LED "garage" lights

FastEddieB

FastEddieB

Touchdown! Greaser!
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Lenoir City, TN/Mineral Bluff, GA
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Fast Eddie B
For those not following our "Excellent Adventure"...

We have a "garage" area about 50' wide and 40' deep that needs lighting, as seen on the left here:

40120874154_35d6d67a19_z.jpg


Committed to LED's, since I HATE fluorescent bulbs, and changing bulbs would be a real hassle. We're thinking 8 LED fixtures should do the job. Roof is higher in the back, but thinking of hanging the rear 4 so that all 8 are at the same level.

Any input as to recommended brands, "equivalent wattage" or that sort of thing? Specific models that could do the job would be a great help.

Thanks in advance.
 
I purchased four 48" LED fixtures at the local Sam's club. They do a really good job of illuminating our slightly larger than normal 2 car garage. They were $30 something each.

Based on relative sizes, you'd need 20 or so of them to provide the bright "like the face of the sun" lighting we have in the workshop... I mean garage.

* Face of the sun comment was from my wife.
 
We use 8 - 4’ T5 fluorescent fixtures in the 40x60. Lights it up very well without shadows. Never has trouble turning on instantly even in single-digit temps. If you’re set on LEDs, id find something with similar lumens output to a 48” T5 fixture.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Watch what the color temp and the CRI number is. The lower the temp, the light will have more yellow cast to it. CRI is going to tell you the quality of the color rendition of that light.

In my case, I’m using T-5’s with a 6500k temp and a CRI of greater than 85. I prefer my place to be lighted closer to daylight than the cool whites or soft whites.
 
Craig said:
Watch what the color temp and the CRI number is. The lower the temp, the light will have more yellow cast to it. CRI is going to tell you the quality of the color rendition of that light.

In my case, I’m using T-5’s with a 6500k temp and a CRI of greater than 85. I prefer my place to be lighted closer to daylight than the cool whites or soft whites.
Click to expand...

I think natural daylight is considered somewhere between 4300-5000K. It’s why most car mfg with HID Xenon headlights target close to 4300K.


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SoonerAviator said:
I think natural daylight is considered somewhere between 4300-5000K. It’s why most car mfg with HID Xenon headlights target close to 4300K.
Click to expand...

From the charts I’ve seen, they list natural daylight between 5000K and 6500K, depending on sun position, time of day and cloud conditions.
 
8 will be great ,you might add 1 directly over the work bench as well .I just replaced all of my old 4 ft shoplites .8 0f them in the same size building . love them.they actually come on when it is cool and humid :)
 
Some of the formulas and calculators for lights needed are pretty darn complicated.

In any case, this is the proposed layout:

40924557864_7ba0af3137_z.jpg


What do you think of the choice on the left, below?

27766299418_844590f62d_c.jpg


I'd rather err on the side of brightness, since they're dimmable. And as I get older I seem to need more light on things.

Aside #1 - These are the lights in my current hangar at Copperhill, and they're borderline inadequate:

40743645445_8df23ab364_z.jpg


Aside #2 - The plan above was done on my iPad with an app called "Graphic". About $10 and I like it a lot.
 
I got mine at royal king $30somthing each
 
On another note, I’ve discovered that to be “dimmable” requires an extra pair of wires to each lamp and a 0-10v controller.

1) Anyone have experience with these? Can one controller control multiple lights?

2) As an option, I could just forgo the dimmers and put pairs of lights on separate switches. That was if I just need “ambient” light I could just turn on every other pair of lights, let’s say. They may be high enough that the resulting uneven light would not be a problem.

Thoughts?
 
yes Rural your link no workie. I used 6 par bulb receptacle's with 75w led equivalent on separate circuit for extra light spaced in non lit spaces .I use them with and without running the shoplites.
 
That's a ton of lights there. I think you could cut it down to 6 fixtures instead of 8 if you are going to be using a 4/5-bulb high bay fixture. Seriously, I think (8) 2-bulb fixtures would light it up just fine. Using (8) high bay 4-5 bulb fixtures in a 40x50 space is going to be downright blinding.
 
My brother installed the Big A$$ lights in his garage. Like just a normal two-car garage. Insanely bright and pretty awesome, but not cheap.
 
Went ahead and ordered 7 of these guys:

40970023744_8b0b003ae3.jpg


Should arrive Friday.

Contractor suggested to mount them thusly:

41640569262_96c9fc20bf.jpg


Makes sense I think, since the space is slightly wider than deep.

Maybe wire them in front-to-back pairs, for those times we don't need quite so much light.
 
FastEddieB said:
Went ahead and ordered 7 of these guys:

40970023744_8b0b003ae3.jpg


Should arrive Friday.

Contractor suggested to mount them thusly:

41640569262_96c9fc20bf.jpg


Makes sense I think, since the space is slightly wider than deep.

Maybe wire them in front-to-back pairs, for those times we don't need quite so much light.
Click to expand...

Probably a smart idea. You better install those dinners, you’re gonna need it, lol.


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As posted to the other thread, the lights arrived yesterday:

26889901637_af1458b94e_c.jpg


None appeared damaged when inspected, and all tested OK.

May get installed late next week, post-electrical Inspection.
 
UPDATE:

It's taken a while, and the LED lights are hung and we finally have power to our new home.

Things worked out perfectly. Each pair is on its own switch, allowing for variable lighting.

Center pair on gives adequate light for just puttering around:

43039769995_2fed008b53.jpg


End pairs on should be bright enough for most chores:

43944983131_e9c8ac9d82.jpg


All lights on are seriously bright:

43039770075_02bb14f63e.jpg


Be aware my iPhone is doing its best to "normalize" the brightness, but IRL choosing between the 3 pairs makes clear, incremental increases in light intensity.

Here's a shot showing the 7th light for the "garage:

43944983211_ecc1eb2506.jpg



Thanks for all the help - its nice to have so much help available online and to have things work out as planned (for a change!)
 
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