a lighting question...

[Muddler Mike]

I'm setting up my shop in my garage and am concerned about enough lighting. Currently, the main part of the garage - 20x20 - has two single incandescent bulb fixtures and the back storage section - 6x10 - has only one of the single bulb fixtures. I've looked at various articles and past posts about the amount of light and figure I'll probably need at least six 4' flourescent strips to do the job - maybe more. the only thing is I'm having difficulty finding out any info about converting incandescent fixtures to flourescent ones and how many I could get on one circut. Any advice????

Muddy

[jziegler]

Mike,

The easiest solution is probably to replace the current fixtures with outlets. Most of the "shoplight" style flourescent fixtures have cords with standard 3 prong plugs on the end. You can then hang the lights and just plug them in. As far as how many can go on a circuit, others here may have information from the code. Generally 1 twin tube shoplight will use 2 30 - 40 watt bulbs (if you can use them, the newer T8 style lamps are supposed to be more efficient and slightly lower power). So 2 of them will use a little more power than a single 100W light bulb. If the circuit only has these fixtures and you have 40W bulbs, then you could get at least 15 on a 15A circuit, although there may be some derating necessary.

Also, a quick fix that may improve your lighting a bit would be to replace bare bulbs with teh circline bulbs. They just screw in the sockets.

I'm not an electrician, so this is just general information. Hopefully it will point you in the right direction.

-Jim

[LCHIEN]

quote:Originally posted by jziegler

Mike,

The easiest solution is probably to replace the current fixtures with outlets. Most of the "shoplight" style flourescent fixtures have cords with standard 3 prong plugs on the end. You can then hang the lights and just plug them in. As far as how many can go on a circuit, others here may have information from the code. Generally 1 twin tube shoplight will use 2 30 - 40 watt bulbs (if you can use them, the newer T8 style lamps are supposed to be more efficient and slightly lower power). So 2 of them will use a little more power than a single 100W light bulb. If the circuit only has these fixtures and you have 40W bulbs, then you could get at least 15 on a 15A circuit, although there may be some derating necessary.

Also, a quick fix that may improve your lighting a bit would be to replace bare bulbs with teh circline bulbs. They just screw in the sockets.

I'm not an electrician, so this is just general information. Hopefully it will point you in the right direction.

-Jim

That's about right. Each dual 40-W bulb fluorescent fixture pulls 80W or about .67 Amps.

On a 15A branch circuit dedicated to lighting you can theoretically get around 22 such dual fixtures, then. should be plenty of light!

As for converting, one suggestin would be to cut the wire going to one or the other swicthed incandescent fixtures and put a junctin box there. Install a duplex outlet on the end from the switch and then add a brach to the other pair of terminals on the duplex outlet and go to a junction box where you want the next light, and from there to another duplex outlet at the next light location. The wire will be swicthed 120V so all the outlets will be active when the swicth is on. If you remove the wire to the old light fixture and leave it loose from the first Junc box installed, it will be ok to leav it hanging. Put cover plates on all your jucntion boxes and you're in business. Those inexpensive dual fluorescent fixtures usually have short (18 inches) cords! so you have to locate the boxes close. The wire should be the standard wireing romex you can buy at the hardware store and I think you need to put wire staples to the studs every foot or so to meet code.

[Tom Miller]

Is the ceiling unfinished (i.e. no gypsum board, etc.), or is it accessible (attic space)? If so, I'd recommend running romex, as Loring suggested. If you wire outlets to plug lights in to you'll be able to move lights around. If you want a cleaner look, you should wire fixture boxes.

If re-wiring is not an option, then I'd do like Jim suggests. After you install an outlet, you could use a 6 to 1 outlet converter and power up to 12 lights with 2 outlets.

Regards,
Tom

[WayneJ]

Just something to think about, those two tube shop lights don't like cold weather. I got rid of the 4' type in favor of the 8' VHO fixtures. they come on a whole lot faster in cold weather. VHO = very high output. HD has them for about$40-45 if I remember right. Two of those fixtures is all I use in mine, 4 tubes.
Wayne

[Muddler Mike]

The celing is finished with drywall, but I do plan on adding access to the attic space above, so extra outlets/fixtures is a possibility in the future. I wasn't sure if I could just replace the fixtures with outlets, so that advice really helps.

