Lights!! How many and what kind??

[hemiredneck]

Had a few mins to kill this A.M. so I wandered into Home Depot to check out some lighting options for my 32x40x14 garage. Lots of options, like how many in a row, how many rows, lumens, etc. The Home Depot display really shows the difference in brightness between the T5's and T8's and T12's. The 4' T5 fixture was way brighter than anything else, but at $89.00 plus bulbs it's a lot of cash. But I would need less of them right? I'm thinking 3 rows of 3 to start with (and maybe I can run a few more wire 'stubs' for future if needed...even still, 9 fixtures with bulbs is like $1000.00...

 

[jeff000]

Being 14' high I would go for 4 tube t5 with reflectors personally. 3 rows of 2 would probably be a good start. I'd buy from a wholesaler, and tell them you would like to do a cash sale on *whatever big electrical company you can think of in town* account. You should get a significant discount, tell them you work in the office or something if they ask, although around here they don't care. Each fixture will probably run 85-90 bucks and may or may not come withe the tubes.

 

[bigboost]

I have a 40x24x12 and I'm running 8x 4ft 6 bulb T8 high-bay fixtures with reflectors.

The fixtures are $85 at Home Depot and another $15 for bulbs so they come in at $100 a piece, but wow are they bright.

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Lithonia...ging-Fluorescent-Fixture-IB-632-MVH/202193185

 

[mr overdunne]

Had a few mins to kill this A.M. so I wandered into Home Depot to check out some lighting options for my 32x40x14 garage. Lots of options, like how many in a row, how many rows, lumens, etc. The Home Depot display really shows the difference in brightness between the T5's and T8's and T12's. The 4' T5 fixture was way brighter than anything else, but at $89.00 plus bulbs it's a lot of cash. But I would need less of them right? I'm thinking 3 rows of 3 to start with (and maybe I can run a few more wire 'stubs' for future if needed...even still, 9 fixtures with bulbs is like $1000.00...

is your garage going to be heated or?

 

[hemiredneck]

is your garage going to be heated or?

Ya, the garage will be heated. Probably keep it 45-50 when not in use and then bump it up to 60 when I will be in there for a period of time..so not sure if cold start is so much of an issue. I will be doing general mechanic work with a 2 post lift towards the center of garage

 

[Badger 13]

I was originally going to put in 4 tube t8 fixtures in my new shop. The electrician suggested looking at t5's, and after looking at one, went that route. Shop is 40x60, with 9, 4 tube t5 fixtures. Very happy with what I have.

 

[hemiredneck]

I was originally going to put in 4 tube t8 fixtures in my new shop. The electrician suggested looking at t5's, and after looking at one, went that route. Shop is 40x60, with 9, 4 tube t5 fixtures. Very happy with what I have.

Nice...mine being a 32x40 I'm thinking I will start with 6 fixtures (4 tube T5) and maybe make provisions for a couple more if needed. Running extra wires is cheap in the grand scheme of things. Thanks all for the input.

 

[ghiradelli777]

what color/hue bulbs are you going to run?

 

[hemiredneck]

what color/hue bulbs are you going to run?

Good question...haven't thought much about it...probably something cool white and for cold start

 

[Ray916MN]

It pays to plan lighting carefully.

The first question to answer is how much light do you want? foot candles or lumens/sq. ft do you want.

This page http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/light-level-rooms-d_708.html does a good job of explaining lighting levels and provides examples of common lighting levels.

The next thing you do is you use a lighting calculator to figure out how many bulbs it will take to achieve this lighting level in an ideal world. Here is a lighting calculator http://www.gelighting.com/LightingW...sistant-toolkit/lighting-layout-estimator.jsp

Next you figure out how non-ideal your shop is. The ceiling of your shop is not a perfect reflector, shelving along the walls will absorb light, your walls are not mirrors and the darker the color the more light they will absorb, and without fixtures specifically made to focus light downward (look a "high bay" fixtures to get an idea of this) the higher the lights are mounted the more light will be lost to lighting the walls as opposed to the floor (notice that most lighting calculators assume the only thing being lit is the floor).

Finally after you've figured out how many bulbs it will take to light to the desired level factoring in how non-ideal your workship is, you need to figure out what type and how many fixtures you need to ensure that light is evenly distributed throughout your shop. While fixtures which hold more bulbs may save on wiring costs, they may not be as effective and avoiding shadows and evenly distributing lights.

In my case, in my 48x24x14 workshop I wanted 100 foot candles. I calculated and designed for 200 foot candles to compensate for how non-ideal my workshop is and ended up with 88 4' T8 daylight spectrum bulbs in 44 fixtures mounted in 4 rows of 11 fixtures. My total cost for the bulbs and fixtures was about $1800 (Menards on sale was the lowest cost source I found). This is how it ended up.

Notice that due to the overhangs, I ended up buying more lights to light the overhung work bench areas and the area under the pallet racking.

FWIW

 

[jeff000]

It pays to plan lighting carefully.

The first question to answer is how much light do you want? foot candles or lumens/sq. ft do you want.

