LED Garage / Shop Lights?

Kern Dog said:

The LED screw in replacements for incandescents are great. You can drop them and they don't fail.

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Yes I need to try one. I have one shop location where nothing has survived.

I am in the lighting business , the red pigment you see in fluorescent and incandescent are directly related to CRI ( color rendering index ) and the color Kelvin that is produced but also depends on what is specified .
The higher the Kelvin the more white or blue that is produced in most cheaper LED products .
The higher Kelvin LED is also cheaper to manufacture and is usually carried at consumer stores .
LED products with higher CRI and lower Kelvin temperatures will give better quality lighting .
In automotive body shops a higher Kelvin is usually used and shows imperfections easier .
Industrial manufacturing facilities usually have 70 CRI and 4-5000 Kelvin .
Incandescent lamps in your home usually run 2700 - 3000 Kelvin and are warmer or softer to the eye and make you look better in the mirror .
Your eyes are tricked into believing the higher Kelvin is brighter even if the foot candles or Lux are the same .

@Pete Bell68 - what are typical fluorescent lamps that we would use in a shop? Aren't they in the 6500 Kelvin range?

69L48Z27 said:

@Pete Bell68 - what are typical fluorescent lamps that we would use in a shop? Aren't they in the 6500 Kelvin range?

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No typical fluorescent lamps are 4000 K - 6500K is on the higher spectrum and will look almost blue .Some printing facilities get near that but that's really high .
If you need a layout I could do it but keep in mind it would only be my brand and square or rectangular shape only .

Pete Bell68 said:

No typical fluorescent lamps are 4000 K - 6500K is on the higher spectrum and will look almost blue .Some printing facilities get near that but that's really high .
If you need a layout I could do it but keep in mind it would only be my brand and square or rectangular shape only .

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Thanks. I was curious about the temp of the fluorescent. I'm going to outfit my garage with LEDs. Found some that are advertised as commercial. The temp on them is 5000. My gut tells me to stick with fluorescent but I'm going to give this a try. I just don't want to lose the light that I have now when it comes to detailing paint.

I thought I'd share what I did in my shop. I originally had 8' double T12s throughout (4100K, 70w, 5400L) , I switched them all out to 8' (two 4' in line) T8 (6500K,32w,2600L). I never really did much work with the T12s, just the T8s. What I did notice was the lack of light and that I needed drop lights, flash lights, or even a head light to work on vehicles. Clearly I cut the light output down too far. It was good for general lighting, but just not good for working on anything detailed. One thing I did notice was that the light changed colors drastically. I tried to color match by eye some paint for a frame of a big truck, no biggie right? It can be off a little and no one will care. I color matched it to what I (and everyone else) thought was perfect under those T8s, I then brought more light via some halogen work lights and the difference was staggering. So you do have to be careful.
Working this spring on my 66 replacing wiring and dash parts, I got tired of not being able to see. After quite a bit of research, I came up with these:

https://www.rablighting.com/product/ARBAY4-175/LC

For efficiency you really want to look at lumens per watt. Most T8s are about 81 L/W which is really not that bad. LED T8 replacements are sometimes LOWER than t8s, some are higher, but you are paying on the higher end of the scale. These things are 134 L/W They are considered high bay, which is 15' or higher. I have 13' ceilings which means that I am on the higher side of low bay lighting. I chose the high with the idea of dimming them down if I had to.

Here is a before and after. You can clearly see the difference in the actual light, but for some reason the picture doesn't show the difference in real life.

These things are incredible! Most peoples reaction is "OMG they're blinding" then they realize its similar to working outside where your eyes get used to the light. No more using drop lights for brake jobs, and I can see well while working on the underside.

They cost a little over $200.00 each and in my state with rebates they were only $55.00. I may not have done them at over $200.00 but at $55 it was a no brainer.

I hope you were able to follow my thought process.

