I need about 10 5ft strip lights in my new garage. And I’m in a rabbit hole…

Would you go double or single

IP rated or not

And any suppliers to recommend.

I’m looking atTubes

And no I need tubes or are they there…. it’s got a 30w output but not sure if that’s the max it will power.

Also christ they’re expensive

10 lights? How big is your garage?

What’s its height and width?

Are the walls painted, and if so what colour?

What is the floor? Concrete? Is it also painted?

What will you be doing in the garage?

All of the above would determine how many fittings, what colour, and whether to go with single or double.

Definitely go with IP rated fittings, and Ansell are a good brand.

@sonor Big Its 35ft x14 foot. 3m high white inside cornflour blue floor its

Was thinking 6 roof lights.

One over a bench and then 2 I can mount on the vertical walls so if I’m painting or working I’ve no shadows. Plus a spare to use if I’ve a dark spot…..

Bikes and Cars mainly. I need to paint a couple of minis in the future hence the detachable wall mounted idea.

https://www.bltdirect.com/led-batten-lights

I’ve fitted these V-TAC ones in my garage. They’re brighter than you think and 10 of them will definitely be overkill. They weigh almost nothing and obviously don’t need any starters.

If you had 10 fluorescent tubes then 5 of these will easily be brighter. Would recommend the 4000K temperature over 6400K, which looks very blue.

Not sure why you want IP rated indoors – I wouldn’t bother unless all your existing wiring is already in conduit then it’s probably easier to stick with that style.

Bookmarked

I just bought some cheap low profile strips from eBay. About £50 for 4 iirc. Loads of light for my double garage. Been in for about 5 years now without issues (and I’ve hit them with big sheets of timber a few times). Struggling to see the need for any IP rating for indoor use.

It’s a bare brand new portal building.

Was thinking up as normally they can have the covers off on clips and cleaned easily and they’re quite robust though the 5ft batton looks good value.

It’s a big space but will have a fair bit in it hence trying to minimize shadows and dark spots

In a workshop,l lights are like clamps in that you never have enough. Something big and super bright over the work area, 300w(or equivalent) at least, and strong lights to each side to help eliminate shadows.

IP is more for dust etc.

I got some ‘daylight’ ones from Screwfix. Various lengths and really bright in a good way. I think they can be daisy chained together if you want so you only need a connection to the light ring and switch at one end. Various sizes and the 4ft one I go was about £30 from memory

Ok, very rough calculation, One of those light fittings if mounted on the ceiling at 3 metres producing 3240lumens, would give about 1080lux at “working height” which is roughly 1.2 metres above finished floor level. (4000k cool white)

The beam angle of the light is 63 degrees, so the lux will start to drop off beyond the light fittings “sphere of influence”, so to speak, so positioning of the fittings in relation to each other will be important.

The recommended lighting level for an engineering workshop which is as close to what I think you are after is between 750-1000 Lux.

The colour of the walls/floors will have an effect, but will change once you have placed stuff on shelving on the walls, and have a car or two in the garage.

As for painting minis, you may need up to twice the amount of lux.

Yes I would still go for IP rated fittings, one thing that is missed, is that the building may well be covered, but if it is unheated, condensation within the non IP rated fittings will be a factor.

Cheers for that.

Roofs on the purlins is about 2.7 meters and about equidistant spaced on the roof so…

I’m gonna go for 6 as planned one over a bench

The others I’ll have so I can move

Think ill wire a couple of junction boxes in so if I want to add to the roof ring I can.

Its insulated but I’d be happier with IP fittings for a few reasons.

I’d post a pic but I genuinely dont know how…
https://www.instagram.com/p/CR9Vbqlsj1K2KFTMJfnSWkg5JWcyV4pT2nWbt00/?utm_medium=copy_link

I’ve got one of these in my workshop – it’s like having the sun indoors!!

Discus Flood (carbon8lighting.co.uk)

That’s a monster😮

I replaced the fluroscent tubes in my garage with some batten lights which were a lot better, though most of these things just seem to be led strips in a box so I’d be tempted just use use the leds strips alone next time. It’s a bit more flexible and they can go right to the end of the walls.