Electrical is not one of my strong suits all though i can tackle many electrical projects (small of course). In my basement, i have 4 - 4' fluorescent lights with 2 bulbs each and have done really well at lighting my basement parking area. The last couple of years i have noticed that when pulling a vehicle in when its raining or has been raining out, the lights will either not work, or some will and others really dim. I dont know what is going on with that but i went yesterday to Home Depot and picked up some track lighting hoping that would fix my issue. Well, there is just not enough lighting there now and i will need to take those back down and take them back to the store. Does anyone have any alternate ideas on what works in these areas to give plenty of light off but wont break the bank? I see some newer styles that are LED with instant start ballasts but they are over $100 each. Should i just stay with the old style and change the ballasts?

 

almost sounds like a humidity issue....clean the connections and use weather tight connectors along with weather resistant ballasts/fixture....


you could spend the coin and go with those led fixtures....some of them I've seen are rated at 50,000 hours(approx 6 years) and have a 5 year warranty....

it all depends on how yer time is valued....

 

LED lighting is definitely pricey, but the reduction in energy consumption and the life span of them more than makes up for it, in my opinion. Replaced all the can lighting in my house with LED cans about a year ago, and saved about $30/mo in energy bills, depending on how much we used them.

If you're not concerned about looks, just want the space well lit, flood lighting on either side of the garage facing inward should make the space plenty bright. With those you would also be able to point the light to where you want it the most.

Above anything, since your garage is technically a unconditioned space (no ac/heat) you want to use outdoor fixtures. Indoor fixtures work, but moist air will always find the weak spot within a few years.

 

Its almost growing on me having the track lighting but i still have a bunch of dark corners in the basement. I may just put the old ones back up and change the ballasts. Thanks for the input.

 

It really depends on what kind of ballast's (solid state or electronic) the lights use as far as the sensitivity to cold. I have cold weather ballast's (rated to 20*) in all the lights in my garage even though it's heated(I keep it at 50* in the winter) to save on propane and it still takes a while(10-15 minutes) for the bulbs to warm up and produce full light output. LED technology is still evolving for residential use and they are leaps and bounds above what it was even a year ago but they don't produce the light like a CFL or incandescent bulb does they are also pretty much a directional bulb(ie...straight down) I don't stock them in any of our stores because of the cost involved and the technology isn't quite where it should be yet. I recently put some 4'-0" HO fluorescent lights in my garage/shop and compared to the regular output units there is a huge difference in light output I'm considering changing them all to HO units.

 

Now thats something to consider. Thanks for the input.