Garage Lighting

[Gospel Runner]

I just built a 22' X 30' garage with 12' ceiling height for the lift. What will it take to light this thing up? Any suggestions are appreciated. My cars are not finished, so I need it bright to work on them. I already know I am using led's, but what will work best and which way do I orient them to get the greatest effect?

 

[tmaleck]

I just put up a 24x40 shop. I used 8 (four per side) 4 foot twin bulb fixtures. I also have rolling side lighting if I need it. I also had two ceiling fans with lights installed. Plenty of light without the rollers so far. Ceiling fans were an afterthought, but help move the air conditioning around.

 

[Auggie56]

Our local "Do It Best" hardware installed LED lamps in the four foot formerly florescent fixture converted to LED lamps that require straight 120 volts to each lamp eliminating the ballast. They also have high ceilings and it's pretty bright in there. The lamps themselves run six to ten bucks each. eBay has good prices some with no shipping for around six bucks a lamp. Lowe's are around ten bucks a lamp. What a four foot LED fixture runs I have no idea.

 

[Gospel Runner]

Thank you. That is very helpful. Would you say that if we call the length north and south, that orienting the lights east and west would give the best coverage?

 

[Grabbergreendream]

My work buys these 4ft l.e.d. fixtures at Sam's Club for $35 each. They are very nice & are linkable so you can hook multiple lights together, which is a great feature for us.

https://m.samsclub.com/ip/linkable-...em&kclid=6394ee56-c6ff-44a1-b584-99f4f3b65706

 

[FrnkNsteen]

I have a 48wide by 36 deep shop that used to have 6 100W incandescent bulbs in it. Replaced it with 6 of the 4ft LED shop lights and it lights it up way better than the old bulbs did. I just hung them from the roof joists, so they are parallel to the cars. Might add more to get a little more light, but it is pretty good already. A rolling light when be nice for working under the car on the lift.

Attaching a couple pictures of inside my shop where you can see the lights. It's deceiving though, because it was day time and the doors were open, but at least you can see how I mounted mine. A white ceiling would make a world of difference though!!

 

[Fran Blacker]

I did a 28 x 28 2 car garage and put a row down the center and a row on each side 4' from the walls. IMO you don't need light above where you park cars you want sides lite. LEDSall fhe way.

 

[Richard Cranium]

The LED 4' lights are the balls!

 

[493 Mike]

I just built a 22' X 30' garage with 12' ceiling height for the lift. What will it take to light this thing up? Any suggestions are appreciated. My cars are not finished, so I need it bright to work on them. I already know I am using led's, but what will work best and which way do I orient them to get the greatest effect?

How is your ceiling finished? White is best. I'm using 29 ga steel (ribbed) in refrigerator white.
Mike

 

[YY1]

I'm using Rural king 4500 lumen 4 foot fixtures @ $25 Ea.

They also have 5500 lumen fixtures @$30 but I haven'y tried those.

Not sure on lumen rating for T12 or T8 fluorescent, but the LEDs are brighter.

You might think about mounting one perpendicular to the car's center line, at the proper height and distance for the light to shine under the open hood.

 

[67belvedere/225]

The LED 4' lights are the balls!

i have led, there great!

 

[67belvedere/225]

just because the ceiling is 12 foot doesn't mean they all have to be that high
lowering them from chains to 8 feet will give you more light .ie. over your work bench

 

[beanhead]

Ditto 67's post... Especially if you're going with LEDs, drop them down a few feet with some jack chain you'll be glad you did. In my opinion they don't diffuse and fill the room as well as a fluorescent fixture, although the light underneath them is very bright but 12ft is pretty high for most of the standard LED fixtures you'll find at the home supply stores

 

[FrnkNsteen]

Ditto 67's post... Especially if you're going with LEDs, drop them down a few feet with some jack chain you'll be glad you did. In my opinion they don't diffuse and fill the room as well as a fluorescent fixture, although the light underneath them is very bright but 12ft is pretty high for most of the standard LED fixtures you'll find at the home supply stores

Maybe it's the kind you are using. Mine diffuse the light pretty well. I know it's deceiving because the doors were open in my pictures, but if you look at the second picture, you can see how it is lighting up the surrounding walls. If my lights weren't on, those corners are pretty dark, even during the day with the doors open. I bought the cheapo Menards 4' LED shop lights. I think they were around $25 each.

 

[747mopar]

I really like the sounds of the LED's without ballast, ballast both at home and at work always seam to fail way prior to what they should so not needing them is a huge plus.

For placement there's a few ways to go about it. You can put in at least 3 rows with plenty of fixures making sure to place lights along walls and down the center which should provide light everywhere you need it or you can put up 4 fixures to light up the garage with added circuits in different work areas? Option 2 is nice in the fact that if your in and out of the garage but not working on anything your only flipping on 4 fixures and only using the others as needed.

 

[Broken Mopar]

I have a 30 x 40 garage. It has 18 4 foot LED lights, plus 8 4ft LED's over the work benches. It is bright! And not cheap.

 

[493 Mike]

My work shop area is 35' x 46' with 12' ceiling. I have 39 four foot 2 bulb (T-8) fluorescent fixtures. Last year I converted all of them to 120 volt LEDs. I left the ballasts installed, just rewired, leaving the ballasts out of the circuit. With only 1 LED installed per fixture I had far more light than before, I did add a second bulb to the center 2 rows as the extra light becomes addictive! I purchased cases of LEDs from Amazon at $55.00 for 6 bulbs and have 1 LED fail in the year since installation. Very happy with results!
Mike

 

[Gospel Runner]

This is great information. Thank you all for chiming in. There is a lot to consider. At $35 each from Sam's club, I can put in lights everywhere. I like the idea of lower task lights over a work bench area. I also like the idea of putting these lights on separate switches so you don't have to turn them all on unless you need them. I was just thinking a small fridge would be great. I don't drink alcohol, but having some bottles of water or Gatorade makes a lot of sense. Frankensteen that's a nice Barracuda. Pictures always make the idea come alive. I do plan to insulate and put up sheet rock, but I have to save up first. The white walls and ceilings will definitely make it brighter.

 

[snakeyes]

not mine but thought I would post it it https://mansfield.craigslist.org/bfd/d/led-lights-pole-barn-shop/6648321571.html

 

[super-bee_ski]

I just built a 22' X 30' garage with 12' ceiling height for the lift. What will it take to light this thing up? Any suggestions are appreciated. My cars are not finished, so I need it bright to work on them. I already know I am using led's, but what will work best and which way do I orient them to get the greatest effect?

LED lighting