Need Help lighting for new garage

[scrivy69]

I called electrical supply this morning they said t5 H0 may be too much for my application with a 10' ceiling, (he said their rated for 16' or taller) then recommended a t8 8 footer w/4 bulbs might be better for me. he asked if I was doing detail work. I guess the application makes a difference in what we use. now the question is how many? At $61 they come w/lamps.
he also mentioned t8 HO 4 footer they are $150-$200. feel free to chime in guys

 

[beppington]

I'll reiterate ... Get a bunch of el-cheap-o 4 footers from HD/ Lowes. Cheap fixtures, cheap bulbs, work great.

The lights I discussed in my posts are in my garage/ barn (born '03) ... enclosed but not sealed (i.e. open trusses, no ceiling).

I also have about 10 more of the HD/ Lowes el-cheap-o's in my garage, been in there since '92. I've changed some bulbs but not a single fixture/ ballast has gone bad in 18 years.

 

[kennyd]

I called electrical supply this morning they said t5 H0 may be too much for my application with a 10' ceiling, (he said their rated for 16' or taller) then recommended a t8 8 footer w/4 bulbs might be better for me. he asked if I was doing detail work. I guess the application makes a difference in what we use. now the question is how many? At $61 they come w/lamps.
he also mentioned t8 HO 4 footer they are $150-$200. feel free to chime in guys

Mine are mounted at 10' also...never "to much" light for me.

 

[kennyd]

I'll reiterate ... Get a bunch of el-cheap-o 4 footers from HD/ Lowes. Cheap fixtures, cheap bulbs, work great.

The lights I discussed in my posts are in my garage/ barn (born '03) ... enclosed but not sealed (i.e. open trusses, no ceiling).

I also have about 10 more of the HD/ Lowes el-cheap-o's in my garage, been in there since '92. I've changed some bulbs but not a single fixture/ ballast has gone bad in 18 years.

The light fixtures they made 18 years ago are much different from anything you will buy today from a BBS (big box store).

 

[dstig1]

Hey everybody thanks so much for all the suggestions I was checking online and found this
View attachment 178002
Commercial Electric 4 Ft. Shop Light with Lamp Grid and Pull Chain Switch
$22.68/EA
at Home Depot pretty good rating what do you all think?

I needed to light up my garage 2 yrs ago, and used those exact same 4-footers from The Borg. I wasn't expecting much, but it was a temporary application so I figured it would be OK. I was very pleasantly surprised by them. They are actually cold weather rated so they light up instantly in the cold (note: Wisconsin...garage...unheated...), and without flickering like the other older lights I have in there do. They were pretty cheap, and they are working great so far. Having the cages is a great thing if you are handling long things like lumber or pipe where you tend to flip a board from time to time and it can whack things. I broke bulbs in my other fixtures in the past (guards on them now) but these things have enough cover to stop that. Very happy with them, and honsetly, surprised by that.

Previously I used mostly 8' fixtures (also from HD) in my wood shop but some 4' ones in the smaller spaces, and they have worked quite well. I don't believe I have ever replaced a bulb since new - in either the 8' or 4' ones. And that was 11 yrs ago. My wood shop time tends to be concentrated so either they are on a lot, or they are not at all. Fluor bulbs are limited essentially by the number of times you switch them on and off, not really by the hours of use for most applications. By comparison I have replaced 4' bulbs twice (so on the third set) in our Master BR closet, in that same time period.

8' bulbs are available at HD and other places but they are limited, and scary to transport and install. But I hate the 2-pin setup on the 4' ones so that detracts from them too. It is a tough call. But based on my experience, the ones in your post are a very good choice, at least for now. If you find they are not to your liking down the road, then decide what you want and change it, but these are so cheap and pretty good quality that it is hard to argue against them here.

From the BTDT files...

