Whatever you go with, AVOID the two-tube 4' flourescents in the huge end displays at the big box stores like the plague. As already mentioned, they are noisy, and won't fully light in cool temperatures. Plus, they are of poor quality and you will be replacing ballasts more often than lamps. You will be lucky to have 75% of them light up when you flip the switch. Try to buy a decent brand like Lithonia. Expect to spend about $30 per fixture. The money you save on cheaper fixtures goes right out the window when you have to keep swapping ballasts to keep them alive.
Lighting stinks with the door closed (I wish it had windows), but with full perimeter shelves I finally have room for a bike again!
I strongly recommend for the best downfiring brightest light that you can get that you get yourself 3x Phillips Tornado 23 watt light globes, they are the BEES KNEES when you put them into a cheap plastic reflector. Even the older 40 watt tube flourescents aren't anywhere near as bright as one of these Tornado globes, and I've gone through TONS of CFL's and I even ran 6x 40 watt flourescent tubes for a 4 foot aquarium = 240 watts of 4' tube flourescent light. These Tornado's once warmed up are the brightest I've ever come across, reliable too. I'm serious about this, 23 watts per tube = 106 watts each (They're tons brighter than a 100 watt Halogen) in incandescent terms, x3 is a TON of light for a shed, and it doesn't have to bounce off the walls, it is going to come straight down onto your work where you need it to be because of the plastic reflectors, which is the MOST IMPORTANT THING, you don't want light bouncing from your walls, its not a mirror, so thats just going to be wasting a lot of light! Another good point is that its 3x directions that the light is coming from, so when you are working on something, YOU SEE EVERY DETAIL, no more shadows yay! Or get six, I had to light up a huge shed and the only thing that would light it sufficiently so that you could get it as bright as daylight outdoors was these globes and six of them was actually TOO much light, it started hurting my eyes at night haha, I installed a second switch so I could turn off 3 of them! Your shed will light up like it was daytime, at any time of the day, the best part is that standard light sockets are really easy to install, 2 screws and you're done, in comparison to having a friend hold up the older style of flourescents. And in the future when its time to eventually go to LED, the Edison socket/Bayonet socket are the ones which will get the best of LED, so it will simply be a matter of replacing a globe. http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/6Pack-Ph...5?pt=UK_Home_Garden_Lamps&hash=item3f23f99c7f Notice how bright it is, this was taken at night time: Notice in this photo, the two completely seperate shadows on the desk of the outline of the Yaesu FT-101B, And just how well lit the Marantz 2275 is in the background: Light here is without a reflector, notice all of the wasted light on the roof: (The desk lamp as shown in this picture holds a 40 watt incandescent, for when I want to give my eyes a rest!)
Got excited when I read ^^this^^ -- too good to be true? This chart indicates that white light LEDs emit enough UV to attract bugs: "....Confirming that, yes, white LEDs produce a significant amount of blue light, which also attracts bugs --" In contrast, this chart below is from a site that supports the "LEDs do NOT attract bugs" theory: Looks like the jury's still out on whether or not household LEDs attract bugs. It would be useful to know what Kelvin range(s) are most susceptible to bug attraction -- if any.
Some of our sales guys sell these to users such as DFW Airport, commercial buildings for parking lot use, etc: So we get to observe large quantity installations of various kelvin outputs and LED driver technology. This in addition to all the LED stuff at my home in the real rural part of the county is just kind of seat of the pants stuff but thus far the only thing these lights have attracted is a very small white moth. If I were in the sales end I'd know more of the technical aspect but have seen some other evidence by measuring LED agains HPS witha light meter. While the LED in use was clearly overpowering the HPS, the LED showed far lower lumen rating. Meter mfg told us that part of the equation is uv spectrum light and they'd seen this disparity frequently when meters are used on LED source lights. On the other hand...........you're on your own with mosquitos. Ours are large enough to have tail numbers and marker lights.
You guys wanna attract moths and insects? Just get a black light and point it upwards at night. You'll get tons of them in short order. Especially if you use a white sheet and hang it up near to it so most of the black light shines onto it. They make good grub for lizards
Wow. My shop is 19' x 19' and I have just half that, 64 linear feet of T8 32w tubes. I thought it was bright as can be. But after reading this, I went out and looked and damn, it's dark in there!
Quite by accident I've discovered that side lighting is more important than lighting from above. A friend of mine picked up a drill press and one of those twin 500W quartz lights on a stand. I was only interested in the drill press but he brought the quartz light anyway. Let me tell you what the most used item in my shop is. I drag the thing around to the side of the bike and it is FAR superior to light hanging from the ceiling casting shadows. It also throws off enough heat that it takes the edge off of changing needle settings in 20 degree weather, and my shop is actually a contained carport (it's open on the back to my covered porch, otherwise it looks like a garage). Here's a pic with it on:
I have been quite happy with 12 T8 32W HO bulbs in my 3-car garage. That comes to 4 bulbs per bay, ~10x20 ft² This is with 9' ceilings. Ceiling and walls are painted white. No windows. After doing the first garage with the cheapest ballasts I could get I hated it. The 10 T12 bulbs @ 40W in a 2-car garage was a little much. Not that it was really bad, more light is generally always better. But there were a few times when you turned the lights on and it was a little blinding for a second. That is why I backed off from 5 bulbs per bay to only 4. But the bigger thing was I used quality ballasts this time. Looked for ones that specificly stated "no hum". HUGE difference to the quality of life in the garage. The little hum just wore on you. It was suddenly nice and peaceful in the garage when the old lights were shut off. New ones it doesn't matter. As far as going LED. I like it. LED option wasn't even a consideration a few years ago when I did the last garage. Now the price and quality are coming around. I have ditched most of my CFLs in the house for LEDs. All the primary living spaces are now LED. At work I am having the drop lights changed from CFL to LED as they die. The next drop light in the garage will be LED. Sometimes I just get stuff before the better technology comes along. Then you have to decide weather to keep the old or update.
Thanks all. Great suggestions in here. I wound up putting in 4 fluorescents that hold 4 4ft t8 tubes about 8 ft high. After I build my benches I'll add some spots but liking it so far.
Interesting. Is there a "classy" way of mounting such fixtures, or do you just screw 'em into the walls? Any issues with the weight of the tubes resting on the "bottom" (which was designed to be an "end")?
IMHO Get the flush mount lights then cover them with an alternate plastic like polycarbonate to protect them from damage. They make them that will fit between 16" on center studs. Jim
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I used 9 edison bases with 80w (350w equiv) cfls to light my 30x30 garage. Ceiling height ranges from 11ft to 15ft. I painted the ceiling and walls white. It is a cheap basic lighting solution. I use supplemental side lighting when needed. http://www.1000bulbs.com/product/3816/FC85-81181.html
