin3rd]

Thanks guys, can't wait to get them up. Probably 1 day maybe a day and a half left on the building, then I can get on the utilities. Here is latest pic of progress.

 

[Strouty]

I have a 32 by 60 building and when I put up my lights, I ran 8 rows of 4 lights. They are two bulb t-8 fixtures. It has plenty of light with 12'6" ceilings. I think I would see if maybe you can only have two of the four bulbs going in the fixture, that way it would draw less electricity.

 

[Zeke]

The latest findings on lighting are that you can have too much lighting. It can actually make it harder to see and create fatigue. The light provided by fluorescent fixtures is general illumination. It is to make sure you don't run into walls or trip over stuff. It should be an even but diffuse illumination. Task lighting should augment the general lighting. Task lighting needs to be located and designed specifically for each task. For both types of lighting, pay careful attention to the color spectrum you are providing. For task lighting pay attention to the exact location of fixtures, reflectors, bulb types, color temperatures etc. Usually you need light from more than one direction for task lighting to properly illuminate the subject. This doesn't mean you blast the subject from all sides with as many lumens as possible, but rather you paint your subject with light in a way that gives depth and meaning to it.

Best lighting post ever. Height of fixtures is the only other thing you need for calcs.

 

[steelin3rd]

ok, so you guys have talked me out of some lights. i am now thinking if 4 rows of 7 lights.

 

[steelin3rd]

ok, i didnt mention that the building has 14' ceiling. i am leaning towards putting up some white metal siding for ceiling. what are you guys thoughts on how that will affect lighting. the floor will most likely be densifier/sealer type, i think will do a metal wainscoat on the lower walls, haven't decided what to do on upper walls yet.

how would different color ceilings affect quality of lighting? anyone have thoughts on this? suggestions? ideas?

 

[Jefflitzy]

I have 16' foot ceilings 28*60'. 24 (8 rows of 3)- f32 T8 tandem fixtures I am getting 90 Foot candles 4' from the floor with all the lights on. 95% of the time I am running 1/2 of the fixtures as it is plenty bright to do work. Wall and ceiling surface is galvanized metal siding. Bare concrete floor.

 

[teleman37]

Wow, I have a 36X50 shop with 10' ceilings. I put up 12 lights. 3 fixtures in a row, four rows. The fixtures are four bulb T8, eight feet long. It's super bright!

 

[nissan_crawler]

I have never had to illuminate a 40x60 building but 40 four bulb units seems like an awful lot.

Great find by the way.

I have 9 4' dual bulb t8 fixtures in a 19x23 with 8' ceilings, and it's just right, IMHO.

Without factoring in his ceiling height, he would need roughly 100 bulbs.