I need to get some lights ordered for my shop. I have decided on a 160-170 watt linear high bay. I have found them in the $100 range and also for 2-3x as much. What’s everyone’s thoughts? I don’t want to buy junk but if $100 lights will serve me just fine I am all for it.
Where to get lights?
- Thread starter alex2929
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Don1357
Well-known member
Amazon? These are what I got, 12 for $239. LED with an output equivalent of 260W
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B086WRJ25X/?tag=atomicindus08-20
I have 9 hanging, 3 rows, on a 23x23 area and the coverage is pretty fantastic with lots of light and no hard shadows.
Did you even read the op's question?
Shiftless
Well-known member
That 12 pack of lights are not high bay.
O.P. probably has pretty high ceilings. The 12 pack from Amazon would probably be pretty good at under 10 feet. They are “shop lights” not really intended for general illumination in a quality installation, Many guys use them for that though and are quite satisfied.
O.P. probably has pretty high ceilings. The 12 pack from Amazon would probably be pretty good at under 10 feet. They are “shop lights” not really intended for general illumination in a quality installation, Many guys use them for that though and are quite satisfied.
Don1357
Well-known member
I did. I even googled "linear high bay led lights" to confirm that the ones I got are called just that.
I'm guessing that you are bitching that the price point is not exactly what he was asking for? Don't worry, I'll promptly refund 100% of the money he paid me for the answer.
Shiftless
Well-known member
Maybe I’m reading the wrong page, but the item description for the 12 pack lights show this. Shop lights are not high bay fixtures.
No criticism implied, those lights are fine to use for overall illumination. I have similar fixtures in my garage that has a 7 foot high ceiling. But actual high bay fixtures are way better for really high ceilings. Some guys here on GJ have 16- 20 foot ceilings.
alex2929:
How high are your ceilings? What is the size of your shop and what do you do in there? That is an important consideration when selecting light fixtures. Most of us don’t need 100 foot candles at working height on every square foot of the whole shop or garage.
No criticism implied, those lights are fine to use for overall illumination. I have similar fixtures in my garage that has a 7 foot high ceiling. But actual high bay fixtures are way better for really high ceilings. Some guys here on GJ have 16- 20 foot ceilings.
alex2929:
How high are your ceilings? What is the size of your shop and what do you do in there? That is an important consideration when selecting light fixtures. Most of us don’t need 100 foot candles at working height on every square foot of the whole shop or garage.
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Don1357
Well-known member
I get where you are coming from and I appreciate filling in.
The thing is; light is light is light, obedient to the inverse square law of propagation. This happens to be how we know we live in a 3 dimensional space as it jives with what we expect energy to behave when it dissipates into one.
Segway aside... What you and I would consider a high bay light is one that is better at projecting the light down. Then again all 4' lights, (and I mean every single one of them both old school and LED) are designed with the shroud that directs the light down.
Is it worth it to pay 1000% more for a 'high bay' light that is probably only 10~15% better at directing the light down? Inverse square law; in order to double the light output you have to quadruple the amount of light you are pumping in; 10% drop is nothing.
My garage is 24x36, 2/3 loft with 10/12 pitch open ceiling. Lower floor is 9', lights on second floor loft are about 10' up. On the 1/3rd open bay area that goes to 24' the ceiling ridge there are no lights at all, but there is enough light spilling from the other side of the garage to keep it pretty brightly lit. I may eventually add some lights on the far wall to break the shadow formed by the directional (pretty diffused) light.
I would be mighty surprised if the 160W fixture the OP is looking at can do much better than the 260W I installed. Heck do two 260W fixtures, It would run circles around that 160W one without paying the 500% markup for less light.
They are not highbays. Not really even intended for general illumination. They are task lights.
Not to mention the op was trying to avoid junk, which those lights definitely are.
Also your lights are not 260w. They are 40w says so right in the description... You're lights are 4000 lumens. 160 w LED highbay would be 18,000+ lumens
Don1357
Well-known member
Junk in what respect? They have a 7 year warranty most likely on the single fact that LEDs have a much longer lifespan than that. Is this personal experience of just biased because of the price?
The OP said 160W, he did not specify LED. When people refer to Wattage as a measurement of light output without qualifying that is LED the normal assumption is the old incandescent, where a 40W LED output is much higher than the 160W output quoted by the OP.
