Shop lighting

maulcruiser

maulcruiser

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 13, 2005
Location
Bladenboro/Wilmington, NC
Hey guys,

I'm starting from scratch with putting lights up in the barn at the house. I'm no lighting expert, so I'm coming to you. It's a 25' x 60' wood barn, 12' open ceiling. For the time being and likely forever, it will be a natural wood finish inside, so I'm needing to get enough light in there. A quick and dirty calculation one website said I'd need 21-24 4' fixtures to hit a 50 lumen/sq ft ratio. Another site says 6 fixtures. I know that is dependent upon lumen output of each fixture. All of these numbers are based on LED fixtures. I'm wanting to stick with 4000k LED's for a "natural" light, and want to get it right (or as close as possible) the first time. Any advice?
 
My shop is 28'x 48' with open ceiling about 10'-12' and I have about 20 4' 3000k lumen LEDs in there and it's ok. I could use a couple more here and there. As you get older it's even more important to have a lot of light.
 
I used hyperlites off Amazon. You can message them and they will send you a lighting plan based off your buildings dimensions.

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Lighting is one of the most varied and nuanced aspects of any building. Unfortunately there ain’t a single number to tell you what you have. You’ve got lumens, vs beam spread vs projection vs ft candle.

Then a lense change or reflector change can totally alter the visibility.

We just finished a 60x 140 metal fab shop with 20’ ceiling and used 24 led fixtures and are having to go back and install dimming circuits because it’s too bright. Luckily the customer picked the fixtures and we aren’t eating it.

Whatever you buy- I’d see if drivers are available separate as a service item and go ahead and grab a couple. LED lights are finicky as hell and the manufacturers charge the drivers constantly. Frustrating to have a year old building and have to have a single off ball light.
 
I used 5 lithonia high bay led lights for my 32x48 and was a huge upgrade over

1: 8’ HO fluorescents
2” 8’ LED conversions in above fixtures

Yes they cost more than Amazon specials, but I was tired of changing bulbs and tired of not enough light.

I have mine set to low setting (20k lumen, 4000k temp) and made a 6” cone to hang to reduce some of the angle and glare.

The light directly above was never an issue, it was the lights not above were a small nuisance.

6” wide “cone” or shade on the fixture makes it where I can’t see the leds directly and reduced the glare nuisance.
 
I think the "white" light is much easier on the eyes and you can see things better, and after turning 40 and 50 yrs old that is really important. Huge difference in my close up vision over that last decade.
 
R Q said:
My shop is 28'x 48' with open ceiling about 10'-12' and I have about 20 4' 3000k lumen LEDs in there and it's ok. I could use a couple more here and there. As you get older it's even more important to have a lot of light.
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Edit: I actually have 14 in my shop.
 
You can go to atlas' website and do your own lay out using one of their lights. If you aren't planning on using their lights, select one with similar specs. I ended up with atlas do to finding them new/used, hung but never wired then plans changed for the building. I will say that it seems to me that how the Chinese measure lumens and how a company like atlas does is "different ". In my experience it takes less "good quality " lights than it does the other brands. Might weigh into your decision making.
 
My 40x80x16 has 11 200w led UFO high bay from Amazon. It really should be 13 but one corner is being turned into an apartment so I didn't hang 2 back there. They are bright enough that I added dimmers to them.i don't have a good pic of them all on at night, but this is just the one side one. The middle and other side are my work area so they're on a separate circuit.
IMG_20240313_201431385.jpg
 
awheelterd said:
Holy crap, that's got to be bright af. My 40x50 only called for 8 🤣
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Yep, only called for half of that but I wanted it stupid bright. I also installed bluetooth outlets on all the lights so I can turn them remotely. Kasa makes inexpensive smart home devices that are app controlled. I have them setup on two bluetooth light switches, one for each half of the building. The app lets me control each light individually.
 
Ignore the mess, but these tiger cub lights have been stupidly bright.

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CarolinaHD said:
Same, got 9 in my 24x30 and it’s dumb bright for how cheap they are.
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I just recently got my gun safe moved down in the basement and I’m setting up a couple work benches around it. I had a few extra lights so I stuck two of them end to end over the benches. It’s crazy bright on a 7.5’ ceiling. lol.
 
I have a regular 20x20 attached garage with 8' ceilings, so I can't add much. I have 6 4' leds and one 6' over the workbench and its pretty nice. One thing I hate is when the garage door is open (a 16fter) it blocks 2/3 of my lights. I've been thinking about taking apart a cheap cord reel, removing the ratchet mechanism, mounting it to the celling and clamping the end to the door to power 4 4' leds on the garage door.

The main thing for me is no matter how much light I have, I still wind up working with a headlamp or flashlight when working on stuff.
 
NCJeeplover said:
The main thing for me is no matter how much light I have, I still wind up working with a headlamp or flashlight when working on stuff.
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I took my "good" headlamp down to the shop about 3 years ago for some reason, and it has never left. I hate getting old.
 
awheelterd said:
I used hyperlites off Amazon. You can message them and they will send you a lighting plan based off your buildings dimensions.

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Did you just message their general sales@ email for support? New doors will be installed on our shop in a few weeks and updating the panel and basic circuits is next on my list. Would be interested to see what their layout would be for the building.
 
StretchASU said:
Did you just message their general sales@ email for support? New doors will be installed on our shop in a few weeks and updating the panel and basic circuits is next on my list. Would be interested to see what their layout would be for the building.
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Lighting Design

We are willing to help electricians or DIYers with lighting solutions. Just provide us with the length, width, and height of the facility and your requirements for illumination, we will provide the lighting layout to you for free. For lighting plans, just contact us! Lighting Projects Share...
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I just went through the links on their website. Super easy.
 
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