HO Flourescents

[Sound_Man]

alright so I know this has been discussed before, but more on lighting.

For those of you with shops in the 40x60 range who used flourescents, how many did you use and what spacing, and are you happy?


I was looking at doing the 8' HO flourescents and doing two rows of 5 lights each. does this seem like enough or not enough?

[78bronco460]

alright so I know this has been discussed before, but more on lighting.

For those of you with shops in the 40x60 range who used flourescents, how many did you use and what spacing, and are you happy?


I was looking at doing the 8' HO flourescents and doing two rows of 5 lights each. does this seem like enough or not enough?
The height you hang them is pretty important to the spacing and number of fixtures. Talk to a lighting supplier, they have the cool programs that will give you a layout and foot/candles for max efficiency. Some of the reflectors available make a huge difference, worth a look.

[PAToyota]

I used the 8' HOs in my shop -- 10'-6" flat ceilings (second floor above) and about 4' from the outside walls and then about 8' between the fixtures. That is almost on the verge of being too bright, but I'm pretty pleased with it. Nice in the winter too. It takes about fifteen minutes for them to come up to full brightness under 30 degrees, but then they are bright with no "shimmer" like regular fluorescents.

[Stupid frnch jackasS]

I have 30 4' units in my 80x50, its not daylight bright but its pretty decent, I thought I would need more but I think it's OK. I will add a couple ones above the benches and be done with it. I have 4 main transverse rows 5+6+6+5 and 4 smaller rows 2+2+2+2 in the center section where most of the work takes place. Some white paint on the wall helps, too.

[bronco75]

I had local suply shop tell me what I needed and for my 30x40 with 12'6" rafter height they came up with 6- 8' lamps I installed 3 to start =- stagered like this 10' apart 4' from wall and worked good now I had to relocate 1 because of lift install and ended up with having to install a 4th light at each end of where lift is so take into mind placement as to what is going into shop in future

[James_Fendley]

40x50 shop, 3 rows of (4) 8' HO lights. 12' wall height, 18' center height, lights dropped about 3'

[NIB-98TJ]

The rule of thumb for florescent shop lighting is 0.5 to 1.0 watts/sf.

I have two shop areas that are lighted at about 1 watt/sf. It is pretty damn bright. My wife says it looks like Walmart when she pulls up at night and I have the overhead doors open. I like it. If you are young and have good eyes, you could get by with less. If I built another shop, I would go with 1 watt/sf again.

Area 1 is 30’ x 36’ – six 8’ HO fixtures – 12ea 96 watt bulbs total = 1.06 watts/sf
Area 1 is 22’ x 16’ – two 8’ HO fixtures – 4ea 96 watt bulbs total = 1.09 watts/sf

I like the HO lights, but they do cost more and I have had to replace several ballasts in the first 4 years. The ballasts cost damn near as much as the whole fawkin' light fixture, about $35 to $40 at Lowes or Home Depot.

Good Luck,
NIB

[Tim84K10]

How many watts are regular cheepo 4' shop lights?

[Bondage]

Most common sizes are 40 and 34 watts

[GoingOffRoading]

How many watts are regular cheepo 4' shop lights?

Whatever it says on the bulb? :grinpimp: