Whether you are using garage for storage or as a workplace, you needs proper lighting. Once you want to upgrade your garage lighting or decorate your new garage with light, LED high bay light may be recommended.

But what led high bay light is? Can it meet all your lighting needs? Brightness, budges, installation, etc,. When it comes to choosing the lights for a garage, there are so many factors that need to be considered.

What Is LED High Bay Light

LED high bay light is a kind of energy-efficiency indoor LED lamp, which can be used in industrial plants, production workshops, supermarkets, warehouses, and other places.

The term ‘high bay lighting’ refers to the positioning of the luminaires, and as such it covers a broad and flexible range of lamp types and fittings. As a rule of thumb, high bay light is best for lighting large spaces with very high ceilings, where the floor-to-ceiling height measures 15 feet or taller.

According to the lighting function, it can be divided into two kinds of lighting - general lighting and part lighting. General lighting is usually evenly arranged above the work site or on the side walls, illuminating the entire work surface. Partly lighting is a kind of luminaire to improve the brightness of a working part, its role is to supplement the basic lighting. It is also used to illuminate some places that usually do not need lighting, such as equipment maintenance, maintenance sites, etc., as temporary lighting.

According to the shape, LED high bay lights can be round, linear, long, or even skinny. Round LED high bay light also known as UFO high bay light, just needs to be hung at one point. Linear high bay light looks like the T8 bulbs, so it is the best option for a space with lots of aisles or shelving.

According to installation, high bay lights are suspended from the ceiling with the help of pendants, hooks, and chains. They can also be fixed on walls. Usually, different mounting options are available for each type of light to suit the needs of different occasions and sizes.

 

LED High Bay Light for Garage

High bay fixtures are usually the best choose for indoor settings, something with the dimensions of a commercial garage or multi-storage with ceilings that exceed 15 feet. Using LED high bay light may perfectly brighten your garage, or the effect may be unsatisfactory. To decide whether to choose the LED high bay light as the lighting tool for the garage, you can refer to the following factors.

Advantages:

• Cost-effective: LED light may consume less than 60 percent of the energy than other traditional light. Additionally, the cost of LED high bay light is very low compared to other bulbs. Choosing an LED high bay light may help you save money.
• Longer lifespan: It can work up to 500,000 hours, longer than other traditional lights. Led light just slowly loses its light output over the time. Led luminaires deliver highly efficient, long-lasting, high quality with a lo of added value and no compromises.
• High-performance: LED high bay light is suited to spaces with high ceilings, but also can be positioned at lower mounting heights if necessary, in order to achieve more illumination over a narrower distribution area. It also provides a super high lumen count. It works extremely well in a cold environment.
• Instant on, frequent switching: Unlike other traditional lights, LED high bay light turns on instantly, no waiting around for the bulb to warm up, reaching full brightness rapidly.

Disadvantages:

• Too bright for the garage: As mentioned, LED high bay light is designed for rooms with a ceiling higher than 15 feet, like warehouses, industrial plants and production workshops. For a garage with ceilings under 15 feet, it certainly overpowers the space and floods it with too much brightness as well as costs more in the long run. Excessively bright lights can damage your eyes and affect your vision health.
• Cause shadows: LED high bay light provides powerful and straight down light focused on the floor with a narrow beam angle. The problem is they cast shadows where you do not need them. For a garage that needs to spread out the light to cover a wider area, high bay light should feature the right optics.
• Cost more than led low bay light: If your garage height is less than 15 feet, LED low bay light is an ideal option. Low bay light tend to produce spotting or pooling effects on distant floors with lower-powered. High bay lights use more power to output more light over a larger distance. Therefore, LED high bay light costs more than low bay light.

How to Pick the Best Light for Garage

When you pick the light for the garage, you may consider whether it is affordable, durable, bright enough, easy to install, etc,. It seems difficult to choose the right lights. How to pick the best light for the garage?

The answer is simple, it depends. The best light for garages depends on how you use the space.

Firstly, know about how you want to use the garage

If your garage is used for storage and saving items with a high ceiling, like retail stores, industrial facilities, parking, and gymnasiums, LED high bay lights may suitable for you as they are bright enough for the entire space.

If your garage is more of a recreational space with a lower ceiling, as a workshop for DIY tasks, car maintenance, or crafts, LED low bay light may meet your needs. In addition, you’ll need to add secondary lighting, also known as task lighting, to let you see properly and stay safe, particularly when using dangerous power tools.

Depending on your actual needs, the CRI value of the luminaire should also be considered. CRI means ‘Color Rendering Index’, which reflects the color rendering ability of the light source on the object. The higher the color rendering index, the better the color rendering of the light source, the stronger the color reproduction ability of the object.

Secondly, draw and measure your garage lighting layout

As different lights fit different space sizes, it is necessary to clarify the specific dimensions of the garage. After knowing the length, width, and height of the garage, you may have a clearer awareness of what the garage actually looks like. Sketch the garage according to the measured dimensions, and then decide how to place the items. A proper layout of items can help you use space and place fixtures efficiently, reducing space and energy waste.

Thirdly, decide how to place your fixture

Having a layout of your garage, you would know where to place fixtures and how brightthe light you need for different parts. The illuminance of lights differs at different places. For storage, lower illuminations are bright enough, while you may need to add some brighter light for repairing or maintaining the cars or handcraft. The lights in linear shape will be great for aisles or shelf gap, while the round lights are more suitable for wider places to illuminate larger areas. The role of the fixture is to illuminate the garage as much as possible, while also eliminating shadows and dark corners.

At last, decide how many lights you need for your garage

To clarify how many lights you need for your garage, you have to know the illuminance required for it. The steps are as follows.

1. Measure the square footage of your garage - multiply the width by the length.
2. Decide the brightness you need - your foot candle.
3. High illumination levels may be suitable for focused work or car-detailing with the foot candle in the region of 120-210fc. For parking or storage, the middle level (over 75fc) would be recommended. If only for parking, the foot candle less than 50fc is also accepted.
4. Multiply your square footage with the desired foot candle, then the total amount of lumens needed in your space will show up.
5. Divide the total desired illumination by the brightness of the selected fixture, to find the number of fixtures.

The whole process seems tedious and difficult, so you can consult with LED light suppliers to get their professional advice. If your garage is high and large enough, LED high bay lights may be the best choice for you. Hope this article is helpful for you and you can pick the light for your garage in the most satisfactory way.