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

[greymouser7]

Indoors:

40' wide, 60' long', back of shop 13' tall, front of shop maybe 18' tall

Bright, some suggested a few ?colored? LED shop bulbs that can be connected directly to conduit, not plugged in.

Owner wants BRIGHT light, mostly LED, bright enough to avoid much transition from walking in from the noon desert sun when you drop a bolt/nut and need to see it in a shadow?-he is worried that the 4 foot LED light bulbs that I suggested would be insufficient. I had suggested 8-10 bulbs, in pairs, a piece (or 16-20 total) for the two larger bays, and the third bay is half as wide so, 4-5 four foot LED bulbs

Two entry doors will each have three 3-way toggle switches, one switch for each of 3 bays as someone opens the entry door, they can turn on lights from either side

In addition, I am getting conflicting input as to whether this lighting should have 14 AWG or 12 gauge wiring

Outdoors, under a metal overhang, in a dry for 10 months climate, with 2 months where monsoon level rain can occur.

THANKS FOR YOUR HELP, TIME, and CONSIDERATION!!!!

 

[66signet]

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These work pretty good. The layout in the shop as how many and position for each bay is hard to say. Shelves, work benches, windows and the beams you mention will all play a part in the layout. Its not usually as simple as put this many of these light fixtures and your good. Maybe they could be suspended on jack chain some to minimize shadows from the beams with less fixtures. Maybe some areas wouldn't need as much light like storage areas. Electrical supply places like Platt, C.E.S and others can put together a light package for a shop and tell you the best placement and spacing to get what you want

 

[66signet]

As far as wire size you could possibly use one 20 amp circuit with number 12 wire but if one light shorts out and trips the breaker you have no lights in the shop. Two 15 amp circuits would be better. Buy good lights from a lighting company and you get a better installation. Lowes, Home Depot and the other building supply places we have where I'm at don't have much selection and the sales people don't know much lights.

 

[YY1]

My shop is 22x80, not quite as large, but also has 13-15' ceilings.

I started buying Rural King store brand 4' LED shop lights a few at a time, when they were on sale back when the design spec was 4500 lumens.

I intended to hang up to 4 or 6 in each 20x22 bay. I only got around to hanging 2 per bay, as long as the supplied chain down from the 2nd highest roof beam, and about 2/3 distance into the shop (about where the engine compartment ends up. They worked so well, I haven't felt the need to buy and hang any more. I did save one out and installed hooks to make it an underhood light if needed.

That same basic light is now 6000 lumens.

Previously, there had been a single 100 watt incandescent per bay. I simply removed that medium base fixture and swapped in a recep for the shop lights. The difference between the 100 watt and the two 4500 lumen LEDs was staggering.

For residential, in FL you can use 14 gauge wire and 15 amp breakers for lighting.
It's been a while since I've referenced codes, but I think commercial requires 12 and 20 amp, and it has to be in conduit.
Of course those 2 LEDS don't draw nearly what the 100w incandescent did.

 

[cudascott]

If your customer wants true high bay lights which he needs for that ceiling height I suggest these. I installed these a couple years ago in our shop where i work.
they are GE LED lights best i remember
around $300 each. You can’t look up at them when they are on. If they are something he would be interested in i will get you the model number.

 

[Cuda416]

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.

 

[6PakBee]

There are literally dozens of lighting calculators on the web. I'd just use one of them, I did. They will ask how much light you want. In my shop I went for 75 lumens/ft2. For a 40' X 25' bay, this required 15, four bulb LED fixtures. Power consumption? Multiply the current draw per fixture by the number of fixtures, multiply by 1.25 and you have your current requirement. #12 copper is rated for 20 amps, #14 copper is rated for 15 amps. If you are using conduit, you may have to derate the conductors, see the NEC for requirements. This is what my shop looks like.