Anders Hoveland
Enlightened
- Joined
- Sep 1, 2012
- Messages
- 858
I am going to give you the unpopular advice here.I have a big shop with 400 watt metal halide light fixtures. There are currently 4 of them but I need 8-10 total. Of course, the problem with that is I would be burning 3200+ watts. :duh2:
Metal halide has very poor lumen maintenance and its light output begins to drastically decrease after only 1-2 years of operation. If you want to save energy, replace the bulbs every 1-2 years, that way you could use a lower wattage fixture that would put out the same amount of light. Many people may not realize that the bulb in their MH fixture needs to be replaced, because metal halide bulbs typically do not "burn out" like an ordinary bulb, they can continue to function for many many years.
If you wanted to use 8 Metal Halide lamps to light your workspace, you would probably only need to use 200 Watt metal halide fixtures. I will point out, for anyone who is not familiar with MH lighting, that if you want to go with a lower wattage you have to get a whole new fixture with a lower wattage ballast.
Here is a more reasonable idea: replace the bulbs on the fixtures you already have, then get an additional 2 LED fixtures, and then have them on separate switches so you do not need to turn on all the MH fixtures unless you need the extra light (basically have the 2 of the MH fixtures on the same switch with the LED fixtures). I bet you will be surprised how much brighter your MH fixtures will be with new bulbs.
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