I put up two florescent light fixtures in the garage. That's four bulbs 32 watts each called 'natural' light. I feel I need two more (four bulbs .) While it illuminates, it just is not bright enough. I feel I still need the 500 - 100 watt I am used to using. Even the one 75 watt light bulb in the ceiling is brighter. This is in a standard two car garage, but I put an 8x10 mud room in the one back corner and the T is on the other side. It has a 12 foot wide section which is where the lights are going up. So, do any of you use the florescence PLUS another brighter light or do you find the florescence to be enough once you get used to them? Just getting ideas from you all.
Robert,
Shop lighting has been discussed before. Check these threads for some good ideas:
http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/118802/172003.html?1290569907
http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/257047/288250.html?1336761370
Jim
Hey Rob
My lighting in the garage was terrible. I put up 3 eight foot 2 bulb ballasts. I also had 1 four bulb four footer and a 4 foot one with 2 bulbs. Damn, that last sentence you have to read slow. Any way once they kicked on it was like the sun. I also have a 2 car garage but its fairly long. The old ballast is going out and it really does make a difference with it going out. The more the better. This was the first time I ever got to put in proper lighting, and now ill have to do it where ever i go. Good luck and keep em rolling.
they make a low/high bay 4 bulb fluresent 4he bulbs are about the size of a nickle and they are super bright,,but expensive.
In the two bays I use, 6 eight foot lights per bay. I don't like shadows and need more light the older I get. KB
Well,I aint really had a chance to address the issues I am haveing.
But,IF I were in a postion to invest in a invention,I would look into drawing up and building a prototype lighting system that rode on a track and would follow a sensor carried in the pocket of the worker in the building.This way the light would be postioned in the work area and not wasted in other spots.Basicly imagine a garage door motor and a track.A light mounted on something that is winched back and forth by a motor.Swiveling as needed.a pair ,1 on each side of a shop would service the building.
When this question came up a couple of years ago I posted this picture. When we used to manufacture signs here, I wanted plenty of light. Since then I've removed about half the bulbs to save on cost, and It's still plenty of light.
Steve,
The compact florescent bulbs (CF) save a lot of money, in the long run.
Neil
Besides the usual screw bulbs I added a couple of florescent tube light over the engine area. Inexpensive and works very well.
Overhead lighting will always cause shadows and dark spots when working on cars. Auto body paint shops are a good example of how to light your space. They place multiple rows of florescent lights in the corner where the ceiling meets the wall. They are placed at a 45 degree angle towards the center of the room. If you find you need light down low and under then an additional row of lights could be placed lower on the wall but they become a breakage concern. Drop lights are always a good option. When you are placing light think about where your shadows are going to form. The car will make a much larger shadow than your body. Your lights should be above and behind you.
The cheap $10.00 2-tube 48inch shop light that are sold at the big box stores do not produce the same amount of light as the more expensive fixtures. The ballasts are different and it shows. They also don't last as long. Not a bargain in the long run!
My shop is 32' X 60' with a 13' ceiling, lighting is 10 4 foot flourescent fixtures with 4 lamps each.
I replaced the old T12 lamps and magnetic ballasts with T8 lamps and electronic ballasts.
Much better and much more energy efficient, only uses about 1/2 the power.
I had twin tube fluorescent fixtures like Steve above. They never lasted long (the electronic ballasts would die). So I gutted them and converted them to compact fluorescent bulbs. I get the equivalent of 400 watts of light for less than 100 watts of energy. The difference in light is literally day and night.
Be_Zero_Be
I have 17 twin tube 8 foot fluorescent lights in my 42 x 68 x 12 foot shop. White walls and white ceiling, sometimes I think I could use more light!
I find no matter what I do with overhead lights I never seem to get light where I need it in tight spots. I use one of the dual spots on a tripod that painters use and I point it where I need it.
Negatives;
1. Those halogen tube lamps get hot as Hell
2. They draw a gazillion watts
3. I sometimes blow fuses if I'm running other machines at the same time
4. They tend to smell when they got hot
5. potential burn hazard if you accidentally bump against them
6. They stay hot for a long time after you turn them off
Positives:
1. I can see what I'm doing.
2. You can roast hot dogs on the housings while you work.
Jimmy
In my dad's ol'garage, he ran a length of bailing wire across the garage in three directions across garage and hung flouresants on the wires and was able to slide lights from side to side using a pull chain.
I've got the same problem... I've currently got what Steve Jelf has old ceramic single bulb fixtures, I'm fixing to put in 10 - 12 48 inch T8 fluorescent fixtures should make a huge difference.
As stated above in a couple post if your doing body or paint you need lights on the wall at about waist high....
I just discovered T5 bulbs. Very bright. I bought two 8 foot units that hold four bulbs each. I only have two bulbs in each unit and it is a nice bright light!! I am very pleased.
We just had a PG&E contractor put in "energy efficient" ballasts, converting the fixtures from T-12 to T-8s. However, the contractor did admit that the ballasts would only last 2 to 5 years.
Everything has a trade off! (And usually the trade off is the customer having to buy more over the long run.)
T'
David D.
I have both fluorescent lights in my shops as well as my garage. The ones in the garage are 8 footers and wired so half are on one switch or the others or I can turn on both. One set are tubes designed to work below 20 degrees but they take more amps but the others are regular ones. In cold weather I use just the ones needed.
