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Garage lighting - CFL vs Strip

18K views 36 replies 15 participants last post by  Byfield 
#1 ·
I'm in the process of wiring the garage for lights and need to decide between going with single bulb CFL fixtures or 2-4 bulb florescent fixtures. I plan to use the garage as my workshop so I want a lot of light and all over, not just a few really bright spots and shadows everyewhere else.

With CLF's, I can put them all over the place and use lower wattage bulbs where I want them, higher where I need them.

Aside from the time it'll take to do the wiring (lot longer with all those single builb units), is there any good reason to go with strip over CFL? Garage is about 23x26, unheated, 7 foot ceiling.

Thanks
 
#2 ·
Do both Kurt.

My garage originally had just 2 single bulb fixtures in it. I added 4, twin tube, 4' fixtures. Works pretty well. We use the original single fixtures the vast majority of the time - I have two 150 watt (equiv) CFL's screwed into them.
 
#3 ·
strips over CFL!
CLF take time to come to full brightness - 3 to 5 min.
strips 30 sec to 1 min
 
#4 ·
In that cold weather area where you live you must consider that any flourescent lamp will take a long time to come up to brightness in the winter months. When I lived a bit south of you, I put incandescent lamps in 2 locations for instant-on light and flourescent tubes everywhere else. Also look at the cost of the installation. As you noted, the strips will require fewer wiring devices, less labor and cost. The strip fixtures can be gotten cheaply when on sale, and the tubes are pretty cheap at Costco when you buy in quantity.

It is good to see you back posting again.
 
#5 ·
I would get some 8 ft HO's and put them up in there Kurt, and then add just a couple incandescents for quickly running in to get the car or whatever. I was going to say bike, but those are in the dining room, right? ;)

My price for the 8 ft HO's from the supply shop (which is also your price) is $85 with lamps, those are good down to -20 f. I can also get you 4 ft tandem T-8's (4 4 ft T-8 tubes running the 8 ft way) for about $50 per fixture with lamps, these are good down to 0. Chances are your garage doesn't get down past zero a whole lot and if it is, you won't be working in it anyways.

Jeff
 
#8 ·
I would get some 8 ft HO's and put them up in there Kurt, and then add just a couple incandescents for quickly running in to get the car or whatever. I was going to say bike, but those are in the dining room, right? ;)
Not anymore :( I was told to move them out of the house

My price for the 8 ft HO's from the supply shop (which is also your price) is $85 with lamps, those are good down to -20 f. I can also get you 4 ft tandem T-8's (4 4 ft T-8 tubes running the 8 ft way) for about $50 per fixture with lamps, these are good down to 0.
So given the space of 23x26 (approx), how much lighting would you suggest? This would be for a woodworking shop so I want it to be well li. And with the garageinsulated, I doubt it'll ever get below 0, and as you said, I won't be out there anyways. I don't see working out there much below freezing
 
#6 ·
Actually, materials cost will be less with the CFL's.

I have to run about the same amount of wire regardless. Maybe a little less with strips if you take into account the amount going in/out of the fixtures. The fixtures themselves are less than $2 for CFL - 1 blue box, 1 porcelain base. $60 for 30 fixtures vs strips which are going to be $20-$60 each and I figure I'll need 6-8

The cold weather start is a concern but I can easily wait a few min for them to come up to temp. I don't really want to spend the $$ on cold weather strip lights - I've heard they cost quite a bit more for the 0 degree ballasts?
 
#9 ·
Material cost will certainly be less with CFL's, without doubt. The lighting will also be less, and unless you buy cold weather starting CFL's, they will take forever to light in the dead of winter.

I would probably do like 6 T-8 tandems in there, without seeing the garage to say for sure. So figure about $300 for fixtures and lamps. That would be one incredibly bright garage.

Jeff
 
#12 ·
FWIW, I have a 16 x 24 attached garage/ shop and I've got 6 of the cold-weather rated (two tube) strip fixtures. I got them for about $20 each at Menards (this was about 6 years ago). They work very well in the cold weather - although my garage is insulated so it doesn't get much below 20 degrees normally.

The amount of light you need probably also depends on your wall and ceiling finishes. I've got walls and ceiling drywalled and painted white- with all 6 lights on it is extremely bright!!

I actually had it wired up with two wall switches - I can turn on 3 with one switch to light up on side of the garage and the other switch turns on the other side. Most often I just turn one on which saves a little electricity rather than always having to turn on all 6.
 
#13 ·
Strips! They are nice since the deflectors will put light where needed, where CFL will send light all over the place.

