My shop right now has four T8 fixtures with 2 bulbs each, 8 foot long bulbs. It's dim as hell. I want to upgrade to six T5 high-output fixtures with 6 bulbs each, to brighten it up a lot.
I am not going to re-use the existing wiring, I am gonna pull those lights out and put air circulation fans in their place.
Got a couple questions for those in the know...
1) The new fixtures are rated 360W each, 2160W total. Electrical supply house recommends not exceeding 80% of the circuit max (2400W on a 20-amp circuit, 1920W would be 80%). Is that correct not to exceed 80%? Running all 6 would be 90% utilization.
2) Electrical supplier says each of these T5HO fixtures has 2 ballasts... one runs 4 bulbs, one runs 2 bulbs. Can the ballasts be wired separately without having to break into the units? If so, I would run all the 4-bulb ballasts one one circuit, the 2's on the other... then I'd have two switches and I could turn on 2, 4 or all 6 bulbs.
3) These light fixtures are available in 208 version. As I understand, 208 is the voltage between two phases of a 3-phase setup. I have 3 phase... a 12 gauge wire will run 20-amps (16-amps at 80%). If I run 208v, it would be just under 11 amps, and I can run 12-ga wire. Is that right?
4) If I run these lights on 208, can I use 12/3 wire and have 2 hots and a ground, or do I need 2 hots, neutral and ground?
The fixtures are Philips and they don't give much info on their website. The electrical supply house doesn't have them in stock so they can't crack the box to let me take a look... and it's over a grand to order these so I wanna know how I am gonna do this and order all my cable and boxes before I start - so if anyone knows, it would help me out a lot!
I am not going to re-use the existing wiring, I am gonna pull those lights out and put air circulation fans in their place.
Got a couple questions for those in the know...
1) The new fixtures are rated 360W each, 2160W total. Electrical supply house recommends not exceeding 80% of the circuit max (2400W on a 20-amp circuit, 1920W would be 80%). Is that correct not to exceed 80%? Running all 6 would be 90% utilization.
2) Electrical supplier says each of these T5HO fixtures has 2 ballasts... one runs 4 bulbs, one runs 2 bulbs. Can the ballasts be wired separately without having to break into the units? If so, I would run all the 4-bulb ballasts one one circuit, the 2's on the other... then I'd have two switches and I could turn on 2, 4 or all 6 bulbs.
3) These light fixtures are available in 208 version. As I understand, 208 is the voltage between two phases of a 3-phase setup. I have 3 phase... a 12 gauge wire will run 20-amps (16-amps at 80%). If I run 208v, it would be just under 11 amps, and I can run 12-ga wire. Is that right?
4) If I run these lights on 208, can I use 12/3 wire and have 2 hots and a ground, or do I need 2 hots, neutral and ground?
The fixtures are Philips and they don't give much info on their website. The electrical supply house doesn't have them in stock so they can't crack the box to let me take a look... and it's over a grand to order these so I wanna know how I am gonna do this and order all my cable and boxes before I start - so if anyone knows, it would help me out a lot!