How to determine appropriate lighting?

[ENGRstudent]

I have to determine the necessary lighting for a currently dimly lit warehouse, and I don't really know how to go about doing this. What do I need to know in order to determine what type of lamps or how many fixtures, etc., are necessary?

All I can tell you is that I think we're using 400 w mercury vapor lamps at the moment in highbeam fixtures (I think that's the correct terminology?)

Any help would be appreciated. Any formulas would be handy for determining how many more fixtures are necessary or anything like that.

[megashawn]

well, for one, you'd need to know the square footage of the area you are trying to light. Two, you would probably want to know what the square foot area 1 of your current lights covers.

Once you know these figures, you should be able to simply shop around online to find something that casts light in a better manner.

I'm no expert, I've just seen lights advertised, and they usually have a rating of how many square feet they will light up.

[Averagesupernova]

You need to check with the codes to determine how many watts of lighting are required per square foot in the type of building you are lighting. Go from there.