Lighting-31x54

[red vette mike]

I am about through framing my garage addition. It is 31x54 with a 12 ceiling height. I went to a local commercial lighting wholesaler and he sent a copy of my floor plan to a rep with Lithonia Lighting. They came back and recommended 24 4 bulb 4' florescent fixtures. They said this would give me 62 footcandles of light (the same as an office environment). I wanted a lot of light. These fixtures are not cheap-$66 each. My brother in law just bought some fixtures from Lowe's for $9. I don't mind paying for quality but I don't want to get ripped either. What do you folks think?
Mike

 

[Stuart in MN]

Like most things, you get what you pay for with fluorescent lights. Do you have more specs on the Lithonia light? What kind of bulbs, T4, T8 or T12? Electronic or magnetic ballast? Do they have a reflector and/or a diffuser? If you have a Lithonia part number, post it here so we can tell just what it is.

I looked at the Lowe's website, and the cheapest fluorescent fixture I saw there has only two bulbs and sells for $20, so maybe the one your brother in law got was on sale.

$66 isn't out of line for a good, four light fixture (and Lithonia is a very good brand.) One thing to consider is that if you buy them through the commercial lighting house, you'll probably get a lot better service and if anything goes wrong after they're installed, they will probably be happy to help you out (besides the fact they've already designed the system for you...)

 

[red vette mike]

Staurt: The quote shows LITH LB432MVOLT1/4GEB10IS FLUOR FIX. The bulbs show 21999SYL FO32/741/ECO RS OCTRON FLR LMP.
Thanks,
Mike

 

[rockwithjason]

Those are T8 lamps. They give good light and run cheaper than the T12's. I am sure that those use electronic ballasts also. Good fixtures.

 

[Runum]

I put T8's in my home garage and have all kinds of static problems from them on my televisions. I like the lights not the static.

 

[Stuart in MN]

Here's the catalog sheet for that fixture:link to Lithonia catalog sheet It does have instant on electronic ballasts. If you look at the Lowes website, the lights they sell that are comparible are about the same price, too.

You could maybe go with an industrial style that doesn't have the plastic diffuser and save some money. Also, do you need to have the whole garage lit that well? I assume part of it will just be for parking the daily drivers, maybe you could use fewer lights in that area but keep the major lighting in the work area.

 

[red vette mike]

Here's the catalog sheet for that fixture:link to Lithonia catalog sheet It does have instant on electronic ballasts. If you look at the Lowes website, the lights they sell that are comparible are about the same price, too.

You could maybe go with an industrial style that doesn't have the plastic diffuser and save some money. Also, do you need to have the whole garage lit that well? I assume part of it will just be for parking the daily drivers, maybe you could use fewer lights in that area but keep the major lighting in the work area.

Thanks for all the help. I plan to do some 'pidling' on some old cars in the garage so I want to light all of well. I am going to have a Rotary lift (thus the 12 ceiling height and 6" of concrete.)
Mike

 

[3/4tonYJ]

i went with some "cheaper" 4' florescents when i started lighting my garage (i don't know what kind, but they really didn't do a good job, i've since added some flood lights and plan on replacing the florescents i have with a better quality and more of them.

fyi,
my garage is not heated yet, and the florescents it has are really affected by the temperature. when it's cold, they don't put out nearly as much light (even after they have warmed up)

 

[Ryan Wilke]

It does have instant on electronic ballasts.

You could maybe go with an industrial style that doesn't have the plastic diffuser and save some money.

Stuart,

You seem to be a fella in the know on fixtures.........might I ask you a couple of questions?

#1) Do all electronic ballasts allow cold start operation?

#2) Can you recommend a brand/part# for a mid-grade quality, pull chain on/off, hanging from chain, 2 or 4 bulb, 4' or 8' fluorescent fixture without a diffuser but does have a solid reflector (no uplighting holes) AND would have a cold start ballast (-10*C)?

--- I'm planning to upgrade my tired T12s to newer T8 fixtures, but I get confused & frustrated when I try to read up on the various types provided by the many manufacturers..... Thanks for your time!

RW

 

[HoosierBuddy]

I used 19 of those on my 28 X 38. Best price I could find was here:

http://www.lightmart.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=1317

$45.00 each in the quantity you need.

Phil

 

[shenders]

Which tubes are the high output?.T5,T8 or T12?

 

[arbee]

I bought a couple of 8' T8 fixtures for my garage from Home Depot. They have a single electronic balast and 4, 4' bulbs. I originally had purchased 8' HO fixtures with magnetic ballast. I found them to be very LOUD.

