Help me light my new pole garage

[blair683]

I am to the point of lighting my 30' wide by 27' deep pole building. The ceiling height is 11' 6" with standard trusses on 24" centers. I trenched 2-2-4-6 mobile home feeder from my house panel to a sub panel in the garage. So I have 90 amp service in the garage. I am hoping to use led shop lights. My original plan was to buy 2 of these https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B072...i=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=led+shop+light
That would give me 12 fixtures. But I don't know about spending the $500 for lights. What fixtures and how many would you guys use to light this size of a garage? Any information is greatly appreciated.

 

[Platonic Solid]

*********************************************
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22W LumeGen 4ft single end bypass tube
2640 Lumen
120° Beam Angle
$6.99 ea.
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Maxlite LSS2XT8USE4803 75303 2 Lamp T8 LED Tube Ready 4 ft Linear Utility Strip Light Fixture Pre-Wired [Min Qty: 10]
$15.96 ea. x 10 = $159.60 (Free shipping over $95)

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Qty. 16 (4 rows of 4) of above (16 housing + 32 bulbs)
5280 lumens, 44 watts per fixture, 120L/W
Total Lumens: 84,480
Total Load: 704W
Cost: $480
Yield: 66 fc @ 30" workplane
-----------------------------------------
Qty.20 (4 rows of 5) (20 housings + 40 bulbs)
5280 lumens, 44 watts per fixture, 120L/W
Total Lumens: 105,600
Total Load: 880W
Cost: $600
Yield: 83 fc @ 30" workplane
-----------------------------------------
Qty.24 (4 rows of 6) (24 housings + 48 bulbs)
5280 lumens, 44 watts per fixture, 120L/W
Total Lumens: 126,720
Total Load: 1056W
Cost: $720
Yield: 99 fc @ 30" workplane

 

[Platonic Solid]

For comparison:

Qty. 12 (3 rows of 4) of the Sunco Shoplight you linked to
4000 lumens, 40 watts per fixture, 100L/W
Total Lumens: 48,000
Total Load: 480W
Cost: $430
Yield: 38 fc @ 30" workplane

Note: All footcandle calculations in both posts done using Ceiling|Wall|Floor reflectance of 70|50|20. If walls and ceiling are bare unfinished wood, multiply fc yield by 0.80

 

[blair683]

What does the "fc" @ 30" workplane mean?

 

[Platonic Solid]

The amount of light (measured in footcandles) at 30" from the floor.
Ideal lighting in a workshop = 100fc @ 30" workplane
You can use less but will need more task lighting.
The 12 shoplights would be acceptable for a storage building, but not much else.

 

[blair683]

Dang, ok. Seems like a ton of lights, lol! Thanks for the info everyone. Looks like I'll be buying the above fixtures as the bank account allows me.

 

[Platonic Solid]

You didn't mention the purpose of the garage. I assume you have 11.5' ceilings for a reason. You can increase the usable light by sacrificing some ceiling height. I'll use the first calculation I did as an example:

Qty. 16 (4 rows of 4) of above (16 housing + 32 LumeGen bulbs)
5280 lumens, 44 watts per fixture, 120L/W
Total Lumens: 84,480
Total Load: 704W
Cost: $480

Yield @ different fixture mounting heights:
11.5' = 66 fc @ 30" workplane (53 fc if bare wood ceiling and walls)
10.0' = 72 fc ... (58 fc bare wood ...)
8.0' = 77 fc ... (65 fc bare wood ...)

 

[blair683]

Thank you for all the great information. The garage will be used as a hobby shop. Pretty much me and friends wrenching on our junk. I did 12' ceilings in case I want to get a lift later on down the road. I always see people complaining about low ceiling height but never anyone complaining about high ceiling height.

 

[Platonic Solid]

... I always see people complaining about low ceiling height but never anyone complaining about high ceiling height.

At least not until they realize the additional cost of lighting from that height.
Are you planning on any wall or ceiling covering?

 

[blair683]

I plan to insulate and osb the walls and ceiling. The funds aren't going to allow for that for a year or two. The cost of building the building exhausted my funds for this year, lol! Lights are a must though so I can start working in the garage.

 

[Platonic Solid]

You can always start out with fewer fixtures hanging from chains at 8ft. Raise and add more to each row as your needs change. Do you have any pics?

 

[Toomanytools?]

Thank you for all the great information. The garage will be used as a hobby shop. Pretty much me and friends wrenching on our junk. I did 12' ceilings in case I want to get a lift later on down the road. I always see people complaining about low ceiling height but never anyone complaining about high ceiling height.

This is something you pretty much never want to say.

 

[rburke65]

You will never regret the 12' ceilings. You will probably need more fixtures than ya think for GOOD lighting but buy what ya cn for now and add to it later.

 

[blair683]

When ordering the bulbs, I see they come in a few different colors. I am assuming that I would want the 4000k bright white? I plan to buy 15 fixtures and 30 bulbs within the next week. I'll do three rows of 5 leaving space for one more row when the finances allow for it.

 

[ard]

4k is my preference as well.

 

[bowhuntr311]

5K is my preference. I like that "clean blueish light"

 

[bullnerd]

This is something you pretty much never want to say.

LOL!

I'm not looking forward to picking between 4 and 5 K when I do my lights.

 

[blair683]

I don't understand the color differences. Can you people explain the 3k 4K and what it means.

 

[cybrdyke]

They're talking about the color of the lamps. While they all appear kind of "white", some have a more yellow appearance and some have a more blue appearance. There is no right answer for YOU, but it's your preference that matters. The colors are measured in degrees of Kelvin, hence the K. Lights are available, generally, from 2700K, which is very warm to 6500K which is very cool. 2700k is the color of the incandescent light bulbs in your home. It gives a relaxed ambiance. 4000k is commonly used in office lighting and schools. It gives a bright white, productive ambiance. 5000k is commonly used in workshops, factories, and has a sterile blue ambiance. Guys that work in metal shops like 5000k. 6500k is over the top blue-ish white. It gets used in inspection areas in paint shops and metal shops.
So you will have a choice to make on a scale of yellow-ish white (2700k) to blue-ish white (5000k).

 

[arkieguide]

To start i would just get a few 8' 2 bulb flourescents hung from chain to height needed. As money is available you can improve, but use your shop now.