Need lighting suggestions for new garage build

The two units above are probably too much for a 20’ ceiling height. With that 45’ depth, you might consider a series of 48” long LED fixtures that flush mount to the ceiling. 6500-10,000k temp range. Two rows of four fixtures per bay? Plenty of light and no one will have to wear sunglasses

 

We installed LEDS in one of our buildings a few years ago.
We chose to go with the Philips High Bay HBX lights.

They are rectangular in shape and provide up to 24,000 lumens per fixture.

They also feature an optional motion detector.

They have performed flawlessly.

 

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Sorry about the picture quality.

 

Part of the problem with the LED solutions is the lighting can be so bright, it hurts your eyes if you glance upwards, and the lighting diffusion is not always what you would like, they point down so you don't get much lighting refelction from the ceiling surfaces which is desirable to bathe the area with lighting. If you go into a warehouse with this lighting, you will see lots of shadowing effects, which some then put more lights up to remedy ending up with blazing lighting that can be too much. I used to think that more light was always better, but it is not as simple as that.

I found the spectrum from flourecent lamps better for detailing, in fact combined with some incandencents was the way I went. That was about 6 years ago, when the LED options were not as broad and well developed. I did see some LED's in use at the time, and they were just too blinding for me, so I did not go that way. I would see if you can find an example of LED in a store or warehouse application you can actually see in use, and if you like it get the same products. The appeal of the lighting spectrum, beam spread and intensity might not align what otherwise appear to be desriable specs on paper.

My solution was 4 fixtures with 6 T32 flourescents (4,000k, typically referred to as daylight spectrum) in each, and 3 "barn style" incandecent fixtures each with a 200 watt long life industrial bulb, my bay would be a bit bigger than the size of one of yours, so that gives you some idea how much lumens would suit that type of area. My roof height is angled, but the total height is about 18 feet at the peak. The lighting is nice and diffuse, reflects well off the white surfaces to bathe the whole area well, and the incandesents soften the overall lighting and add more light for when doing detailing or working for longer period of time. These conventional fixtures can also be retrofit with LED's should the technology mature to my liking.
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Is the wall solid, if so why not mount something on the wall with an up and down component at around 3Meters. There is a lot very stylish lights in HID and I am sure now LED that may fit the bill. Depends whether is more of warehouse garage or a show garage. Have a look at big hi end dealerships, not many of them have the hi-bay type of light you are looking but if the most amount of light and bang for your buck I think these would be the way to go.

 

Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login I have a 30X50 garage I just built, and used nearly the exact lights above that you mention. (actually more lumens than the ones listed by a bit). Here are some pics:

I have about 35 foot of open space with 26 feet high ceiling at the peak, lights are about 22 foot high, as they are down from the peak, as you can see.
I put 3 lights covering each "bay" so 6 in total. At night, it is like complete daylight inside, perfect for detailing, etc. I also put the lights on a dimmer (these are the dimmable UFO's I bought), so if just doing minor stuff, or do not want the full force of these things, I can turn it down to nearly nothing, or somewhere in between the surface of the sun bright

I can put 6 cars (3 deep on each side), and wanted to ensure that I had more than enough lighting, also didn't' want to put in 100 or more canned lights to do the job. I would say I could have done with 4 of the UFO's (2 on each bay) I believe, but it worked out that 6 was better balanced with the bays, and I can always dim them if too much. I would say that while it is very bright, it is not to the point you are wearing sunglasses.

The back 15 foot is a loft, so the ceiling there has just normal LED can lights on that section.

 

Here is another pic from the loft area - which was at night at full power. Just for reference The lights are at approximately 20/22 foot from the ground up. They are about 12 feet apart length wise (covering the open area which is about 30 foot wide by 35 foot deep). The loft area is about 15-18 feet. Also the loft is lit by standard LED can lights and their are 9 in total (18X30 foot) - These are also dimmable and they are on about 3/4 of full in this shot (iirc). The "can" lights in the loft are more the warm yellowish of a traditional light bulb as this is more a poker hang out, and there are a few video games to the left (that you cannot see). Didn't need it to bright and wanted it more warm.

For the UFO LED's tech has improved so much over the past 5 years, really the last 3 has been the most. The 4000K lights (natural) are so vivid and HD, really to put in anything else but higher end LED or incandescent for natural light would be difficult. Plus don't need to replace a bulb!

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Nice set up! Is there anything special about the dimmers used for these types of fairly high wattage LED lights?

 

Not to my knowledge, you only need to make sure they are dimmable - which you can get dimmable or non-dimmable when ordering. I also got the full reflective (most are) inner globe, but also ordered the diffuser (No idea if that is the name), which is over the light part at the bottom where the light comes out (kind of like a slightly convex piece that goes over the light bottom. You can see it barley on the one pic above that does not have the lights on. It scatters the light at a wider angle, and also enables you to look up at them without burning your eyes (but the purpose is to scatter the light out more) since I was at a lower height than most hi-bays typically are (30 foot or more).

 

I was looking for something a little less industrial and recessed so went with a whole bunch of recessed 8” diameter LED cans, wired in four different circuits, all dimmable. Its almost too bright with everything turned up all the way. Ceiling height is 14’.
No shadows.
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That re-defines the term "Great Room" Well done.

 

So you are really looking to do about 1/2 of each bay (if I am reading it right) since the mezzanines cover roughly half the space. I would say 2 or 3 per bay. If the length is 32 and 27, I would do three length wise in each bay roughly 8 - 10 feet in a line down the middle. If you get the diffuser it will cast the light (assuming you would be about 18 foot high) - 20 foot ceilings, 1.5 foot for the light drop = ~18 feet. 3 per bay would be plenty, or go two with a little more output. In my pic above I went with 3 length wise in each bay (no wall of course) and could have done 2 or 4 total - but wanted to make sure I was well lit.

