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Hangar/Shop Flourescents - 4' or 8 ' ?

Ironflight

VAF Moderator / Line Boy
Mentor
Hey All - I have to decide right away (contractors are like that) on fluorescent light fixtures for the new hangar. I can reconfigure when we build the shop, and task lighting can be tailored - but for lighting the main space, I have to pick fixtures. I am thinking simple strip fluorescents, and wondering if anyone has any experience that would sway the decision for four foot or eight foot fixtures (4x4" vs 2x8")?

We had big sodium vapor lights in our last place, and it took far too long for them to warm up!
 
We had big sodium vapor lights in our last place, and it took far too long for them to warm up!

But at least once they warmed up they were EXPENSIVE to operate..

Have you considered LED Bay lights? They cost more to purchase but have far lower operating cost and longevity.
 
I would go with the 8' ones, just simply seem brighter to me.

Are they going to surface mount them, or on drop downs???
 
Paul, do a search on posts by VAF member Jonjay. He does lighting as a profession and I interacted with him 2 years ago when I did the lighting in my shop. Makes a big difference when you get the right amount of light, spacing of fixtures, etc. Definately a science to it and worth getting it right since you will spend alot of time there. He was helpful and even ran some computer simulations for me after I gave him dimensions of the shop. You input dimensions, color of ceiling and walls, choice of fixtures (2x8 vs 4x4), type of bulbs, etc and the program spits out a contour map of light intensity/distribution over the entire space. When I did this for my space I determined that I needed only 4 2x8 bulbs to get the light distribution I needed in my 25x28x14 shop. For my parameters, light distribution favored the 8 foot fixtures, but your params may show something different. I wish I could remember the name of the free online tool that I used to help me determine this.
 
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The trend seems to be going to 4' bulbs, even if it's an 8' fixture (which uses four 4' bulbs). Maybe it's because they are easier to transport and only one size to stock at the big box store?
 
My shop is 23' x 42' with a flat ceiling, all painted white.

We went for 6 pairs of 5' doubles and 1 5' single over the kitchen area at one end.

Would I change it.....

I would separate the switch units into the alternate 3's and put 2 more singles down the middle on another separate switch.

If you can't get 5' units in the States, use 4' as 8' lamps fail much too quickly.

Reason - sometimes you don't need as much light. When you are painting, you need a bit more.

My shop can convert to a paintshop in about 30 mins using a system borrowed from Randy Lervold. Vine eyes on the wall plates at the top of the walls, they use snap carabiners to support large blue tarps from Home Despot.

The roller shutter at the other end traps an extraction fan in a 2' board.

A little more information than asked for, but the justification is also there.

If you want snaps Paul, drop me a line off forum.

Mike
 
As far as the fluorescents go, I prefer the 4' simply because you can always find them on sale. Never see the 8' tubes on sale.
 
I had 8 footers in my two- car garage in my previous home. I have 4 footers in my current home. The 8 foot bulbs are inconvenient for transport and replacement from big box stores as previously mentioned.
 
Iron,
My favorite electrical engineer here in the office tells me that the really cool guys are going with 4' long 5 or 6 lamp low profile T5 units. I have a PDF cut sheet I can email you if you PM me an address. Chris also said that if you send me the size of your hangar (LxWxH) he can figure out how many you'll need.
 
I have the 8' high output fixtures in my machine shop. Part of my shop is not heated all the time so it gets pretty cold in there. The high output fixtures come on bright much faster than the standard 8' fixtures. I bought these from Platt Electric. (Commercial supplier)
 
Thanks for all the quick responses team - as anyone who has had a place built knows, everything is always wait, wait wait....and the HURRY UP, I NEED THE LIGHTS TODAY!!! :;

Consensus seems to be towards the 4' lamps due to cost and overall ease of use, and some off-line discussions with a lighting consultant got us what we needed. We'll put more science into the shop lighting when we build that - this is just general bay lighting for now.

Paul
 
Whatever you get make sure they have true electronic ballast in em...

The electronic ballast are the bomb. They start great even when cold, the bulbs seem to burn brighter and last much longer and you don't have that annoying hum or weird flickers! At least that has been my experience.

When you get around to the real deal, our plant has been switching to LED technology over the past few years. Some of those fixtures are amazing! Be sure to ask an expert in the field such as JonJay.
 