I started doing some research and found that the electronic ballast are supposed to be silent. Well the two T8's I bought aren't nearly as loud as the HOs but they are still very audible.

I can't remember the brand at home depot (lithonia or Lights of america?). The Home Depot ones are $40 here. Lowes has a different brand (Cooper lighting?) for $44.

Should these t8 lights be silent?

 

[BoostAddiction]

I spent a fair amount of time thinking about light in my garage (though not to the extent that BMWPower did, who actually did a formal lighting analysis).

I ended up using the existing fixtures in my garage which were already upgraded with heavy-duty cold-weather ballasts, but replaced all the bulbs with newer, whiter and more powerful bulbs.

I got the bulbs at fullspectrumsolutions.com and am pretty happy with them.

Here is a pic to show the difference between the old (about 5 years old at the time of replacement) and the new):

The new bulbs have a higher color temp, a much higher CRI and of course, more light output.

-Will

 

[Stuart in MN]

Stuart,

You seem to be a fella in the know on fixtures.........might I ask you a couple of questions?

#1) Do all electronic ballasts allow cold start operation?

#2) Can you recommend a brand/part# for a mid-grade quality, pull chain on/off, hanging from chain, 2 or 4 bulb, 4' or 8' fluorescent fixture without a diffuser but does have a solid reflector (no uplighting holes) AND would have a cold start ballast (-10*C)?

--- I'm planning to upgrade my tired T12s to newer T8 fixtures, but I get confused & frustrated when I try to read up on the various types provided by the many manufacturers..... Thanks for your time!

RW

As mentioned before, Lithonia is a good brand. Others I can think of off the top of my head (all my catalogs are at work) are Cooper and Columbian.

If I recall correctly, Lithonia says their T8 lights with electronic ballasts are good down to at least -10 degrees F. I can't seem to find the exact page in their online catalog. I imagine other brands are similar.

Personally I prefer 4' fixtures, if for no other reason than it's easier to replace the bulbs (and it's easier to carry them home from the store.) I think they're easier to arrange on the ceiling as well, and I suspect they are less susceptible to buzzing or making noise than the 8 footers, since the metal body of the fixture is shorter and more rigid.

You can look at the Lithonia catalog online, at http://www.lithonia.com/. Click on Fluorescent, then go down to Strips-Industrial. Under General Purpose Industrial is the EJ series, or for a little nicer and heavier duty light go to the Industrial section and look at the AF series. I'm not sure if they sell them with pull chains, they're generally wired up to a wall switch, but you could put one in if you wanted.

There are a jillion different options from other companies, but that gives you a place to start. The best thing to do is to find a local lighting store or supply house in your area; they will probably carry multiple brands and can help you make a choice. I'm an electrical engineer and I do some lighting design for industrial applications, but I don't do it enough to consider myself an expert on the topic.

 

[ultgar]

My suggestion would also be 4' T8's with 5000k or higher lamps. Make sure the fixture has an electronic ballast and preferably one with low THD (less than 10%). I also tried a cheap Home Depot unit years ago and found it incredibly noisy.

T5's (with HO54w lamps) are much brighter but should be chosen carefully. Unless they've got adequate diffusers, you'll find them to have too much glare for low ceiling (under 12') direct view applications.

Here's a comparative photo of the color temperature differences between the T5's and the halogens and a close-up of a T5 direct view fixture.

 

[Ryan Wilke]

Thanks for the replies and imput, guys!

Stuart,
I'll go to the site you've provided and try to make heads or tails of it.

Will,
I think the "...4' T8's with 5000k or higher lamps..." which you suggested sounds like it may be about right for my situation. What is meant by "...one with low THD (less than 10%)"?

Maybe with some more surfing the lighting sites, I'll make myself smarter on this subject. Problem is my "local lighting supply store" is over 30 miles away and if you're not a frequent contractor/costumer in there, they don't give a damn about any questions you may have nor care about having your business. Probably because they know they've got the market cornered in a 80-mile radius.....

RW

 

[Stuart in MN]

THD = total harmonic distortion. Less than 10% THD will minimize the amount of hum and potential RFI interference. Like Ultgar said, 5000 degree K or higher bulbs will give you nice white light.

 

[Ryan Wilke]

THD = total harmonic distortion. Less than 10% THD will minimize the amount of hum and potential RFI interference. Like Ultgar said, 5000 degree K or higher bulbs will give you nice white light.

Thanks again, Stuart!

RW

 

[mike944]

Here's an interesting article on fluorescent ballasts. I thought you guys might like it.

http://www.pge.com/003_save_energy/003c_edu_train/pec/info_resource/pdf/ballasts.pdf
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