In the shops I have flush to the ceiling 3 light per fixture arrangements. If I just need to look for something I turn just the single tubes per fixture or just two tubes. If I plan to stay working I can turn all three tubes. My old eyes need more light these days. Bob
I find that having lots of light makes work easier and safer. The rows of tubes can be lit as a single, double, or triple row. With them all on there are few shadows. The drawback to fluorescent is the noise they make with the magnetic ballasts.
Being able to open the doors allows adequate daylight in to work (about 50% of the time).
If you get too much light the steering wheel appears to move over to the wrong side!
TH
I'm pretty much where Steve B. is but it's a 6' 2 bulb flourescent and 2 300 watt not-so-compact screw in flourescents in the 2 existing fixtures. People look at the screw-ins and always say: "holy ----, where'd you get those from"! Quite large. $20.00 each. Lowe's. Mucho luminesence.
One double four footer over the lathe and a cable from one end to the other from front to back in the middle. I slide the two double four footers to where I need the light. That's 240 watts in my 20 by 30 foot garage.
I have a 25 foot reel drop light with a 60 watt lamp and the original ceiling light bulb of 60 watts in the true center.
I have purchased several coiled flourescent bulbs and they have all failed rather quickly. Some blink on and off and some simply stop working after a few hours.
I built a new victorian style house in 1989. I convinced a company called St. Louis Antique lighting to make chandeliers for my house but to install CFL sockets in place of normal bulb sockets and then I would wire the ballasts for these bulbs in the ceiling power box hidden away. Screw in CFL's were not being made at that time but I would not have used them anyway since no way those would fit into the fixtures my wife and I wanted for our house. There are NO incandescent fixtures in my house except the front hall grand chandelier which we don't light all that often. We have lots of light and typical chandeliers draw a total of 45 watts for 200 watts of typical incandescent equal lighting. We used T12 4 foot tubes in the lower family rooms and closets and in some cases used 2 foot tubes behind crown moldings to bounce light off the ceiling. Our energy bill has always been rather low. I recently changed out all of the 4 foot 40 watt tubes and ballasts in my shop and house from T12 magnetic ballast fixtures to T8 electronic program start ballasts and 28 watt tubes. I was going to replace the ballasts and tubes one fixture at a time as the tubes failed but after doing one fixture and measuring the current draw of the rewired fixture I found that the economics was in favor of simply upgrading all fixtures immediately so I did. The savings was real and it has been now about 2 years and I have yet to have a tube or ballast failure nor do I expect one. I don't believe that electronic ballasts are any more prone to failure than are magnetic types but ballasts are very simple to swap out so it isn't a big deal unless you spend a lot of money on ballasts.
If you notice on your typical tubes when they quit that the end or ends are black. That is from turning them on and off. It is sputtering of the cathode and tubes could last up to 3 times longer if they didn't do that. One way to prevent the sputtering failure mode is to leave the lights on but that isn't saving energy for the homeowner. If you seek out the proper ballasts and learn about them you will see that program start electronic ballast use a controlled turn on method that greatly reduces the sputtering and makes the tubes last a very long time. These I have put up can last 15 years or more. Plan your lighting and shop around. Ballasts can cost up to $75 dollars each for program start type but if you know what the part numbers and the brands are that you are seeking you might get lucky like I did. I bought all of mine on ebay - new - $6 per ballast including shipping. The ballasts are often in the hands of surplus dealers who do not know what they are selling but YOU need to know by the part numbers what they are selling. Sorry guys but all the info you need is online and I don't have the time to be your lighting consultant but just letting you know what is going on and pointing you in right direction. LED lighting is coming along nice too but unfortunately not a lot of standard specs on things in this area of the market which makes your choice more or less a permanent one with not a lot of repair or exchange options later.
I gave Ron one of my extra ballasts and I think he put it up in his shop a while back. Maybe he will chime in and see if it still is working. My big thing is energy savings even though I am one of those right wing radical people that is the cause of everything wrong in the world.
Here is one of the Chandeliers:
If you're planning on changing your current lighting scheme be sure you don't invest in recently outlawed fluorescent T-12 fixtures and bulbs.
http://futurevisionenergy.com/site/fluorescent-lights-outlawed/
The 'garage' portion of my shop is 24 x 24, two bays. I have four 2 bulb 8 foot fixtures in there. In addition, in the center of the room, I have a retractable drop light suspended from the ceiling. It will reach under or inside a vehicle parked in either bay.
My last shop was unfinished inside, just bare stud walls. This one, I insulated and put up white wall board and white ceilings. The last shop had the same lighting arrangement, but the doors were the 4 panel type and would cover 2 of the lights when they were open. This time around, I opted for true 'roll up' doors so they do not block the light when they are up. The combination of white walls and ceilings and my doors not blocking the lights. The difference is 'night and day' between this shop and my old one.
I do my work in the day time. It's the cheapest.
Mercy,what will they outlaw next? Toilet paper? It uses trees that Ikea could make furniture from?
What is the world comeing to?
I think they are not going to waste their time regulating toilet paper but more likely to go straight to the source and regulate feces lengths to precise measurements so that they can be more easily flushed with exactly 1.2 gallons of water per flush.
LED
accept no substitute
John F., that's funny, I can see the government regulating feces, like they regulate other 'feces' in our lives - but lets not go there.
Here is a picture of my T5. Love them! Only four bulbs in two 8 foot units.