There’s a good chance that your garage door opener’s built-in light isn’t very bright. It’s there for safety reasons and to provide adequate lighting for your garage, but you’ll want better lighting if you’re working on your car in any way that requires serious attention. There are many different types and options for garage work lights on the market, and they are used for this reason. These products now benefit from LED lighting technology, which provides more effective lighting with less heat production and power consumption.
Finding the ideal lumen count is just as crucial as deciding what kind of bulb to use and what color the light should be. Because garages, warehouses, and workshops frequently lack adequate lighting, it’s critical to understand how many lumens are needed so that you can select the best lighting fixtures.
What is Lumen?
In the International System of Units, a lumen is a unit of luminous flux that represents the total amount of visible light emitted by a source in a given amount of time. Lumens are simply units of brightness. A light’s lumen count indicates its brightness; a higher lumen count indicates a brighter light.
Why Are Lumens Important?
The term “lumen” directly relates to how much light you will receive overall from a source of light. This is crucial in achieving the desired brightness level. Never make an extreme choice and opt for lumens rather than watts when shopping.
Due to a sharp rise in wattage, high beam luminaires can be very expensive to operate. Usually, the worst offenders are incandescent or halogen bulbs. They consume a lot of power to produce lumens, are hot, and are inefficient. As a result, operating them is very expensive. Most contemporary lighting fixtures are LED-based. LED lights are regarded as being energy-efficient because they produce a significant number of lumens while using little power. A 3W LED emits 300lm (100lm/w) of light, which is equivalent to 15w (20lm/w) of incandescent light or an 8w (40lm/w) of fluorescent light.
Your light bulbs can provide a variety of advantages, including light therapy. Your mood may be affected by light. Long overcast days associated with anxiety and depression can be eliminated by high luminous flux lights. You’ll be able to see more details and work more effectively and efficiently in your space if there is lighter. Your lighting setup can be improved to make things easier to see and more enjoyable to work with, which will increase productivity.
The Importance of Garage Lighting
Most garage accidents that end in injuries are brought on by inadequate lighting. This is particularly true if your equipment and materials are dispersed on the floor where anyone can trip over them. It’s more difficult to keep your garage organized and clean in low light. After all, tidying up in the dark must be difficult. Installing garage lighting that enables you to see everything in your garage is in your best interest. An emergency room visit might be avoided.
How to Make a Garage Lighting Improvement
A small skylight, windows in your garage door, or natural lighting sources are all excellent options for adding ambient lighting. Add motion sensors to LED lights: Automating LED lights with a motion sensor can, in the long run, significantly reduce utility costs. This is not advised for fluorescent lights. Add supplemental lighting. Workbenches can be illuminated with bright desk lamps and additional garage lighting for more demanding tasks that demand better visibility.
Recessed lighting should be viewed as an investment: it’s probably not the best option. In contrast, it typically has a better aesthetic than light fixtures that hang from the ceiling. As a result, if you ever decide to sell your house, it might be worth more. However, anticipate paying more upfront.
How Many Lumens Are Needed to Light a Garage?
Lumens are the only unit that can be used to measure brightness, so this is the most crucial aspect to consider when selecting a garage light source. You will have poor lighting if you select a bulb with a low lumen output. Without a flashlight or work light, you won’t be able to see your tools, equipment, cars, and other objects.
50 lumens per square foot of space is the minimum recommended by the Illuminating Engineering Society (IES) guidelines. This indicates that 13200 lumens are needed to light a typical 12-by-22-foot garage with 264 square feet. The precise amount of LED lights and lumens needed will, however, depend on several additional pertinent factors.
How Many Led Lights Are Needed to Light a Garage?
The number of bulbs that need to be installed will depend on the size of your garage because standard brightness is measured in lumens per square foot. To calculate the necessary lumens, you must know the precise area of your garage. Naturally, smaller garages require fewer lumens, while larger garages require more.
Different types of LED bulbs do not emit the same number of lumens. In comparison to fluorescent and incandescent, LEDs typically have an efficiency of 80–100 lumens/watt. This indicates that you can generate up to 800 lumens of luminous flux using just one 8-watt LED. A few modern LED lights have an efficiency of up to 150lm/w. So, the fewer bulbs you need for your garage, the more lumens an LED emits. This factor should be taken into consideration when purchasing LED lights so that you can select the most appropriate kind.
For other conditions of the garage, no two garages are exactly alike. Brightly colored walls and ceilings will reflect light much more effectively and use fewer lumens in a finished garage. An unfinished garage, on the other hand, will use light less effectively and tend to absorb light if it has rough walls and ceilings or dark paint. In this instance, more lumens are required to fully illuminate the area. Additionally, you can read a guide to garage safety here.
The quantity of LED lights required for the garage can be easily determined after identifying the crucial elements. How many LEDs you will install to make your garage bright depends on its size. However, you should also be aware that the lumens or more specifically, the number of LEDs might differ depending on whether your garage has a garage door opener. Because the high lumen interferes with the operation or functionality of the garage door radio transmitter by producing a high infrared beam.