I need new lights for my garage. What do you have, and what should I get?

[plowhog]

My new garage is finally going up. It's 3,600 ft, 60ft x 60ft.

My engineer designed for 9 light fixtures, 3 rows of 3, using "4-lamp T5 equivalent." I need to choose just what that "equivalent" fixture is!! When shopping I found there is great variation of wattage, lumens, and cost.

Some calculate lumens per square foot. Other say light emitted from a fixture (lumens) has nothing to do with how much light gets down to the floor. The higher the fixture, the less light. Mine will be up about 18-20 ft. Some fixtures have wide diffusion of light, others not.

Here is a light fixture I am considering:
LED "Saturn 1" UFO High Bay, 2 watt, 26, Lumens, Comparable to 4 and Higher Watt Fixtures, 12-277V - WL-UFO-2W-5K-DM | Warehouse Lighting If I put 9 of those in I would certainly add the dimmers as well.

What would you install? I am open to either the LED "tube style" or the round "UFO" style.

 

[Peter 315]

Hi look at this Visual Interior Tool

 

[RNeumann]

I’m confused- what are you asking TBNers? It sounds like your engineer already did the calcs for lumens. They would know height, type of light, wall finish and color etc to figure the lumens needed for general shop lighting.
If you need to figure the lumens of what was speced so you know the equivalent let us know. Or are you just trying to figure out what fixtures others are using and you will figure the lumens needed?

 

[plowhog]

He was the engineer for the slab. He also drew an electrical page based on input from others. I don't think he knows lumens/ft or whatever spec is best.

Maybe it would clarify if I said I've seen "T5 4 lamp equivalents" advertised for sale with as low as 8900 lumens per fixture up to about 19,000. The link I posted earlier (I think) is an equivalent to a 6-lamp T5.

Outside of what he put as a spec, what do you think is good to excellent lighting considering the space to be lit?

 

[dstig1]

Depends on your plans for the space. My shop is for detail working, so I wanted it well lit. I put 9x 4 lamp T5 HO fluorescent fixtures in one side (32x50') and 6 in the other side (32x30') 2600 or so total SF. 9x for 3600 SF would be very inadequate for my needs. Mine are essentially 2x 2-bulb fixtures, end to end making them 8' fixtures with 4 bulbs total. In only the past 4-5 years since I put these in, the LEDs in a similar form factor have gotten so much better and cheaper, they are probably the way to go now, but I get great light from mine.

 

[dalola]

I just recently rebulbed my shop, replaced eight 8' florescent tubes with Hyperikon 8' LED tubes, 5K frosted white. Wow, fantastic lights! They are pricey (~$120/4 pack), but forever done with failing ballasts, flickering light, dim cold starts, etc... Highly recommend these for shops/garages.

 

[KennyG]

I'm not sure what size of lights you are looking at but it seems way too little. My building is only a little over 1/2 the size of yours and I have about 25 two lamp 4 foot fixtures. It's about right for working space. If it's just storage, about half that many might be OK.

 

[RNeumann]

If the walls are the steel or insulation (not drywall painted white) most of the lumen calculations will be low. If the electrical isn’t done I’d be looking at a 3x4 or 4x4 grid instead of the 3x3 as speced. The UFOs are nice- and very easy to install. With that many you would do at least 2 circuits and probably 4 switches.

We have had good luck with these-
https://www.greenledzone.com/17-663...0v-dimming-ip65-dlc-and-ul-listed-400w-equal/

We don’t have the dimmer unit and haven’t looked into it. With a normal switch they work fine. Ours are at about 16’. We have white drywall and white insulation at the ceiling. The space is 25x50’ of office. We usually have 2 of the 4 available lights on. With all 4 on it is too much for computer screens- but would probably be nice for a shop setting.

If the plan is to have you install the lights have the electrician install plugs on the grid at ceiling height and also have them install eyelets next to the plug. With that done the fixtures will only take a few min to install.

 

[Tractor Seabee]

Increase your light at floor level by painting the floor white. I just this winter went with the eight 2 tube 4' LED surface mounts in my 20 X 20 garage. Fantastic, haven't done the floor yet, summer job. Wife want her car inside in winter.

Ron

 

[rustyshakelford]

My 40x60 has atleast 20 of the 4’ Cosco lights and there’s times during the day I wish I had double that.

Brett