I have a shop that is 24 x 36. I'm looking at 8 foot H.O lights. I can either put 9 lighting units or take a chance on just 6. What would be needed to light the shop without over killing things?

Put in the 9 fixtures, You just cant have a shop thats to well lit. I would wire them every other fixture to seprate pair of switchs so you can do 50% or 100% on.

Doug

6 lights will work until that, "Darn, I wish I had put 9 lights in" moment hits. No such thing as too much light in a shop.

Just finished lighting my shop. Mine is 24 x 18. I ran T8 fixtures (more energy efficient) the long way. Four fixtures is all it took and plenty of bright, white light.

Thanks for the info. I have at this time three rows of lights. 4 units per row. The lights are bad by the means of some will come on and others will not. I got these used. Anyway each row has its own switch because if one row of lights go out I will always have lights to fix what ever needes to be fixed to get them back on. I'm just going to put NEW lights up so to fix any and all problems.

You can get electronic ballasts where the first fixture is the master & the second is the slave. One ballast, 4 T-8's & with the proper reflectors, you'll get more light than 8 old T-12's Used to do this for my customers-one job was 20, 000 fixture retrofit.

Phil Berkowitz

I have 4 t-5's in mine....it's more than I had with 6 of the old ones. More than enough for table saw and laminate work.

If you are running a operating room that's different. But they have special lights for those.

Rick in MT

I have 9 in my 24 x 24 shop, and still have spots on 2 work benches, you can always pull the bulbs if you don't need them... my money is on you will like the MORE LIGHT... Grubby

My shop is 24 x 32. It is drywalled and painted. I put in two rows of H.O. flourescent lights (three 8 foot units per row). I put each row on a separate switch so I can control the lighting. The lights give off a bit of heat so I often just use one row to keep the temperature down and save on the AC cost.

What would I do different? I would use lights with electronic ballasts. They make less noise (buzz) and may give off less heat.

Jim Skeel
P/W Dealer/Distributor

You have to seperate general light from task lighting. I use regular outdoor florescent yard lights [just remove the photo eyes] space about 12-15 feet. Lots of cheap light. Now there are lots of led work lights set these up where you need them. Or seperate flourscent fixtures. I have also used high pressure sodium, but the light is slightly yellow and there is a warm-up period. The bonus is I have 5 of these fixtures that have not burned out a bulb in 15 years.

GS

ttt

30 years ago I didn't need any lights except an occasional drop light. 20 years ago I had plenty of light in my shop. Today, I have to push stuff outside to work on it in the sunlight. I guess my point is you might not need all the lights now, but you will. You can do it now or do it later, sorta like the oil filter commercial. I would load up on em now, everything is easier when you are younger including installing the lights.

agreed, light it up. but lets look at the bulbs: whether a 1 1/2" dia. 40 watt t12, a 1" dia. 32 watt t8 or a 5/8" dia. 28 watt t5, they all put out about 3000 lumens - smaller bulb diameter, less mercury, less energy usage, same light output. a high output bulb only comes in the form of a 54 watt t5 that puts out about 5000 lumens, lasts about 20,000 hours and survives being flipped on and off really well. but at 54 watts, there goes your energy efficiency. however, its cool to see that much light coming out of such a skinny bulb. anyway, you didn't mention your ceiling height. t5 ho's can be pretty harsh under 16 feet

Another tip: Whatever your lighthing, it will seem much brigher if the walls are painted white.

-Gary

Painting the walls and ceiling are the most important part, and will brighten the place up more than lights can. I put an addition on my house and added a shop underneath. After painting it, and walking in at night, my eyes literally hurt from how bright it was. After getting used to it I now wish I had put in one extra light at the front of the shop.I would say it is brighter than a surgical room right now, and still wish I had that one extra light.

GW22 beat me to it. You need everything including the floor if possible painted white for maximum reflected light.

Ceiling height will make a difference. If you want cheap, nice light you cannot go wrong with 4bulb T8 strips. They are 8 foot long, have 4 bulbs and are fairly inexpensive to buy. I would advise buying them from somewhere other then lowes, menards, home depot as these will be cheap ballasts and fixtures. If you have a local electrician you use, i would ask for a price and order them from him if it is in your budget. You will be much happier with these fixtures. Good luck to you.

Oh also, more light is more better!!!!! hahaha.

Yoteslyer, I did go to a lighting store that does just lights. They wanted $100.00 in av per light. That would be $900.00 in av for lights. I will be using 9 8 foot HO lights. 6 would be to far appart to do any good for me. I did put card board up on the rafters to see how they would look and it just wasn't going to cast enough light where I would need it. The outer rows would be good for the wall work and the center for the cars and woodworking.

100 per light seems about right with bulbs. I would steer away from high outputs personally. If you go with T8s they are much cheaper to maintain with about the same light output. If you go to change bulbs someday you are talking 15 bucks a bulb for high outputs and 5-7 bucks a bulb for T8s. Ballats are much much more for HOs then for the electronic T8 ballasts. just looking long term here.

I can get the HO 8 footers for $39 each. 2 bulb. I will be needing 9 of them. Thats $351.00. I can get 4 bulb 4 footers for $48.00 each. Thats $576.00. I will be needing 12 of those. I would like to get better ones but I have to work with a STRING budget if you know what I mean.

Also check with Habitat For Humanity if they have a resale store in your area, I was looking for some light, and they had what I wanted and sold them dirt cheap, I would have never bought them retail, I got about $5,000 worth for about $400, they get them as donations and have no use for commercial lighting

I haven't ever got all of them up, but the guy told me the price was only good if I took all of them they were taking up too much space

The 8 foot HO 2 tube lights is what I used. I put in two rows of three units each. Be sure not to put more than 4 two bulb units on one 20 amp breaker. If I throw both my switches at once I can trip the 20 amp breaker (6 two bulb units).

Jim Skeel
P/W Dealer/Distributor

HOLY COW!!!!

What light these things put out.

I put some in this week in, two, 8 footers in my garage.

I have always hated the fact my garage has a North facing exposure and tried tubes but they would not start up in the winter.

After reading this thread and a friend mentioning them to this Friday, I decided to give the HO's a try.

What a differece.

The high outputs are alot brighter, I have 12 400 watt HPS lights in one of my shops it's like day light in there

But have ho's in another they are alot brighter than regular tubes

Steeljc, Thanks for the tip. I will be putting in 3 rows of lights. Each row will have 3 units. Each unit will have 2 bulbs each. That shouldn't bother the breaker I hope.

Don't get caught!!!

Sorry, I thought the thread was Shop-Lifting advice!