Need some lighting suggestions please

[leland331]

Hey everyone,

This is my first post so please forgive if it has been asked and answered a lot. I did my best to read and search beforehand.

I have a small Automotive shop area I am building on to the side of our main.. and very shadow filled shop. The additional area is 36x45' with 16' flat ceilings.

There will be one 10' overhead door in a corner that I will likely only have open during the bright day so as long as I don't suspend the lights too low above it, it shouldn't be a huge consideration. Ceiling will likely be bare drywall, walls will likely be white painted drywall, and the floor will be some type of sealed or painted concrete

I want to do the lighting properly from the start so that i do not have to redo it or wish i did something else after spending time and money.

I would go LED over fluorescent. I do have access to lots of 2 bulb 4' fixtures that I could easily pull the ballasts and retrofit if the retrofit bulbs would be bright enough to get me 80 ish foot-candles. But Visual Interior Tool wants like 50 fixtures.

Its probably been asked over and over, but what would you do? just trying to avoid wasted time and do this once.

 

[u2slow]

I would do some lowbays on the ceiling, and LED retro tubes on the walls. That helps the shadow problem.

My shop is still work in progress. I have 19' ceiling (unfinished), and only managed side lighting so far; a mix of old (free) florescents and some LED strips. About 8' high.

I'm finding the side lighting alone is almost good enough for the automotive work I do.

 

[78SC4X4]

At 16' I would try a highbay light @ 18K lumens . My guess is you'll need 12 for your area.

 

[leland331]

Thanks for the suggestions!

If I were to do 12-15 fixtures on the roof, how many lumens per fixture would a person need as a minimum?

I will probably do some side wall lighting too

 

[cybrdyke]

I want to do the lighting properly from the start so that i do not have to redo it or wish i did something else after spending time and money.

To do it properly, there's a process.
Determine how much light you want/need. For an pro auto shop, you'll need 80-100 foot-candles spread evenly across the work surface. Let's say that the "work surface" is a car engine, about 3' above the floor. Now, you have your target.
To determine how to hit your target, the proper way is to use a computer program that will tell you how many fixtures you need, how bright they need to be, and how they should be spaced across the ceiling. If you want to do this yourself, there are some free programs that you can play with. If you want to see an area that's already been done, I suggest looking through the Lighting Layout Collection thread on this forum for a space that's similarly sized to yours. Or, you could ask someone who knows how to use one of these programs to do a layout for you.
Once you know how many and the type of fixture you need, then you can go shopping.
So, there's some things to consider....
Do you want different zones or just all on/all off?
Do you want dimming?
Do you care what kind of fixtures you get (as long as they do the job)?

Hope all that helps you move forward.
PS....lights on the walls are dumb unless you're painting or detailing.

Good luck,
CD

 

[leland331]

That makes sense. I have looked into the programs to try play with and didn't have too much luck just from not knowing what values to enter or how to use them.

Some detailing work may take place. Not enough to warrant extra high cri lighting. It's primarily mechanical service but will be pretty multi use. I would definitely agree on the 80-100 ft candles of light. I know enough about light levels and some general knowledge but when it comes to choosing and placing fixtures I am pretty clueless and happy to be told I am completely wrong haha.

They will probably be in zones. I should post up a layout. In front of the 10x10 overhead door will be a 4 post lift and alignment machine. 2 walls will be tool cabinets. One wall with lots of windows will either be left open or have some tire machines along it. Beside the lift will be an open floor bay for working.
One zone can be lights for the the lift bay, one can be the other side of the shop, one can be lights for the tool cabinet and work table areas depending on layout. One circuit will likely be for one or two lights to leave on at night. This way I can light the shop as needed, save some power, and not worry about how much load each circuit gets quite as much though that's easy to calculate.

Fixture type.. I don't have a preference aside from the most cost effective LED fixture. I don't need perfect world class lighting, but I am just trying to go into this as well educated and ready as I can and not spend more than I need, but also not have a shadow filled cave or use the wrong lights.

 

[nadogail]

IMHO, Switch controlled receptacles mounted in the ceilings, with the lights (on cords) plugged into them will give you the most flexible arrangement.

Also, every shop has been a work in progress; nothing is permanent and things often get moved or upgraded.

 

[Stuart in MN]

Hey everyone,

This is my first post so please forgive if it has been asked and answered a lot. I did my best to read and search beforehand.

Welcome to the site. Did you check the two sticky notes at the top of the electrical section on 'lighting layouts' and 'best light fixture'? There's a lot of good information in them, and you find a layout that matches (or close to matches) your building.

 

[leland331]

I did read through the stickied threads. The "The best light fixture" thread was really helpful and those are likely the bulbs I would use if I can, as I can get as many 4' fixtures as I want for next to nothing. The main question for me is; are they enough lumens at 16' or am I in the territory where I need something with more output or suspend them lower?

I also have like 50 of those 4x2' drop ceiling led panels. Lumens unknown and not listed anywhere.

From the layout thread I am sort of starting to see the reason wall mounted lights don't make sense in a way because they wont make up for lack of lighting from the ceiling and you will likely have dark spots at the bottoms of the walls when you could avoid it by having good lights spaced properly on the ceiling to start.