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jim_ne

Lighting for an Outbuilding

jim-ne
14 years ago

Hello- we just put up a pole barn and I need help calculating how much light we will need to install this fall. The building is 40' x 80' and the trusses are 18' high. It is primarily for storage and I plan on having a shop in the corner to crank away on projects. My question is how much light (lumens or footcandles) do I need per square foot? From researching it looks like a typical kitchen is 30-40 lumens per sq ft, living rooms are 15-20 lumens so I *think* 10-15 lumens per sq ft sounds reasonable. From this I think I need 40x80x10 (size * lumens) and get 32000 lumens on the floor. Since my lightning will be 18' above how do I calculate how much light do I need to install? I plan on using HPS fixtures and my best guess is 8 fixtures pumping out 400/600 Watts/ea (50000 to 90000 lumens per fixture).

Thanks-

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