LED lighting in pole barn?

[wmonroe]

I'm getting ready to start installing permanent lighting in my 40x60x16 pole barn and was originally thinking of going flourescent or maybe a high pressure sodium type light. I'm not very familiar with interior LED lighting and have not found the info i'm looking for in my searches. With my ceiling being so high would LED's still be a viable option? Also all i seem to find is replacement bulbs, do they make fixtures for more of a pole barn application?
Thanks

 

[newbury]

LED's are EXPENSIVE still.

I've got a workshop with a 12' plus ceiling and one with a 14' plus ceiling. Both are lit with 8' R12 flourescent fixtures.

Not enough light for me. As the ballasts age I'm going to replace them with R5's. Still more expensive than R12's or R8's but the ones I hooked up so far are MUCH brighter.

Search the threads here and somewhere I think I put a link to an EXCELLENT article on workshop lighting at Sawmill Creek.

 

[jeff9366]

I have 14 LED can lights in my three year old home in Florida.
Energy usage is 16 watts, light output equivalent to 65 watt incandescent can light.
Not only efficient but cool, so air conditioning does not have to fight heat from lights.
Light service is something like 30,000 hours. I'll be dead before the first one requires replacement. ( I prohibit myself from going higher than three steps on a ladder these days.)
Initially expensive, yes, but I figured payback within five years inside the house.
I am sure interior LED lighting has improved in the three years since mine were installed.

I feel more secure with LED can lights relative to fire than with HOT incandescent can lights.

 

[Member]

I'm getting ready to start installing permanent lighting in my 40x60x16 pole barn and was originally thinking of going flourescent or maybe a high pressure sodium type light. I'm not very familiar with interior LED lighting and have not found the info i'm looking for in my searches. With my ceiling being so high would LED's still be a viable option? Also all i seem to find is replacement bulbs, do they make fixtures for more of a pole barn application?
Thanks

I'm testing one of these:

Lithonia Lighting 2 ft. White LED High Bay Light-IBH 11L MV at The Home Depot

It's very bright at 11,200 lumens. My only complaint so far is the fixture has to be ventilated on top for the LEDs to cool and bugs get inside using those vents and die on the diffuser. I haven't looked to see if the diffuser is easily removable yet.

I'm covering an area about 20x20 feet with one right now, it looks like that will work well.

 

[CobyRupert]

Yes, they should last a lifetime, and are very energy efficient, but if/when they do go bad, don't you have to scrape the whole fixture and remount / rewire a whole new fixture? Factor that into the cost "savings"

 

[newbury]

I'm testing one of these:

Lithonia Lighting 2 ft. White LED High Bay Light-IBH 11L MV at The Home Depot

It's very bright at 11,200 lumens. My only complaint so far is the fixture has to be ventilated on top for the LEDs to cool and bugs get inside using those vents and die on the diffuser. I haven't looked to see if the diffuser is easily removable yet.

I'm covering an area about 20x20 feet with one right now, it looks like that will work well.

I hadn't found those last year when I did my search for high bay lighting. Might have to try one with some insect netting on top.

/edit
Found the article
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/content.php?146-Lighting-the-Small-Workshop-by-Jack-Lindsey
It also has a calculator for how many lights

 

[Member]

I hadn't found those last year when I did my search for high bay lighting. Might have to try one with some insect netting on top.

Insect netting is a great idea. Are you thinking something like metal window screen attached with aluminum foil tape? If not, how would you do it?

 

[edlegault]

LED light fixtures do NOT "last a lifetime". Just replaced a LED rear brake assembly out of a 2004 Prius because half of the LEDs were burned out. $400. 130,000 miles at 25mph average = 5200 hours. Should have gone 50,000 hours. Did not.

I have noticed that CFL bulbs in the house also only last a fraction of the advertised time.

 

[ThomasH]

Fluorescent tubes are somewhat more efficient than the current crop of LED lights, so there isn't much of a comparison in cost as LED fixtures cost many times what corresponding fluorescent fixtures do. And my experience is that while you do have to replace fluorescent tubes every 5 or so years (depending on usage), LEDs don't last all that much longer due to power fluctuations and the heat that the bulbs put out.

 

[wmonroe]

It looks so far at this point that fluorescents are father way to go over LEDs. It seems that with the initial price of an led I won't get enough of a return for how much use I will have to save anything. I just looked at an online calculator and it says I will need 43 8' t8 fixtures for my building. Ouch!!!

 

[hr3]

It looks so far at this point that fluorescents are father way to go over LEDs. It seems that with the initial price of an led I won't get enough of a return for how much use I will have to save anything. I just looked at an online calculator and it says I will need 43 8' t8 fixtures for my building. Ouch!!!

I'd double check those calculations,, maybe 43 8' bulbs and that can be done with 21 8' 2 lamp fixtures,, ???

 

[Oliver1655]

I prefer the 4' fixtures. Both the fixtures & bulbs are cheaper to buy & easier to haul and store. I buy the 30 count boxes at Lowes or Home Depot. They both offer a 10% military discount as well.

 

[SilverLakeFab]

This past fall I built my shop building and it has 10' walls and engineered trusses that make for approximately 20' of vertical clearance in the center. The building is 24' x 32' and I won't be heating the building, so I wanted to install lighting that wouldn't be effected by the temperature here in NH. The lights are each 40 watt fixtures that are hardwired in and the two of them use less energy than a standard 2-bulb florescent shop light that you'd buy at the local home supply (my last shop with low ceilings and half the space required 10 of those to work!). Are these lights rather expensive? Yes, they ran me $230 each with shipping, but for $460, I have lighting that's fantastic and I won't have to replace them for about 50 years, which is ridiculous. Someone had pointed out a concern about having to hardwire in the lights, that changing them out is a pain, and that bugs can get into the lights. Honestly, if you're worried about having to change out worn out lights, these lights will last a minimum of 131,000 hours, which is pretty darn good. Honestly, any lighting is going to be hardwired, and by the time to go to replace them, they'll be even less expensive, as is most technology as it gets older. Also, the design of the lights I bought does not allow any sort of bugs to get in, so no worries there.

