Garage Lighting Planning

[miska_man]

This may or may not be your typical garage lighting thread. I am looking for input on circuit/switch design on my 1,000 sq ft garage. I am using it to mainly work on cars, but also for parking.

Here's what I'm thinking:

Interior
Two zones:
Zone 1 - front, for general parking. Set on a Lithonia CMR10 motion sensor (Cooper LHBS high bay, 24,000 lumen with T8 lamps for task lighting)
Zone 2 - rear, for work area. On regular switch. (Cooper LHBS high bay, 24,000 lumen with T8 lamps for task lighting)


Exterior
-Floodlight to illuminate driveway (Feit 15,000 lumen LED flood)
-Soffit lighting (Halo HLA @ rake, similar Halo model at eave)
-Light by walk-in door (undetermined model)


Questions:

• Does anyone have thoughts/previous experience on if I should have the walk-in light on the same switch as the soffit lights?
• Should I put the soffits on a timer? If so, what timer model would be good?
• Should I put the floodlight on a proximity also?
• Should I put a switch in Zone 1 to bypass the motion sensor if I don't like it?
• Does my switch plan make sense? Or is there a more efficient/smarter way to do it?

Attachments:
-PDF garage plans that I drew
-My proposed light circuits
-A photo of where I'm currently at with the project

 

[Stuart in MN]

An initial thought about the exterior lighting, is it for security, or accent, or both? If you have neighbors close by they may not appreciate a lot of lights, especially if they're on all night. My personal opinion is a floodlight should only be used when necessary, like if you're working on a car late, or maybe if you have friends over for an outside gathering, or so the kids can play basketball, stuff like that. You could put it on a photocell if you have concerns about intruders and burglars but that's up to you and what your neighborhood is like.

I'm a retired electrical engineer and did a lot of lighting design for commercial and municipal projects, we often used fixtures made by Rab over outside doors and for general exterior lighting (I think they have soffit fixtures but don't remember for sure, you can look at their website). Really all you need is enough light to able to see the door lock so you can stick the key in, with modern LED fixtures one that's 15 watts is plenty.

For the interior, many manufacturers have a configuration tool on their website where you plug in the dimensions of the space, how much light you want, and it will spit out a plan showing how many fixtures you need and how to arrange them.

Also, you may already looked at them but at the top of the lighting section here on the board are a couple useful threads about light fixture arrangement and what fixtures to buy.

 

[cybrdyke]

What if you just used a load controller in the ceiling and just stuck switches and sensors to the wall wherever you wanted them? No wiring up all those devices. Plus you can move them around at will.
I wouldn't use Feit in any of my projects. Complete garbage. The 15,000 lumen floodlight is overkill (and over-priced). Bring it down to 9000-ish and you'll be fine. If you're using it for security, then get one with a sensor.
Soffits should be on a timer. Man-door light should be on a photocell (they usually have one built in) and about 15 watts.
Good luck,
CD

 

[miska_man]

An initial thought about the exterior lighting, is it for security, or accent, or both? If you have neighbors close by they may not appreciate a lot of lights, especially if they're on all night. My personal opinion is a floodlight should only be used when necessary, like if you're working on a car late, or maybe if you have friends over for an outside gathering, or so the kids can play basketball, stuff like that. You could put it on a photocell if you have concerns about intruders and burglars but that's up to you and what your neighborhood is like.

I'm a retired electrical engineer and did a lot of lighting design for commercial and municipal projects, we often used fixtures made by Rab over outside doors and for general exterior lighting (I think they have soffit fixtures but don't remember for sure, you can look at their website). Really all you need is enough light to able to see the door lock so you can stick the key in, with modern LED fixtures one that's 15 watts is plenty.

For the interior, many manufacturers have a configuration tool on their website where you plug in the dimensions of the space, how much light you want, and it will spit out a plan showing how many fixtures you need and how to arrange them.

Also, you may already looked at them but at the top of the lighting section here on the board are a couple useful threads about light fixture arrangement and what fixtures to buy.

Hello from MN also! My thought is that the soffit lighting will mainly be for accent, with a tiny bit of security. The flood will just be task specific lighting, as I think it will be too bright to keep on anymore than that, so I'm on the same page as you. You also bring up a good point about the neighbors, as I am in a Minneapolis suburb.

