?4 Porsche Playhouse People - lighting

[widebody911]

I need to come up with a lighting schedule for my shop. The building is 25x25 with 10' walls, but the center of the ceiling will be ~12' high.

My existing garage is 25x20, with an 9' ceiling. I have 7 4-tube flourescent fixtures, in a T-bar ceiling and I consider the lighting excellent.

My plan was to put 12 4-tube flourescent fixtures, in 3 rows of 4. One row right down the center, and another on each half of the ceiling, down the middle. I was planning on using electronic ballasts instead of magnetic. In addition, I'd have localized lighting over the workbench areas.

In the existing garage, the fixtures are 9' off the floor. In the new one, they'll be 11' to 12' off the floor. I mention this because there's a function of decreasing luminesence the farther you are from the fixture, and I don't know if the 2' is that significant.

The contractor thinks that's too much, in terms of load and in terms of brightness. He thinks I can get away with 8 to 10 fixtures. Then again, he suggested I go with halogen lighting, but I thought that was a crazy idea. I need light; I already have a tan.

Any opinions on what sort of lighting I should set up?

[82Euro]

Aimable halogen lighting sounds neat. It would be a "gourmet garage" of sorts! I would worry about added heat unless your garage is AC though. I'm going to be upgrading my lighting too so come on everyone, give some feedback!!!!

[Bill Verburg]

I've got a 24x27 and use 4x4' twin flourescents across the back for illuminating cabinets, tool chests and general storage bins.

The Main work bench(18') has 5 halogens, 4 aimable at ceiling level and one larger flood up high for general area lighting.

The smaller detail work bench has 2 halogen area lights hung from the ceiling and 2 aimable wall mount halogens

High in the middle are 2x200w halogen floods(mostly indirect lighting), and 1 dual halogen area lamp.

There are 5 different handheld flourescents(less heat in cramped working areas) and 3 portable halogen area/work/floods lights(2 single low and 1 double high)

I dislike working under flourescents.

[MovitNA]

For general illumination, flourescents are fine. For task lighting, consider MR16 or PAR halogens. If you have a high enough ceiling and can deal with warm-up and restrike times, metal halides are a great choice for high efficiency and good CRI.

I'll have a lot of different lighting on display in my new workshop...all of the above plus fiber optic and RGB LED's. SD

[DByers]

Thom, The fluorescent will be the best for your application. If you have a floor plan you could send (email) it to me at work and I will do a quick layout for you. You have several options but with that ceiling height a 3 lamp t8 with electronic ballast would work fine. Dont buy from a DYI place but rather a wholesaler or through your contractor. The ballast should have a .92 ballast factor or greater. Other options is to go with a paracube lense, puts more light downward.
My work email is dan@cessb.com.
Now if you really want to get fancy we can do a T5HO indirect system with halogen accents and to really spice things up we add a few industrial sconces for affect. Dont know how title 24 is being addressed by your inspectors and if a Lumen per square foot will need to be achieved.
Have I confused you enough yet

[BGCarrera32]

Thom,

I think halogen and metal halide would just run the temp of your garage up. I went with 8' electronic ballast cold start fixtures, 100W bulbs (I'm in MN so its not unusual to flick them on at 10 degrees F in the garage) anyway, I'm running 3 across the bay where I'll be working on the car, one forward of the hood so that when the hood is open it won't block the light, same behind the engine lid, and one right over the sunroof area. I know you like to paint, maybe using a couple 4' fixtures at a 45 degree angle or so along the walls 8' off the ground to light up the sides of the car for bodywork. Not sure if this will work with your lift setup and all, but something to think about. I also put my lights in the "911 bay" on one switch, the other 2 stalls of my 3 car on another switch. That way, late at night when I'm working out there and don't need the whole garage lit up, I can save a little off the electric bill and shut the rest of the garage off.

-BG

[MovitNA]

For the average shop, fluorescent lighting is best as Dan mentioned. With T8 and T5 lamps, good temperature and CRI selections, quiet electronic ballasts, these will yield great lumen output without heating up the room. I've got 120' of T5 (4100K) going in a 20x32 workshop for general lighting. These are wall mounted units (Cooper-Corelite) which use the white ceiling and provide good indirect illumination.

For task lighting, halogen lighting is great but you will have additional heat. Just don't go crazy with high output lamps (ie, over 75w) and you'll be fine.

There is a lot to properly lighting a room which I've learned over the years. Placement is very important. If you're building a garage workshop, you may want to use the lighting designers at the local supply house to go over your project and help you spec the right products and the right placement. SD

[Bill Verburg]

All I can say is my lighting is great and heat is NOT a problem! The halogens are high and any excess heat is vented out the ridge vents.

[Rot 911]

I've got 10' ceilings in my garage which is 30' x 50' and use fluorescent lights with no complaints.

[Green 912]

I have a 24X30 with 11 foor celings. i am using 5 dual HO 8 foot tube fixtures. Home type 4 footers are les than 1/2 the light per foot. Be carefull HID give off much UV and unless covered will sunburn things (like car paint)

[greglepore]

Second the recomendation for lighting along the walls for painting. Use 8's in the ceiling, 4's along the walls. Good for just doing suspension work etc as well.