This guy hung eight of them on his 16' x 40' x 16'h pole barn. He probably would have gotten better lighting if he hung them further from the walls. I hung more than that on a 22x22x9h area downstairs, less than the cost of a single light the OP is looking at while giving me more diffused light.
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Shiftless
Well-known member
don1357:
What you said is not wrong but you should consider that shop lights placed high above the floor spread a lot of their light over to the walls where you don’t need much light and because of their poor reflectance, cause a lot of the light generated at the fixture to never reach the surface you’re trying to illuminate. Here is a chart I found online showing the effect of the same number of lumens n various fixtures designed to focus the light downward at different angles.
Look at the differences of illumination.
What you said is not wrong but you should consider that shop lights placed high above the floor spread a lot of their light over to the walls where you don’t need much light and because of their poor reflectance, cause a lot of the light generated at the fixture to never reach the surface you’re trying to illuminate. Here is a chart I found online showing the effect of the same number of lumens n various fixtures designed to focus the light downward at different angles.
Look at the differences of illumination.
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Don1357
Well-known member
Thanks, that illustration is really appreciated.
Still, in real life applications you would never see such a loss in final lux. Take for instance the most extreme one at 60-degree angle (also the easiest to calculate as an Equilateral triangle, my geometry was a looooong time ago). The foot print of light at 9' would be 10.4', but most of the alleged lost of light comes back when lights are overlapped. In my case the 3 rows are 4' apart; the center of my illuminated space receives light from both rows on the left and right, raising the lux substantially. The light reflected from the side gets diffused but not sucked into a black hole; instead it contributes to the fill light, further breaking the shadows throughout the work space.
Here's my unscientific but highly effective light tester; get a spray can or similar with the ubiquitous fine print; if you can read it you have enough light. This method is fantastic because it measures how much light you and only you need. Trust me; with my tired eyes I need a lot of light. Better yet; you can walk your shop with your 'light tester' and test for adequate light levels all around. Because of my inefficient high degree lights all that output is being gently diffused all over the place.
BillK
Well-known member
Alex,
I dont know where you are located but it might be worth a trip to a local electric supply house. When I upgraded the light in my business last year I got some good ideas from this forum and from Platonic and then I went down to my local supply house and showed them what I was looking for. They came very close to matching the price and they are only two blocks away from my business so I didnt have to mess with shipping etc. If I need more lights I can almost walk there and get what I need. Plus it was worth it to me to pay a little bit more to deal with a local business
I dont know where you are located but it might be worth a trip to a local electric supply house. When I upgraded the light in my business last year I got some good ideas from this forum and from Platonic and then I went down to my local supply house and showed them what I was looking for. They came very close to matching the price and they are only two blocks away from my business so I didnt have to mess with shipping etc. If I need more lights I can almost walk there and get what I need. Plus it was worth it to me to pay a little bit more to deal with a local business
Thanks for the help. My ceilings are 18’ so I want a legit high bay light for sure. I used a layout tool online and with what I am planning I will have around 75 fc in the entire shop. I have considered adding an extra light or two where I will be working most of the time. I am going to check with a local supplier on prices. Otherwise I may just go the Amazon route.
local supplier wants a little over $200 per light. I have been looking at these. UL and DLC listed....any reason not to get them?
https://hi-hyperlite.com/products/led-down-light-will-series?variant=32969719971903
Also if I am around 70-75 FC do you think that is sufficient? Would you add an additional light or two around your work area? I have also considered some lighting in the walls in that area which may be a better route?
https://hi-hyperlite.com/products/led-down-light-will-series?variant=32969719971903
Also if I am around 70-75 FC do you think that is sufficient? Would you add an additional light or two around your work area? I have also considered some lighting in the walls in that area which may be a better route?
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Only thing that would be nice is if it had a frosted cover. Less glare that way. But for the price it's not bad.
75 ft candles is probably better than a lot of commercial shops out there. You may want some task lighting for fine detail work but overall it's good
tncatadjuster
Well-known member
I have four of these and could not be happier. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07F3WYKNT/?tag=atomicindus08-20
Ron_J
Well-known member
Best price I found on comparable lights was here...
https://www.ledlightingwholesaleinc.com/default.asp
Warning....they took a while to get the lights, and their communication sucked, but I like the lights and the price was good.
https://www.ledlightingwholesaleinc.com/default.asp
Warning....they took a while to get the lights, and their communication sucked, but I like the lights and the price was good.