Fixture layout advice

[LS6 Tommy]

I have five T12 fluorescent fixtures in the garage, three 8' and two 4'. Yesterday I started replacing them with ten 4' LED shop fixtures. The current layout the of old fluorescent fixtures is a little unorthodox. It's basically a "box". There were two 4' fixtures, parallel to the roll up door on either side of the door opener track, perpendicular to it (they are above the windows when the door is open), then one 8' fixture parallel to the bench and each side wall and one 8' parallel to the back wall of the garage.

Do you guys think I should use the same layout, but add two more 4' on each side of the center joist, or make four rows of two, all parallel to the bench? They would run perpendicular from the roll up door and I'd have two above the roll up door windows again. I'm concerned doing the latter will make the back wall "dark". The existing lighting is pretty even, but by design I concentrated on the work space around the edge and not the center where the project car is parked. I think doing four rows would be more aesthetically pleasing, especially for those of us with some OCD.

What do you all think?

Tommy

 

[MoonRise]

How big is the space, floor area/size and ceiling height?

Two car garage, two garage doors or one, windows?

How many lumens is each LED fixture rated for?

Purpose of the garage? Just parking, some wrenching, some work at the bench, what kind of work (teardown and rebuild of complex mechanisms, pounding square pegs into round holes, brain surgery, that sort of thing)?

 

[Platonic Solid]

Need a sketch. Exactly what fixture are you installing?

 

[SGKent]

you want light over the work areas, and enough light not to cast shadows. You also want enough light in the storage areas to avoid putting your hand into a brown recluse or black widow nest. I have six 4' lights equally placed thru the garage and one over the work bench so I won't shade it when leaning over something. There is also a small LED on a separate switch that can be used when just passing thru the area so we aren't wasting lots of power just walking thru the garage on the way to the back yard or to load laundry since the washer and dryer room are part of the garage. There are also the LED lights in the garage door opener. They are special so not to interfere with its operation.

 

[LS6 Tommy]

Sorry guys, I posted a link to the fixtures in another thread.

http://www.lightsofamerica.com/project/8155-wh5/

Garage is roughly 21' x 20' x 7'9" at the bottom of the joists, which are open, no sheet rock or ceiling. There is a single 14' wide roll up door, bench along left side with the roll up door directly behind you. The existing 8' fixtures are parallel to the bench, back and opposite side wall, mounted on the joists about 4' in from the perimeter of the structure. The two 4' fixtures are parallel to the roll up door, mounted about 6' in from the opening so they are centered above the roll up door windows when it is open.

I'm thinking the most even light would be to just copy the existing layout and add my two extra 4' fixtures, evenly spaced between the existing 8' fixtures.

The layout that I think would look more aesthetically pleasing would be to start over, two 4' fixtures mounted in the same spots as the 8' were, parallel to the bench and the side wall, and make two new rows of two 4' fixtures evenly spaced between them, but I think that won't throw enough light on he back wall.

I know overall the amount of overall light output is going to increased and I'm not unhappy with the current way things are illuminated.

Here's a couple of really rough sketches. (I never used 3D Paint before, so laugh all you want)


Existing lighting. Roll up door is at bottom, bench is on left wall:




Alternative lighting:



Tommy

 

[Platonic Solid]

See post 15 of the Layout thread sticky (link)

 

[LS6 Tommy]

Thanks, Platonic. From looking at your layouts, I think I'm going to go with my original layout plan. It will put the most light where I will be working, instead of wasting light over the parked project car and making the back wall and corners "dark".

Let me know what you think.





Tommy

 

[Platonic Solid]

I don't know how long your project car has been in process, or maybe a better question is how long has it been sitting and how long do you expect it to remain sitting? 28x28 is a nice size, but by no means huge (by GJ standards anyway). I wouldn't divide a space that size into separate storage and work space areas. I'd make the whole area evenly lit so when you move the project car that space is already lit for shop work. A second switched circuit for that area might be a consideration.

I realize your space is slightly larger, but something like post 14 (link).

 

[LS6 Tommy]

Platonic, the garage is 21x20. The existing lighting is pretty even when the car is out and it's not really "divided" into work and storage areas, none of the fixtures will be more than 2' apart, so I'm relatively confident my most recent rehash will give me really nice overall lighting.

Tommy

 

[Platonic Solid]

Sorry, somehow I confused your 21x20 with someones 28x28.

Here's what I would do (link)

 

[LS6 Tommy]

Sorry, somehow I confused your 21x20 with someones 28x28.

Here's what I would do (link)

I would do the same, but the way the roll up door, tracks and opener are situated negates me from doing anything from the bottom of my sketch to the first third of the space. If I had barn doors or hinged doors it would be a perfect layout. All the joists run from front to rear (top to bottom in the sketch) and there is very little clearance above the door when it's open. The two fixtures that are above the roll up door were installed before I bought the place and the previous owner notched the joists a little to make them clear. I am not willing to notch any other joists.

I edited the sketch to include the roll up door when open, the opener and tracks to make things a little more clear. It's not super accurate, the door tracks are actually in line with the joists the side fixtures are mounted to.:




Tommy

 

[Platonic Solid]

The layout was just to give you an idea of what it takes to get even distribution. From there you just have to make concessions due to your spaces limitations.

 

[LS6 Tommy]

I ended up doing what I showed in the last sketch, but instead of having two fixtures in the center I did four. I ended up with four rows of two fixtures parallel to the bench and two fixtures on each end of the garage, perpendicular to the bench.

It's nice and bright in there now.

Tommy