Agriculture Shed Lights

[Darkness]

My uncle who farms wants to replace his old BC lights in his large cattle sheds with new waterproof ones that offer good lighting. I had thought about using those 5ft waterproof Fluorescent tubes which the likes of Thorn make but my uncle is being pushed by certain suit wearing people to install energy efficent lighting in his sheds.

The Thorn lights I looked at are 58w per tube so double lights is 116w and a few would be needed. My uncle said that he was told about some new energy efficent lights like the thorn fluorescent tubes but I don't seem to find the ones he is on about. I wonder if these suit wearing people are actually talking about the Fluorescents.

Can someone advise me on suitable waterproof lights that are meant to be energy efficent? or what other folk are installing in similar buildings these days. I could go for the shorter Fluorescent tubes but quality of light might be a hinder.

Cheers.

 

[Lectrician]

Flourescents are energy saving.

The fittings all come with the T8 tubes - the most efficient.

A 5ft tube is the most efficient in terms of lumens per watt when compared to 4 and 6 foot tubes. (I recall this from college some 12yr ago!).

What height are the roofs? Assuming the lights are on the roof?

 

[Darkness]

Sheds are over 70ft wide and around are mostly over 20ft from ground to peek. I doubt they would be over 30ft. I was talking to my uncle this morning, and the people wanting him to do the lights are offering deals themselves on lights in part of the electric board.

From what he read out to me on the leaflet, you can buy 2 x 5ft twin high energy fluorescent lights for £40 inc vat. Not sure what the wattage is but it seems very good for the price especally for two twin ones.

Might sound dumb but what is meant by High Frequency?

 

[Spark123]

A fluorscent lamp will extinguish 100 times per second (50Hz) as the supply sine wave passes through zero causing a strobing effect, albeit usually not a problem but it can cause headaches and is a real annoyance when there are a lot of fluorescents on the same phase.
HF fittings reduce the off period by running the tube on a higher frequency hence the flicker is less problematic. I am also led to believe HF ballasts are also more energy efficient.

 

[ricicle]

Fit some HF T5 anti-corrosion fittings with Triphosphor lamps in, very bright and energy efficient. Extra outlay will be required in the short-term though !

 

[Lectrician]

20 foot? You may be better considering high/low bays with HP sodium lamps (sounds like cattle sheds? Cattle hate high intensity metal halide).

You can get high bay T5/T8 flourescents, but they are not often used in this type of situation.

How often are the lights on? What are the sheds used for?

 

[Darkness]

They are all cattle sheds but one of the lights in each shed needs to be left on all night just to have some sort of light in there but I had thought about using a lower wattage for that job and the other lights to be used for an hour or so at night when doing work in the shed.

 

[sparkyspike]

I would fit hi bays but they are more expensive than fluorescent tubes.

 

[ColJack]

is the light for the cows or the farmer?

from what I've been told, some animals can't see some wavelengths of light.. thats why they use the orange lights on the motorways.. it doesn't keep the cows awake...

 

[ricicle]

is the light for the cows or the farmer?

from what I've been told, some animals can't see some wavelengths of light.. thats why they use the orange lights on the motorways.. it doesn't keep the cows awake...

Or maybe because SOX lamps are the most efficient lights available

 

[Lectrician]

I don't think they put orange SONs to keep the cows happy! LMAO.

We have always fitted SONS for cattle as apparently the bright white of other types can upset them.

It is actually fairly common in cattle sheds to have wall mounted SON floods.

 

[Darkness]

I never thought about the bright white lights annoying the cows and tbh, I wouldn't be too happy myself trying to sleep with a bright light on.

What I might do is install the flourescents but I might install a SON to have it for the all night use in the shed.

 

[Darkness]

I am deciding on the size of flex cable to use when running from conduit box to each of the fluorescent lights. The cable run in the existing conduit is 1.5mm2 so I was wondering if I should keep to 1.5mm2 flex or can I use maybe 1mm2 flex. The circuit is already on a 6a MCB.

I had heard you should stick the same size but I want confirmation.

Cheers.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

I don't think they put orange SONs to keep the cows happy! LMAO.

I always thought it was because low pressure sodium lamps were the most efficient there are, and offer benefits not just in energy costs but also things like glare and heat output, because of the low wattages needed.