Bumping an older thread as I'm now going cross-eyed from all the reading and yet still have questions.
FYI: for as often as it's stated "we've discussed this a million times" (the more helpful folks typically reference yet another link with an obscure title I never would have found otherwise), the fact that the lighting section as a whole doesn't have a single sticky isn't that helpful.
I'm bumping one of the more read t8 fixture threads since (you guessed it) I need to pick t8 fixtures.
My Info, because you always have to post your info:
-20 x 21 foot two car garage with a 14’ door.
-Garage parks one go fast car that sees lots of project work. The other side is as a work shop (4x8 welding table, big tool boxes, saws, presses, open shelves, etc. It's my own version of the 12 Gauge Garage before I’d ever heard of Jack.
-I have an acid stained floor in deep browns and blues (already done, I like it a lot, it's darkish, but will hide blemishes well).
-Exposed 2x10 joist ceiling (clear coated natural wood cause I like the look), ~9 feet high
-Plywood on top of the joists (it's a storage area above) made from the nice cabinet stuff, painted white.
-Walls are (or will be) a combination of drywall, gear, and pictures.
What I've Learned:
Bulb Family:
-Fluorescent's seem to be the best bang for the buck going in terms of life cycle costs
-T12's are phasing out, if you're starting from scratch don't go there.
-T8's are a good choice for most folks
-T5's particular T5H0 are very intense (IE you won't be happy looking at them) and better served for high ceilings which I don't have.
-Given the above, I'm looking at T8 fixtures. Hence I'm posting in this thread for clarifications.
Fixture Details:
-8 footers and 4+ bulb fixtures can save some money but come with a compromise of more localized light and you can end up spotty, especially when dealing with lots of gear and low ceilings.
-One rule of thumb just about everyone agrees on (amazing!) is to target 100 lumens per square foot. You can use online calculators and examine ceiling heights and reflector knock down factors, but at the end of the day. 2800 lumens per 32W T8 bulb divided by square footage is going to give me very decent light.
-I like the idea of common bulbs everywhere as possible so I'm sticking with 4 foot 2 bulb fixtures and will scatter them as best I can. I'm sticking one on either side of the big door and two firing through the doors details windows.
-My math says 15 four foot tubes but I’ve also seen the math at 2500 lumens which implies 17 tubes. I’m planning running 20 (10 fixtures) since it lays out well, 2 fixtures will be firing through the window as mentioned (inefficient use of light), and I do have a darkish floor. That gets me laterals and longitudinal with a bonus fixture directly over my variant of the STEEVE-O bench.
Other setup Info:
-I'm hard wiring my stuff because GFI is a mess otherwise and really it’s meant to be that way. Have several electrician friends so details of junction boxes etc is beyond the scope of this thread.
-I’m planning on three stage actuation, hallway CFLs plus workbench fixture for taking out trash is stage 1 (aka the piss poor lighting I have now). The main 9 fixtures are the two additional stages depending on what I’m doing.
-Whether you pick a fixture with a diffuser (aka lens) is largely a matter of preference. They spread light a bit more, but are in the way when changing bulbs and are easy to break.
Picking Bulbs:
-There's plenty of reading on color temperature and CFI values. Color is mostly user preference. Some folks like the 6500 k "daylight version". For the amateur the only viable approach to picking a color is seeing for yourself. I'm going 4100k as I like the light and bulbs are easy to find.
-Bulbs are cheapest when bought in bulk from
www.1000bulbs.com.
-If accurate rendering of light matters pay attention to CFI when buying.
Things I don’t know:
-Does commercial vs. residential mean anything (seems to the only info the big boxes tell me).
-How do you evaluate ballast specs on something you've never seen before.
-How critical is the reflector? With a generally white ceiling I'm tempted to go without.
Recommend me a Fixture
-Four Foot, 2 Bulb, T8 fixtures.
-Cost effective. Not going dirt cheap but $20 - $40 is fine. Prefer logic and justification if I’m straying toward the upper end of that.
-Needs to be able to mount to exposed joists (some lateral, some longitudinal), bonus if I can both surface mount and suspend since that keeps it tighter to any joist I run along. No big deal if I install some angle to the sides of joists and suspend from that.
-Planning no diffuser.
-I don't care about FM reception (sound comes in via WiFi) but I don't want them to hum either.
-Would really like to do a bare fixture with no reflector either. I think I’m a little high on fixture count, but I also have relatively dark floors and a lot of gear. Partly I think reflectors look terrible, are hard to match if the chosen fixture ever goes out of vogue and I don’t mind lighting up the ceiling a bit.
-Have both Home Depot and Lowes local to me.
2ManyProject did the best job at providing links earlier but half of them are broken (all the lowes things) and his first choice someone else criticized greatly.
Thanks in advance,
Joel
