Am I lit? (lighting question)

[Indiana Wash]

OK, I have been browsing the lighting posts. Most people seem to be using a whole lot less light than me. My wash does not seem overly bright. I have 2 IBA's and 5 SS's. Each SS has 4 400w metal halide fixtures that stay on from dusk until dark. I am getting tired of paying for most of my lighting when the wash is being the least used. I am considering changing to the T5HO fixtures since my energy company will rebate 30% of the price in cash. I think the payback is 1.5 years.

I see that most people put in 2 or 3 T5's at 4' with 2 bulbs. Am I crazy for thinking I need 4 T5's with 4 bulbs to get similar lighting??? I think I am putting two of them on motion sensors so that only two in each bay stay on with the other two coming on when someone enters.

Any suggestions, comments or words of wisdom are appreciated.

 

[I.B. Washincars]

Four 400s per bay! That should sunburn a buffalo's ass! Your walls must not be reflective. I'm guessing your wash was built with dark bricks. I have tandem bays with a total of eight 175W wall packs in the 60' long bays. I am planning on replacing the eight 175W with three 400W mounted on the ceiling. My walls are white Extrutech PVC panels.

 

[Indiana Wash]

Yes, my walls are light brown block. I hadn't thought of that. I knew that white plastic on walls was good for something. Actually with 4 400w metal halides per ss bay, it isn't that bright.

 

[Randy]

I have 2 8’ fluorescent light fixtures in each bay with 2 - 110 watt HO bulbs in each fixture. They’ve been installed since 1982. They put out amble light for what little night business we do. My brother remodeled 2 of his washes and installed 2- 320 watt Scottsdale lights in each bay. Now he gotten a few power bills he washes that he’d left in the HO fluorescent light fixtures. Another friend had 2 175 watt metal halide fixtures in each bay, he took out those and installed the 8’ fluorescent light fixtures that Kleen-Rite sells, www.kleen-ritecorp.com/p-24666-8-2-light-t5-high-output-flourescent-light-120277v.aspx He seems to be happy with those fixtures. We do very little busy at night, the lights are mostly for security.

 

[Indiana Wash]

OK, apparently, I am lit. Each of my bays has 4 metal halide wall packs. When I bought the wash 3 years ago, each one had a 400w bulb in it. Since then, I have replaced them wtih 400w bulbs. I was just told that they are actually 175 watt wall packs.

What effect does putting in the 400w bulb have?

Is a 400w bulb in a 175w wall pack the same brightness as a 175w bulb, less bright or more bright???

 

[Bill Manke]

I'm Surprised that the 400 would even light in a 175 fixture. I added white plastic walls to my bays. The stuff is from farmtek.com. It is called polymax.My walls are 14ft so I did 10 ft of them. did 2ft x 10ft by 3/16" thick panels then added strips inbetween to add alittle bit of a look to them. If you end up doing these allow about 1/4 inch to expand. drill all holes oversize and space panels on all sides. Sounds involved but isn't that bad once you get a system down to it. Also I only have 2 175 metal hallides per 26ft bay. Adding the panels really helped out the brightness.

 

[Randy]

Are you sure you’ve have 175 Watt light fixtures? I don’t think the ballast in a 175 watt fixture has enough power to light up a 400 watt metal halide bulb. It should say on the fixture somewhere what type of bulb and wattage to use.

 

[Earl Weiss]

FWIW . In my Tunnel I am replacing 400W MH with 320W scottsdales when a fixture needs to be replaced. 320 seems to be better than the old style 400 even if the 400 has a new Bulb and Ballast. So it's a 20% savings plus better light. The tunnel is different since a light in the center pushes ;ight straight down which is OK. For the Bays, even with the white Galssboard walls the lower sides / wheels of the car won't get much light if the fixtures are on the Ceiling Center. I inheirted a system with four 4 foot single tube HO fixtures . As they go bad I am replacing with double 4 tube HO fixtures from Grainger. They are mounted about 8 feet high , 2 on each side wall, about 8 feet apart, and about 4 feet in from the end of the wall. Total wattage per bay is 480. Does a great job and I don't think I could get away with less than two 320 watt scottsdales, or 4 175W wall packs, so the energy cost is less and it does a great job.

Luv the idea of motion sensors on half th bay lighting.

 

[PaulLovesJamie]

Wow, 4 400W fixtures per bay!
I would seriously consider installing FRP or HDPE on your walls, with 4 4' T5HO Fl's. The electricity savings alone should give you a short enough payback to justify doing it!
(One 400W MH fixture should be costing you around $250-300 per year in electricity if you run it all night, all year round! One 4' t5ho fixture (2 bulb) should be somewhere around $80-90/year in electricity.)