Calcuating Light

[Six]

I am in the process of lighting several rooms in a new garage. Realizing quanity of light depends on function.

I am confused trying to figure the "usable light"...ie.....what gets on what you are trying to see vs what is emitted from the bulb.

I have looked up lumen, candlelight/ft and understand what comes out of the bulb is not the same light you will get given the distance from what you are trying to see.

For Example:

If you produce 100 luman/ft in a 10 foot tall ceiling.........what would you consider the usable light? How do you figure this out?

Please disregard the variabe of colors and such for my example ...I am trying to isolate this figure the one factor.

Best Regards,
Tim

 

[Gary S]

I wouldn't waste time trying to calculate it. Whatever you use for a formula probably won't give the amount of light you want anyway. Put up the lights you think you need. Then try it for a while. If you need more, buy more. The stores will gladly sell you more if you need them.

 

[Six]

I found a thread that "takes this ON"..........

 

[Piper]

welp if it helps you, I have an 11.5' ceiling in my garage. It's 32x24. I used the figure of 1.5 watts per square foot, which allowed me to run 4 rows of 4- 4' long two bulb fixtures parallel to the 24' wall evenly spaced. It creates a really nice coverage and there are no shadows. The 1.5 watts/sq-ft is nice fwiw.