Lighting Question

[ShawnMac33]

Fresh out of school got my first job and first assignment and want to do a decent job so thought I'd ask here for a little advice.

Industrial complex with high bay lighting 10 luminaires (16ft up around 500 lux) and one central workstation for material inspection with 6 luminaires (8ft up around 1000 lux)the lower centralized lighting needs to be raised to 16 ft though every few months to allow for maintenace in the rest of the area.

My suggestion was to suspend the lower lighting from chains and raise it with a fork lift and lock the chain up when maintenance is required. The maintenance guys want to look at permanantly raising the lighting to 16 ft though so I need 4 times the lighting any recommendations? I condsidered direct lighting but shadows on inspection table wouldn't look so good. Any thoughts?

 

[dpc]

What type of lighting? Various lenses are available on HID lighting that might help you out at the higher mounting height. Holophane is a good resource for this type of information.

 

[ShawnMac33]

HID for the bay lighting and the 8 foot lighting is 4 foot fluorescent 2 per luminaire 2500 lumens 4100k per.

I don't have the drawing of the exsisting setup which is why I'm having trouble finding the actual lumenaires and the HID lamps in there.

 

[jraef]

"Raising on a fork lift" is an OSHA nightmare by the way. Not a good idea to ever suggest that as a normal course of action in a solution.

 

[peebee]

jraef -- can you expand on that? Just curious. It sounds like a space where they'd already have fork trucks running around. Is there something particularly difficult about this because it's electrical, or because it's part of the building?

 

[itsmoked]

I see zero forklift problems with regard to lifting lights.

If you want to lift humans.. nuther story. However even that is allowed in a properly certified man lift basket properly secured to the forklift.

With regards to ShawnMac33 requirements I think a pulley based system with flexible conduit allowing the whole array to be lifted by push-button (NO forklifts please) makes lots of sense. I'd go that way.

Mount a gear drive motor to a big cylinder up on the wall somewhere out of the way and route all the lines needed to it.

Keith Cress
Flamin Systems, Inc.-

http://www.flaminsystems.com

 

[BJC]

peebee
Take a look at Thompson Hangers. They are used in lots of places where it is not practical or people don't want to use various man lifts. All of them I have used/seen use a manual wench ( similar to one on a boat trailer ). The system can be designed with one wench that is moved from place to place. .
Next time your at a swimming pool check out the lighting over the pool. Thompson hangers are common atindoor pools. To service the fixtures over the water people get in a boat and lower the fixture. Its a lot safer than that picture you see on the net from time to time. That picture shows guy on an big aluminum step ladder setting he bottom of a pool.

http://www.joslynhivoltage.com/catLoweringDevice.htm

 

[itsmoked]

BJC; I don't see how the power gets to the fixture? Or is it unpowered until it's back in the recess and contacts are mated?

Keith Cress
Flamin Systems, Inc.-

http://www.flaminsystems.com

 

[BJC]

itsmoked
The fixture is unpowered when it is disconnected. Thats a good ideal if your in the boat in the pool. They have some pretty healthy contacts that connect the power conductor and grounds.
I don't know if they can be used with any dimming systems. I suspect they can.
The connection mechanism is pretty clever. The fixture does not depend on the cable to support it. When you pull it up it clicks and the mechanism is locked. If you pull it again it moves up about 3/8" and the fixture is free and can be lowered with the cable. You gotta see one and play with it to fully appreciate it.

 

[itsmoked]

Sounds pretty cool indeed. "Simple cool". Yeah the pool.. Guess that does make sense too.

Keith Cress
Flamin Systems, Inc.-

http://www.flaminsystems.com

 

[EEJaime]

The Joslyn hanger is designed for single point of contact type fixtures and usually requires the lighting fixture manufacturer's outfit the fixtures with specific ballast housings that can mate to the upper hanger bracket. This might be difficult with fluorescent fixtures.

I would suggest either going ahead and adding the additional lighting with a more focused fixture to punch the lighting down the added distance. Or a variation of the OP's idea by using a chain or cable hanger with one of the tough flexible SOJ type cords for the electrical connection along with a draw-cord/cable-pulley assemble for the fixtures to allow them to be raised temporarily for the lift access. If there are only six fixtures and you are only doing this every few months, this should not be too burdensome on the maintenance staff.