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4 Footers

Hi Paul,

I swapped my 4' 2 bulb units for 4' 4 bulb type. HUGE difference. The 8' were too expensive in both acquisition and bulb cost.

Lowe's has a contractor pricing if you buy 6 or more.
 
Let me know if you need any help Paul.
There is a lot of misinformation out there, some of it in these responses. Ha!
 
Worth checking on this, but I remember that the higher the T number, the more lumens per watt they develop. In other words, they're more efficient.

The last time I shopped for them, I bought a case of 48" Sylvania T8, with a color temp of 4100K. I'm satisfied with them.

One other advantage of the shorter fixtures is that they're easier to rearrange in the shop if you need to for a particular job.

Dave
 
One thing I read about in the literature is that the higher the color temperature of the bulb, the more fixtures you will need to "perceive" an equivalent degree of illumination. I experienced this first hand when I tried "daylight" bulbs (6000+) in my fixtures and thought they seemed too dim for detailed work on the bench. I removed the bulbs and replaced them with something in the 4500 range and then felt I had plenty of light.
 
T - is the diameter of the bulb in 1/8's of an inch. Has nothing to do with the lumen output.
Color Temperature is measured in Kelvin, has little to do with how well color is actually rendered.
Color Rendering, CRI, is the index used to gage the afore mentioned. (and in my opinion the most important)

There is a reason why I am able to make a living in the business of lighting. Same reason why others are making a living doing whatever you may do. It is very obvious it isn't selling lighting ;)

As with many threads that get off the basic subject of building airplanes, this one has very little fact contained in it I am afraid.
 
The trend seems to be going to 4' bulbs, even if it's an 8' fixture (which uses four 4' bulbs). Maybe it's because they are easier to transport and only one size to stock at the big box store?

I just changed the 8 ft ones in my workshop and it was a pain in the butt.

The options for 8 ft fixtures wired end-to-end (less labor) but with 4x 4ft bulbs would have been much more convenient.

Something like these -

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Lithonia...32-120-1-4-GESB/100192753?N=c7nk#.UoF7jJ3n-Uk
 
Some 8 foot types are being discontinued - google that. I put cheap 8 foot units in my basement and shop and in 9 years replaced 6 or so ballasts (cost as much as the lights!) and a bunch of bulbs. Get 4 foot units with better ballasts.
 
I followed my electrician's advice and installed 4', 6 lamp T6 fixtures in my hanger this year. They are much brighter than any other fluorescent I have seen, and are efficient to boot.

Jay
 
I followed my electrician's advice and installed 4', 6 lamp T6 fixtures in my hanger this year. They are much brighter than any other fluorescent I have seen, and are efficient to boot.

Jay

T5HO most likely. T6 is an airplane ;) They appear brighter than T8's for two reasons; since the lamp is 1/4" smaller in diameter you have much more surface brightness. T5HO are also around 5000 lumens, T8's around 2850 for the standard products. T5HO are hot! Hot as in bright and hot as in they operate at the socket a lot hotter. Make sure you have the lamps seated well in the socket. (most sockets for T5HO are now "twist and lock" to insure a solid connection so they do not burn up.)

They are NOT more efficient. They are about the same as comparable T8's.
I have lit hangars with T5HO. I will not use them unshielded for anything lower than 14' or so. There is simply too much glare.

T5's came into use from Europe (you will notice that they are shorter than T8 because of the standard in Europe). There big advantage is the smaller diameter package which allows engineers to design more sophisticated optics and smaller fixtures. When it comes to a hangar, you usually have no optic, you are not trying to stuff them into a tight space like a cove, nor are you doing a difficult job like grazing a wall or uplighting a surface. So, there is very little advantage and a lot of disadvantages with T5HO for anything under 14'.

14' and above, I prefer them over the old standard HID low bays. However, we are doing a DC3 hangar right now with HID due to owners preference and it will do a nice job. ("new" SCWA ballast and better color rendering lamps have kept HID alive and still sellable.)
 
I have been using the eight foot. I buy the bulbs at the local big box store in bulk. Not hard to handle.
The only important thing in my experience is use twice as many bulbs/ fixtures as you think you need. I have never had to much light but have had to little... Aging eyes and all that.
 
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