Garage lights - shadows. Suggestions

[Gt4 white]

I had the first row of the Sams Club lighting put in and as you can see there are large shadows. Should I just put another row closer to the front of the garage?

Thanks
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[laser3kw]

are those LED or Fluorescence?
wouldn't hurt to temporarily hang one in different spots to find what suits you best

 

[zporta]

What cabinets are those? They look very clean

 

[Gt4 white]

SAMs Led lights
Saber cabinets
I was inspired by Matt Moreman and his website
Obsessedgarage.com

 

[laser3kw]

LED lights have a "beam angle" where florescence emit omnidirectional. That is what is causing the shadowing. You will have to try different positions to find best coverage.

 

[Vegaman_Dan]

You can hang one or two lights upside down to light up the ceiling. It will eliminate those shadows and brighten the area quite a bit with bounced light from the ceiling. It does a lot for your own eye sight when you have a bright overhead lit area. Shadows in corners and above tend to make your mind see a dark enclosed space no matter how big it is.

 

[McCheez]

You can hang one or two lights upside down to light up the ceiling. It will eliminate those shadows and brighten the area quite a bit with bounced light from the ceiling. It does a lot for your own eye sight when you have a bright overhead lit area. Shadows in corners and above tend to make your mind see a dark enclosed space no matter how big it is.

If this is done, I would hang on chains as it would be a PIA to change the LED's that are "supposed" to last forever.

 

[btdobie]

Laser3kw is right about the LED beam angle. I have a possible solution, but it is purley speculative. Angle the light toward the wall until the shadow disappears. Then mount a second light right next to it facing the other direction at the same angle. Hopefully the combined beam angle of 2 lights will give you 180 degrees of light.

 

[laser3kw]

maybe turn one 90º to emit light perpendicular to the other ones. Kind of a cross hatch design.
l - l - l

 

[TonkaJoe]

First off, beautiful cabinets you have there... do you have an attic above the garage for easy access?. If you do I'd swap those outlets out and hard wire the lights in daisy chained together. Under cabinet lighting will help as well. I have x4 Lithonia dual bulb T-8 fixtures way up in my 13' high ceiling all daisy chained together, running Philip's 6500K daylight bulbs. I have absolutely no shadow when working out there. Lights are evenly spaced front to back and side to side in the shop. I also have a single dual bulb T-8 fixture mounted under my upper cabinets on the bench which throws a ton of light.. I have the ceiling and work bench lighting on a stacker switch so I can throw just one light on instead of all 5 if I'm running out to the bar fridge or to grab some tools.
My build thread: http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=306497

 

[theoldwizard1]

You can hang one or two lights upside down to light up the ceiling. It will eliminate those shadows and brighten the area quite a bit with bounced light from the ceiling.

I have heard this but never seen it ! Are there special fixtures ? How far from the ceiling does the bulb have to be ?

Because the room is getting indirect light, you will likely need more fixtures.

 

[egnorant]

Are those shadows a result of beam angle, reflector design or diffuser layout? The sharpness of the shadows would have me looking at reflector design. There may be light available at a wider angle but it is being directed down by the reflector. With light colored ceilings (and walls) like you have, I would try hard to insure that light would strike those surfaces to help scatter light.

Unless the current lights are adaptable by modding or even removing reflectors or with diffusers, you might just mount a couple on the wall that are aimed and shielded to light up only the ceiling and top few feet of the wall without shining directly into your eyes.

Previous poster point out that light from different angles is key to a comfortable and useable lighting plan. Scattered, reflected light is a good source.

Bruce

 

[Denwood]

It's a beam angle issue..but it looks like it's caused by the fixture itself. The only fix (with those particular fixtures) is to angle the fixtures, or move them closer to the wall. I've played around with the Cree and Philips Instantfit retrofit LED bulbs which have two different approaches to solve this problem, assuming the shadows are not coming from the fixture housing itself. Is this the light?

The angle between the LED strip and the side of the fixture is something you can't fix.


The Cree bulb can be rotated once installed.

The Philips LED strip is mounted in the bottom of a frosted glass tube...so has pretty much 180 degree beam spread.

 

[egnorant]

The angle between the LED strip and the side of the fixture is something you can't fix.

A little tin work and you can bend those side reflectors or even remove them!

Bruce

 

[cybrdyke]

GT4,
I agree with the others, the beam angle of that fixture isn't wide enough to allow the light to get to the top of the cabinets. I looked for the information on this but couldn't find it.
You can either raise the fixtures (if possible) or move the row closer to the wall.

The Philips LED strip is mounted in the top of a frosted glass tube...so has pretty much 240 degree beam spread.

CD

 

[Gt4 white]

Thanks everyone for the comments and suggestions. These forums are awesome.
I'm going to better position the lights to the center and forward. I'm also adding another row of 3 in the middle of the garage. I'll then add 1 or 2 rows going the opposite direction on the outsides of these 2 rows.
I'll post a follow up pic in a couple of weeks when complete.

 

[Gt4 white]

I also plan on moving the light forward enough to eliminate any shadowing on the cabinets. The shadowing above the cabinets is fine and preferred as I plan on adding a 55-60 inch TV above soon.