Fluourescent Overhead Lighting

[Remford]

I have a roughly 37' x 26' newly-built garage that's basically 3/4 vehicle space and 1/4 workshop. It has six keyless fixtures and bulbs at present in advance of having final fixtures chosen and installed.

The car space will have 2-3 four-post stacking storage/service lifts. To retain aas much vertical clearance as possible, I'm tending to favor two eight-foot flush-mount fluorescent strips oriented longitudinally above each lift and a similar pair with reflectors suspended from the ceiling over the workshop.

Conceptually, I'm pretty solid. There's not a whole lot of better configurations our there for something so straightforward, albeit the opportunity remains to compliment the overhead lights with various other types of lighting throughout the space. Before I default to the simplest and cheapest fixtures I can source, I'm hoping for some input and suggestions about a handful of details.

1. Some 8' fixtures are now two abutted 4' fixtures that act as one. Beyond bulbs that are easier to source and handle, would choosing the abutted fixtures over the single, continuous 8' versions have any particular advantages or drawbacks?

2. In terms of overall light quality, would I be better-served by choosing ceiling-mounted fixtures with plastic diffuser lenses? If so, would the effect be substantial?

3. Understanding that doubling the equivalent bulb count would also increase the amount of light, would choosing four-bulb fixtures rather than tandem be overkill - or even yield an uncomfortable amount of light?

4. Are suspended fixtures a better choice for the workshop rather than flush-mount? The workshop portion is only about 10 feet wide, so one set of fixtures down the centerline should be enough to provide even coverage. Here too, would I be better-off with lensed surface mounted fixtures rather than suspended fixtures with reflectors? Would two or four-bulb variants be best?

I know much can be derived from the specs and math but only in relative terms. I'd appreciate any first-hand input from others who've implemented any lighting solutions similar to these for a more subjective perspective before committing.

Many thanks in advance to any and all with insight to contribute.

 

[coljar]

How high is your ceiling? Is it painted and what color? Pictures would be ok.

 

[Mike Miller]

I went to an electrical supply place with my shop dimensions and what I expected from the lights and their guy figured all that out and more for me. It's been two years now and I'm still happy with the results.

 

[yamatitan]

1. The abutted fixtures you are talking about are called tandems 8ft fixtures and yes tandems are what you want. Primarily because they use T8 bulbs instead of T12, T8 bulbs and ballast are far superior in longevity and reliability.

2.Your not really going to notice much difference.

3. You can never have too much light in a garage/workspace in my experience. Every work on a car in a driveway using natural sunlight? Is that too bright? if not your not going to be brighter than that under fluorescent lighting no matter how many you jam in there.

4.Get suspended lights where you can they are going to offer more light just be cautious of them getting in the way. Get the 4 bulbs the more the better as ive said earlier.

 

[Charles (in GA)]

Whatever you get, get fixtures that use "4 ft" bulbs. They are the cheapest to buy and the easiest to handle. Tandem fixtures use four bulbs two inline and are a one piece fixture. You can **** two two bulb fixtures together, but if you have two bulb fixtures you are better spreading them out somewhat.

Do not mess with T12 unless you intend to convert them to T8. Depending on money and ceiling height, T5HO might also be an option for you.

Personally I would not consider any fixture with a lens or lamp cover on a ceiling. It will absorb light and just dim things slightly. Things will get even dimmer when they get dirty, and they look terrible when they get full of dead bugs. Diffusers and lenses seem to crack alot also. Cleaning becomes difficult due to the height.

I did put diffusers on my T5HO fixtures over my workbenches, but they are within reach and very easy to remove and clean, and the lights were very bright for the location.

Charles

 

[Remford]

How high is your ceiling? Is it painted and what color? Pictures would be ok.

Ooh! Good questions. Thanks for asking.

Ceilings are 12' plus across and painted white. Haven't settled on a final color for the walls yet which are presently painted a pale grey.

 

[sharkytm]

I bought fluorescent fixtures from Contracto's Electrical Supply, you can search my username to find the thread. I'm happy with the output, and I split it into three circuits. One is general use, lights up all of the garage minimally. One is the main garage, when combined with the general use circuit, it's BRIGHT. The other is a pair of 4-bulb 4-ft fixtures in my workroom. I diagrammed my garage and located the lights appropriately to generate the light where I needed it. My lumen/sqft calcs came out just about where I wanted them.

 

[Remford]

Thanks again for all the great input and information.

For strip lighting, tandem T8 fixtures definitely seem the best way to go, especially to benefit from the cost savings and handling ease of 4' tubes. To hell with diffusers, though they do look terrific when clean and new.

With more light being better, two-light tandems obviously are preferable to singles. Does anybody know of any four-tube strips (eight in tandem) without resorting to troffers or T-Bay fixture types? Alternatively, does anybody know of any T-Bay fixture that's offered in similar tandem configuration to strip lights?

