Garage Lighting

1516 Views 19 Replies 15 Participants Last post by naiku, 9 mo ago

naiku

Discussion Starter · 10 mo ago

Looking for recommendations on garage lighting, in the garage at the house I use a couple cheap LED strip lights from Costco, they do the job fine, but looking to see what other options are out there for the detached garage. At the moment, the lighting would need to be able to attach across the roof trusses (open ceiling, at some point it may get closed in, but not for a while).

I was looking at these Tunable White LED Panel Light - 2x4 - 6,300 Lumens - 50W Dimmable Light Fixture and feel like I saw someone mention them on here a while back. If I go with those, I was thinking that I can make a frame using 2x4 spanning the truss width and then mount the panels to that. I also don't know how many I would need to evenly illuminate it, overall size is about 1,100sq ft. I actually don't need the entire area illuminated every time I am in there, so being able to turn off some lights is a bonus.

Are those panels likely to be any good? Or, should I just look at shop lights that can be daisy chained together? Or, something I am missing entirely.

1 - 20 of 20 Posts

Hostile

· #2 · 10 mo ago

www.vwvortex.com

TGL - The Garage Lounge... Lighting Edition

The mancave garagemahal threads have me itching to upgrade the lighting in my incredibly toight wannabe garagemahal. I have the 4 incandescent fixtures on the opposite walls with 60w bulbs. Tried upgrading the bulbs to corn LED style but even the shortest don't clear the cage. Ceiling is...

www.vwvortex.com

www.vwvortex.com

Reactions: 2

ValveCoverGasket

· #3 · 10 mo ago

2

as many of those 3 or 4' LED strips as you have room for

theyre cheap enough theres no reason not to overdo it. and if youre worried about it being too bright for certain work, split them into a couple switched banks

i did that at our old place in OR (2 switches) and was happy with how it worked out.

pre drywall

post drywall, lots brighter thanks to lots of white surfaces, but mount them directly into the drywall

those little screw-in base led adjustable panels are cool too for drop in replacements for a screw in bulb, but if youre going for a whole new setup, id do a ton of those fixtures and call it a day.

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Reactions: 2

aar0n.

· #4 · 10 mo ago

Barrina LEDs from Amazon

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=barrina

TooFitToQuit

· #5 · 10 mo ago

My contractor did hue-selectable thin panels for my garage build. They’re substantially bright. Did four on the far side and one on each side of the garage door when open. It’s perfect. 👍🏼

Tire Wheel Hood Vehicle Automotive tire

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barry2952

· #6 · 10 mo ago

2

When my wife and I physically built our home 30 years ago I was in the commercial lighting business and cold-weather ballasted CFLs were all the rage. The fixtures fit the application, but were a little too industrial for our tastes now. I had 6 42-watt fluorescent CFLs and 2 similar 70-watt metal halide fixtures. They put out a lot of light, but took forever to get bright.

I replaced 400 watts of fluorescent and metal halide lighting with 374 watts of LED lighting and its twice as bright. The round lights seem to fill the space more evenly than any of the strip fixtures I've installed.

The beauty of modern LEDs is the ability to switch colors from warm white to cool white to ultra white light with a flick of the switch. This is warm white. It's what the rest of our home is lit with. If I want a more piercing white light for detailing it's just a flick away.

Out with the old.

Automotive lighting Automotive tire Motor vehicle Automotive design Automotive exterior

In with the new.

Car Automotive parking light Tire Wheel Land vehicle

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newusername

· #7 · 10 mo ago

If its a working garage, the best lighting solution is a row of fixtures on each side of each bay I.E if its 2 bays, you'll have three rows, three bays 4 rows and so on - this will assure that you have proper coverage on each side fo the vehicle and virtually no shadows when you are working over the vehicle under the hood. Lights over the vehicle might seem like a good idea, but light doesn't bend.

Here's a shot of my garage as an example, its 30x40 and would have three bays in it from a width perspective 10' tall at the walls and 14.5' at the peak.

Typically you'll want roughly 4000 lumens per 4ft section for an 8-10ft ceiling, 5000 lumens per 4ft
for 10-12ft ceilings and above that you may want to look at 18000 lumen highbays run in a linear pattern, thats what i had in my previvous shop and it worked well with the 14ft ceiliings.

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NoGrip61

· #8 · 10 mo ago

I have a set of these that replaced the CFL lights. It's nice to have the flexibility to string them along and space them out to targeted areas. (LOL I posted in the other thread, but they are great... and the brand I bought doesn't exist anymore)

www.amazon.com

Amazon.com: Barrina (Pack of 12) LED T5 Shop Light, 4FT, 2200lm, 6500K (Super Bright White), 20W, Utility Shop Light, Ceiling and Under Cabinet Light, ETL Listed, Corded Electric with ON/Off Switch : Tools & Home Improvement

Buy Barrina (Pack of 12) LED T5 Shop Light, 4FT, 2200lm, 6500K (Super Bright White), 20W, Utility Shop Light, Ceiling and Under Cabinet Light, ETL Listed, Corded Electric with ON/Off Switch: LED Bulbs - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases

www.amazon.com

bnkrpt311

· #9 · 10 mo ago

NoGrip61 said:
I have a set of these that replaced the CFL lights. It's nice to have the flexibility to string them along and space them out to targeted areas. (LOL I posted in the other thread, but they are great... and the brand I bought doesn't exist anymore)

Amazon.com: Barrina (Pack of 12) LED T5 Shop Light, 4FT, 2200lm, 6500K (Super Bright White), 20W, Utility Shop Light, Ceiling and Under Cabinet Light, ETL Listed, Corded Electric with ON/Off Switch : Tools & Home Improvement

Buy Barrina (Pack of 12) LED T5 Shop Light, 4FT, 2200lm, 6500K (Super Bright White), 20W, Utility Shop Light, Ceiling and Under Cabinet Light, ETL Listed, Corded Electric with ON/Off Switch: LED Bulbs - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases

www.amazon.com

I've been looking at these. I'm not sure how I'd wire them though. My garage has a one outlet, besides the garage door opener outlet, and two light sockets. Would it make sense that I could wire these LED fixtures into the space currently occupied by the light sockets? They're both on the same switch.

barry2952

· #10 · 10 mo ago

They make plastic and metal surface track. You can put the fixtures where they do the most good.

