Linear Highbay vs UFO type Highbay

[mscampbe]

I am close to picking fixtures for my garage lighting layout. I have received input from several lighting companies. Most seem to prefer linear highbays and some the UFO type highbays. I am looking for guidance from the experts on the forum to help guide me in the pros and cons of each fixture.

I am interested in value, but since I am building garage at the current time and at my current age the lights should outlive me, I would prefer folks do not get fixated just on price. In the whole scheme of things the cost of the interior lighting is a minute percentage of the overall cost of the project.

Details of Garage:

32 x 28
14 foot walls
Scissor trusses that raise the ceiling from 14 feet on the sides to 17'4" at the peak.

One whole side of the garage will be used to store a travel trailer that is 10.5' high. Two-thirds of the other side will house an F250 with a cap over the bed.

The layout I was thinking of using is 4 highbays spaced appropriately in the middle of the garage on one circuit with a dimmer switch. Another circuit with a dimmer switch will have a highbay fixture about 3.5 feet from the side of each lengthwise wall to eliminate shadows.

Thanks for your input.

 

[Noltz]

Right now I'm standing in my bay at work (auto shop) and we have a mixture of both. High bays run in front and behind each vehicle bay, with UFO's running between each bay. This provides ambient light and higher intensity light between the cars reducing shadows and greatly reducing the need for trouble lights. It's a 2 year old shop and we've had 4 of 40 High Bay lights fail, zero UFO lights failed.

 

[theoldwizard1]

I am interested in value, ...

Then you should also be interested in the cost to operate this lighting. You can not beat LEDs. Even if you have to run the rows 4' apart, the cheap ones you get at Costco/Sams are still a reasonable alternative. Forget the dimmers. Run each row on its own switch. Most of these have a pull chain on/off so you can easily turn every other one off.

 

[ducatithunder]

I have a 28x46 with 8 100W Hyperlite LEDs. I have diffusers on mine now but no dimmers. That was more to keep from being blinded when you looked directly into the lamp. I attached a picture of the layout before the diffusers were installed. My ceiling is 12ft in the rear and 14.5ft in the front. I tried to do it with 6 lamps, but I did have some shadow areas. Based on the info that hyperlite gave me after I had them designed it showed that. You may be able to do 6, but I dont think you will be able to get away with 4 based on your roughly 14ft narrower then my shop ... which is one set of lamps less.

I have them on 2 switches. The far 4 are on one switch and the other 4 on another. This allows me to only light half the shop if Im woking on the bench side vs the storage side. Hyperlites were $80 a pop IIRC. Diffusers were another $40 each. I am very happy with the Hyperlite LEDs.

 

[dcg9381]

I've got a 40x60, 16-18' ceilings. With 5 UFO high bay led lights, it's like daylight. I love them, but if I was doing it again, I'd definitely setup for a dimmer. I wired them into standard outlets (in case of replacement), but in 2-3 years, not a single light has gone bad. Make sure you position them "around" where the RV will land, not directly above.

We use LED rope lighting for ambiance.. So it's kinda low light or daylight in my shop.

 

[cybrdyke]

I am close to picking fixtures for my garage lighting layout. I have received input from several lighting companies. Most seem to prefer linear highbays and some the UFO type highbays. I am looking for guidance from the experts on the forum to help guide me in the pros and cons of each fixture.

I am interested in value, but since I am building garage at the current time and at my current age the lights should outlive me, I would prefer folks do not get fixated just on price. In the whole scheme of things the cost of the interior lighting is a minute percentage of the overall cost of the project.

Details of Garage:

32 x 28
14 foot walls
Scissor trusses that raise the ceiling from 14 feet on the sides to 17'4" at the peak.

One whole side of the garage will be used to store a travel trailer that is 10.5' high. Two-thirds of the other side will house an F250 with a cap over the bed.

The layout I was thinking of using is 4 highbays spaced appropriately in the middle of the garage on one circuit with a dimmer switch. Another circuit with a dimmer switch will have a highbay fixture about 3.5 feet from the side of each lengthwise wall to eliminate shadows.

Thanks for your input.

Use a 2x2 highbay, no more than 18,000 lumens. 3 of them down the 28' length will be plenty.
You need to decide if the areas that have the RV and the truck will EVER be used for anything else. If so, you can pre-wire the area now for future fixtures, spaced the same as the rest of them, and then install them at a later date as needed. But space your fixtures as if there are no obstacles. I'd go ahead and put all four corner fixtures in regardless. That way, you'll have some light around the RV. You can route your wiring to allow for 2 or 3 different zones, so that the areas for stored vehicles can be off most of the time.

 

[HeavyD1]

For what it is worth, I put 4 150W UFO lights in a 24x50 barn with 16ft walls. I was concerned it would not be enough, but it was far brighter than I expected. I temped the lights up with extension cords before wiring the outlets to make sure I had enough and where I wanted them. I am only using the space for storage and it is plenty bright for me.