I bought my lights from a seller on eBay with the user name of zedglobaltrading out of Quebec (lights shipped from within the US). It took me an afternoon to wire them in (it's slow work with high ceilings), but I won't have to worry about them for quite some time. Honestly, I'm super happy with them and they barely make my electric meeter move. I've posted some pictures to show you what I mean. If anyone who reads this is ever in Concord, NH, I'm happy to show them how well these lights work. I've been nothing but pleased!

 

[SilverLakeFab]

I forgot to mention that I went with the 25&deg defusers on thee lights (aluminum reflector) and they have a diameter of about 19.5". Also, these lights came with a large aluminum ring on the top that I looped a chain through. If anyone has questions about this set up, please let me know.

 

[Ken45101]

My experience with all kinds of lights is that they seldom last their claimed lifetime. I've had some LED lights fail in a couple of months.

The energy payout only works out if you use them a lot of hours. If the building has the lights on 8 or 12 hours a day, there can be electricity savings. OTOH, if it's less than a hour a day, they will probably never pay for the additional cost.

 

[jeff9366]

Are these lights rather expensive? Yes, they ran me $230 each with shipping, but for $460, I have lighting that's fantastic.

I bought my lights from a seller on eBay with the user name of zedglobaltrading out of Quebec (lights shipped from within the US).

Is there a brand NAME or trademark marked on your LED lights? Care to share the brand name?

THANKS

 

[jeff9366]

My experience with all kinds of lights is that they seldom last their claimed lifetime. I've had some LED lights fail in a couple of months.

The energy payout only works out if you use them a lot of hours. If the building has the lights on 8 or 12 hours a day, there can be electricity savings. OTOH, if it's less than a hour a day, they will probably never pay for the additional cost.

My first car was a 1959 Volkswagen. My current car is a 2012 Subaru Forester. Despite the exalted reputation of original four cylinder, air cooled VWs the Subaru is a MUCH better vehicle in every respect.

Remember General Electric's slogan? "PROGRESS IS OUR MOST IMPORTANT PRODUCT."

 

[grsthegreat]

LED light fixtures do NOT "last a lifetime". Just replaced a LED rear brake assembly out of a 2004 Prius because half of the LEDs were burned out. $400. 130,000 miles at 25mph average = 5200 hours. Should have gone 50,000 hours. Did not.

I have noticed that CFL bulbs in the house also only last a fraction of the advertised time.

i had 2 of the 4 led's in my chevy express work van burn out .....less hours than yours had. instead of replacing $2 lamp, i had to remove the entire dash assembly and ship to repair facility in Michigan. After $250.00 repair and shipping, my so called 50,000 hour (ya right) dash is repaired. ya, im real fond of LED's

right now, youll NEVER recover the extra expense you spent for the light in energy or bulb replacement fees. never

once the prices drop, than maybe.

heres another example. One of my customers asked me to install 2 explosion proof light fixtures in their gas storage facility. A standard 300 watt explosion proof light runs aprox $450.00. An exact copy, but in LED runs $1,875.00. How can they justify this difference ...its a circuit board and power unit for criminy sakes. I bet you know what light my client opted for.

At $0.05 per KWH they would have to burn them 24/7 for about 10 years. and since there only used about 10 hours a month (on average according to them) it would be calculated as such

10 hrs per month x 600 watts = 6,000 watts. or 6 KW. at $0.5/KW this equils $0.30/month in electrical costs

the difference between LED and incandescent is @ 2,850.00 (for 2 lights) divided by $0.30/month =
take 9,500 months (791 years) to pay for itself.

makes sense to me

 

[grsthegreat]

It looks so far at this point that fluorescents are father way to go over LEDs. It seems that with the initial price of an led I won't get enough of a return for how much use I will have to save anything. I just looked at an online calculator and it says I will need 43 8' t8 fixtures for my building. Ouch!!!

what sized building you talking about. I just wired a 40x60 shop with 14' ceilings and used ten (10) - 8 foot tandem t8 lights( each light holds 4 - 4' lamps). very bright inside. Fixtures cost %54.00 each including 6,500K lamps

 

[jeff9366]

I reside in an affluent development where the average age of thirty property owners is about 65 years.

Considering lighting: how do you figure in cost of falling off a ladder when replacing fluorescents two or three times per year?.....wiggling around on the top step of a too short ladder, trying to get the slots and pins aligned before jimmying the diffuser back in place?

In the last two years we have had two (2) neighbors seriously injured in ladder falls. One was washing his motor coach when he toppled off third step on ladder. Broken fibula and compound wrist fracture. Three months in hospital and rehab facility; Titanium rod joining bones. $200,000?

Second resident fell from roof height twice in one day, pressure washing his metal roof. Second time he fell from his ladder caught his ankle in a rung, broke wrist in two places. Would not go to hospital for three days, then pain forced him to the emergency room. Three days in hospital plus Orthopedic treatment and cast. $12,000? $15,000?

In both cases it could have been worse.

Safety is an intangible but it has to be factored in as a major benefit of long life LEDs.

SilverLakeFab's eBay supplier:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/High-bay-li...558?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item257699eace