This is the layout I ended up going with.
Oh, dear!
I
DO hope you mean that only in terms of having made (what you thought was) a "final decision", as opposed to actually starting to implement that decision. From where I sit, you have "gone backwards" in some significant ways relative to your "Version 2.0" plan.
My Electrical engineer buddy sent my revised plan to someone he knew at a lighting manufacturer and ran it through his luminance program.
Turns out there was twice the recommended light that was needed.
I have to seriously question this. SOMEBODY has slipped a cog, SOMEWHERE. While I agree (and have maintained almost from the start of this thread) that you were overdoing the general lighting in the bump-out areas (where you will presumably have plenty of task lighting), the main garage space was NOT significantly overdone, at least presuming proper switching/control (read: "Insteon"). It was
CERTAINLY nowhere near "twice as much" as you would ideally want.
Going back to that "v2.0" plan, and ignoring the bump-out areas for the moment, you were showing 16 8-foot fixtures, presumably with four F32T8 tubes in each fixture, for the main garage area (or perhaps 32 4-footers with two tubes each; but that works out to the same thing overall). That totals approximately 179,200 "initial" lumens" at the source(s). Even presuming good reflectivity from the ceiling and such, you'll have somewhat (perhaps 15-20% or so) less than that by the time you get down to "working height"; plus, as the tubes age, they'll lose another 5-10% of their output. Let's throw a dart and call it 140,000 lumens, when all is said and done.
I'm not seeing any overall dimensions of the space on your drawings; but based on the truss spacing, I'm guessing that main area is approximately 28' x 45', or 1,260 ft.^2. So, doing the math, we come up with: 140,000 / 1,260 = 111 lumens/ft.^2 -- i.e., almost EXACTLY what you want for a "proper" working garage!
By comparison, in your (I hope not really) "Final" plan, you're showing 14 4-foot fixtures, presumably with two F32T8 tubes in each. That's only 78,400 initial lumens at the source, or roughly 48.6 lumens/ft.^2 for aged tubes at working height. That's less than half of what you REALLY want. Furthermore, the revised placement of those fixtures is HORRID. It's all concentrated into two strips running down the center of the space. The areas near the doors and the opposite wall are going to be in DEEP shadow.
So I am going with this for now and will add lighting at each station as needed.
I presume that by "at each station", you are referring (at least primarily) to task lighting. As such, that is a separate discussion. It is your GENERAL lighting which you seem to be dropping the ball on at the moment.
I think you
REALLY need to re-think this plan. At minimum, put at least one 4-foot twin-F32T8 fixture back into each of those inter-bay spots (i.e., on each side of the overhead doors, and in the corresponding spots on the left side). That will add another 44,800 initial source lumens, or about 35,000 lumens at working height with aged tubes, for a total average illumination of the space of about 96 lumens/ft.^2. Even better, it will help eliminate the mammoth shadow problem your current plan will have. [Personally, I would still go with TWO four-foot fixtures (or maybe a single 8-footer, as you had it shown in "v2.0") in each of these locations, as these will be the main light sources for illuminating the work areas adjacent to any cars parked in those bays. But if you are bound and determined to cut down on the lighting, I suppose you could get by with just the two four-foot tubes there.]
Also, I am going to incorporate the Insteon hub with some of the lights in the house as well as some in the garage.
Glad to hear this part. But the rest of your latest iteration is.... well... a large disappointment, at best.
