Garage / shop lighting

I like the price of those a lot. I hadn't come across these in my search, thanks for the link! We're not to far off from the same footprint, your photo looks like it provides plenty of light. 6 of these (2 on either end, 4 in the middle should provide what I am after).



I thought florescent for a bit, as they are cheap. The humming sound wouldnt bother me one bit, but I do like the "instant on" that LEDs provide.
Mine don't hum... And they are pretty instant on. There is maybe a 5 second delay while the ballast spools up the voltage. If you're uninsulated and unheated, that will make a difference, but even at 35-40 degrees, mine come in pretty quick.

If I were installing lights today though, I would probably be getting LED.
 
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Space is limited as the garage is only 10'. Should they be 1' away from either wall vs 2'?

I may be way out there but now that you mentioned your 10' wide ceiling, I'll add some random options. My main goal is reducing shadows.

Your ceiling looks about 9 feet high, while 1 foot away from the walls you could hang them a foot or so below the ceiling.

You could put the lights about 6" below the ceiling on the walls. Of course any type of "shades" built into the lights could or any plans on adding shelving would reduce the light.

If there's a plan for built in shelves up high, the lights could be mounted underneath them.

Mounting the lights at a 45 degree angle where the ceiling meets the wall.

Now that i just read your last post, I'll also say I've been replacing my florescent with LEDs. I started doing this when the ballasts started to go bad. They are brighter, they work regardless of the winter temperature and they use less electricity.
 
Mine don't hum... And they are pretty instant on. There is maybe a 5 second delay while the ballast spools up the voltage. If you're uninsulated and unheated, that will make a difference, but even at 35-40 degrees, mine come in pretty quick.

If I were installing lights today though, I would probably be getting LED.

Same here except that mine come on right away even if I've left the garage unheated. Funny thing ... I replaced my first ballast (out of 8 lights) yesterday. They've been up for about 10 years.
 
Found a picture of my lighting solution. This is half on, half off. Barn was still under construction at this point. One of the reasons you get more light out of a florescent tube vs LED is that Florescents illuminate around the whole tube, while LED's are very directional. So, you can use reflectors in a Florescent tube to reflect that light going upward back down to the ground. That was also a factor in my decision...But, like I said, I installed these 3 years ago and the LED technology has come a LONG way in that time. Costs have decreased dramatically as well.

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I used T8 32 Watt Daylight bulbs when I redid my garage lights. I don't know if LED's were available then. I sure would have considered them. I definitely agree with the comments above about having a white ceiling. I did NOT want to drywall mine. I drywalled the walls (not complete in the pic below) and painted them white but because I couldn't empty the garage when I did the work, lifting drywall to the ceiling would have been tough.

I used aluminum soffit panels (16"x10' each). They are light, white and easy for one person to install. There was no taping, seam filling/sanding or painting. It makes for a nice industrial/commercial look and the cost was about the same as it would have been for drywall.

View attachment 76066
Where did you get the panels? I really like that look
 
Has anyone tried the HFT ones? I am considering using those for my garage build that is upcoming. One "issue" that I think I could work around is the cable exit location being on the back (seems like a quick and easy reroute depending on how the inside looks).

For reference, I am talking about these: https://www.harborfreight.com/4-ft-led-hanging-shop-light-64410.html
 
Has anyone tried the HFT ones? I am considering using those for my garage build that is upcoming. One "issue" that I think I could work around is the cable exit location being on the back (seems like a quick and easy reroute depending on how the inside looks).

For reference, I am talking about these: https://www.harborfreight.com/4-ft-led-hanging-shop-light-64410.html

In my experience, anything electrical from HF has a limited lifespan. I had a heat gun quit on me after several projects, I had a drill that would no longer take a charge, and a multimeter that wouldnt even turn on from the box.
 
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This is what I have to deal with over my bench. Next house we move into is going to have nothing smaller than a two car garage. Getting this space into a workable area and still being able to park inside has been a battle.

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I decided to go with 6 of these, thanks for the suggestion! I figured if I need more down the line I can install them along the wall. I could even go with a corded version to go above my bench (overhead storage will block any other light). 44 watts each. Thats only 264W total for the 1,440 limit. That leaves me plenty of amps to run power tools and a neon clock.

That's kind of what I have expected, though people recently have been saying some of their electronics have been getting better (such as the Hercules line, which looks like it's probably a knock off dewalt).

Probably better to buy the HD specials instead of having to risk buying lights twice.
 
That's kind of what I have expected, though people recently have been saying some of their electronics have been getting better (such as the Hercules line, which looks like it's probably a knock off dewalt).

Probably better to buy the HD specials instead of having to risk buying lights twice.

