Hi, I just finished my 30' x 40' x 10' garage and am trying to find a good option for lighting on the inside -- something economical, energy efficient, long lasting, and bright.

The garage has 3 bay doors, 4 windows, 2 entry doors, and a solid "brilliant white" metal ceiling.

I'm thinking some type of possibly T8 Fluorescent lights possibly having 4 per bay area, and then a strip along the back wall over the bench.

Looking for some input on the lights, design, etc.

 

how about ceiling fans?? it is great to have a ceiling fan over each bay when working on a car/truck/bike/lawnmower etc. and put compact florescent bulbs in the ceiling fans. also yeah, put 4' shoplights with T8's everywhere else, look for ones with electronic ballasts.

 

Thanks for the information. I think I've come up with a little different plan.

The lights I'm going to use are the 4 Foot 2-Lamp Fluorescent T8 Strip 120V-277V - ProLighting.com which are $32.50 each from ProLighting (know any cheaper place?)

I'm going to lay them out as in the drawing I made at http://emsmanage.com/lighting/Garage_Lighting_v1.pdf (PDF Document). Let me know your thoughts.

 

I'd go with the 8 foot version tandem strip that takes 4 - 4 ft T8 lamps and save a few $$ on fixtures and installation.

8 Foot 4-Lamp T8 Tandem Channel Strip 120-277V - ProLighting.com

 

I am with Joe as well get 8 footer with 4 lamp T-8's they will throw very good amout of lights unless you have unheated garage in super cold weather then High Output will work just fine.

Merci.
Marc

 

I disagree, I think spreading out more 4 footers will give you better light spread than lumping them together 2:1.

I would go with more cheaper fixtures like.
Lithonia Lighting All Weather 4 Ft. 2 Light T8 Fluorescent Unit Shoplight - 1242ZG RE at The Home Depot
or
Lithonia Lighting Narrow Wrap White 2 Light Utility Light - 3348 2L32W WRAP at The Home Depot

and where you have the wording "4', 2-Lamp flourescent T8 strp" I would put one of these
Hampton Bay 52 In. Hugger Ceiling Fan in White - AL383-WH at The Home Depot
and also on on each side in their perspective bays.

 

All I know is no matter how much lighting you put in, you'll always find a time when you want something different, so allowing for additions/alterations down the line would be a good idea

 

one other suggestion I would make is that if you are having garage door openers for one or all these doors. the receptacle that it plugs into on the ceiling will be half empty. on one or all I would plug one of these into the other half

Bayco 25 Ft. 16/3 Trouble Light With Outlet and Push On/Off Switch - CE-425A at The Home Depot

The center bay would probably benefit the most from it since the wall outlets aren't as close by. the outlet on the light it is actually more useful than the light, and lets you make use of that ceiling outlet, but the light is great to have also in that particular location.

 

I disagree now. Yes, more 4 footers may give better light spead, but the OP asked for an economical solution for good lighting, not a "Cost-is-No-Object" solution for the best lighting.

I believe the 8 foot fixtures give a very good lighting distribution at a competetive cost for both fixtures and installation. I am not promoting the OP's choice of brands found on the internet, but would probably go with Cooper, Lithonia or Columbia from a supply house where pricing and service is better than at the "Depot". I also like bright and would probably go with a 4100K T8 lamp. By the way, thowle is from Kentucky so I believe the 0 degree electronic ballasts in the brands I cited will be sufficient for good lighting in the coldest weather that will be encountered.

 

Thanks everyone for your replies, all have been very helpful.

CasualJoe, great information -- thanks for citing the brands as well -- I was between Crescent and Lithonia -- leaning more towards Crescent due to some bad reviews I read about Lithonia.

However, Cooper would probably be just as well...

Next main question is "What brand would be the best value (reliability/reviews > cost)?" and "Where would you suggest to buy them from (in-store, or as I prefer -- internet warehouse shipped to myself)"

 

Most case you can get them from local electrical supply center they useally carry good brand name products I have deal few good one as Joe mention and I have very minor issue with them and they take care of it quick.

