How many lights do I need?

[Daddy_Rabbit]

Electrician will be doing my "rough in" electrical work later this week and has asked how many lights I plan on installing. Here's where I need ya'lls help ... shop is 24' x 36' (7' x 7' bathroom in right rear corner). This will be used as a hobby / automotive style workshop and I want it BRIGHT in there. I was thinking somewhere along the lines of six 4' T-8's but after reading some posts here I am now even more confused and insecure of what I really need. How many do I want/need?

Any advice is welcomed and wanted.

thanks!

 

[Daddy_Rabbit]

I posted this in the incorrect forum. Can a mod move this to the Lighting/Electrical forum?

Many Thanks!

 

[nissan_crawler]

I think you're way off. I have 9 4' dual bulb t8 fixtures in my 19x23, and it's just right, definitely not too bright.

Another thing I would suggest it putting in wiring for an emergency light. I did, after another member suggested it. If the power goes out and you have a saw/grinder/god knows what spinning down, or a project on the floor, you will be glad for the light.

The one light does a good job of lighting my garage "enough" for an emergency.

 

[regguy1]

Photos here, my post is 26 x 30 w/20 lights

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?p=1257509#post1257509

 

[evintho]

I'm with NissanCrawler. I've got a 19' x 23' standard tract home 2-car garage lit by 10 dual bulb 4' T8's. I swear you could perform surgery on my workbench!

 

[blazsawgras]

i have a 24x26 i have 8 4foot lights sometimes it is not how many but how you have them positioned. i repositioned my lights about 2 years after i built the shop and got twice the light from them.

 

[Steevo]

24x40 here, with 12' ceilings.
I used 17 8-foot/4-bulb T8 fixtures to provide even lighting in my shop.

 

[Tigwldr]

I put 8 4ft T-8s in a 16x18 and It is perfect for me. I love light

 

[Boyd Who]

I have 11 4-foot T-8's in my 20x22 on 3 separate switches. I can go from barely enough light to operating room bright!

 

[sweetk30]

shop i use to work in had 7 bays. over the years of progresion of upgrades in lights there is a fine art to the placement and position.

best to place them so the light dosnt drop on top of big non see threw items like center of bay when car hood is open.

also dont get 220v -480v sodium / gas vapor bulb stuff. drink juice and give off funny color light.

best thing he did was the newer style high output thin bulb floresent. and the inside of the housing has mirror finish to reflect light back down and NOT waste it. you can even open the slots on them to let some light up out the top.

and best placement was inbetwen the bays so it shines in from the side of the cars. and even spaced between the front to back of the shop. 6-8ft off outside walls and 1 in the center for total of 3 per front to back of shop.

then combine all of this with white tin roof sheets for new wall and celling coverings. that place is so bright now even with the lights off durin the day.

 

[Daddy_Rabbit]

Thanks guys ... ya'lls input is greatly appreciated.

Is there a "rule of thumb" for wattage per square foot ... you know, a simple guideline for a newbie?

Thanks again!
Rabbit

 

[hh76]

have him rough in extra, you don't need to install lights, but get boxes and wire in. It's a lot easier to do now, and couple extra empty boxes shouldn't cost you much more. Pretty much my advice whenever framing or a trench is open.

Most would argue that you can't have too much light, but if worried, seperate switches so you don't have to have them all on at once.

 

[Norcal]

shop i use to work in had 7 bays. over the years of progresion of upgrades in lights there is a fine art to the placement and position.

best to place them so the light dosnt drop on top of big non see threw items like center of bay when car hood is open.

also dont get 220v -480v sodium / gas vapor bulb stuff. drink juice and give off funny color light.

best thing he did was the newer style high output thin bulb floresent. and the inside of the housing has mirror finish to reflect light back down and NOT waste it. you can even open the slots on them to let some light up out the top.

and best placement was inbetwen the bays so it shines in from the side of the cars. and even spaced between the front to back of the shop. 6-8ft off outside walls and 1 in the center for total of 3 per front to back of shop.

then combine all of this with white tin roof sheets for new wall and celling coverings. that place is so bright now even with the lights off durin the day.

There is no such thing as "sodium gas/ vapor"...

There is MV, Mercury Vapor (Bluish color&obsolete), MH, (White color), Metal Halide, HPS High Pressure Sodium, (Amber color), & LPS (Yellow color) Low Pressure Sodium.

 

[Jokeman]

I have 5 4' T8's in my 13x21 garage and its plenty bright.

 

[waltmcq]

I have 6 in my 24x36 which is ok but I will double it sometime soon.

 

[RonM3]

My shop is a 30' by 50'. I went with 4 Double 8 foot t12. I centered one in each quadrant of the shop. The T12s are 120 watts each and work down to -20 Deg F. I have plenty of light and the T12 turn on instantly, no warm up. These were easy to install and I only had to wire 4 fixtures not 15+.

 

[ZeroSignal]

Here is a stupid question.Why bother with so many 4ft units when you could just go up to 8ft units?

 

[Daddy_Rabbit]

Not a stupid question at all and and another reason why I posted here for suggestions.

What are the advantages of 4' versus 8' double units? Disadvantages?

 

[SgtRauksauff]

I just installed five Eight-Foot/four-bulb T8 fixtures, in my father's 24x24, with 8' ceiling. I went with the eight-footers because they were the only ones offered with T8 "High Output" ballasts, from what I saw on the shelves at Home Depot. Running the 'daylight' 6500k philips bulbs.

I REALLY like the fact that they come on basically instantly, even when it's below zero, as the garage is currently un-insulated. I was originally going to go with some 4' fixtures, but the 8' ones ended up being less than 10 bucks more, but with the HO ballasts. Worth it to me, and after installing them, I can't believe that we used to have only a couple 100W incandescent bulbs out there, lol!

I think the main advantage of the 8' units are that there's slightly less wiring to do.

With the 8-footers, if a ballast goes out, that's 4 lights out, instead of just two (our fixtures have only one ballast). Also, they're longer and more unwieldy.

--sarge

 

[rickycobra]

I say double it and put them on two different switches.

 

[MoonRise]

Thanks guys ... ya'lls input is greatly appreciated.

Is there a "rule of thumb" for wattage per square foot ... you know, a simple guideline for a newbie?

Thanks again!
Rabbit

General rule-of-thumb for precision-type assembly work is 100 lumens/ft2.

+1 on lighting placement as well as putting lights on multiple banks/switches.

 

[Traditional hotrodder]

In my 24' by 28' garage 10' ceilings I have (6) 2 lamp 8' t12ho fixtures, Plenty of lighting. I can weld, run a Brigdeport or lathe without any shadows. The t12ho fixture is being phased out but are still readily available (bulbs will always be available). They are aprox. $75 a fixture w/bulbs.

 

[waltmcq]

Here is a stupid question.Why bother with so many 4ft units when you could just go up to 8ft units?

I like 4 footers because it's easier to handle the bulbs when you need to.

 

[rwhite692]

There is a guy on here, username "rocco", who does lighting design for a living...Suggest you send him a PM or maybe he will see this thread...

He was kind enough to do a lighting plan for my 24x36, which consists of four continuous (end-to-end) rows of four eight foot ceiling-mounted fixtures, running lengthwise on the 36 foot length of the building. (so each continuous row is 32 feet long).

Yes, that is a total of 64 bulbs!

The fixtures are Lithonia Electric GEB10IS. The fixtures were certainly not cheap but have good quality ballasts which are said to never develop audible "buzzing" and also are said to last a LONG time.

 

[sweetk30]

that garage look great.

but the lights make it killer.