Shop Lighting advice wanted/helps with my employment. 3 bay layout, with GIANT I beams coming down lower than lights mounting location

There are very specific standards when it comes to lighting and various uses. The first step is to understand where the "work" will be done in that space and figure out what lights will provide for the correct fc rating based on the work height and the height of the installed light source. There is a great ongoing thread on garage journal specifically about lighting.

As far as what wire to use, it depends on the load. You would have to have a crap ton of LED bulbs which are around 20 watts each, to put a burden on a 14g wire.

In my shop (36x48) I have 12, 4 bulb fixtures (48 bulbs for about 860 watts total) installed at 13 ft from floor, so just about 11.5 feet from the "work plane". Three switches, control 4 fixtures each. They all run off the same 14g line.

As far as where to get the bulbs, get them from one of the many online sources that are mentioned over at GJ. I think I paid around $7 each in bundles of 30? I have spares, which I've not needed.

I went with the direct power versions so I tool all of the ballasts out and required the fixtures.