I highly recommend T8 electronic ballast fixtures. A 2 bulb (4’ footer) will draw about 0.5A. Very efficient.

I hung 8 two bulb fixtures (troffers) in a 22’x22’ and I can finally say I have enough light.

I’m at 1W per sq ft, and some would recommend even more.


http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=11430&highlight=free+lights
 
#14 ·
Hey John,

$20 at Menards? I had no idea you could get them that cheap - have to stop by and check that out

I'm also going the 2 switch route - just a cpl lights for normal use but then everything for when I want to make sure I tdon't take off a finger with the table saw. And I'll be insualtng as well though the ceiling might not happen until next year. Right now the goal is to get the garage usable as a shop and then movie right into rehabing the outside of the house. I just want the shop good enough for cutting replacement pieces for the exterior of the home. Once that's complete, then I can devote time to really fixing up the shop itself
 
#16 ·
The lights are on dedicated circuits - everything electrical related is new and I'm starting from scratch so I want to do it right. Walls have dual 20A circuts, garage door on it's own, etc. Did the trenching last year and ran power, water, phone & CATV. It's taking longer but it'll be worth it whem I'm done
 
#17 ·
I had to run over to Lowe's for some junk and looked at shop lighting. I think that they have a good 48" twin tube with a reflector for $17.98 each. It has an electronic ballast good down to 0 degrees. It is item 24556 and the model is NXU-6001-B if you need the details. There are some cheaper twin tube models, but this looked like the sweet spot to me.
 
#20 · (Edited)
Yes - digging it by hand sucks ;)

I rented a ditchwitch and it was impossible to get working correctly. Got all pissed off and dug the 60' by hand. I went down about 24 inches, the width of a garden rake. The width was so that I could use the rake to level the bottom and 'shave' places that needed it (for a level run). Plus with 4 pipes, I wanted to have plenty of width for them to lay next to eachother and not on top of eachother. Yeah, could have gone below the frost line but I figure the odds of it getting pushed to the surface are pretty slim.

The 4 pipes:

1. CATV/Phone
2. PEX for water (down the road)
3. #8 & 2 12-3's. #8 for power, 12-3's for 3 way switches for the garage lights - want to be able to shut them off from thehouse
4. Empty with a string tag

Proably overkill , don't know that I"ll ever actually do the water, but once it was dug, the extra few $'s wasn't a big deal.

Made one big mistake - didn't properly measure the lenght of #8 on the house end. Went to hook it up and was about a foot short. I could reach the box but not cleanly. Had plenty of extra on the garage end. Tried to pull more thru but it wouldn't budge. Thought I was going to be SOL but then decided ot give wire lube a shot. I opened up the corned boxes (not sure the real name, have that box with a plate on the back for entering a structure?) and pulled the wires out of both buildings. Hooked my shop vack up to one end as best I could and with it running, poured in most of a bottle of lube on the other end. Worked it down best I could, and then dumped more down the end where the vac was. After letting it sit for a while, I gave it a shot. With a bit of effort, it worked. Seems the sticking points were the 90 degree bends where the conduit turn up out of the ground from the bottom of the trench.

Made a hell of a mess (wire lube is awful stuff) but it worked.

So to sum it up:

1. Put in more capacity than you need
2. Measure and measure again
3. Pay someone to dig the trench ;)

Also, when the trench is open, it's a great place to get rid of any extra stone or gravel youy might have laying around. Having an old house, we have lots of stones pop to the surface along with quite a bit of old coal furnace clinkers.
 
#19 ·
My 32 x 24' garage has 3 porcelin fixtures for standard bulbs in it when I built it - one in each bay. I had used standard 100W bulbs, then changed to 100W Halogen as the originals blew out. Had three 48" 4-tube flour. tube fixtures sitting and ready to go in when CFL's hit the market. Installed 150W (equiv) CFL's and have not looked back. I think regardless of what you install, you will get shadows and end up using a shoplight for added lighting where you are working. As for cold weather. Garage is unheated. I hit the switch on the way in the door and within couple minutes it is full bright. You really don't even notice it. Have installed CFL's wherever possible. The room over that garage (768 sq ft room) has six spotlights overhead in the cathedral ceiling. Changed all those to 150 Watt (equiv) CFL's as well as the ten 65 Watt (equiv) spotlights/floodlights in the kitchen and eating area. First couple times it's an inconvenience waiting for the light to get to full bright. You get used to it in a very short time.
 
#21 ·
This is mainly for Jeff but I thought his reply might be helpful for anyone else in the same situation I am so I’m posting here instead of a PM

Went to Menards this morning and took back all the CFL stuff – you and others have convinced me to go the strip light route but I’ve got a few questions:

T-8 vs. T-12 - is there an advantage to one over the other?

