Barn lighting suggestions?

[GerryB]

The barn is 100 feet long, wide open, the existing lighting is romex and porcelain fixtures with a variety of bulbs. They want something better and they are worried about a lamp breaking and starting the hay on fire. Someone ran emt for outlets, I thought I might do the same and replace the old romex. Any thoughts on what type of fixture to use. I'm leaning against vapor tight flourescent.

 

[augie47]

Money is a key element of course. My "country" may shine thru but this area is full of these:
http://www.ebay.ca/itm/Lt-Vaportigh...ff3f195&pid=100011&rk=1&rkt=2&sd=370997058474

 

[ptonsparky]

Money is a detail. LED, then hopefully no one crawls a ladder again. About any LED Wall Pack. Farm yard Dusk to Dawn. LED of course.

 

[Fulthrotl]

Money is a key element of course. My "country" may shine thru but this area is full of these:

100 watt incandescent luminares.....
you can't even buy 100 watt lamps anymore...
in calif. it might even be a felony to possess such
lamps.

i was gonna suggest T5HO fixtures... but where it
gets really cold, they don't do so well in the open...

 

[kwired]

100 watt incandescent luminares.....
you can't even buy 100 watt lamps anymore...
in calif. it might even be a felony to possess such
lamps.

i was gonna suggest T5HO fixtures... but where it
gets really cold, they don't do so well in the open...

T5HO'S do just fine in the cold compared to what T12's did. They are not full brightness when first turned on, but don't take very long to warm up either.

 

[mjf]

Vapor tight lights offered by e-conolight are available in either 150W or 300W incandescent, 42W fluorescent or 70W HID configurations. The heavy-duty die-cast aluminum housing protects the lamp inside and features easy installation with a clear, screw-in glass jar.

• In stock
  
  LED Vapor Tight - Ceiling Mount - Small - Neutral White
  
  $59.99
• Quick View
  In stock
  
  LED Vapor Tight - Pendant Mount - Small - Neutral White
  
  $59.99
  Ratings
• Quick View
  In stock
  
  LED Vapor Tight - Wall Mount - Small - Neutral White
  
  $69.99

 

[kwired]

The barn is 100 feet long, wide open, the existing lighting is romex and porcelain fixtures with a variety of bulbs. They want something better and they are worried about a lamp breaking and starting the hay on fire. Someone ran emt for outlets, I thought I might do the same and replace the old romex. Any thoughts on what type of fixture to use. I'm leaning against vapor tight flourescent.

You have a somewhat unlimited number of choices.

What is this "barn" going to be used for? How high will said luminaires be mounted? Any lighting limited spaces or all lighting the general space? How much light is needed, both as general lighting and in specific task areas?

Lighting needs can vary from just a few foot candles in some areas to needing it lit up as much as an office space or even more in veterinary care areas and the like.

 

[mjf]

I wasn't sure if I was allowed to post the luminaires above, so I reported my own post to the Mod's

 

[kwired]

I wasn't sure if I was allowed to post the luminaires above, so I reported my own post to the Mod's

You can post such items and a published price such as you did - as long as you are not trying to sell them here. Do you work for e-conolight?

 

[mjf]

You can post such items and a published price such as you did - as long as you are not trying to sell them here. Do you work for e-conolight?

Nope, I'm just a lowly EC

 

[mopowr steve]

Epco has an economical 150 watt rated vapor light you could put a LED bulb in.

 

[kwired]

Epco has an economical 150 watt rated vapor light you could put a LED bulb in.

I've used many of those in the past, never with an LED lamp though. Question is how long does the LED last in a tightly enclosed fixture like that - most CFL's don't last long at all. They don't get as hot as a 150 watt incandescent but that isn't the problem - it is how hot can the CFL or LED operate when it is trapped in a space that can't get rid of it's own heat?

 

[ptonsparky]

Five to six years ago we had a low end hps pos wall pack that had failed a couple times over the shop back door. One of the guys gutted it, stuck in a medium base cfl. Works great. Longest lasting cfl I've had.