This page http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/light-level-rooms-d_708.html does a good job of explaining lighting levels and provides examples of common lighting levels.

The next thing you do is you use a lighting calculator to figure out how many bulbs it will take to achieve this lighting level in an ideal world. Here is a lighting calculator http://www.gelighting.com/LightingW...sistant-toolkit/lighting-layout-estimator.jsp

Next you figure out how non-ideal your shop is. The ceiling of your shop is not a perfect reflector, shelving along the walls will absorb light, your walls are not mirrors and the darker the color the more light they will absorb, and without fixtures specifically made to focus light downward (look a "high bay" fixtures to get an idea of this) the higher the lights are mounted the more light will be lost to lighting the walls as opposed to the floor (notice that most lighting calculators assume the only thing being lit is the floor).

Finally after you've figured out how many bulbs it will take to light to the desired level factoring in how non-ideal your workship is, you need to figure out what type and how many fixtures you need to ensure that light is evenly distributed throughout your shop. While fixtures which hold more bulbs may save on wiring costs, they may not be as effective and avoiding shadows and evenly distributing lights.

In my case, in my 48x24x14 workshop I wanted 100 foot candles. I calculated and designed for 200 foot candles to compensate for how non-ideal my workshop is and ended up with 88 4' T8 daylight spectrum bulbs in 44 fixtures mounted in 4 rows of 11 fixtures. My total cost for the bulbs and fixtures was about $1800 (Menards on sale was the lowest cost source I found). This is how it ended up.

Notice that due to the overhangs, I ended up buying more lights to light the overhung work bench areas and the area under the pallet racking.

FWIW

Jealous.

I gotta stop looking at garages like yours, getting a serious case of needtobuymorelight-itus and needabiggernicergarage-itus.

 

[SF AV Guy]

My garage is 18 x 20 and I'm using 5 2 bulb T5Ho fixtures....my electrician said its like the surface of the sun so I think I'm good....I'm happy with it.

 

[Ch3No2]

My shop is 20 x 44 and I went with the 4 bulb 4foot T-8 fixture with the more is better approach but also used double ballast fixture so I can have 2 or 4 tubes on whenever I want

 

[hemiredneck]

Great info!! Appreciate everyone's input. Lots to think about.

 

[Zrxpilot]

Ive got a 20 wide x 60 L x 13H . One big bay. For "walk in, walk out" lighting, I have 5 standard bulb fixtures on one wall on its own switch.


for actual work, I lit it up with qty. 3, 8' HO dual bulb t-12 110w fixtures I bought at Menards. This on its own circuit and switch. This lights it up ok and a huge step up from most homeowners but it left shadows along the sidewalls. Fixtures were about 100.00 each including bulbs.

To compensate, I installed two standard 4' dual bulb t12 on the all about 7' up under a shelf on each side of the shop near the middle spaced about 10' apart. Also on its own switch. This helped detailing cars immensely. People give those fixtures away.

I probably have 500.00 into the whole system including wire, conduit, switches, receptacles, etc. I would consider this system adequate for service but a bare minimum.

 

[Norcal]

While T12 HO's are "old school", they function very well in cold conditions, there are 4- 8' 2-lamp T12 HO fixtures in there,the room is 16' X18', the metal halide high bay was used as temp lighting & just left in place.

 

[stage20]

3 rows may not be enough if you like it super bright.

i have 16 total 4ft t8 bulbs in an 18x26 and id like to add 2 more rows. its not dark inside by any means. pretty bright, but i need more light towards the outer walls of the shop.
9ft walls 12ft at the gable. ive heard the HD lights make noise with a radio, so i went with the lowes brand and i have had no issues. they actually came with decent ballasts compared tothe lithonia at HD.

 

[Rocketsled59]

I'm building a paint room in my shop. 12x26. I'm using 2 rows of three 8' 4 4' t8 fixtures on the ceiling and 2 more on each long wall. Can't wait to get em mounted and wired. I have one extra fixture in case I need to add it on an end wall. RS59

 

[pearltsi]

I used t5 6 bulbs in a 30x46 area with 16 foot ceilings. Its plenty bright. Bought from
e-conolight.com free shipping and included bulbs and whatever plug you want on the end.

 

[James-W]

I have twelve 100 watt CFL's (four banks of 3 on four wall switches) in my 24X30 garage and they do a decent job of lighting up the place.

 

[T VETTE]

I have 8 4' twin tube T8 and all the walls are painted white. This garage is a 3 car. It turns night into day!!!

 

[shooting4life]

My garage is 18x24 with an open ceiling. I have 9 2 bulb 4 ft T8 fixtures on the ceiling, 3 2 bulb fixtures over the work bench that is 15ft wide. My biggest issue is the garage door blocks a third of my light when it is up and I like to work with the door up so I have a dark spot. This was poor planning on my part, so to fix it I am going to be adding either 3 or 4 two bulb fixtures on the door.

I should have spent more time painting the garage before making all my shelves and what not, maybe adding a ceiling so that I can reflect more of the light. So now I get to make up for it with lots and lots of light fixtures.