I also hate working under the car or inside and not have enough light! Putting some long flourescents on the walls about 3' off the ground makes a HUGE difference. Try using the T8 bulbs/fixtures instead of the T12's. The T8's are much brighter in my opinion.

Also look into getting a PDR light. https://www.autobodytoolmart.com/p-10863-13307.aspx I know there kind of expensive BUT man are they worth the money!!! Awesome for detailing, polishing working in the engine bay under the car.

The parabolic lens is nice and works great...but my experianse is that they don't like dust! Hard to clean! They would be fine for a show room/service type toom...but if you plan on grinding or doing wood working I would say it's a bad idea. And if you decide to go this route deffinatly cover them while doing the drywall! Don't ask how I know this! :_paranoid

Scott, My house garage has can lighting in it and I love that there is nothing hanging down. The down side is you need to go and figure out the cone of light that will come from your can light, I sure if you asked a professional electric supply company they would give lots of free advise. I went with halogen lighting over my work benches because I do not heat my garage yet, and floresent lights just do not hold up well in our cold cliamate, they seem to go through balasts.

Travis

We have those in the shop but it's 22ft ceilings. I wouldn't want those in anything less than that they are STUPID bright!!! http://www.fullspectrumsolutions.com...res_35_ctg.htm Make sure to get the ones with the stainless steel backing to reflect the light.

Scott you could do those on the recessed ones. Polished stainless backing really makes the light reflect down.

Scott, what is your ceiling height? What can you spend on lighting? is the garage finished yet, i.e. drywall and such? Do you have a sub panel in your garage, or can you get one dedicated lighting circuit in there? LED is also an option, but it's more expensive, but very energy conservative. T8's is your best bet, but I for one hate normal florescent lighting. I design stuff like this, so let me know what you have and want and Ill help you out.

The ceiling is 9' 2". The garage/shop's only purpose in life is for working on and storing the car. Nothing goes in there unless it's car related.

I have a dedicated panel in the shop, it's not a branch. LED lighting sounds interesting, I'm going to do some research on that. I keep the shop heated in the winter, but only just about freezing.

As for budget, I'm pretty open. Since I'm only finishing off the walls and adding lights to a 24x24 garage, it's not a huge project. :thumbsup:

Thanks for the links, guys. I'm going to go check them out.

Ok, I got the jist of the garage function. Perfect. Ill call you after work today to give you my opinions on lighting. leave your number in my mailbox.