I think Jerry B. provided a review on the Hercules brand a few months back. IIRC he was pretty satisfied. Might have been a drill he bought...
 
after converting from phlorescents to LED, I will never look back. I just wish they made a good and cheap LED flood light for outside of my house. I dont turn them on often, but when I do, they are expensive with the old Halogens. Tim
 
Where did you get the panels? I really like that look

I bought them at Home Depot. I might have got a better deal at a wholesaler but they weren't that expensive. They're sold in individual panels and I picked them up as I needed them. They fit together like tongue & groove lumber and I used white aluminum soffit screws (#6 x 5/8"?) to secure them to the strapping. As I mentioned, it was quite easy for me to put them up 1 panel at a time. I spent more time moving things around on the floor (cars, tools, equipment, etc.) than I did installing the panels!

Here's a link. It turns out that they 16"x12' (not 10'). They've gone up a bit in price. I think I paid about $14.50 CDN / panel but that was about 10 yrs. ago. btw - they look the same (clean & bright) as they did when I installed them.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Gibralt...PIPHorizontal2_rr-_-100014183-_-202092938-_-N
 
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I bought them at Home Depot. I might have got a better deal at a wholesaler but they weren't that expensive. They're sold in individual panels and I picked them up as I needed them. They fit together like tongue & groove lumber and I used white aluminum soffit screws (#6 x 5/8"?) to secure them to the strapping. As I mentioned, it was quite easy for me to put them up 1 panel at a time. I spent more time moving things around on the floor (cars, tools, equipment, etc.) than I did installing the panels!

Here's a link. It turns out that they 16"x12' (not 10'). They've gone up a bit in price. I think I paid about $14.50 CDN / panel but that was about 10 yrs. ago. btw - they look the same (clean & bright) as they did when I installed them.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Gibralt...PIPHorizontal2_rr-_-100014183-_-202092938-_-N
It looks like this is no longer available in the rocky mountain area... is it strong enough to hold some blown in insulation? It looks like a really nice installation. Tim
 
I decided to go with 6 of these, thanks for the suggestion! I figured if I need more down the line I can install them along the wall. I could even go with a corded version to go above my bench (overhead storage will block any other light). 44 watts each. Thats only 264W total for the 1,440 limit. That leaves me plenty of amps to run power tools and a neon clock.
With six of those fixtures you are going to be able to perform surgery in your space!

The two I mounted are on an almost 11 foot celling. They provide great light in my work area especially combined with the two 4 foot, old school fluorescent fixtures above the benches on the side of my area.

If I replace the fluorescents over the bench I’ll buy the same LED fixture I linked for you except that it has a cover protecting the bulbs.
 
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Here is an updated plan that is actually drawn to scale (work is a bit slow today)
76123
 
With six of those fixtures you are going to be able to perform surgery in your space!

The two I mounted are on an almost 11 foot celling. They provide great light in my work area especially combined with the two 4 foot, old school fluorescent fixtures above the benches on the side of my area.

If I replace the fluorescents over the bench I’ll buy the same LED fixture I linked for you except that it has a cover protecting the bulbs.
There is no such thing as too much light...just like there is no such thing as too much gas in your jeep...unless you are on fire!
 
Here is an updated plan that is actually drawn to scale (work is a bit slow today)
View attachment 76123
Put some of your lights above the benches, if you are standing over your bench, your body will create a shadow. I have the problem in my workshop now, 24x48, it has 9 pairs of 4' florescnets and it is ok for light but the benches are not lit enough so I had to add separate lights over each bench. Also LED's come in 2 configurations, one is omnidirectional light, the other is focused. The Focused do not have any frosting on the light tubes, they are like a spot light, the omnidirectional are a frosted light like a florescent. The omnidirectional will reflect light off of your ceiling if your fixtures do not have reflectors. Good lighting is not just thowing fixtures up, it take someone to look at everything you will do or may do in your garage and light placement is part of that equasion. Tim

Another thing to consider is putting your lights wider than your vehicle, if they are over the top, it will shadow underneath the vehicle, if it is more along the wall, it will help shine under it. I need to play with putting a light in the corner between the wall and ceiling, pointing generally down but also towards the center of the floor.
 
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It looks like this is no longer available in the rocky mountain area... is it strong enough to hold some blown in insulation? It looks like a really nice installation. Tim

Thanks. I Like the look too and it's great to work in ... very bright!

I'm sure there are similar products. It's basically soffit aluminum that is cut to length on site and screwed in place so no doubt someone carries it.

In my application, I installed joists on 16" centres and jammed 8" strips of pink fibreglass insulation between them. I then applied a 6mm vapour barrier and 1"x3" strapping on 16" centres. The soffit aluminum is screwed to the strapping. I would think that the aluminum and strapping would plenty strong enough to hold up blown in insulation.