wondering what you guys use for lighting in your shops? I was looking at some 110W high output fluorescent 8ft fixtures at menards for less than $40 each and was wondering if anyone had used the bigger lights like these and how you like them. also anyone have any sugguestions on spacing them out. I like a bright shop and they didn't have any charts to offer spacing. my shop is 30x60. thanks

 

Can't help you with light spacing.

I have two 8ft. dual tube fixtures in my 15x22 garage that are mounted on the sides with a 9ft ceiling. I have a four post lift in the middle where the ceiling height goes up to 20 ft. so putting a light above the middle would do nothing when a car is up on the lift. When there is no car on the lift, the lighting is fine.

$40.00 sounds awfully cheap. I purchased mine from The
Home Depot for around $85 each without the bulbs. I first purchased a lower priced model for around $60 but took them back because of the light flickering in cold weather.
That's when I discovered the differences in the transformers.

Some things that you might want to look for.
1) The transformers have a noise rating. The commercial fixtures make a pretty loud buzzing noise which may bother you. I don't know any way around that except to purchase home or office type 4ft fixtures and not the 8ft. warehouse type fixtures.
2) The transformers have a temperature rating. If your garge space is not heated, you need to look at the lowest temperature the fixture was designed for or the lights may flicker or may not even startup if it's to cold.

 

these are the cold start high output fixtures. i believe they were rated for operation below 0 temp. they had one lit in the store and it was brighter than all the rest of the lights there. one thing i didn't know was they recommend a spacer between the light and ceiling for airflow to keep down the temp. just thought i would pass that info along....

 

Bought mine at Lowes - less than $30 per 8ft/dual tube fixture...seems like they were even less than $25 (it's been a couple years). That price didn't include the fluorescent tubes, but I bought a box of tubes pretty reasonable, also at Lowes.

Granted, they're probably not the best transformers and all (you usually get what you pay for), but they work fine in both my basement and unheated shop...I have noticed they're not REAL quiet...they definitely buzzzzzzzzzz.

Scott

 

A 30X60 garage will need at least 12 double 8 fts to be "bright"
for general work i would recommend 6 rows of two double 8fts end to end or if you have a higher ceiling maybe 5 rows and at least two more fixtures on each side wall
hope this helps.
ps if you know any electricians they have or can get handy little slide rule calculators for lighting versus sq ft from their suppliers - also your local building code may specifiy
Andy

 

16 fixtures. 4ea. leangth, and 4 ea. width. that should cover you pretty good.

 

I've got a 20'X40' shop with 6 double tube 8 ft flourescents mounted 10 feet above the floor. The fixtures are mounted in two rows the length of the shop. The first ones start about 6 ft from the garage door end because with the doors up lights closer to the end would be blocked. There is about 2 feet between the ends of the fixtures in the row. On the end opposite the garage doors I have two 8 ft double tube fixtures crosswise over the workbench. Each lengthwise row is spaced equally about 6 1/2 feet from the side walls. That provides pretty good light along the edges and the extra foot in the middle is covered by the overlap.

I used the regular ballasts that came with the fixtures but have found that I have to let the lights burn constantly whenever the temperature in the shop gets below about 50 degrees otherwise it takes forever for them to light up and they flicker a lot. If your shop is heated that shouldn't be necessary. The cold weather ballasts are too expensive for me right now.

If you can, get the fixtures with the curved reflectors because they reflect a lot of light down that would otherwise go on the ceiling and side walls. It would help if you painted the ceiling gloss white because that will reflect a lot of the light down. Flat paint and dark colors seem to just suck the light up.

 

wow ,thats a heck of a good price for a 8 ft. high output fixture. I get a electrical contractors discount , and I cannot get a twin lamp HO 96 inch fixture for that price. Yep, go for it, nice fixtures and being HO, they have the low ambeint ballasts. The lamps are costly , but have good life in them. Placing them 8 to 10 foot apart end to end , should be o.k for a general use shop. Really depends on what the shop is being used for when designing task lighting. People usually end up moving them around to suit later anyway. jmo

 

ya I was trying to figure out spacing so I can get everything wired before I put up the drywall. I hate crawling around in an attic trying to pull wires. I was thinking 2 rows of 6 each would probrobly work. I guess I'll go with that it should be plenty of light. I tint windows on cars so I need good lighting. I still need to get insulated and it's getting cold fast. I've been putting off going up and down the ladder to the 12ft ceiling. Oh well I guess I just have to keep telling myself it will be nice when it's done.....

 

It kind of depends upon the layout of your shop. Do you drive in the 30' wide end? Do you have bays coming in from the 60' side? Somewhere around 15 or 16 fixtures would seem to be a good number. If you can do it according to code you could connect the fixtures to outlets spaced along the ceiling so they could be moved around a little as you settle in. You may also want to put in a few incandescent bulbs to provide some quick light in cold weather. Some codes may even require a "permanent" light fixture. Check with the local electricians or building inspectors. You should also wire the lights in "banks" so they all do not have to be on if you don't need them. Make sure your switches and lighting circuits can handle any additional appliances (fans, lights, etc) that might be plugged into lighting outlets if you use cord connections. Don't use a breaker to turn the lights on and off.

 

i have 1 bay on the 30ft end and 3 bays on the 60ft side.i also have a 10x13 room in the front corner on the 30ft end that houses my bathroom and utility room so i won't need light over that. as far as inspectors we have none. i can pretty much do as i please to the building. myself being a part time electrician i have all my circuits wired light. i ran 100 amp service out to the garage so that should be sufficent for my power needs. however all the 220 breakers are filling my 20 space box up fast........

 

Currently, the shop has a 6 4' 2-lamp T12 strips over the cars and 2 4 footers over the back-wall work bench with and is woefully inadequate - especially right over the engine bays where it's needed most.

I'm planning to replace/rework the entire lighting with T8's. I'm going with T8's because the garage is not heated at the moment and T8 ballasts are good down to 0* F whereas T12's kinda go dim around freezing.

Another very important consideration when lighting is the reflectances of your ceiling and walls. You can dramatically increase the "brightness" of your garage with the existing lighting by finishing off the ceiling or simply painting the joists white.

Painting the floor white also helps a great deal - not to mention making it much easier to find that dropped nut.

 

The best lighting "Fixture" I have is a pull down drop cord thats on an automatic reel. Plug my PC florescent drop light into that. By the way you can get florescent lights that will fire in cold weather, just have to go to the electrical supply house.

 

Maverick,

I have a 70Lx40Wx16H with 12 Low-Bay 400w multi-voltage lights. At first they are a sticker shock but in the long run wired 220v they save a lot of electric, are quiet, and not bothered by low temps.

The complete light with globes and hangers are 160.00 I have had mine since 92 with no trouble or dark spots in the shop.

Depends on your ceiling height though.

 

The standard ballasts for a T8 lamp will work down to 0 degrees F. A 4' 2-lamp fixture is about $25 each (sans lamps) at Lowes/Home Depot. I've priced ballasts for T12 lamps... much cheaper to replace the whole fixture with T8's.