# YOur ideas on LED lighting in garage?



## tonykarter (Feb 16, 2015)

Anyone with any info on LED lighting in a garage?  I've got a 40x40x16 metal building I'm just now getting around to wiring and lighting.  White insulation on walls and ceiling.  A friend of mine a couple of hours away from here just replace their church gym lights with high bay LED lights and loves them.  BIG reduction in energy cost too.  Any suggestions?  How do you go about calculating how many and how powerful.  I completed my rites of passage with dim shop lights long ago.  I want the light in there to be somewhere between a welding arc and the Burning Bush.  I want to be able to see down in my cylinders with the spark plugs removed.  With the hood still on and the motor still in the truck.


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## havasu (Feb 16, 2015)

I do know I just saw those huge LED lights for sale at Costco. Unfortunately, I didn't look close enough at the directions to help you.


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## Chris (Feb 17, 2015)

I just built my garage and wanted to go led. Problem was the cost. Each 2'x4" light was 200 bucks. I'll get the brand in a few. I ended up going with 8' T8 fluorescent with 6500k bulbs and now I don't have to even pull the spark plug to see the piston. 

View attachment image.jpg


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## Chris (Feb 17, 2015)

The T8 8' lights are 40 bucks a piece and a case of bulbs is 25.


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## havasu (Feb 17, 2015)

I hate those breakable bulbs though.


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## Chris (Feb 17, 2015)

Stop jumping on the ceiling?


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## havasu (Feb 17, 2015)

Nope, no jumping. Just doing pull up's on them.


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## Chris (Feb 17, 2015)

You should stick to push ups.


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## StingRayCaretaker (Feb 22, 2015)

I think fluorescent is still the way to go.  Just add more fixtures.  The new series throws out a lot of light for the cheap operating cost.  Also helps to have white reflecting walls / ceiling.


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## Chris (Feb 24, 2015)

It cost me 290 bucks for my fixtures and bulbs. Would have cost me 2400 bucks to get the same light in LED form. I think I can afford the extra power and occasional bulb for a while.


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## tonykarter (Feb 25, 2015)

> and now I don't have to even pull the spark plug to see the piston.


  Damn...that's nice.  I'd look into buying some lead underwear though...


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## tonykarter (Feb 25, 2015)

Havasu...is this the lights you saw at Costco?  http://www.costco.com/Feit-Electric-4’-LED-Shop-Light-2-pack.product.100155638.html.  If not would you please consider getting the SKU number next time you are in there?  I'm not a member, but I'll research it and if the cost savings justifies it I'll join and drive over to Houston to get them.  Thanks so much for your post!  Your use of the word "huge" in your post intrigues me...it may be just what I am looking for.  Thanks again.


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## havasu (Feb 25, 2015)

Yes, those were the 4' lights I saw. They were on sale at what I believe was $40 a piece. You can also go to Costco.com and find many items not normally sold in their warehouse, but shipping is very cheap and often free.


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## cruzn57 (May 13, 2016)

I got two of those from costco,
got so tired of the florescents  not lighting, or burning out,  or flat  not working when its cold! 

think they were on sale $25 ea, 

very nice, brighter than the 4 ft florescents,  and instant ON.

I also bought some 15ft  leds from china,  plus a power supply,
haven't done them yet, but plan to buy some flashing and put them in there,
90 degree , galvanized,x 15 ft will put two strips in it,
there are 3 size led lights, I got the largest, as they produce  the most light.
plans are for  work bench where I do valve grinding/assembly.

you tube  of example.....[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JAwS8nQ0Rs[/ame]


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## oldognewtrick (Jun 1, 2016)

Did you get your LED's up and running yet?


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## cruzn57 (Jun 1, 2016)

when I bought them , I thought they were 
"self installing" 

 so I'm waiting!!!!!!!


gimme time ,I'll find an excuse somewhere.


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## WyrTwister (Sep 18, 2016)

LED light fixtures are coming down in price , but not as rapidly as you would wish .

     As you all have discussed , it comes down to price .  I can tell you , if you think you can get lots of lights for nickles and dimes it is not going to happen , no matter what kind of light fixtures you use .

     If you do not like florescent lights , fine .  But do not complain about the cost of LED's .  At this point , they are probably the cheapest to install .  That may change as time passes .

     LED's use less energy , a cost savings .  Whether that works out ( to a break even point ) depends on the number of hours they operate per day .

     A different set of circumstances , if considering lamp life .  T8's are not that expensive to replace and a DIY'er can do it in a place like a garage .  Noe consider a high ceiling , like a church auditorium .  Or pole lights in a parking lot .  Paying a contractor to use a lift , is not cheap .  The long life of LED's becomes significant .

