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Interior barn lights

T

thartiga

Member
Looking at putting lights in a newer pole barn. 60" x 60" with 15" rafters. Other barns use 300 watt incandescent lights and works well but looking for other options.

Want good light for working but this won"t be a shop barn.

Thanks

Tim
 

Depends a whole lot on if you live where it gets cold and how quickly you need light when you turn them on.
 
NorthWest Ohio so about 0 is the coldest. Gets anywhere near
that I won"t be out there. Prefer start fairly quickly.
 
If you don't have them on often and need a quick start and low first cost it's hard to beat a plain old incandescent. For a bit more money and much lower operating cost you can go with the cold start fluorescent lights. I use a few incandescent bulbs, just enough to see around. If I need more light to work, I have fluorescent lights. All depends on how you will use your barn. And I will guarantee you won't have enough receptacles no matter what you do.
 
Gave up on all fluorescent lights. I install 200w with class jar overs (Code for barns). For example 32'x 35' has 18 lights. Each 6 is controlled by a switch. Turn on only what I need. Fan and heater outlets are also controlled by a switch. Wood working shop 15'x32' has one row of light down the middle. 7 lights two switches Every other light is control by one switch.
 
T-5 HO fluorescent lights, they cold start down to -20 and put out a LOT of light. The nest step would be the t-8 lights, they cold start down to 0. If you get these in a High/low bay configuration they have a reflector built in behind them to increase the light going downward. However, as with all fluorescents, the bulbs get dimmer over time, so put in a size larger than you need or maybe replace the bulbs every few years.
 
I was too cheap to do the proper wiring in my new barns, now I am kicking myself. I wish I had several small area lights in addition to the big overheads. You don't always need or want to fire up every light in the barn to go in to get a wrench.

Put a switch by every door. Dark barns are hard on shins. I'm too old to fall down in the dark.

Put a plug recepticle in not only in the convenient spots but by every light switch, so you can plug in a drill or a small tool in several locations in the barn. Pick a work spot and wire it for the proper work area stuff, plugs, work lights . interupters.

I often work in an open barn door, so light and recepticles are important there.

Don't forget outside lights, it is dark at 4:30 pm in the winter. I have found that motion lights only last about 2 years. I have gone to pole lights from the utility co.
 
The insurance company made us disconnect all the light circuits in our old barn due to bare bulbs. Big pain to put hay in at night now with flashlights. Can't reach top of mow to install glass covers.
 
I put in 300 watt incandescent bulbs in a 40x120
building on three way switches. The light seemed to throw to many shadows when working.
Our local wholesale electric supply gives farmers a good discount. They can print out different diagrams for different degrees of lumens(I think). A little pricey, but I think 3 of them use about as much electricity as 300 watt incandescent bulb. No problems last winter.
This winter I am going to replace the rest of the old bulbs.
 
(quoted from post at 06:25:27 08/20/13) The insurance company made us disconnect all the light circuits in our old barn due to bare bulbs. Big pain to put hay in at night now with flashlights. Can't reach top of mow to install glass covers.
Click to expand...

Install them after the hay is in. Can't remember now what it was but I did some work on the inside of my barn roof once after the hay was in.
 
Can't get mercury vapor anymore, but the replacement is metal hallide and in a barn your size, three evenly spaced will give you more light than you will ever need, especially if you have a concrete floor. My small barn is 60'x40' and I put up two, seperate switches because don't always need both, and often don't. Two do fine, but I have a brother that is legally blind, but can see a little. He says that if was his barn with his eyes, would have gone a third...evenly spaced, but two was ok for him.

I got the idea from my brother because his neighbor did the same, so I tried it. Take a couple minutes to warm up like flourecent, but once they do, bouncing off of the concrete floor, right down the center from front to back breaking the length up into thirds (two bulbs, evenly spaced into three sections) is a ton of light, 300 watt bulbs.

Good luck.

Mark
 
This is exactly what I put up so dipped just below the trusses. Light for days.

I'm not home now. Now that I think of it, might have been 175 watt like I use outside. Now think of it, not 300. That would give me such a sunburn from the glow. Go with two, three tops of these, 175 watt...200 max.

Mark
Metal Halide
 
Oh yeah, tape over the dusk/dawn sensors on top to disable them from any light so that seperate light switches do it all. You will like it.

Mark
 
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