Lighting the garage

[BetterDays]

As part of a garage reno, I am looking to update the lighting in the garage.
Current set-up - 4 mis aligned LED shop lights.
Thought: Adding can lights across two switches - one for the shop area and back wall; the other for the car area and odd wall. Ideally, both with dimmers as I don't need it to be daylight bright out there all of the time. I would like something more uniform and not hanging from the ceiling, if possible.

Garage is 25' deep, ~32' across the front wall (with the garage doors) and ~35' across the back wall, 10' tall

Please excuse the weird drawing - I was bored in Word.
Dark diamonds are exterior doors, light diamond goes into the house
The double arrows are garage doors. Cars in blue and my workshop area is yellow
The green is just an odd wall with the sink, bench, trashcan, etc.

Any feedback is appreciated.

 

[BetterDays]

Did this as a rough guess. My gut tells me I have illuminance too low (at 60)

 

[cybrdyke]

Standard reflectances are 80-50-20, unless you have something other than white ceiling, white walls, and concrete floor.
60fc is pretty bright. For reference, your typical Krogers is around 45-ish. If you need more, use task lighting instead of increasing the overall illumination.
What fixture did you use to get that result from Visual?
CD

 

[BetterDays]

Standard reflectances are 80-50-20, unless you have something other than white ceiling, white walls, and concrete floor.
60fc is pretty bright. For reference, your typical Krogers is around 45-ish. If you need more, use task lighting instead of increasing the overall illumination.
What fixture did you use to get that result from Visual?
CD

I literally entered my estimate for the garage size and changed a few values, not knowing anything that I was doing. With room reflections, I just chose less than what was there. On the workshop side, the plan is black flooring. The rest is either concrete or some kind of carpet / mat

 

[cybrdyke]

For black floor or carpeting, change the floor reflectance to zero.
CD

 

[billconner]

I would not expect so much reflection from the walls in a shop/garage - dirty and storage on them.

At the height, if you can afford it a 5 x 4 pattern of fixtures it would reduce shadows and be more pleasant to work in. Lower lumen fixtures.

50 FC is a lot.

 

[BetterDays]

I would not expect so much reflection from the walls in a shop/garage - dirty and storage on them.

At the height, if you can afford it a 5 x 4 pattern of fixtures it would reduce shadows and be more pleasant to work in. Lower lumen fixtures.

50 FC is a lot.

This is why I want the ability to dim the lights. Add more than needed and dim down to the light needed for the time.
Just going in the garage? Less light is fine. Working on a project? Add more light.

I am also planning two separate motion lights near the entry doors. Low wattage just to see when entering the garage in the dark to let the dog out. No need to light up a garage for that.

 

[billconner]

And I can only emphasize again that distribution - glare, cut off angles, shadows - have as much to do with seeing the work as do a simple footcandle level. 50 FC is more than enough for fine detailed work if glare and shadows are addressed.

 

[BetterDays]

Learned how to choose a light.
6" downlight would mean a ton of lights.
(maybe downlights are not the way to go -- or I am selecting the wrong ones)

 

[cybrdyke]

1200 lumens is about as good as it gets with 6" wafer lights. Yes, that's a lot of lights. That's why most folks would go with linear lights.
CD

 

[BetterDays]

1200 lumens is about as good as it gets with 6" wafer lights. Yes, that's a lot of lights. That's why most folks would go with linear lights.
CD

I am starting to see that reasoning. Now that I am learning a little on the software, I can continue to play around with it of I can find some other potential lighting options.

 

[cybrdyke]

You could try flat panels, which are normally used in offices, or surface mount fixtures that come in many shapes, sizes and are less than 1" thick. A common set up would be using large lights to get your space to a moderate general illumination level and then using smaller lights, strategically placed, to fill in any spaces that need it or to help over benches and machines. For instance, I use 6 linears to get my space to 40fc, which is bright but very comfortable. I have a downlight in each corner to fill that in and vintage shoplight on chains over my workbench, which is 80fc (almost too much).
There's lots of ways to skin the cat.
CD