     Have fun , be happy .

God bless
Wyr


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## AlanE (Sep 19, 2016)

I grabbed some LEDs from Beeslighting. They are 4' T8 replacement bulbs. You can either remove your ballast and rewire the tombstones or just remove the fluorescent bulbs and stick these in. I chose to remove the ballast since they were decades old and tbh one less thing to fail.

These are the ones I bought for my kitchen and garage:_ http://www.beeslighting.com/product-p/t818w1200bixxdf40f1.htm_

Or search for this number at beeslighting dot com: T818W1200BIXXDF40F1_

_


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## Chris (Sep 19, 2016)

I need to look into some LEDs for my new shop. It only has old light builds sticking out of the ceiling.


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## Flounly40 (Dec 13, 2016)

I got mine from oznium...they have good led's stuff too


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## WyrTwister (Jul 19, 2017)

tonykarter said:


> Anyone with any info on LED lighting in a garage?  I've got a 40x40x16 metal building I'm just now getting around to wiring and lighting.  White insulation on walls and ceiling.  A friend of mine a couple of hours away from here just replace their church gym lights with high bay LED lights and loves them.  BIG reduction in energy cost too.  Any suggestions?  How do you go about calculating how many and how powerful.  I completed my rites of passage with dim shop lights long ago.  I want the light in there to be somewhere between a welding arc and the Burning Bush.  I want to be able to see down in my cylinders with the spark plugs removed.  With the hood still on and the motor still in the truck.



     Although the prices are coming down , LED lighting is not cheap , up front .  And GOOD lighting is certainly not cheap .

     Set a budget for fixtures and work from there .  If you think you are going to want more than that , pre-wire additional ceiling outlet boxes ( 4-O boxes w/blank covers ) .

     Electrical savings depend greatly on the number of hours per month they are turned on .

     If you are going to install A/C , they will help with that .  If you are going to add heat , they will contribute less to that .

God bless
Wyr


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## Chris (Jul 20, 2017)

I am currently installing 8' flourescents with tandem 4' bulbs in 5000k, had this set up in my last garage and loved how bright it was and this seems to be the cheapest way to get bright lighting in the shop.


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## WyrTwister (Jul 20, 2017)

You are probably correct .  If they are T8 lamps .  T12 lamps are getting expensive and may soon go obsolete .

God bless
Wyr


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## Chris (Jul 22, 2017)

Yes they are T8s. I installed four and will probably toss two more in.


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## zannej (Dec 22, 2017)

I just got these 4' LED 4000lm 5000k(daylight) shop lights. Got it when the price was lower than it currently is though. Old lights in the workshop were fluorescent and rather dim. Have about 12 or so in there to light it up. After putting just 2 of the new LEDs up just a few feet apart, they lit up the entire workshop (and it's a fairly large workshop). We got 3 of them up throughout. 4th one will go up later once we fix some of the wiring issues (rather than linking them, we just plugged them in to the outlets the old lights were plugged in to).

So far I'm very pleased with them.


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## mcgyverit (Dec 28, 2017)

Menards and Home Depot have 2'x4' - 4 bulb LED's for $115.  I am currently replacing my florescent units in my garage.  brightness is about 2 to 1.  so I can replace 2 florescent units with one LED.  it is amazing the difference they make.  I have a 20x30 garage with 9 florescent units and should be able to get by with 4 in the work area and 2 over the benches just because I have wiring already there might as well put it to some use.


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## elbo (Jan 9, 2018)

this is a copy of an old response to this same question. So far, since I installed the fixtures, I'm very satisfied, and the cost was negligable
My garage which serves as a garage and workshop had 6 two bulb fluorescent fixtures , each bulb gave the equivalent of a 40 watt incandescent bulb. Because of my age iI found it increasingly difficult to replace the florescent bulbs, so I got 6 cheap 2 bulb incandescent fixtures and 60 watt equivalent leds. The fixtures came with opaque light diffuses, which I replaced with clear plastic 8 inch diameter salad bowls that I bought at a dollar store. I just had to drill a hole for the threaded diffuser fitting
Works great with lots of light and I wont have to replace the bulbs in my lifetime. The bulbs were purchased at lowes for a very reasonable price


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## Wuzzat? (Jan 9, 2018)

LED lifetime in the lab can be 50,000 hours but from the number of vehicle taillight failures I've seen, they are either putting too much current through them or cutting corners on the electronics that drive them.

We'll see how the home stuff holds up.

I don't recommend trying to troubleshoot a failed setup unless you have a bench full of test equipment.


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