-Dave

 

[scrivy69]

INteresting Topic
To get T5-HO performance out of a T8 fixture, the high-lumen / high-performance lamps
are usually specified. These lamps provide more lumens (approximately 15% more than
standard 700 series lamp) without drawing any additional watts; providing the highest
lumens per watt of any fluorescent lamp. Couple these lamps with a high ballast factor
ballast to safely overdrive the lampç—´ output another 12-15%. With this lamp and ballast
combination you will have a fixture capable of producing 3658 lumens per lamp. The
700 series lamps are as common today as the T12 lamps were yesterday. Their price
is very low and they can be found in most hardware and DIY stores (Home Depot,
Loweç—´, etc.). The higher performance T8 lamps, and for that matter, the T5-HO lamps,
are only going to be stocked by lighting and electrical distributors. Keep in mind; a wellstocked
distributor may stock all of the lamp types we spoke about earlier, so be
specific about what you want.
http://www.lightingassociates.org/i...s/FAQs_T8_or_T5-HO_-__Which_should_I_use_.pdf

 

[bugboy]

I recently put up 6 light fixtures in my 40 x 60 building with 12 foot walls. The fixtures are commercial style, tandem 4' twin tube T-8 fixtures. That means they are 4' fixtures but connected end to end and have 4 four foot bulbs in each fixture. They light up the 40 x 60 pretty good and I have them on 3 switches. I may need to add some "task lighting" later on.

 

[srs]

scrivy69, I have a 30 X 40 with a 10'+ ceiling. As far as the the cheapest you could go with the keyhole type sockets and just put in light bulbs. What I did (on the cheap side) and quite pleased is I went to Lowes or HD and bought the 4 foot 2 bulb shop lights with electronic ballast. I think they are T-8 bulbs. I place outlets in the ceiling controlled by wall switches to turn the lights on. I have a total of 4 rows of lights. 3 in the front, due to the garage door opener, 4 in the second row, 4 in the third row, and 3 in the back, due to a small room there. Haven't had any problems with humming due to the cold winters and if one should fail I'll just buy a new shop light. The lights have been in 3 years now and I'm very pleased. I'm sure the 8 foot bulbs as suggested may be better but like I said I went cheap. Let us know.

Here is a picture of some of my lights.

 

[scrivy69]

Thanks srs and everybody else who has replied to this thread. I guess Ive got another week to decide what I want, electrician postponed till next Saturday. Like I said yesterday I called the electrical supply company yesterday, and they give me some prices and recommedations. I am just as confused today as the day I started this thread. LOL I went to Menards & Lowes last night and found 8' 4 bulb t-8 fixures, some t-12 HO fixtures, 1 t-5 non HO fixture. the more I think about it the more confused I get. (t-5 HO, T-8, and T-12 so many choices, different prices and so on ) I guess I need to pull the trigger on something before next Saturday. Im leaning toward the T-8 fixures still have not decided 4' or 8' and still undecided on how many? View attachment garage layout.pdf

 

[Mace Canute]

A few years back I help a friend wire lights into his 28' by 32' shop. He had bought several used 4 foot x 4 tube lighting fixtures, the kind that look like a rectangular box, and since we had so many, I convinced him to install almost all of them. He would have had to store the unused ones anyway and what better place to store them than on the ceiling and all wired up? We put up four rows of six fixtures each for a total of 96 four foot tubes with 4 switches splitting them up. To say he was impressed with the results is an understatement and it's like I told him, "Most people are so used to working with such poor lighting, they don't know what good lighting is."

It's highly unlikely you will ever rework your lights in the future, so make sure you install enough initially, maybe even more than you think you need...you will never regret it.

As a side note, I had to replace some of my 8 foot tubes this past week. My garage is 24' by 28' and I have 8 double tube 8' fixtures and 2 double tube 4' fixtures recessed into the ceiling above the roll-up garage door.(I wish I had more light.) I bought a carton of tubes, 14 in all, for the sum of C$46.95. That's C$3.13 each. I certainly can't complain about that price!

P.S. While you are at it, you might want to consider wiring in a few electrical outlets in the ceiling. A friend has done that instead of wall receptacles and uses the self retracting extension cord doo-hickeys. It is much nicer than having cords running across the floor and there is never a problem getting to an outlet, plus they're self storing once you are finished with them. It would take very little extra to wire them in now while you are wiring in your lights. Just a thought....