# Pole Barn Lighting Layout, How many do I need?



## Michaelneff22 (May 29, 2018)

I recently just fell into some serious lighting for my pole barn but I'm on the fence about using it and just re-sell it for a very good profit. 

I picked up Cree Canopy/ Gas Station LED Lights. 130 Watts, 13,000 Lumens, and says they have a beam angle of 180 degrees. 

I was using some on line calculators I don't know if they are correct, well doesn't seem correct to me. 

I have (2) area's I want to light: 

40ft Width 30ft Depth, One ceiling height is 12ft and the other is 19ft. 

Online Calculators are saying my beam lighting diameter is almost 40ft. I really doubt 1 light is good for working. But I fully don't understand all of it. 

Reason i'm on the fence is currently I have (30) single LED bulbs lighting my (1) area and its plenty of light @ 156 watts total. Just one of these lights are sucking 130 Watts, I'm thinking i need (9) in my 19ft Ceiling height area but thats going to suck 1,170 watts. 

What do you guys think? How do I come up with a lighting plan too?


----------



## M5farm (Jan 14, 2014)

I purchased two 22000 lumens lights from rural king and hung them in my 32 x 60 barn and it lights it better than 3 250 w metal halide high bay lights .


----------



## Falfrenzy (Aug 20, 2018)

Michaelneff22 said:


> I recently just fell into some serious lighting for my pole barn but I'm on the fence about using it and just re-sell it for a very good profit.
> 
> I picked up Cree Canopy/ Gas Station LED Lights. 130 Watts, 13,000 Lumens, and says they have a beam angle of 180 degrees.
> 
> ...


9 of those bad boys in that space? What are you doing out there, building watches or open heart surgery?


----------



## GTX63 (Dec 13, 2016)

Good golly, if I saw that from outside I'd think Christ had come back and was in his barn!


----------



## wy_white_wolf (Oct 14, 2004)

Compare the Lumens and not the watts of the lights. I think you'll then see that 1 maybe 2 for each area will be enough.

WWW


----------



## Michaelneff22 (May 29, 2018)

Haha, I like the Christ comment. I'm working on cars so trying to eliminate shadows. I think i'm down to just using 4 now. 1 on each side of the car. Probably just do a separate switch for them and then use my low wattage lighting that seems to be fine for things that don't need serious light like this.


----------



## Nimrod (Jun 8, 2010)

GTX63 said:


> Good golly, if I saw that from outside I'd think Christ had come back and was in his barn!


Maybe Christ came for the first time??

One big light vs. several littler ones, You can wire the little ones so that you can turn on only the ones you need. Big deal if you are off grid.


----------



## oldtruckbbq (Aug 8, 2016)

Michaelneff22 said:


> Haha, I like the Christ comment. I'm working on cars so trying to eliminate shadows. I think i'm down to just using 4 now. 1 on each side of the car. Probably just do a separate switch for them and then use my low wattage lighting that seems to be fine for things that don't need serious light like this.


I saw a garage on TV where the guy installed dual bulb 4' flourescent fixtures along the walls about 3 or 4' off the ground. Makes perfect sense, because when you are working inside or under a vehicle, overhead lighting doesn't do much good. I'm going to put fixtures on the wall when I build a garage, but I'm thinking of mounting them on rails or poles so I can raise or lower as needed, depending on the job. I've worked in dimly lit garage spaces all my life, and I'm looking forward to finally having one with enough lighting to see easily.


----------



## wy_white_wolf (Oct 14, 2004)

Michaelneff22 said:


> Haha, I like the Christ comment. I'm working on cars so trying to eliminate shadows. I think i'm down to just using 4 now. 1 on each side of the car. Probably just do a separate switch for them and then use my low wattage lighting that seems to be fine for things that don't need serious light like this.


Instead of the sides mount them pointing at the corners of the car. That way each light illuminates 2 sides of the car. Helps to eliminate shadows having 2 opposing lights on each side.

WWW


----------



## Txyogagirl (Jul 4, 2018)

Thanks for this post all this lighting talk is over my head lol I need someone to recommend some led lights for almost same size space 30x50 with 10 ft sidewalls we don’t work on cars just need light to see but more is better than none since I’m sure my husband might take hobbies on in the further once he gets his shop finished


----------



## hiddensprings (Aug 6, 2009)

My hubby did all of the lighting for my horse barn. I thought it was a bit too much lighting (kind of thought if I turned on all of the lights they'd be able to see it in the cities) but didn't argue with him. Now I'm glad I didn't. You can NEVER have too much light in or around a barn.


----------



## potter28 (Sep 10, 2014)

I just finished installing 12 Sunco, 48" LED 5000K lights in my shop. Its 40x40 with a 12' ceiling. I hung 3 rows of 4 in a row about 48" apart and its more than enough light. Its now like daylight in there.


----------