Thanks guys, I knew I could count on you all...

[91FE]

quote:Originally posted by WayneJ

Just something to think about, those two tube shop lights don't like cold weather...

Yea... you have to make sure you get ballasts rated for 0 degrees F. I think regular ones are rated at 40.

[Bulkley]

My wife didn't like some of the fixtures in our house, so I took a couple of four-socket bedroom units and replaced the two single units in the garage. Then I filled them with florescent "bulbs". That works well. The only thing is they take a couple of minutes to come to full brightness in cold weather.

[leehljp]

ON another topic about light. Dark surfaces, unfunished wood suck up the light. White paint or very light paint will make the lighting MUCH more effecient!

[Muddler Mike]

thanks again guys!

I was checking the breaker box to confirm the amp service to the garage. LCHIEN - based on your figures and the assumption that 8, 4 foot double bulb fixtures in the main area and two more in the side section would come out to 6.7 amps or so, I should have more than enough power to cover all the flouro fixtures, a celing mounted air filter, and the outside lights on the same service. If I replace the incandescent fixtures with double outlets (4 outlets per fixture) I should have more than enough outlets to cover all the lights without running additional outlets. I found some fixtures on the Lowes site that had 5ft cords and were 0 degree F rated for cold starts.

Fortunately, they put the wall outlets on a 20 amp service after I told them I planned on setting up a shop in the garage. I just wish I was smart enough to have had them add 2ft to all the walls for space for all the tools!!!

Muddy

[JimD]

Muddy,

Before you start the rewiring, you may want to try a few large screw-in fluorescent bulbs. I got 3 of the biggest one I could find - I think they were 30W or a little more - spaced evenly over my 400 square foot shop and I think I have most of it pretty well lit. I bought large tumblers from Walmart and put some holes in them then used them to cover the bulbs so I do not break them handling wood. I glued a wooden doughnut to the cheap porcelean bare bulb fixture to screw the tumblers to. This is not fancy but it is cheap and it works fine for me. Roughly 100W of fluorescent is equivalent to something like 4 times that incandescent - it is not a small amount of light. I have my ceiling painted white so that helps some too.

I am 50 so I need more light than I used to. My only complaint at this point is one area where I store sheet goods over top of the garage door. I can't put one of my whopper screw-in bulbs in this area so it doesn't have a lot of light unless the garage door is open (not this time of year).

Jim

[don_hart]

One other thing to keep in mind is the height of the ceiling. If the height is a standard 8' then you should have no problems but if your garage is like mine and you have 11' ceilings then you will need more light. You will also want fixtures with good reflectors. Recessed IC fixtures with a decent baffle will get more light directed down than you will get with a flourescent shop fixture. In my shop I am using halogen fixtures. Like JimD I like plenty of light and halogen fixtures will give you that. Also they will start at any temp and in the winter they even add an appreciable amount of heat to the shop.

[Deadhead]

I just installed one 4 ft 2-bulb T-8 shoplight fixture in my small attic shop and boy did it make a difference. The best part - it has a 5 ft power cord.
My dad put 2 of the same in his 12x16 shed.

Mike, you may want to try 4 of these (after swapping the existing fixture for a recepticle) in your main area and one in your 6x10 area. With 5 ft cords, you should be able to get the spacing you need.

I don't have the receipt with me, but they came from Home Depot. Lithonia Lighting is the brand, and the model number has '1045R' (that may even be the entire model number). I don't see them on HD's website.
My dad's lights came from Lowe's. When we got his, they were not with the rest of the lighting but instead with the electrical and I think they were called "Shoplight" on the box. Might be Item # 81769 on their website.

[scorrpio]

I got four 2-bulb 4' lights at HD for $8 each, total wattage (8x40) is 320W. The walls of my shop are primarily white, so they light things up real well.

[sbs9]

I'm using the same $8 HD T8 fixtures mentioned above and am very happy with them. They have a 5' cord.

I'm using them in the basement, so can't speak to their performance in a garage.