Warehouse Lighting

[Little Bill]

If a warehouse has several rows of lights, all are around 20' up, where would you place occupancy sensors for each row, or couple of rows?
Voltage is either 120V or 208V.
Should the line voltage be used at the OC, or should contactors be used?
Would any additional OC be needed besides one at each end of the row?
What type sensor should be used?
Should the OC be placed up high, or low?

Management just wants lights to be off if no one is working in a particular isle.
Also would like to know if there is any OSHA violation in having lights off in a warehouse if workers are present?

 

[James L]

Are you reworking existing, or new install?
What type of fixtures are they?

 

[gadfly56]

I just installed a combination security light and camera over my garage. The installation manual says the sensor, which I believe is a PIR, is good for up to 30 feet. I have to believe there are general occupancy sensors with similar range, so do a little investigation and mount them on the ceiling. I would bet that some of the higher end ones allow you to shape the field of view, just like my combo unit does.

 

[ActionDave]

If I was starting from scratch I would go with low voltage sensors because you can add on as many as you need as needed anywhere you want. If it's a remodel then it would depend on how the room is wired, but with the way lighting controls are these days I'd still likely use low voltage sensors.

 

[synchro]

If this is a new installation, perhaps could you have dimmable fixtures and they would be dimmed to a minimal acceptable level unless occupancy is detected.

 

[James L]

If this is a new installation, perhaps could you have dimmable fixtures and they would be dimmed to a minimal acceptable level unless occupancy is detected.

New fixtures can have sensors built in, too

 

[Little Bill]

These are not new fixtures. They were originally fluorescent and I retrofitted them to LED over a year ago. They are 4', six-lamp fixtures, 81 in total.
I'd rather not have to run LV cable all over that warehouse.

 

[James L]

I've seen T8 tubes with built-in PIR sensors.
What about swapping half the tubes out?

Half on all the time, the other half with motion. I've seen it in Grocery stores

 

[Little Bill]

I've seen T8 tubes with built-in PIR sensors.
What about swapping half the tubes out?

Half on all the time, the other half with motion. I've seen it in Grocery stores

Since I'm supposed to be retired, I'm hoping that they don't want my estimate or I have it high enough that I couldn't afford to not do it should they accept it!

 

[LarryFine]

Since I'm supposed to be retired, I'm hoping that they don't want my estimate or I have it high enough that I couldn't afford to not do it should they accept it!

That's how I try to price every job.