Hi all , I had my garage knocked down and a new garage built last year (the original was only big enough for a Morris minor / 850 mini - not my Satellite ) I looked into LED lighting and the first ones I saw on eBay were about £25 for a 4ft - looking closer the fittings were sealed so no way of changing the “ bulb” if it failed meaning the whole unit had to come out - not good when hard wired in . Spoke to a mate and he offered to wire the whole garage so we looked at all the available fittings - end result ? 4 x 4 foot IP rated ( water dust shatter proof / replaceable ‘bulb’ ) . So the light is super bright- excellent and easily covers the 24ft x 15ft space - we also fitted an additional 2x 4ft fittings into the small ‘ tools ‘ area - 15ft x 6ft - again more than enough - I’ve attached a few pictures but will say this - the fittings I finally purchased cost £44 each ( reduced to £40 each as I bought 6 ) you get what you pay for and as I do not intend on moving home or replacing any bulbs soon I would advise spend a little more today and save a lot more tomorrow ...
FYI - a PiR sensor was also fitted so when the electric garage door raises the main lighting comes on - so they can work from a PiR sensor if that’s your thing .

Love the pizza box drip tray!

Richard Cranium said:

Love the pizza box drip tray!

View attachment 665891

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That would be one BIG pizza! Those are 36x36 washing machine drain pans!

ws27 said:

That would be one BIG pizza! Those are 36x36 washing machine drain pans!

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Good for those big leaks.

Has anyone here recorded the amperage draw before and after changing out conventional to LED lighting? 20 years ago, installed cheap halogen 500 watt fixtures for court yard lighting, front and side. Fairly cheap to buy, but 1000 watts total. Years went by, changed them out for a pair of low pressure sodium fixtures, oh and not cheap (around a hundred a piece) 70 watt times two 140 watts, kinda thought I was going in the right direction. Had the side light fail a month or two ago, up the ladder I went with replacement bulb, no go, ballast was gone. Pull a replacement off the shelf, and ready it for installation, and I thought, hmmmm, lets grab an amprobe. Amped out the 70 watt, 1.48 amps, times two was 2.97 amps. Pulled four PAR 38 1250 lumen spot lights out, changed over the fixtures, front and side, installed and turned on, amprage on the replacement LED's .87, so replaced lights with LED's, light emitted much brighter, and, at one third of the power used before......

These are the lights I am looking to purchase for my garage ceiling...
https://www.superbrightleds.com/mor...ght-fixture-drop-ceiling-recessed-mount/4236/
These look like an ideal set-up if you already have drop in 2x4 lights...
https://www.superbrightleds.com/mor...it-kit-2x4-troffer-8000-lumens-dimmable/4571/

Rural King had black friday pricing on my 4500 lumen LED shop fixtures.

Regular price- $25.99

BF price- $16.99

I needed about 11 but contained myself and bought 7.

YY1 said:

Rural King had black friday pricing on my 4500 lumen LED shop fixtures.

Regular price- $25.99

BF price- $16.99

I needed about 11 but contained myself and bought 7.

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Loving the self control! I struggle myself ;)

Wow that’s a good price mate , be nice to see a pic when you’ve fitted them

@MFP

LOVE your screen name.

I would absolutely watch a series of "grittier" ChiPS/Adam 12 style episodes based on Max and Goose' early days. No underlying plot needed, just self contained episodes in that universe with those characters...and I count the cars as characters (IMO the franchise went South when they failed to recognize that)

My shop had 6 hard wired dual 96 inch fixtures. Had ballasts going bad, so decieded to go LED. 96 in LED bulbs are expensive, so being "frugal" (cheap), I converted my floresent fixtures to accept two 48 in LED direct wire bulbs (no ballast). Used Utilitech brand from Lowes. 2,000 lumins, 18 watts, 4000K. If I remember right they were about $7.00 ea. I had to change out the tomestones, from single pin to two pin. Total cost of conversion was about $100. Much more light then before, and no flicker, or cold start issues.

I changed over my 12 shop fixtures to accept the 4' LED lights by pulling the ballasts. I ended up buying a box of 25 of the 48" bulbs off e-bay. I tried the clear LED version lights first and could not stand them. My ceiling is 10ft and the bright spots of the LEDs were making me see spots because you could not help looking at them when you looked across the room and there were also dead spots in between the lights as compared to the fluorescents. I exchanged them for the LED 48" bulbs with the milky white covers and that worked well for my shop to diffuse the spots and distribute the light evenly. Bulbs are cool white 1800L/18W and were $93 for the box delivered.

Been using them for over a year now and could not be happier. More light, instant start, no noise, and less heat and power. Also changed out my sodium outside light with a screw in LED bulb by pulling the internals and wiring for 110v direct to the photo-cell. Noticeable improvement on the light bill as that light run dusk till dawn every nite.

How are LED's in cold weather.