30 x 45 metal gargage needs lights

[uncleford]

Hey guys,

I had a 30 x 45 garage installed back in April. Finally the building is up! Now I need electricity and lights. I have been looking at what I want to do and lurking here to see what others have done.

I plan on working on motorcycles and cars (hobby) and want/need some good ideas for lights. I have looked at lights from Lowes but not sure how many or really what to get.

LED lights seem like a good option if I can get them because of low energy consumption? (Not a big deal because I will be running tools all the time)

Any ideas? Throw them at me. Great forum, lots of information to go through!

V/r,

Uncleford

 

[uncleford]

Im at work right now so I can't send pics but its a metal roof with open trusses so I will not have a ceiling (if that makes sense)

 

[tfi racing]

What is your ceiling height? LED lighting is not quite there yet,T8 or T5 flourescent is the best solution for now.

 

[uncleford]

Its 12 ft at the walls. So a no-go on the LEDs. Okay, I can look into the T8/T5. I will need a few for the amount of light that I want.

 

[ACDNate]

There are some really good high bay LED fixtures if you can afford them.

 

[pcpro15]

There are some really good high bay LED fixtures if you can afford them.

+1 Local truck shop down the road just switched to LED high bay. Going with a whiter brighter light... what a difference.

 

[gnxtc2]

T8 with 850 bulbs, 12' ceiling

Billy T.
[email protected]

 

[uncleford]

Nice! a well lit area is what I am looking for.

 

[JDon99]

There was a thread a while back that had some pics of other's led floodlight installs, they worked out pretty good.

 

[uncleford]

okay, I will do a search. I am giving myself a migraine trying to figure which floor epoxy to go with.

 

[uncleford]

Hey Billy, how many lights are you using and what is the size of your shop? I like how they run close together

 

[gnxtc2]

The lights are 8' strips with four - four foot T8 bulbs.

The shop is 60 x 35

I do not recommend the T5HO fixtures for a 12' ceiling.

Some pics during renovation.

Billy T.
[email protected]

 

[JDon99]

okay, I will do a search. I am giving myself a migraine trying to figure which floor epoxy to go with.

Here ya go, I found it:

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=233127

 

[dwegner]

The lights are 8' strips with four - four foot T8 bulbs.

The shop is 60 x 35

I do not recommend the T5HO fixtures for a 12' ceiling.

Some pics during renovation.

So how many fixtures total? Can you elaborate on why you don't like the T5 for 12ft? Mine is 30x60 with 13ft ceiling with the liner panel like yours.

 

[gnxtc2]

The lights are 8' strips with four - four foot T8 bulbs.

The shop is 60 x 35

I do not recommend the T5HO fixtures for a 12' ceiling.

Some pics during renovation

So how many fixtures total?

Total in the shop is around 20
Each row has 6-7 fixtures depending on obsticles ie: lift, garage door, bathroom

Can you elaborate on why you don't like the T5 for 12ft? Mine is 30x60 with 13ft ceiling with the liner panel like yours.

The T5HO lamp was designed to replace highbay fixtures (400w MH and HPS). Those fixtures were installed in places that have 20' ceilings. Yes, you can put a T5HO fixtures in a lower ceiling but you will be wasting your money. A replacement ballast for a T5HO 4 bulb fixture costs $90 vs $25 for a T8 ballast.

Others say that you will not as many T5 fixtures and to spread them out. At that low of a ceiling you're going to get hot spots. Here is a pic of T5 fixtures spread out.



Walk around HD, Lowes, Sam's, Costco and see how they have their lighting done.

I walked into a DPW garage were the town hired some outfit to retro fit the T12 fixtures. The company replaced all the fixtures with T5HO fixtures. They installed the T5 fixtures at 10' and they are useless, should've left the T12 fixtures alone. They put the same fixtures in the fire house garage and the garage is very bright.

It's your money, you can do what ever you want with it.



Billy T.
[email protected]

 

[uncleford]

this is the information I have been looking for. Thanks guys, some really good reading on the forum here!

 

[383 240z]

T8 with 850 bulbs, 12' ceiling

Billy T.
[email protected]

How did you mount the fixtures to the metal panels? I bought similar lamps a few weeks ago, and am picking up the metal panels tomorrow. I was thinking self-tapping sheet metal screws would handle it, but now I'm leaning more towards toggle bolts. Little more secure, however the lights with the new ballasts are very light. I'm pretty sure more than 50% of the weight is the bulbs. Keith

 

[gnxtc2]

The lights are screwed directly into the joists with sheet metal screws. The joists run perpendicular to the lights.

When you pick up the panel liner, get the matching color screws.

Billy T.
[email protected]

 

[AP514]

gnxtc2..where did you get that heavy duty metal Shelving ?

 

[Eriehunter]

Back in 2001 I put 4 rows of 3 8' t 12 in my pole barn. It is 32x48 with 10' ceilings. It is very well lit, I plan on eventually adding 4 4' t8 over the two long work benches I have. With a white ceiling and bare OSB side walls life is good, you are going to have to get8' t 8's with 4' lamps in them and they will do a good job, color choice of your lamp has a lot to do with the amount of light you will get. You probably will want a 4100 cool white lamp. I don't know what they would look like with 5000 lamps.

 

[gnxtc2]

gnxtc2..where did you get that heavy duty metal Shelving ?

The shelving is known as pallet racks. They come in all different heights, depths and lengths. They are the same type of shelving that you see at Lowes, Home Depot, Sam's, Costco, etc, etc.

Look on Craigslist for companies going out of business.

Billy T.
[email protected]

 

[gnxtc2]

Back in 2001 I put 4 rows of 3 8' t 12 in my pole barn. It is 32x48 with 10' ceilings. It is very well lit, I plan on eventually adding 4 4' t8 over the two long work benches I have. With a white ceiling and bare OSB side walls life is good, you are going to have to get8' t 8's with 4' lamps in them and they will do a good job, color choice of your lamp has a lot to do with the amount of light you will get. You probably will want a 4100 cool white lamp. I don't know what they would look like with 5000 lamps.

5000k lamps appear brighter than 4100 lamps. Buy a 5000 lamp and put it next to a 4100 in the same fixture. HD sells 5000k bulbs.

The 5000k lamp is whitest bulb available before the bulb appears to have bluish tint to it.

Billy T.
[email protected]

 

[383 240z]

I picked up some of the panels today. Some of what I ordered didn't come in (because Adam forgot to place the second order I called in). However they did better than make it up to me, they tossed about 32' of free panels in. Also picked up 2 bags (500) screws while I was there. I got the CJ and my big tractor out of the shop, so I made enough of a hole that I should be able to put a few panels up over the long weekend. I tried today but the humidity was way to high. Ended up putting new doors on the goat barn and built a new hay manger for them.

Back on topic, I was going to screw my lights to 2x4's run between the trusses. I needed to put them in when I was planning on an OSB ceiling. But with the liner panels, and the new lighting layout they will not be needed, so I made a few tests and decided that the self tapping screws have more than enough purchase to hold up the fixtures just going right into the panels, don't need to worry about catching a truss chord. All the wiring will be surface mount 1/2" EMT. I'll be sure to post pics on my build thread. Keith