H.O. vs. Cold Start – The HO lights have a -20 degree rating while the cold start have a 0 degree rating. I don’t see myself being out there when it’s near zero, let alone below zero so is this overkill?

4’ vs. 8’ – I can get an 8’ 2 bulb H.O. T-12 for a few $ more than the same thing in 4’. Tubes were the same price for either, so aside from dealing with 8 foot tubes, is there any reason to go 4 over 8?

Thanks
 
#23 ·
T-8 vs T-12; The main advantage is efficiency. The lower the T-X numbe ris, the more efficient a fixture will be. Now if these are only going to be on a few hours a day, a couple times a week (like most of us) then the advantage wittles down quickly. Now I have heard talk at supply shops that T-12's are goingf to be phased out for efficiency reasons, how true this is I can't say, but we do know about the incandescent bulb standards put into effect, it wouldn't suprise me if flourescent was going that way as well.

HO vs a cold start, the only diffrence is starting temp and price. Be honest with yourself, how often are you going to fire those strips up in sub zero temps? If you the garage to park in, and want light int he middle of winter, throw a couple of incandescents in for that. If you don't need the HO's rating of -20, don't pay for it.

Myself I would go 8' lamps. Purely personal preference. They spread light at a greater distance continuously, but nothing 2 well placed 4 footers couldn't handle. I prefer fewer fixtures and the same amount of light myself. I have had people do linked 4 footers in there garages, and then put each 4 foot section on a seperate switch for more control over lighting.

Jeff
 
#22 ·
Kurt, i used the 8 ft t-12 and was very happy with amount of light....my shop measures 50' wide by 30' deep..3 bay...i put a total of nine 8ft fixtures up on 10ft high ceilings..6' off the back wall and then 6-7' apart from rear to front, maybe 8ft from front so when garage doors are up, you don't block the light....also put 3 fixtures in each bay opening on its own switch...that way only 3 8ft lights are on if thats all i need..no need to turn all on if working on one car, as was mentioned here, off white walls and ceiling really brighten up the shop...you're right about one thing for sure, that wire lube is some of the slimiest stuff i've ever seen, but like you i needed it to pull that extra 12" of wire i was short from one end.....course in my case i didn't mismeasure length, my wire shrunk from the cold winters here in Bama:D...that's my story and i'm sticking to it.......
 
#24 ·
Forgive my barging in, but I have two points.

One, the tiny CFLs don't put out anywhere near the light that a fluorescent tube (or several) will. I changed some wiring in my garage a few weeks ago to get rid of a single pair of 4' tubes, and put up 4 CFLs with the intention of replacing them w/ 4 pairs of 4' tubes when the garage was done. Last night I hung a pair of used 2x4' tube fixtures with used tubes and the difference in light is huge. I suspect the very old tubes are dim as well.

Second, in a shop where blades will be spinning a fluorescent light has been rumored to have a strobe effect which could fool the eye and make you think a blade is stopped when its not. Ouch. Some have said some incandescent lights (along w/ fluorescents) will reduce this. Unfortunately they are probably being legislated out of existence.
 
#25 ·
Second, in a shop where blades will be spinning a fluorescent light has been rumored to have a strobe effect which could fool the eye and make you think a blade is stopped when its not. Ouch. Some have said some incandescent lights (along w/ fluorescents) will reduce this. Unfortunately they are probably being legislated out of existence.
Never head this before - My current workshop is lit 100% with 4' tubes and I've never experienced this. Granted, the only spinning blade is on the table saw and so little of that is actually visable while it's in use, even if it did occur, I can't see it being a problem


T-8 vs T-12; The main advantage is efficiency. The lower the T-X numbe ris, the more efficient a fixture will be. Now if these are only going to be on a few hours a day, a couple times a week (like most of us) then the advantage wittles down quickly. Now I have heard talk at supply shops that T-12's are goingf to be phased out for efficiency reasons, how true this is I can't say, but we do know about the incandescent bulb standards put into effect, it wouldn't suprise me if flourescent was going that way as well.
I don't see using them that often at all. Most of my time will be spent out there in the summer months, so a cpl hours at most in the evening. Though if the t12's are going away, it would make sense to not invest any $ in that system

Be honest with yourself, how often are you going to fire those strips up in sub zero temps? If you the garage to park in, and want light int he middle of winter, throw a couple of incandescents in for that. If you don't need the HO's rating of -20, don't pay for it.
I don't see myself workingout there in those temps ever. If for some reason I begin to do so, I'll invest in a heater which would bring it up above the cut-off for the cold starts anyways. And with the insulated walls and a 2" insulated door, it won't take much to bring it up to temps

Myself I would go 8' lamps. Purely personal preference. They spread light at a greater distance continuously, but nothing 2 well placed 4 footers couldn't handle. I prefer fewer fixtures and the same amount of light myself.
Makes sense. Plus 1 8' is quite a bit less than 2 4's

Thanks!
 