 

[Electric-Light]

Epco has an economical 150 watt rated vapor light you could put a LED bulb in.

I've used many of those in the past, never with an LED lamp though. Question is how long does the LED last in a tightly enclosed fixture like that - most CFL's don't last long at all. They don't get as hot as a 150 watt incandescent but that isn't the problem - it is how hot can the CFL or LED operate when it is trapped in a space that can't get rid of it's own heat?

It depends on the LED lamp you use.
Some are just like CFLs and hold the same power and go up in temperature and fail prematurely or downright blow up depending on how much it overheats.

Some dimmable LEDs exploit dimming capabilities using temperature sensor input to force dimming to hide their inability to sustain claimed output without damage for long. So, they operate at full output and once it hits the temperature set point, it throttles down the output to avoid the self destruction of LED or ballast. While it can avoid down time, it also hinders the discovery of LED installations not living up to performance expectations hmy:

Five to six years ago we had a low end hps pos wall pack that had failed a couple times over the shop back door. One of the guys gutted it, stuck in a medium base cfl. Works great. Longest lasting cfl I've had.

It all depends on the fixture size and design. The worst ones are jelly jars and pucks. Pucks are insulated with a foiled fiberglass on the top to protect the ceiling. Heat rises. If the fixture is rather large, there's room above the lamp and it's not mounted base up, convection current does its magic. Heat rises and away from the ballast, air within the fixture circulates.

 

[GerryB]

Thanks for the replies. I was thinking about the vapor tight ones with the cage because that is basically about what they have. It's a horse barn with just a row of lights down the middle. Speaking of cheap LED's though, I bought some CREE BR30's for recess lights. The outer glass on two of them broke, one while I was screwing it in. The glass is so thin I don't even know if it will cut you. They were $5 each.

 

[kwired]

It depends on the LED lamp you use.
Some are just like CFLs and hold the same power and go up in temperature and fail prematurely or downright blow up depending on how much it overheats.

Some dimmable LEDs exploit dimming capabilities using temperature sensor input to force dimming to hide their inability to sustain claimed output without damage for long. So, they operate at full output and once it hits the temperature set point, it throttles down the output to avoid the self destruction of LED or ballast. While it can avoid down time, it also hinders the discovery of LED installations not living up to performance expectations hmy:



It all depends on the fixture size and design. The worst ones are jelly jars and pucks. Pucks are insulated with a foiled fiberglass on the top to protect the ceiling. Heat rises. If the fixture is rather large, there's room above the lamp and it's not mounted base up, convection current does its magic. Heat rises and away from the ballast, air within the fixture circulates.

My experience is the end user don't know all of this and they don't retain much info you do give them either. EPCO jar lights - come back a couple years later and they all have the cheapest CFL's available and the glass jar is gone - this is what the end user discovers on their own to make the lamps last longer. LED's in general have not come down enough in price that you are going to see anyone use a replacement lamp in such a fixture, as they will be too leery about how long that more expensive lamp will last based on past experiences.

 

[ptonsparky]

Thanks for the replies. I was thinking about the vapor tight ones with the cage because that is basically about what they have. It's a horse barn with just a row of lights down the middle. Speaking of cheap LED's though, I bought some CREE BR30's for recess lights. The outer glass on two of them broke, one while I was screwing it in. The glass is so thin I don't even know if it will cut you. They were $5 each.

There is a lot in the saying "You get what you pay for."

 

[Electric-Light]

There is a lot in the saying "You get what you pay for."

The $5 was probably after a subsidy. LEDs are generally expensive

 

[delectric123]

Here is a durable glass globe utility light for medium socket bulbs that has been used for 30 years on the farm I do work at.
https://shop.graybar.com/webapp/wcs...catName=&catId=&formIds=&formNames=&formTypes=

 

[Electric-Light]

At the Home Depot, they sell a 7" LED pancake that cradles over the porcelain socket.

It has a cheaply made plastic cover, which isn't likely to break like glass. But it is LED and cheap so the ballast can fry if it's used in high ambient.

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Commerci...hmount-Daylight-Easy-Light-54606161/204782795