2 Car Garage Lighting

[nygarage]

Hi,

I'm looking to upgrade the lighting in my 2 car garage. It's a 22x22 space with 10 foot ceilings. There is a beam that goes through in the middle perpendicular to how the cars are parked that is about 15" deep. Currently, I have a standard flourescent two tube fixture that is 4' on both sides of the beam.

Obsessed garage recommends the Cree LS8-120L. What's nice is that it is dimmable, high lumens and high CRI. These are all important to me. I've read somewhere that the disadvantage of these fixtures is it can interfere with electrical signals (garage door opener, wifi, etc). I don't know how true this is.

What's your take on these? Have their been any newer fixtures that have been released that are cheaper and or better?

Thanks!

 

[The Cobbler]

do you want more light or just upgrade to LED?
I would start by retrofitting the current fixtures with ballast by-pass LED tubes .

 

[nygarage]

I want both more light and the upgrade to LEDs. The LED tubes have lower lumen output than the fluorescent ones I have at the moment. Plus, not sure I can dim them without changing the fixture?

 

[rdoty]

As I read it, you have two 4' fixtures in a 22 x 22 space? If you work in here you need more fixtures for both light intensity and light distribution. If you are just parking cars, start with upgrading the existing fixtures to LED and see what more is needed.

As a data point, I have 20 x 4' LED fixtures in a 28' x 28' workshop - this is the best lit shop environment I have ever worked in. And I still need task lighting...

I would suggest two rows of two fixtures on each row on each side of the beam.

Why do you want to dim the lights?

 

[nygarage]

Correct I have two 4' fluorescent fixtures in a 22x22 space. We park two cars in here but I also work on cars in the garage or other projects from time to time. This is why I want it to dim - don't need all that light all the time but when I do I want to be able to have it. I could upgrade to LED bulbs but one of the issues is that the lights are in the center, so I could install two more fixtures on each side (so six 4' in total). This is what I'm leaning towards. I'm just looking for opinions on which fixture to buy given I want the ability to dim (and nice light output quality as well).

Thank you

 

[rdoty]

Thanks, that helps. Adding two more fixtures on each side will certainly help. I would suggest spacing the fixtures 2' apart end to end, rather than butting them together. The reasoning for this is that three fixtures butted together gives you a twelve foot length, leaving a five foot gap to the wall on each side. Moving them two feet apart reduces the call gap to two feet, providing better light distribution.

I'm afraid I'm not the right person to ask about fixtures. I got inexpensive 4' LED hanging fixtures from Home Depot and plugged them into outlets in the ceiling. I've got plenty of light at a reasonable cost. If any lights die I will just replace that entire fixture. If the entire lighting array degrades too much I will replace the whole thing with the latest technology in hanging lights. I consider this the ultimate future proofing strategy for lighting. Some people here will strongly disagree.

The cost of running LEDs is low enough that I'm not worried about dimming. Also, if the lights are on for more than a few minutes it means I'm working on something.

 

[Zeke]

I have four 4" fixtures equally spaced and hung down to 8'. I have 4 more as task lighting at 3 walls about 2 feet out. Individual switches for the task lighting as they are on opposite sides. Any 5 fixtures on and there is plenty of light wherever I am except in or under a car. For that you need portable light.

 

[Shiftless]

I have a 20x20
I wired it up so that one switch controls the lights over my 7 foot workbench and also the lights shining down on my 12 foot wide floor to ceiling open shelf system. That’s what is on most of the time because I’m either working at the bench or coming into the garage looking for something on a shelf.
I have a separate switch on a dedicated circuit controlling 9 double 4 foot tube led fixtures spread out over the ceiling. That one gets turned on if I have a big project going and need more light in the middle of the garage.
With this set up, I don’t need dimmers. I like to “keep it simple” whenever possible.

 

[ludakris04]

I have a 20x20 with 10 1/2 ft ceilings.. I have 4 4ft double led lights from Costco. Its bright... but I have never had a situation were I thought, this is just too much light. I really don't think you would use a dimmer very much.

 

[cybrdyke]

I want both more light and the upgrade to LEDs. The LED tubes have lower lumen output than the fluorescent ones I have at the moment. Plus, not sure I can dim them without changing the fixture?

Even though they "have lower lumen output", the LED tubes will still be brighter than your fluorescent ones. You are correct that you wont be able to dim them without unwanted complication or changing fixtures.
CD

 

[nygarage]

Bringing this topic back up as I've been putting this on hold due to other things going on.

I found some lights that seem to be pretty decent and best of all utilize triac dimming so I don't have to deal with the 0-10v conversion that most other lights have for commercial / garage use. These would work with the Lutron Caseta dimmers.

Here are the options:
1) Wraparound light w/ Adjustable lumen options of 4000, 5000, and 6000 lumens and 3-switchable CCT options of 3000K, 4000K, and 5000K

2) Integrated 1x4 Panel Light 4000 lumens and Switchable Color Temperature

I was thinking 3 of these in a row to replace the ones you can see in my garage below. That would be 12000 lumens per row or 24000 for the garage. I think this is sufficient for my garage size. What do you think?

Also, since I have one light currently at the center what would be the best way to extend power to the other two lights? Unfortunately the beams are perpendicular to the light so fishing it above the drywall isn't really an option.

Thanks

 

[alfredeneuman]

There is a stickied thread with 28 pages worth of layouts and 1K replies at the top of the page which should answer your question.

Light Fixture Layout Collections

Since I’ve spent a fair amount of time doing Light Fixture Layouts for GJ members, I figured I'd put them all in one thread as a general reference guide. I’ll start with the latest and add more as time permits. All Isoplots in footcandles and done at 30" workplane height (30" from the floor)...

www.garagejournal.com