Lighting...

[swatkins]

I am starting to wire the inside of the shop... Lighting is one of my concerns now...

Right now I am not building any of the inside walls for the 12 x 40 air conditioned area so the lighting I put up now may be moved later...

I was planning on using the 8' 2 bulb high output, commercial grade fluorescent strips. The building is 40 foot long and I was going to connect 4 of the 8 foot units together for a total of 32 foot of bulbs.. That should give me a strip of light that has 1200 watts of bulbs... For now I was planning on just a strip down the middle so that it clears both of the large doors... If needed I can then place another strip down the building on the other side of the doors...

I am kind of stuck on what height to place the fixtures ... I can easily attach them to the bottom of the rafters on the center line of the building.. Well sort of easy,,, It's 21 foot tall there!

I was thinking of dropping the lights to 14' so it would be easier to change the bulbs..

What do you guys think?

[James Hess]

If you drop them it would be easier to change the bulbs but also give you more of the light from the fixtures that you can use(being as there closer to what your doing).

[swatkins]

If you look at the top of the peak you can see a flat bar that ties the rafters together... That's where I was thinking of installing the first strip. The overhead door tracks for that door level off at the 14' foot level. The lights would only be about 5 foot above that...


Don't know if its worth all the trouble to make a rail for the lights, to attach to, and drop it down that 5 feet...

[James Hess]

Why would you need to make a rail for them to attach to? Why not just suspend them with chains or however you wish from the rafter supports to where you would like them to be placed.

On top of that what type of equpiment will be used in this shop(how high will it reach) and what is the tallest thing that might be stored or moved in and out from there, you wouldnt want to go and hit the lights with anything.

I say just suspend the light fixtures from the celing with the small chains used to hang them with and you can adjust them to whatever height you wish when you wish.

[NoSmoke]

Why would you need to make a rail for them to attach to? Why not just suspend them with chains or however you wish from the rafter supports to where you would like them to be placed.

On top of that what type of equpiment will be used in this shop(how high will it reach) and what is the tallest thing that might be stored or moved in and out from there, you wouldnt want to go and hit the lights with anything.

I say just suspend the light fixtures from the celing with the small chains used to hang them with and you can adjust them to whatever height you wish when you wish.

Excellent suggestion! The lights will also be flexible for movement later on. Just leave a little extra wiring should you decide to lower them at some point.

[swatkins]

The lights are not made of very strong material... I am going to place them end to end so that the wires are all inside the channels ... If were to to use the chains they will look crooked unless I screw them to something that is more ridged...

I do like the chain idea though... :)

That side of the shop is where the doors are and the shop will be full height. Working on different things like welding and trucks in that area do I was hesitant about low hanging lights..

Think I'll ponder the chain idea a bit :)

[NoSmoke]

The lights are not made of very strong material... I am going to place them end to end so that the wires are all inside the channels ... If were to to use the chains they will look crooked unless I screw them to something that is more ridged...

I do like the chain idea though... :)

That side of the shop is where the doors are and the shop will be full height. Working on different things like welding and trucks in that area do I was hesitant about low hanging lights..

Think I'll ponder the chain idea a bit :)

Are you using the T-8 lamps? Those are the going rage out here. Don't think we can even buy T-12 fixtures any more.

[RoadRunnerTR21]

I have the same issue in my building. It's 30x42 with 15' high sidewalls. I have a 15' and a 9' OH door in the front and a 7' roller door in the back.

One of the problems with using lights suspended from a chain is wind passing through the building can really move the lights around. Depending on where you mounted them, there would be a risk of the light hitting something a breaking the tubes. I went with a solid side wall mount using a multiple pairs of 8' tubes.

[swatkins]

Are you using the T-8 lamps? Those are the going rage out here. Don't think we can even buy T-12 fixtures any more.


They are t-12 high output bulbs... Most of the retail stores are going to the t-8's when they retro fit. I was not able to find a high output bulb that would make the same amount of light as these fixtures.....

[swatkins]

Had not thought about the wind,,,, It gets pretty windy here... Link to my NEW weatherstation (http://www.wunderground.com/weatherstation/WXDailyHistory.asp?ID=KTXNAVAS3)
Thanks :)

[James Hess]

You could again in the sense of mounting them on the chains make the bracket you were talking about and suspend it all from the chains(i think that is what you already posted in one of your other posts though lol), plus on top of making the bracket and having it all suspended it will have more weight to fight the wind.

As for the wind i am not sure of any real way to get around that problem except to stabelise them with some clear fishing line so that you dont see it to a good mounting point somewhere out of the way(if you will be moving tall items around them) from each adjacent wall.

Just an idea though.

[RoadRunnerTR21]

If you are going to use fishing line (since I'm a former bass tournament fisherman of 26 years) I might suggest using something like synthetic braid like Spider Wire. Mono filament line will dry out and snap due to the heat at the top of the building. I've used mono on some of our wind chimes and it does not last very long. I've had Spider Wire on one of our wind chimes for 2 years now and it's still going strong. Just a thought.