Lighting a new workshop...

The electrician came today and I now have juice to my new shop. Going out tonight to pick up a 200,000 BTU hanging heater. My next step is to insulate and put in a ceiling but I need to run the wires for the lights first. I want to install 4 foot LED lights that mount direct to the ceiling and hard wire but I have no idea as to which lights or how many to buy to adequately light the shop. At Lowes or Home Depot they sell LED lights ranging from 3000-7000 lumens. The structure is 40x50 feet with a ceiling height of 105 inches. Is there an equation or does anyone know how to figure this out without me buying 2 lights and just trying to guess? All the wiring must be run before the ceiling and lights are installed.

 

Personally I would consider fluorescent. LEDs can be more efficient but newer fluorescent are pretty close and a whole lot less expensive. An important consideration considering the number of fixtures you're going to need.

I think first you need to figure out how much light you want or need. In the warehouse or general areas of my shop I have one light level. Then over my general work benches I have another. Then at home where I work on my RC toys and do a lot of fussy work on tiny parts I have an extreme amount of light. As I've gotten older light has become very important. Then once you know how much light you want/need at your work areas there are calculators and charts to tell you how many fixtures at your ceiling height are needed.

 

Fluorescent might be less expensive but you don't need as many fixtures. I removed some fluorescents, for a customer & replaced them with LEDs. What a difference! Home Depot has some nice LEDs. If I spelled it right, the brand is Lithonia. They have round & oblong.

 

There is quite a lot of good information on the internet about how many lumens per square foot (or square meter) is recommend for a particular space depending how the space will be used.

Here is one really good one: How Many Light Fixtures Do You Need ? - Woodworking Talk - Woodworkers Forum

And another: Illuminance - Recommended Light Levels

Or here is a handy dandy calculator: LED Lighting Requirement Calculator - Charlston Lights

Looks like you need about 74323 lumens to properly light up your shop based on the calculator above.

 

Good info here and just what I was looking for....thank you.