Need Help With Garage Lighting

Scott@IncrediblyDetailed

Scott@IncrediblyDetailed

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So I'm going to be renovating my garage/detailing space.

It's 23ft x 26ft.

I'm thinking T8 bulbs (not sure which exact ones yet).

Ceiling: Should I have 4 fixtures of 4 bulbs so (16 bulbs total) or 2 fixtures of 4 bulbs and 2 fixtures of 2 bulbs (12 bulbs total)?

Wall: 1 fixture of 2 bulbs on each side wall.

I don't want to go overboard but I also want to be able to see well enough to do interior work and not be completely surprised when I pull it into the sunlight. I also have two 1400 watt halogen work lights for correction work.

Any input or articles I should read or example I should see would be great.

Thanks! :dblthumb2:
 
Dear Scott

Do a search for "light" here, on autopiaforums.com, and live2detail.com.

I don't know much. My paw-in-law installed four of the regular fluorescent lights and it made a big improvement for me, but I believe I'd like four more. I'm using cheap stuff. All the fixtures and bulbs cost less than $60.

Others have done much more expensive jobs that are much more impressive.

It's difficult to detail what you cannot see. But I try.
 
I agree with pureshine. I just installed a couple lights in my garage and the day light bulbs are very bright. My garage is to small to detail out of, so I can't comment on that but the bulbs really brightened the space up
 
Scott,

I have a similar size detached shop... just a bit larger (25' x 32')

I have 2, 4', 4 bulb T5HO fixtures mounted longitude, spaced evenly from the center of the ceiling.

I have 2, 8', 2 bulb T12HO fixtures mounted latitude wise, spaced evenly from center of ceiling.

I have 2 more, 8', 2 bulb T12HO fixtures mounted latitude wise, angled at 45 degrees (down towards floor) in corner of ceiling/ wall adjoining (one on each side of shop)

I have 2, 8', 2 bulb T12s mounted 3' off the ground on either side of shop, centered latitude wise.

I have 4, 4', 4 bulb T8s mounted elsewhere around the shop to cover every angle.

Needless to say... it's not enough... especially when applying Opti Coat and trying to view "all the angles". I find that I turn a lot of them off and just use halogen stands and some LED floor lights, most of the time when correcting.

For interior work... I can have all the lights on... and black trim and black plastic fail to render well. I still find 'stuff' after viewing the interior in the sun.

For what it's worth.
-Dellinger
 
I'm currently using 4 ft t8 6500k bulbs in my garage. I also have a 8ft track lighting aimed for the front end of the car for now. Below are a couple pictures to show the light output and intensity.



















 
Dellinger said:
Scott,

I have a similar size detached shop... just a bit larger (25' x 32')

I have 2, 4', 4 bulb T5HO fixtures mounted longitude, spaced evenly from the center of the ceiling.

I have 2, 8', 2 bulb T12HO fixtures mounted latitude wise, spaced evenly from center of ceiling.

I have 2 more, 8', 2 bulb T12HO fixtures mounted latitude wise, angled at 45 degrees (down towards floor) in corner of ceiling/ wall adjoining (one on each side of shop)

I have 2, 8', 2 bulb T12s mounted 3' off the ground on either side of shop, centered latitude wise.

I have 4, 4', 4 bulb T8s mounted elsewhere around the shop to cover every angle.

Needless to say... it's not enough... especially when applying Opti Coat and trying to view "all the angles". I find that I turn a lot of them off and just use halogen stands and some LED floor lights, most of the time when correcting.

For interior work... I can have all the lights on... and black trim and black plastic fail to render well. I still find 'stuff' after viewing the interior in the sun.

For what it's worth.
-Dellinger
Click to expand...

Thanks for the input. I think I might invest in fewer lights and a really nice and bright light to wear on my head for interiors.
 
Scott@IncrediblyDetailed said:
Thanks for the input. I think I might invest in fewer lights and a really nice and bright light to wear on my head for interiors.
Click to expand...

That makes sense, Scott. (I didn't buy all the fixtures in my shop... the previous owner of the property left a bunch here and I made use of them!)

Find the brightest headset light you can and invest in some rechargeable batteries if you haven't already.

-Dellinger
 
Another +1 for T5 HO bulbs.

We use them in the aquarium hobby because you can get bulbs that are extremely close to sunlight. So close; in fact, that plants will grow under them! (That's why we use them in aquariums!). If you use aquarium or daylight T5 HO bulbs you could even grow some outdoor plants inside the garage without ever opening the doors. Another thing is that light actually has a hard time penetrating water. So you need a lot of power, without a lot of heat or electricity usage (T5's are replacing older mercury vapor bulbs, like those used in street lights, used in deep aquariums). Definitely the way to go these days! Large commercial buildings are replacing their older mercury vapor/metal halide lighting with T5's as well. Just as much light, closer to sunlight, way less energy usage and way less heat!

They are very bright, low energy, and reveal everything. In high school I worked at a hardware store and we used T5 bulbs over the paint chip display because it most accurately represents the colors. It's probably the closest thing you can mount to your ceiling to sunlight.
 
I have a ton of overhead fluros but definitely recommend a headlamp for interiors. I use a fenix

for correction work I turn the fluros off. Then I've got single diode LED floodlights (daylight spectrum) mounted all over. Way less power, heat, and weight then halogens. I hung them all over with some inexpensive photography lighting fixtures. And I wear the headlamp

The single diode LEDs are very focused (like the sun). Shows swirls, compounding haze, buffer trails



Compounding haze / swirls (from the dealer - I was hired to fix)



Buffer trails (body shop buff job over my clients prior correction / Opti Coat)





 
Gurge said:
I have a ton of overhead fluros but definitely recommend a headlamp for interiors. I use a fenix

for correction work I turn the fluros off. Then I've got single diode LED floodlights (daylight spectrum) mounted all over. Way less power, heat, and weight then halogens. I hung them all over with some inexpensive photography lighting fixtures. And I wear the headlamp

The single diode LEDs are very focused (like the sun). Shows swirls, compounding haze, buffer trails



Compounding haze / swirls (from the dealer - I was hired to fix)



Buffer trails (body shop buff job over my clients prior correction / Opti Coat)





Click to expand...

Thanks this really improved my lighting plans. Where did you get those LED lights?
 
If your looking for a powerful headlamp check out a cycling site like Bike Nashbar, they have headlamps designed to be used for mountain biking at night.

Sent by carrier pigeon using AG Online
 
Just installed an 8 foot light strip last night in the garage. I originally had three normal ceiling lights, just a bulb and two hanging shop lights. I detail a lot outside because my property provides me perfect shade but ample lighting. Since I have gotten more serious I wanted to brighten the garage up significantly.

I replaced the middle bay with the 8 foot light (four, four foot t8 bulbs) and just that one light makes a world of difference. I think one of the other ceiling lights was wired to the middle bay because it doesn't work now. I was wondering what the extra wire was that looked like it was tied into the power wires. Once it gets a little warmer again I am going to go out and get two of the four foot strip lights for the other two bays and then move my two hanging shop lights to the back sides (going along the passenger and driver side of the car.)
 
Scott, you seriously need 8' HO, if not VHO bulbs. (Although VHO are fairly expensive.) I too have use them in aquariums (in the 4') size and swear by them.

The thing about HO bulbs is you can get them in various output temps from 4500k and up. It's that mix of color temps that give you the widest color spectrum and greatest color rendition.
 
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