Do it once, do it right, garage lighting

[AlwaysLearning]

Hello all,

Looking for some insight on my current project.

Specs-

42x48 Garage Side

10'4'' Walls.

2.5/12 bottom cord Scissor Truss

White metal on the ceiling and walls.

Looking for recommendations on LED lighting.

I rather it be brighter than on the dark side...

Thank You,

Cameron

 

[Platonic Solid]

Welcome to the forum!
Are you prepared to spend about $2000 for lighting?

 

[sberry]

(I like some zone and some local, I don't want to turn the whole place up to walk in and get a tool or to go to the bench. I got a couple cfl hanging that run 24/7, can walk anywhere in the place without having to fuss with a light switch.

 

[AlwaysLearning]

Welcome to the forum!
Are you prepared to spend about $2000 for lighting?

Yes sir,

I was looking for your opinion!

 

[BoostedOne]

My 0.02.. I did a 40x40 garage last year.. I ended up with eight 8 foot fluorescent fixtures and couldn't be happier with the light output.
I considered LED, but(and I forget the exact numbers) the return on investment wouldn't occur for decades based on the price of the lights vs wattage savings combined with the per kW/hr pricing from the power company.

I did similar lighting in my shop 6 or 7 years ago, and maintenance wise it has been very low as well. Had one go out on me in August, my first ballast went bad. But still on all the original tubes(except for the one fixture because I thought it was a tube problem not a ballast).

 

[doubleot]

Not a large shop like yours at all but I went LED from florescent in my garage and couldn't be happier, the light is much cleaner and they start up instantly its really incredible the difference.


Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

 

[AlwaysLearning]

Yes sir,

I was looking for your opinion!

If tridational lighting works just as good I'm not opposed to it.

I am not saying I have to have leds.

 

[Platonic Solid]

AlwaysLearning - Do you live in a high, mid, or low electric rate area. Please add location to your profile.

 

[AlwaysLearning]

AlwaysLearning - Do you live in a high, mid, or low electric rate area. Please add location to your profile.

I would say mid rate. I am feeding this building with a 200 amp service.

 

[Platonic Solid]

Qty.16 of Alphalite Slim Linear LED High Bay, 2 Foot, 110 Watt (link) $91.25 ea.

Dialux PDF Report (link) Just ignore that the report says Lithonia as I have to have some similar IES file to tweak.

pic linked to larger image

​

8 fixtures near walls @ 11.25' mounting height
8 fixtures near center @ 13.25' mounting height

 

[AlwaysLearning]

Qty.16 of Alphalite Slim Linear LED High Bay, 2 Foot, 110 Watt (link) $91.25 ea.

Dialux PDF Report (link) Just ignore that the report says Lithonia as I have to have some similar IES file to tweak.

pic linked to larger image

​

8 fixtures near walls @ 11.25' mounting height
8 fixtures near center @ 13.25' mounting height

Thank you sir.

I see on the chart that the back wall has some spots in the 70s would adding one or two lights to the back row get rid of those spots? That area will have work benches and machines.

 

[garage guy1of38]

I used 2x4 Panels from Glimmer Lighting.

34x50. 14 panels overhead and some pot lights.

 

[Platonic Solid]

I see on the chart that the back wall has some spots in the 70s would adding one or two lights to the back row get rid of those spots? That area will have work benches and machines.

Corners are always difficult. If you put a machine right in the corner and stand between the light fixture and the machine you will have some shadow (it will be faint from all the other light bouncing around). That's where task lighting must be used. I would wait till you've set everything up to figure that out. It is possible that the reflectance of your white metal walls will provide enough light to make task lighting unnecessary. If I change the Ceiling|Wall|Floor reflectance from 70|50|20 to 70|70|20, it increases the corners by 10fc.

 

[AlwaysLearning]

Ordering the lights today, will post updates once i have them installed.

 

[OH_Varmntr]

Any updates? Which lights did you go with?

 

[jjscott]

Qty.16 of Alphalite Slim Linear LED High Bay, 2 Foot, 110 Watt (link) $91.25 ea.

Dialux PDF Report (link) Just ignore that the report says Lithonia as I have to have some similar IES file to tweak.

pic linked to larger image

​

8 fixtures near walls @ 11.25' mounting height
8 fixtures near center @ 13.25' mounting height

Hi there Platonic Solid,

I'm new to the lighting stuff and I'm getting ready to do my garage. I'm just curious what the benefit is of a 2ft LED vs. 4ft LED fixture? Is there a circumstance where 4ft is better than 2ft?

Thanks

 

[Platonic Solid]

jjscott - If I assume all things are equal except fixture size, then I would expect a 4ft 110W 14,000 lumen fixture to run cooler due to more heatsink surface area and LED arrays spread out more. When dealing with 12ft+ mounting heights, there would essentially be no discernable lumen distribution difference.