I would say if the design works do 3 in each bay, easier to add when doing new than do it latter. You can also put them on dimmers if you want to have max control, or put them on different switches. I have it run (though I did not do it) where I could have put each set of two lights on one switch. But I figured the dimmer was better solution, as not likely I would not have the UFO's on at one time.

 

That is great looking.. I was going to go with LED Cans, but after about 17 feet the light dissipates so much, I would had to have put over 80 canned lights according to the calc's to get enough light to the floor from 20-26 feet at the peak to make it work. (The second garage is the same height and dimensions as our primary garage, so HOA wise I had to make it match the house in height We had it designed that way with canned lights, but when you see 80+ lights on a ceiling, it looked overwhelming and all lights no ceiling. So my option was to go industrial. and Farm. All wood beams, floors, cabinet wood, etc. are from an 100 year old barn. Then I have my Big Ass Fan and Industrial UFO's. Wasn't in the plan, but decided for practicality had to do it.

Yours looks great - love the cabin feel...

 

https://www.bigassfans.com/lights/

 

these may (probably) are not adequate for 20ft ceilings.

However, I installed these in my garage and I LOVE them! They are $20 each at the store. They are totally awesome! I have put 6 in a two car garage and will be adding two more when I can get one of the cars out. They are replacing 5 fluorescent lights, two of which were not working consistently. Being linkable, they don't require as many outlets either!

https://www.costco.com/Feit-4-ft.-Linkable-LED-Utility-Motion-Sensor-Shop-Lights%2C-2-pack-.product.100415188.html

 

mine are NOT motion sensitive - they are just on off, I did not see that until after posting...

 

Motion-sensing are a mixed blessing. Cool when you walk into the garage, but if you are stationary for any length of time....like working underneath the car....they can time out and go dark on you. I have one motion sensing light that I plan on replacing - so that I don't have to stand up and wave my arms while sitting on the floor cleaning wheels by hand. Given the choice, go manual.

 

I have motion sensor lights that are on a switch - The electrician who wired them set them up so that they are on motion as a default. after passing them and having them all go on with the motion you can then go to the switch turn it off then on quickly this keeps them on and cancels the motion. you then need to turn them off at the switch pause then turn them back on to have the motion reset.

 

Richard, those lights look awesome. Where did you find them? Thanks for your help.

 

I am not sure if these are exactly the ones my builder ended up purchasing (these were the ones I showed him) as an example. I believe mine are slightly less lumens 39000 iirc (each light was around $400 (with the defector/diffuser - which you absolutely need - as without it, the light just goes every direction, including up and way off to the sides). Mine are obviously White, and also my builder was able to get 4000K rather than 5000K which is a little more natural as opposed to the blueish tint on the 5000K.

https://www.superbrightleds.com/moreinfo/ufo-high-bay-lights/400w-ufo-led-high-bay-light-w-reflector-50000-lumens-1500w-metal-halide-equivalent-5000k/4544/

Remember if you height is shorter than say around 16 feet (Mine is at 26 foot Ceiling and about 22 foot hanging where they are mounted which is about perfect for High Bay lights). Once you are under 16 feet you should look at low bay lights, which have a different angle of dispersion to spread the light out better. Mine are 90 degree lights and get around 35-40 feet coverage per fixture, which gives pretty even cross over coverage.

Also you drop lumen pretty quickly the higher you go to the effective brightness on the floor, so two things to consider. How high are they mounted, and what lumen do you need - higher the height the more lumen if you want it bright, and what angle degree for best coverage.

To make it easy: Get 90 degree angle (or 45 if smaller area), get a nice high lumen light - put a dimmer on it, and you can dim it - if it is to bright on the highest setting. Mine is perfect set at 3/4 for everyday stuff. If I am detailing my cars or doing some more precise work on something - I crank mine up and it is like i am full lighting mode and can see every detail.

Here is a basic chart:

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When I built my garage I learned a lot from the Garage Journal site. They have a dedicated thread for lighting that is very useful. I used the suggestions made at the time and am very pleased with the result. https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=278420 I also placed recessed can lights under the soffit spaced at 8' (not on in the photo). I used 14 of these fixtures: https://www.1000bulbs.com/product/200882/PLT-10916.html with 28, T8, 4', 18 watt, led tubes at 4000k with 2400 lumens each. https://www.ledmyplace.com/products/t8-4ft-led-tube-18w-4000k-frosted?variant=28486702861 Very even natural light I think.
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Pretty good ideas on garage lightning in this thread. Since the recent time change I have discovered the strong need to update the lighting in my garage. Currently, I only have one small light bulb near the garage door opener. This is not sufficient for working on projects.

I am considering putting in 4 sets of LED lights but wanted to ask if anyone has recommendations or cheap alternatives. I've already done some research on lepro website, but still real life experiences highly appreciated

 

I'm what they call a "lighting professional". Sorta like being Robert the Shrubber, except with lights.

There's a lot of good info in this thread, but just as much misinformation. Which is to be expected, because there commenters are not shrubbers. (If you understand the reference, it might still not be funny. But it's early. Haha)

Tell us about your garage. Size, ceiling height, open structure above or flat ceiling? What KINDS of projects? Professional detailing or bodywork will require something more specialized.

Give me your details, I'll help ya out.

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