Is this TOO much light?

[mjchamp]

I bought this garage 2 years ago and have spent much of that time renovating the shop and making it meet my needs. My previous shop (rented) was an older warehouse with very poor lighting; so for my new shop I wanted great lighting. So my question is do I have enough lighting. Here are the stats:

Usage: Fabrication, Auto repair, Woodworking etc.
Dimensions: 32x32x10
Floor: Concrete with slight polished shine
Celling: White Satin painted OSB

Blue rectangles are 4 bay fixtures
Green rectangles are 2 bay fixtures
Yellow squares are 30W 2,250 lumen spotlights over workbench


Tubes are 2200 lumens each

 

[matt_i]

I think you are going to have a lot of light. I have roughly half of that, with an oversimplified measure of "tubes" in about the same square footage and I think its bright enough for a machine shop.

I would setup a "switch in stages" setup so if you're just out moving around cardboard boxes and vacuuming up the floor you aren't drawing 2kW.....

 

[machine_punk]

I'm not a lighting engineer at all...but I DO know that as you get older, you need a lot more light to see what you are doing in the shop. I think you are just about right.

I like to run fluorescent tubes essentially above the workbenches, where you are likely to be doing most of your work. I like to run rows of fluorescent tubes approximately 6 feet apart. I use two-tube fixtures.

If you are installing new lighting, I'd seriously look into LED shop lights. They are finally good enough and inexpensive enough that I don't plan to ever buy a fluorescent fixture again.

Kev

 

[cybrdyke]

mjchamp,
It's hard to tell with the info you've given, so I have some questions. First, I dont understand what you mean by 2 bay fixture and 4 bay fixture. Those aren't normal lighting terms. Do you mean that some have 2 lamps and some have 4 lamp? Also, why are some directionally one way, and some directionally the other way?
My initial instinct is that you have way too many fixtures and it's oddly laid out, but maybe you can add some more details.
Regardless, what you'll need is a computerized layout. No one can just tell by looking at the diagram.
Good luck,
CD