Barn Lighting

[Mac25]

Hello,
I'm sure you have done the math, but the electric company must really like you. Six lights at 500 watts each is 3000 watts when you turn on the lights. However, probably on 2 or more circuits, so maybe not generally all on at once. When all on, that's like running 2 electric heaters on high.....wow !!!!!! Go big, or go home !!!!!!

MFWD

Yes, it is two separate circuits. I have not had the lights on very much because I have skylights plus the sun is staying up longer. I am sure the electric bill would be a different story come winter.

 

[newbury]

OP -
LED's should be the way to go.
I bought 6 of Commercial Electric 4 ft. LED Linkable White Shop Light-54103161 - The Home Depot at $25@. Should have bought 20 or 30. They are back to $40@ but still a good value. They are "linkable" so you could put a line of them down the barn.

Costco has been selling a 2 bulb 4' fixture for around $35.

One other suggestion is LED strips. You can get quad row strips that put out 885 l/ft, or about a 60 watt bulb every foot.
https://www.superbrightleds.com/moreinfo/top-emitting/brightest-led-light-strips-quad-row-led-tape-light-with-137-smdsft-1-chip-smd-led-3528/1046/.

/edit - here is a review on that strip:

I have a place with 14' ceilings and replaced 256 linear feet (2,400 watts) of awful florescent lighting with three of these strips (45 feet at about 420 watts total neglecting power supply and other losses). They hang on unistrut about three feet from the ceiling and point towards the ceiling for indirect lighting. Fantastic. Been flawlessly running for about a year now.

 

[Cord]

So when I built my barn, I decided to mount a total of six, 500 watt halogen, adjustable lights. I went with these for the simple fact that they would be easier to mount and run the wire since they are mounted along the top of the walls. Turns out, these are the biggest pieces of junk I have spent money on. I have spent more money on bulbs than the lights are worth. My question is, does anyone have a recommendation on 48" fluorescent, wall mount lights and do they provide enough lighting? I really would like to keep something wall mounted so that I don't have to rewire the entire barn. Thanks.

I used 250 watt high bay metal halides for mine. Got them off CL for $50 a fixture. Lights it wonderfully and the lamps will last a long time. Got 10 of them so I ran a 20 amp 220v circuit. Gotta watch the voltages of the ballast to make sure it's not 3 phase like 277v. Reconnecting a ballast is super easy.

 

[LD1]

If I was wiring a shop over again, I would go with a bunch of cree LED bulbs in a round workbox and plastic round "barn light" fixture. For the wattage they consume, the light output is amazing.

The 60W versions I think draw around 8w. Which means you could run 8 of them for every 2-bulb 4' T8 fixture. And regardless of what lumens or anything say, 8 of them is alot more light than a single 2-bulb fluorescent fixture.

this is actually how I was considering wiring my new shop. Which is 40x40. With 4' OC trusses, I was going to put them along every truss 4' appart, creating a 4x4 grid pattern of lights. Would have taken 81 fixtures. fixture + workbox + bulb is around $8. So would have cost ~$700 and only pulled ~700w.

In the end, I got a bunch of metalux 6-bulb T-8 HO fixtures from work that we replaced with battery backups. I installed 8 of them which consume about double the wattage. Over the 40x40 area, I think 81 60w LED's would be brighter at about 1/2 the electric used.