#26 ·
If you go with 8’ fixtures, get them with 4’ vs. 8’ bulbs, unless you are not concerned with handling (own a pickup or large car, storage, etc)

I have old T12 fixtures in the basement and they hum. The T8’s in the garage are silent and start instantly.

Also, my T8’s have ballasts that say “good to 50°F”, and they take a few min to get to full brightness. I live in the Midwest, and have been in the garage when it’s 20-25°F out, and they do take 5 min to get to full brightness. Of course, I turn on the torpedo heater and warm it up to 45°F. I can only last about 2hrs in those conditions anyway.
 
#27 ·
If you go with 8’ fixtures, get them with 4’ vs. 8’ bulbs, unless you are not concerned with handling (own a pickup or large car, storage, etc)
Good point - Got the Ranger and plan to buy a case of bulbs someplace like Costco/etc. and just keep it in the rafters

Probably going to invest in those clear protective sleeves as well (unless someone can talk me out if it - never actually used them before)
 
#29 ·
My garage is 35 X 35. What I have is 3 banks of lights, Each unit has 4 ---4 Ft. Flo. Tubes. or 12 tubes on the left side 12 Tubes in the middle and 12 Tubes on the right side. All 9 Light fixtures were FREE... Schools and office builds , Restaurants, replace fixtures to keep the cash flowing, It is a tax write off. Go to a work site and get FREE light fixtures. ( They pitch them in the dumpster )
In the last few years I have replaced 4-6 starters. I have a total of 36-4 Ft. Tubes in the garage. The ceiling and the walls are white and YES it is very bright. Each bank is on a switch and a Circut Brk.
Just a thought........ Bob
,
 
#31 · (Edited)
I have a 25X30X12 garage with 3 rows of 3 CFL's, I have the Sylvania 65w (250watt equivalent). WAY TOO BRIGHT if there is such a thing. And it was cheap! the fixtures were cheap anyway...the bulbs are about $17 a piece. And as far as cold weather start up I have never had a problem with them, but I do keep the temp above 50* in the dead of winter. I'll never go back to strips again, allot of people are amazed at how bright it is in there.
 
#32 ·
I use a combination of CFL and tube flourescent fixtures in my shop and in my garage. Being in the Houston area, cold weather starts are not a big problem but it does happen on occassion. The warm up time is not an issue with me. What's a few seconds to a minute or so? I think people just want to nit-pick. They both give great light and save energy. The T-8 fixtures I got at Lowe's for around $18 are cold start rated and I really like them. None of that flickering that the other fixtures do in those cold Houston winters!!!
 
#33 · (Edited)
I just put in some t-5 fixtures that I picked up on Craigslist. 4 and 6 lamp fixtures kinda like this one. KInda pricey if you buy new but the are very efficient and put out lots of laight. The lamps are about the 1/2" in diameter.
 
#34 ·
I found a good article on shop lighting that has a formula for the amoiuntof lighting yopu should have. I'm going with 8 8' tandem T-8's. I'm also using 4 regular bulbs over the cars and that'll be the lights for when we just need to get a car out or something like that.

This is probably more light than most guys have but I'm planning to use the garage as my woodworking shop so I want to have ample lighting, esp for when doing finishing work
 
#36 ·
The article is from Fine Woodowkring and you have to have a paid memeberhsip to access it but it's pretty basic: They recomment 100 fc (foot candle) for woodworkers 40 y/o and up. I'll be 40 this year so I went with that.

The spacing formula works out to:

X is the distance from the work surface to the light
Y is the distance between fixtures and should be max of 1/5 x X
Z is the distance fromt he wall to the fixture and should be about 1/3 to 1/2 Y

I have some limitations from the ceiling height, wtc so I used general #'s. X = 4, Y = 6, Z = 2. That works out to about 2 8' every 6 feet or so - makes more sense if you see it on paper
 
#37 ·
Not sure if this will work



The grey is the 2 ft border, yellow is the 8' lights. Sorry it's so small but I'm not real good at this stuff - tried to convert a spreadsheet to pdf to jpg
 
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