basilisk wrote:

I've pretty much settled on 6
low bay 400 watt metal halide.
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"Ed Pawlowski" wrote:

In our warehouse we had metal halide and the power company paid us
to take them out and replace them with 4 tube high efficiency
fluorescent.
The ones we had were 1000 watt and we are getting better light with
less than 200 watts.

The old lights had bulbs that cost $100 too. Now, all four would
cost about $16.
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"Lew Hodgett" wrote:

Having designed and sold a lot of industrial lighting systems in a
past life,
will offer the following:

Metal halide is a good lamp source if you are an automotive
dealership
or a sports stadium.

Color rendition is good and the hours of operation are limited.

Metal halide is a POOR lamp source if you are an industrial area.

Metal halide has high initial lumen output; however, they have short
useful
life and high lumen depreciation.

Ed Pawlowski's suggestion of 4 tube high efficiency fluorescent
luminaires
is a good one.

Run 2 circuits to each fixture and you can easily have 2 level
lighting.

Have fun.
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An update:

4 tube high efficiency fluorescent luminaires are available in a 1 x 4
tube
configuration used in "troffer" fixtures for office lighting in a 24"
x 48" luminaire
and a 2 x 2 tube configuration used for industrial lighting in a 12" x
96" luminaire.

Either luminaire has 4 lamps and 2 ballasts in a single unit.

My choice would be the 12" x 96" luminaire laid end to end to form a
row for a shop.

Using 2 circuits, you can wire alternate lamps on a circuit providing
a 50%
and 100% lighting for the whole shop.

Have fun.


Lew