One especially nice aspect of T-Bay fixtures is the large number of bulbs they can support and the broader throw of more intense light they're able to cast. It's also possible to use the same base fixture flush mounted to the ceiling or suspended over a workshop (for the OCD-afflicted or aesthetically-minded). Presuming they're available in some sort of tandem configuration, are there any particular functional benefits or drawbacks to T-Bay fixtures relative to strips?

I just love the idea of an 8' stretch consisting of eight 48" T8 tubes - and two such arrangements longitudinally spanning the depth of each third of the garage for obvious reasons. The challenge now becomes finding fixtures that can accommodate such a configuration. Can anybody recommend either a 4-light T-Bay that's offered in tandem or a similarly-configured tandem 4-light strip (eight tubes in all)? Or am I now delving into the kind of lighting arrangement that becomes best-served by multiple parallel strips situated adjacent to one another?

Thanks again for helping me to distill down the possibilities so quickly.

 

[Steve in Mi]

I have a roughly 37' x 26' newly-built garage that's basically 3/4 vehicle space and 1/4 workshop. It has six keyless fixtures and bulbs at present in advance of having final fixtures chosen and installed.

The car space will have 2-3 four-post stacking storage/service lifts. To retain aas much vertical clearance as possible, I'm tending to favor two eight-foot flush-mount fluorescent strips oriented longitudinally above each lift and a similar pair with reflectors suspended from the ceiling over the workshop.

Conceptually, I'm pretty solid.

If you place the lights over the stacked cars, the cars will block the light from reaching the floor. Personally I would place them between the stacks and running parallel to the cars.

 

[GYPSY400]

I have a 36x24 and I went with 6 8ft tandem fixtures.. I arranged them in a way that when door are open light is not affected .. It has a perfect amount of light IMO .. Here is a shot of 1 bay showing 2 of the 6 lights



I will also be adding 2 smaller lights over the 12' workbench when I get to that point.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Angelfire]

Before you plan anything, I highly recommend you read this:

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/content.php?146-Lighting-the-Small-Workshop-by-Jack-Lindsey

It was very helpful for me to design my lighting scheme and will answer a good many, if not all, of your questions.
Cheers.

 

[Steevo]

I built a similar-sized shop a few years ago (24x40 with 12' ceilings).
I used the 4-bulb, 8' tandem fixtures that use four 4' T8 tubes.
I used 17 fixtures, arranged in four rows, plus two over the workbench area.

I used 4100k T8 tubes in all but those over the workbench, where I used 5000k tubes.

I have been extremely pleased with the light and coverage, and very seldom need any other kind of supplemental lighting, other than an occasional drop light under a vehicle.

 

[600SL]

My preference is to keep strip lights to the sides of the lifts, where the light will get down to the wheels.

I went with this layout in the 28 by 30 section of my garage. 11 4 bulb T8 tandems. They are at 10 ft high.

 

[Remford]

Running lights between the bays isn't practical for my configuration. But I've arrived upon a layout and some fixtures that I think will do the job nicely.

Rather than simply running two tandem fixtures longitudinally along the ceiling above each bay affixed at evenly-spaced points at each third of depth, I'm favoring a "T" configuration above each space.

Vehicles will occupy effectively the forward two thirds of 27' depth and the remaining space along the back wall will be used for cabinetry, shelving and other miscellaneous fixtures. Mounting one fixture longitudinally directly above each car at or near the 9' depth point and a fixture oriented perpendicularly at about 22' will not only illuminate the cars themselves but also the traverse pathway between the fronts of the cars and the fixtures along the back wall. If I find the fixtures above the cars yield uneven or insufficient coverage, I can simply add a third longitudinal tandem fixture between them since the distance between each space's centerline is 13'.

For the workshop, which is "separated" along the ceiling by a longitudinal overhead support beam, I'll likely use two longitudinally-oriented tandem suspended fixtures or (four suspended 4' fixtures) as originally planned.

I seem to have stumbled upon what may be an ideal fixture for the task which should cast phenomenal amounts of lights.

It's a tandem "low bay" fixture which is available in either 6 or 8-bulb configurations. I'm not too terribly keen about their looks, but the included reflectors are shaped to cast light evenly from ceiling heights below 20'. Then again, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Looks for yourself can be had by clicking here.

Presuming they're not complete pieces of caca, they're pretty decent value at just shy of $80 per (though I probably ought to negotiate bulk rates and have my garage added to the T8 delivery route). If 48 4-foot 32W T8 bulbs aren't enough to light about 1,000 sqft effectively, (56 if I add a median tandem between bays), any problems are far likelier to be with my eyes rather than lighting.

I'm certainly not married to these particular fixtures at this point. They just happen to be among the very few I've found with similar specifications. I'd certainly welcome any input for even-better alternatives.

I'd welcome any further input into the next stage of my thinking which the responses to my initial questions have been hugely beneficial toward helping me refine.