I actually already have my fixtures and have spent time with Acuity's visual tool and came up with around 90 foot candles with my lighting layout, so I'm pretty comfortable there. But thanks for the input! Right now I'm focused on switches/controls/wiring.

What if you just used a load controller in the ceiling and just stuck switches and sensors to the wall wherever you wanted them? No wiring up all those devices. Plus you can move them around at will.
I wouldn't use Feit in any of my projects. Complete garbage. The 15,000 lumen floodlight is overkill (and over-priced). Bring it down to 9000-ish and you'll be fine. If you're using it for security, then get one with a sensor.
Soffits should be on a timer. Man-door light should be on a photocell (they usually have one built in) and about 15 watts.
Good luck,
CD

Thanks for your input on Feit. I didn't know they were considered subpar, but I already bought an open box of this model for $60, so hopefully it's fine. I won't be using it for security, but more to illuminate the driveway in case I need to work on something outside.

I'll be sure to add a timer to the soffits. Do you have an suggestions on the timer?

 

[wssix99]

A few thoughts:
- Your application technically isn't "high bay," so I would read the specs on your lights and compare them to your ceiling height. The lights at Home Depot and Lowes are "high bay." Regular lamps will go up to a 12' or higher ceiling. You may be spending more money for nothing.
- Now that we are past 2025, I would go with a flat panel LED fixture. Tube-type fixtures are relics of the decades past and just sqeeze modern technology into an unnatural/outdated form factor.
- I did my garage with a similar concept as you are thinking about with room lighting + task lighting. ... then I aged a few years. Now I want full light all the time, everywhere. With LEDs, electricity cost isn't such a concern. If I would do it all over again, I would have put in many more LED fixtures and had them all on switch to be on all the time.

What is your aim for the proximity sensor? If you want the lights to come on when you drive in the garage, we have more reliable ways to do that by tying the circuit into your garage door openers.

 

[Stuart in MN]

Hello from MN also! My thought is that the soffit lighting will mainly be for accent, with a tiny bit of security. The flood will just be task specific lighting, as I think it will be too bright to keep on anymore than that, so I'm on the same page as you. You also bring up a good point about the neighbors, as I am in a Minneapolis suburb.

I actually already have my fixtures and have spent time with Acuity's visual tool and came up with around 90 foot candles with my lighting layout, so I'm pretty comfortable there. But thanks for the input! Right now I'm focused on switches/controls/wiring.




Thanks for your input on Feit. I didn't know they were considered subpar, but I already bought an open box of this model for $60, so hopefully it's fine. I won't be using it for security, but more to illuminate the driveway in case I need to work on something outside.

I'll be sure to add a timer to the soffits. Do you have an suggestions on the timer?

Intermatic is the old reliable brand for timers. They've made their T100 series of electromechanical timers since forever and of course these days sell electronic versions as well. However there's many other brands out there that work too, Home Depot or Lowe's will have a selection to choose from.

 

[cybrdyke]

I'll be sure to add a timer to the soffits. Do you have an suggestions on the timer?

Intermatic ST700W. click here

If you're into fancier stuff, they have a bluetooth/wifi version so that you can use an app for additional control
STW700W click here
Good luck
CD

 

[miska_man]

A few thoughts:
- Your application technically isn't "high bay," so I would read the specs on your lights and compare them to your ceiling height. The lights at Home Depot and Lowes are "high bay." Regular lamps will go up to a 12' or higher ceiling. You may be spending more money for nothing.
- Now that we are past 2025, I would go with a flat panel LED fixture. Tube-type fixtures are relics of the decades past and just sqeeze modern technology into an unnatural/outdated form factor.
- I did my garage with a similar concept as you are thinking about with room lighting + task lighting. ... then I aged a few years. Now I want full light all the time, everywhere. With LEDs, electricity cost isn't such a concern. If I would do it all over again, I would have put in many more LED fixtures and had them all on switch to be on all the time.

I do have the lighting already, including the main Coopers, and got it for $100 total as surplus, so I couldn't pass it up.

What is your aim for the proximity sensor? If you want the lights to come on when you drive in the garage, we have more reliable ways to do that by tying the circuit into your garage door openers.

Turning on the lights when the garage door opens was my aim, correct. I'd never heard of tying into the garage door itself but that certainly sounds like an option. I can look into that.