Tips to figure out garage lighting

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iwirehouses

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Any one have any tips or a "rule of thumb" for calculating fluorescent lights in a shop (fixtures with 2 four foot bulbs). My brother built a "barn" to restore muscle cars in. I'm looking for maybe a certain number of feet between each light? Like when working with recessed lights, I usually do one every 5 feet on center, or 1 can per 25 sq feet. I'm unfamiliar with fluorescent shop fixtures though. Any tips?
 
I would put maybe 2 four foot shop lights on 1 switch for just general use and a second switch for as many extra lights he might really need.There is never enough light when working on cars.Perhaps make it easy for him with some receptacle boxes on a switch so he can add as needed

Be sure and give him the family discount,in mine its usually 100% plus beer
 
I've done a few auto shops....we would put some on the ceilings/some with jack chain and some on the walls. The fixtures we used were typically HO type. One on each side of a lift...one on the wall on a pre-fabbed bracket at 45? +/- ...the one on the bracket was typically over the mechanics work bench.

As far as a rule of thumb...whatever the customer is willing to spend...this being your brother, buy him a cookbook for grillin' :D ...he'll get the hint.
 
I am only charging him gas money for now and of course materials -- but the labor is going to be in exchange for my own shop hours. We even talked about him letting me do a restore of my own in there. We're putting a 100 amp sub panel out there. I've got it all planned out, just have to figure out how many lights should go up.
 
The type of bulb plays a big part in flourescent lighting.
When I built my shop I installed 6 (switched) duplex receptacles in the ceiling and installed 6 (4') 2 bulb shop lights, equally spaced.
My shop is 24' x 28' with 10' ceiling.
It wasn't enough light for the work I was doing.
I went back and added 6 more fixtures, which was easy to do since I already had the outlets in the ceiling.
I started with "soft white" bulbs and finally bought bulbs for 'Kitchen and Bath", which made a big change in the light output and quality.
My advice is to put plenty of lighting receptacles in the ceiling (1 per 75 sq. ft.), and don't place over 4 receptacles on one switch.
The receptacles are cheap to add during rough in, and they make it really easy to add more light in the future.
Just my opinion
steve
 
Steve, thank you. Your description is great. What do you have feeding your shop? I will put up switched receptacles instead of hardwiring like originally planned. Why only 4 receptacles per switch? Because the switch starts to get hot?
 
garage GFCI protection - 100 amp subpanel

garage GFCI protection - 100 amp subpanel

What would be your preferred ways to GFCI protect the circuits in a garage? It will have a 100amp 240V subpanel in the garage.
 
iwirehouses said:
What would be your preferred ways to GFCI protect the circuits in a garage? It will have a 100amp 240V subpanel in the garage.
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If in budget i would put a gfci at each outlet so that triping does become a problem of getting to the master.Also best if all are dedicated circuits.All of this adds cost so the design part of this is up to you.Also dont overlook heating and cooling.
 
Nine fixtures...........3 rows of 3 would give you 65 footcandles which is the same amount of light you would find in a classroom. If it was mine I would use 8' fixtures
 
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iwirehouses said:
What would be your preferred ways to GFCI protect the circuits in a garage? It will have a 100amp 240V subpanel in the garage.
Click to expand...

I meant to put this in a new thread. Sorry about that.
 
iwirehouses said:
Steve, thank you. Your description is great. What do you have feeding your shop? I will put up switched receptacles instead of hardwiring like originally planned. Why only 4 receptacles per switch? Because the switch starts to get hot?
Click to expand...

It's has nothing to do with the load on the switches.
You could possibly have (8) 4' fixtures on one switch if you install like I suggest.
The reason for 4 recpts. per switch is to allow greater control of your lighting.
You won't always need all of the lights on at one time.
If you plan the wiring, you can light certain areas individually.
I (at present) have 12 fixtures on 3 switches (2 receps per switch) and it works well for me.
I installed a 200 Amp (230/1) service and breaker panel in my shop.
Although it's a small shop, I have a DC welder, air compressor, drill press, bench grinder, microwave, and small fridge (it's my second home too).

steve
 
This is really a hard one to help with unless maybe you could tell us alittle more of the inside of the building. Is the walls finished? If so what color are the walls? What is the size of the inside of the building where the lighting is? I just got done doing my brother shop out at his house and he does do car painting, frame work at more there. Also it depends on what type of fixture your putting in. I beleive I put in high output T8 fixtures in his shop at his house. But he has a body shop in town and when I did that many of years ago he put in the standard 8' fixtures with 75W bulbs in. Had to put in a alot more of them in. I beleive I had to start 4' from the wall and started hanging fixtures together from one end to the other end on the ceiling. Then the space was 6' apart and started hanging again. I beleived I switched every other row so he wouldn't have to have them all on at once. He had 10' ceiling in both shops.

Jim
 
Thanks James, perfect. He wants to finish it for insulation purposes, probably will be white. 10 ft cielings but not exactly sure of the square footage yet. I was kind of looking for a how many feet per light reccomendation. I am just going to put up switched receptacles and leave him plenty of room for expansion.

Hillbilly...Oh, ok, I already had plans for different switching patterns. I just thought that you knew something I didn't about switches. Thank you though, very much.
 
Iwire, how about an experiment or two?

Darken the space and hang a single fixture at the intended height, and judge the area you feel it adequately illuminates.

Then, hold up a second one and judge the spacing that allows adequate light overlap, both side-to-side and end-to-end.
 
Shop Light Suggestions

Shop Light Suggestions

Resuscitating an old thread here.

For applications such as this (shop lighting in barn type spaces, especially when the customer is not a big $$ institution) do you guys have any recommendations for fixtures to use or ones specifically to stay away from?

We are talking the sort of situation where _on paper_ the $15 'shop lights' from the big box stores seem to fit the bill. But there have been enough comments in other threads about the quality of these fixtures that perhaps they are a good idea on paper and a bad idea in reality. Cheapest is not ideal if it needs replacement in a year.

If you were installing this in your own home with your own money, what would you go with?

(DIY note: I am outside of the scope of my employment on this one. However what I am doing is helping a group of artists select lighting which will be installed legally by an electrician. Oh, on 'artist' don't think fine art painting with perfect color requirements. Think big stuff welded out of steel for 'burning man' or bizarre bicycles welded together from old bits.)

-Jon
 
Jim W in Tampa said:
There is never enough light when working on cars.Perhaps make it easy for him with some receptacle boxes on a switch so he can add as needed

Be sure and give him the family discount,in mine its usually 100% plus beer
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This is a must, But it could get expensive. :D :D

I use the switched receptacles in the ceiling in the garage, It gives you alot of room to change things around. You may consider useing a 200a panel just for lots of breaker space. If you have the space mount the aircompressor up off the floor to gain useable floor space. Cord drops in work spaces is an easy and useful add. multiple locations to plug in welders is a must.
 
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