Lighting On High

[MattRMagnum]

Hey Folks,

I skimmed through a couple threads, and looked at various light fixtures, but couldn't

My garage has 4' t8 tube light fixtures affixed to the trusses, which means they're 27' off the ground. I'm converting everything in our house to LED's, and this is the next project.* My priorities are lowering overall wattage, followed by longevity: I want something I can put up, and not have to worry about replacing a bulb in for ~10 years. I'm not eager to spend money on replacing fixtures, but I'll do so if it'll save me money in the long run.

I looked into the direct replacements, and those drop the the power consumption from 32w to 15w, but I also drop from 2700 lumens to 1800/bulb. In my previous, much smaller garage, I had several of these LED panel bulbs.** They're the same as one of the fixtures, but give me the ability to 'angle' the light some, and so I think I could reduce the total number of necessary fixtures without creating dark spots in my garage.

What're people's best suggestions for how to cut my power consumption, without winding up with a poorly lit garage?

* It's both the hardest bulbs to access, and the last big offender: all the lights in my garage, when on, come out to ~1.7kwh.

** That's not a referral link, and I've no association with that business or product. I bought mine from AliExpress, but I know some places ban for sharing AE links, so I found the same product on Amazon.


Edit: Accidentally put the wrong measurement, and listed the ceilings as 40' high. The light fixtures hang between trusses, and I just measured them to be at 27' off the ground.

 

[wssix99]

If your ceiling is really 40 feet high, then your solution would be to drop the lights down closer to the floor and install multiple circuits so you don't need everything on all the time. Install some lights as task lighting in the areas where you work so you can leave other areas dark when you don't need to be there.

Dropping some fixtures down from the ceiling (hang them from pendants or chains) will allow you to do more with fewer lumens in your work areas.

 

[mike93lx]

40 feet? That's higher than most warehouses.

I agree on lowering them if you can. If you really want lighting at 40 feet, and enough of it to do work, you need to look at commercial high bay solutions. And get ready to spend a lot of money to do that.

Is this commercial space? You may be able to get utility incentives. In MA, the utility will pay for lighting studies and significantly subsidize upgrades

 

[MattRMagnum]

I read my measurement backwards, my bad. It wasn't until people questioned it that I went "huh, my garage is more than 25 feet long." I went out and measured it, and the light fixtures are 27' feet high. I can't really lower them anymore, since they sit only a few feet above the car on my storage lift.

 

[mike93lx]

I read my measurement backwards, my bad. It wasn't until people questioned it that I went "huh, my garage is more than 25 feet long." I went out and measured it, and the light fixtures are 27' feet high. I can't really lower them anymore, since they sit only a few feet above the car on my storage lift.

You have a car sitting at nearly 27' high? Holy smokes. That's two-story house heights. Pictures?

 

[alfredeneuman]

I can't really lower them anymore, since they sit only a few feet above the car on my storage lift.

Can you hang lights around the perimeter of the lift and keep the ones over the lift at their present height?
Is your "car" by chance a monster truck?

 

[Dig Doug]

Post some pics of the garage. And dimensions

so your garage is over 25 ft long & truss height is 27 ft above finish floor ( AFF ). Do you have a dedicated work area?

can you hang some LED fixtures off the side of the lift?

I have something like this on my walls for detailing my boat, they are linkable with a little plug adapter, I have 3 per side and the work great.
My thinking is add some around the lift area or dedicated work zone