Garage Lighting

[shelshel]

I have a 24x26 garage with a little over 9ft ceiling. The garage is insulated with the brown insulation showing with clear plastic over top. Now I know the ideal situation would be to have white walls and ceiling but this isn't an option.

How well will Fluorescent lighting working in my situation + how many light fixtures would you recommend.

[Jngrbrdman]

My plan is to have two banks of lights down each side and one bank in the front and back. Kind of a large rectangle around where I usually park the car when I'm working on it. I've got 3 banks with two bulbs in each hooked up right now. That seems to work ok. I need more light though. I need lower lights so I can see the lower half of the door on smaller cars.

[Jimmy Buffit]

Jngrbrdman said "I need lower lights so I can see the lower half of the door on smaller cars."

Yeah, you'll be happier if you can mount fluorescents on the sides of the garage. Makes a world of difference!

Jim

[shelshel]

What about this model? Enough wattage?

"LITHONIA" 48" FLUORESCENT SHOPLIGHT W/COLD WEATHER BALLAST

Takes 2-25 or 40 watt fluorescent lamps (sold separately)

Cold weather ballast 0 degrees

Cord set attached 5 length

[Accumulator]

Just remember that [Accumulator's broken record...] marring such as light "swirlmarks" doesn't show up well under fluorescent lighting (except sometimes on *white* paint, oddly enough). You can have some unpleasant surprises if you do your marring removal under fluorescents. Heh heh, even my wife's Audi looks nearly perfect under fluorescents

But yeah, for general illumination they're great. Wall mounting is just as great as people are saying And generally, you just can't have *too much* light.

[audio1der]

After much reading, I still can't figure out why everyone uses fluorescent light as opposed to halogen.(for just that reason, accumulator) It's akin to trying to see swirls in broad, natural daylight.
I've changed my own game plan from f to h, and it's even much, much cheaper.

[shelshel]

Originally posted by audio1der
After much reading, I still can't figure out why everyone uses fluorescent light as opposed to halogen.(for just that reason, accumulator) It's akin to trying to see swirls in broad, natural daylight.
I've changed my own game plan from f to h, and it's even much, much cheaper.

When you say cheaper, are you referring to the cost of the fixture or the cost to operate. I've heard you can get some of fluorescent bulbs that will actually shine like daylight. Does anyone have this type of bulb and can offer any advice.

I'd be interested in the halogens and what your setup is.

[Accumulator]

I've seen the special "daylight/full spectrum" fluorescents; the framing shop/art gallery that we frequent uses them. I can get the brandname if anybody really cares, it's not something you can just buy at the local big-box store. They're made just for accurate color rendition and they do give a *very* accurate read on color and some types of texture. But you still can't see marring under them very well (I checked using a black lacquer picture frame). It seems that fluorescent light just isn't the right technology for this particular task.

Again, it's not like I have any issue with them for most things, I have 48 x 8' and 8 x 4' fluorescent tubes in my shop. They're great for washing and other normal stuff.

Seems most people use halogens in adjustable "work light" fixtures. It sure is convenient to be able to position the light just the way you want it, though you still have to alter your viewing angle to spot everything. Since you need very high power lights for this I dunno how well ceiling/wall mount fixtures would work. And you gotta watch it when using halogens for "normal" lighting; if you hit a hot halogen bulb with water (e.g., when you're washing) it'll burst. I have a cheapie 2 x 500W work light and a fancier 4 x 300W Craftsman one. I actually prefer the cheapie by a wide margin.

[More broken record...] High wattage incandescents are still my #1 choice for spotting marring. Simply because I (and everyone I know who's ever tried experimenting with different lights) can see flaws that don't show up under other light sources. No need to take my word for it; trouble lights are cheap and so are 200+ wattage bulbs. Try it for yourself in an otherwise dark garage, as Bill D did. Heh heh, just ask him how it worked out ;

I still need natural sunlight for certain types of holograms though.

[artm3]

Originally posted by shelshel
I have a 24x26 garage with a little over 9ft ceiling. The garage is insulated with the brown insulation showing with clear plastic over top. Now I know the ideal situation would be to have white walls and ceiling but this isn't an option.

How well will Fluorescent lighting working in my situation + how many light fixtures would you recommend.

a good rule of thimb is 1.5 W/sq ft

24 x 26 x 1.5 = 950 W

950 / 40W/bulb = 24 4' bulbs at 40W each

24 bulbs / 4 bulbs/fixture = 6 fixtures

5'

4' I 8' I 8' I 4'


8'


4' I 8' I 8' I 4'

5'

[the other pc]

Originally posted by Accumulator
... High wattage incandescents are still my #1 choice for spotting marring. Simply because I ... can see flaws that don't show up under other light sources.

...I still need natural sunlight for certain types of holograms though.

I'd guess that this is because holograms need point source illumination to be visible. The more diffuse and uniform the light source the harder they are to see.

Fluorescent bulbs/fixtures have a lot of surface area that emits light. Halogen "work lights" use tubular lamps with near linear filaments and large faceted reflectors to spread the light out. Standard light bulbs are fairly small and "trouble lights" don't have large diffusing reflectors so it makes sense that they would work better than most.

The sun has the advantage of being both very bright, overpowering any other light sources, and very far away, causing it to act very much like a point source.

To look for holograms indoors it might be worth trying a very small halogen bulb in a fixture with no reflector and all other lights in the room turned way down.


PC.

[Accumulator]

the other PC- Those are good points, and you made it all very easy to understand

If I ever have holograms to worry about again (fingers crossed) I might give the small halogen bulb a try. Last time I just positioned the car so sunlight through the window hit them, but it still wasn't as easy to spot them as it was outside. And being at the mercy of the weather is a real hassle.

artm3- Good to have a watt/sq. foot rule to go by, but I wonder how ceiling height factors in. I have about twice as many fluorescent tubes as the formula would dictate, and IMO it's still not *too* bright even with the walls and ceiling painted white. *BUT* I have a cathedral ceiling in the shop, which has to make a huge difference. Also, I like a lot of light, so what's not "too bright" for me might be pretty blinding for somebody else.

[artm3]

artm3- Good to have a watt/sq. foot rule to go by, but I wonder how ceiling height factors in. I have about twice as many fluorescent tubes as the formula would dictate, and IMO it's still not *too* bright even with the walls and ceiling painted white. *BUT* I have a cathedral ceiling in the shop, which has to make a huge difference. Also, I like a lot of light, so what's not "too bright" for me might be pretty blinding for somebody else. [/b]

you're correct, height has a lot to do with it,light follows the inverse square rule IRRC, i.e., if the light is moved twice as far away, it's only 1/4 the intensity....

a light at 12' compared to one at 8' would only be ~44% as bright...you can see this, take a flashlight and play with against a wall...

let's call it 50%, or equivilent to having only 1/2 as many lights...

I would mount them only high enough to clear the garage door..