Reactions: 1

NoGrip61

· #11 · 10 mo ago

bnkrpt311 said:
I've been looking at these. I'm not sure how I'd wire them though. My garage has a one outlet, besides the garage door opener outlet, and two light sockets. Would it make sense that I could wire these LED fixtures into the space currently occupied by the light sockets? They're both on the same switch.

I would try that with the hard wire kit included, then continue to the daisy-chain them from there. I didn't have light sockets, just a few switched outlets (which the CFL's were plugged into), so I just plugged mine in. But as Barry said, they have little clips that you can mount them anywhere and they're really light (low mass).

Reactions: 1

BryanH

· #12 · 10 mo ago

I put twelve of these up in my garage to replace the old fluorescent tubes that were there. Its a REALLY oversized 2 car garage detached.

Grey Gas Kitchen appliance Metal Home appliance

Its freaking daylight in there with all of them on.

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Reactions: 2

Nealric

· #13 · 10 mo ago

ValveCoverGasket said:
as many of those 3 or 4' LED strips as you have room for

theyre cheap enough theres no reason not to overdo it. and if youre worried about it being too bright for certain work, split them into a couple switched banks

i did that at our old place in OR (2 switches) and was happy with how it worked out.

pre drywall

post drywall, lots brighter thanks to lots of white surfaces, but mount them directly into the drywall

those little screw-in base led adjustable panels are cool too for drop in replacements for a screw in bulb, but if youre going for a whole new setup, id do a ton of those fixtures and call it a day.

Agreed on "overdoing" it. I thought I went overboard with 8 of them in my 24x20 garage, and I still find myself needing a work light for a lot of stuff.

Reactions: 1

StoBro

· #14 · 10 mo ago

The first thing is to paint the walls and ceiling as bright white as you can. If you have a choice in flooring (epoxy, for example) try as light a color as possible there too. You want light bouncing off of as many surfaces as possible. The fixtures should throw light out to the sides and not just straight down. Vertical footcandles is a term we use in my industry. It means not just lighting the floor, but the walls as well. You don't need spotlight beams pointing down on your roof and hood. You need to flood the entire space with light.

Because I'm a cheapskate I just use four 100W equivalent LED lamps for general illumination and a 3ft wraparound strip fixture suspended over my workbench. All are 3500K, which is a fairly neutral white.

paradigmGT

· #15 · 10 mo ago

BryanH said:
I put twelve of these up in my garage to replace the old fluorescent tubes that were there. Its a REALLY oversized 2 car garage detached.
View attachment 212483

Its freaking daylight in there with all of them on.

I put 3 of these in from Costco and my 2 car garage is very bright.

steelgatorb8

· #16 · 9 mo ago

3

aar0n. said:
Barrina LEDs from Amazon

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=barrina

Since @aar0n. has impeccable taste in vehicles and wheels I decided to take him up on his light suggestion.

Heres the single 8 ft T8 fluorescent 2 bulb fixture I was dealing with since we moved into the place:

Property Interior design Grey Flooring Floor

And here’s what it looks like now:

Car Vehicle Hood Automotive tire Motor vehicle

I’ve got a shorter cable for the front left connection on the way.

Very pleased with these for the price. I went with the 6 pack of 8ft fixtures 6500k 9000lm. It’s like daylight in there now. Should have done this a long time ago.

Automotive design Line Building Ceiling City

Still need to paint the space where the old light fixture was.

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Reactions: 5

child_in_time

· #17 · 9 mo ago

steelgatorb8 said:
Since @aar0n. has impeccable taste in vehicles and wheels I decided to take him up on his light suggestion.

Heres the single 8 ft T8 fluorescent 2 bulb fixture I was dealing with since we moved into the place:

And here’s what it looks like now:

View attachment 218173
I’ve got a shorter cable for the front left connection on the way.

Very pleased with these for the price. I went with the 6 pack of 8ft fixtures 6500k 9000lm. It’s like daylight in there now. Should have done this a long time ago.

Still need to paint the space where the old light fixture was.

How do you like Racedeck flooring in your garage? I am contemplating doing the same in my garage…

steelgatorb8

· #18 · 9 mo ago

child_in_time said:
How do you like Racedeck flooring in your garage? I am contemplating doing the same in my garage…

It is Swisstrax and I love it.

naiku

Discussion Starter · #19 · 9 mo ago

aar0n. said:
Barrina LEDs from Amazon

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=barrina

This is what I ended up ordering, picked up 10 of them for now, once they are all wired up, walls painted etc. I'll make a decision on whether to add any more. I have them mounted in 2 rows of 5 going from to back.

naiku

Discussion Starter · #20 · 9 mo ago

Walls still need to be painted, but zero complaints on the lighting...

Automotive parking light Tire Wheel Car Vehicle

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