I know it may cost little more but it worth it.

4 lamp 4footer T-8 8 foot strip is the most common one and they should be about 50 Euros { dollars } each and they will have some sort of warranty as well.

They are rated to start low as 0°F so it will be fine with it.

Merci.
Marc

 

how do you consider my solution to be "Cost-is-No-Object"?

16 4' lights at $17.99 ea. = $287.84

8 8' lights at $59 ea. = $472


granted the installation cost might be higher if you're hiring a contractor, but maybe not. They may charge you more or even double for installing an 8' fixture versus a 4'. You need to check with the contractor, or, hang the lights yourself. Even if the installation cost put the total cost of the 4'ers slightly over the 8'ers, I'd rather pay a little more to get the more even light distribution of 4'ers, IMO.

Say what you want about depot/lowes etc., but there is something to be said for being able to go in and get a replacement/refund on a saturday/sunday. They also come with a warranty. My suggestion to look for electronic ballasts wasn't for the cold but just because they are newer/better and usually more quiet and reliable/efficient.

Just curious but where did you read the bad reviews on Lithonia? also, what is going to be going in this garage? boats? jetskis? daily drivers? garage queens? do you actually plan on working in it, or just storing stuff in it?

 

Check any legitimate supply house and two 4 footers will cost more than one 8 footer (one reason is twice as many ballasts). The labor unit per 8 foot fixture is just slightly more than a 4 footer. Using twice as many fixtures doubles the number of terminations. Time is money.

 

Of those brands, the best value would probably be the one where you get the best price. I am not familiar with Crescent. I am not aware of any performance issues with Lithonia, but keep in mind that all the major manufacturers typically have been using electronic ballasts from either Magnetek or Advance. The differences in quality would most likely have to do with the quality of the wiring connections in the lampholders and packaging. The only supply house you probably have in your area that I would be aware of is Graybar. Other than that, check out some other local supply houses and see if they will sell to you. Sometimes even hardware stores have some special deals too.

 

That is instering part about the cost ok.,

Let me give you my past experince with one large garage that is 40X70 foot and I did give one customer a qoute between both 2 lamp 4 footer and 4 lamp 8 footer.

I know 2 lamp 4 footer useally cheaper on the luminaire itself but 8 footer is not too bad but here the instering twist .,

The installment labour and time that what it get ya due with 4 footer you have do twice more connection and fitting as need to compared to 8 footers are and labour time is somehow less due you have less time to play around with connection fitting and assambly it together as well.

This place did ask for 30 4 footer and I quote the price and I ran with 15 8 footer and overall cost it was just couple hundred Euros cheaper that including the labour { this place is all brand new so have to run all conduit anyway}

And only have one bad luminaire that was replaced under warranty and one broken bulb { opps by moi }

that was it.

Merci.
Marc

 

Thanks for the update.

Just to clarify, I will be doing the wiring and installation of the lights myself -- so that throws out the factor of having to pay for labor.

As for the lights, all of the places I called around here only have a few T8 4 footers, and some T8 tandem style 4-bulb 8 footers.

I'm thinking I'm just going to go with the 4' bars and spread them around like the original drawing has.

 

That should do a good job. As you can see, there are many ways to do a good lighting job.

 

I just ordered 16 of the Lithonia® 48in T8 2 Lamp Fluorescent Strip Light (C232120GESB) - Fluorescent Fixtures - Ace Hardware lights from Ace Hardware, for $30.99/light -- it says it has an electronic ballast.

Guess I will just get the bulbs and fans from Lowes or Home Depot.

What do you think? Good choice of light, bad choice?

 

That is pretty good item there and with electronic ballast they will run very quiet and you will not hear any buzzing noise at all and if that is instat start verison they will come on very fast.

But let me pass you a nice tip make a quarter inch spacer so that way it will keep the ballast somehow cooler that way unless you supended them from the ceiling then it will be fine without issue at all.


Merci.
Marc