LED Shop/Garage Lights...What Do You Use???

ridered3 · Dec 12, 2016

Looking to add some lighting into the two car garage at home. Size is 20' wide x 25' long with 14' ceilings. Not running a shop or anything, just looking for better lighting while working in there.

Currently I have two, regular screw in type 100 watt LED bulbs which are ok, but I never have enough light in the correct spots while messing around. Looking to replace the two bulbs with two or more 4 foot LED light fixtures instead or going with fluorescent ones. When I bought them I did not pay attention to lumens.

Sam's Club has these on sale Saturday only for $28 bucks each:
http://www.samsclub.com/sams/4ft-led-shoplight-wt-in-club-item-712371/prod20070899.ip?xid=plp

roduct:1:1&mobiledetect=false

Not looking to break the budget or anything, just looking for decent lights. What are you using or recommend?

Bronco72 · Dec 12, 2016

Mine is 30x40 and i use fluorescent fixtures with t8 led bulbs. The ballest is removed and the end the bulb hooks to is wired to line voltage. Bright as hell. I love them evan with 12' celings. My lights are 8' but have four 4' bulbs in them. The 4' bulbs are WAY cheaper than a 8' one.

Bronco72 · Dec 12, 2016

Best pic i have of them at the moment

rpf500 · Dec 12, 2016

I bought a T8 light and before I went and spent a ton of money a buddy showed me these. I bought from menards. You could screw these right in to what you have now. Need ceramic bases though.

I'm extremely happy with them. Just this weekend I told a guy I should get rid of the T8.

https://www.1000bulbs.com/product/6052/FC65-S65.html?gclid=CN_XwIGX8NACFQ-DaQodE3UAXg

Let me see if I can load a picture of my shop.....

blacksheep10 · Dec 12, 2016

ridered3 said:
.

Sam's Club has these on sale Saturday only for $20 bucks each?
http://www.samsclub.com/sams/4ft-led-shoplight-wt-in-club-item-712371/prod20070899.ip?xid=plproduct:1:1&mobiledetect=false

I am a member and went over to the site and they are still listed at $34. What are the provisions of this promotion? I did not see them shown for that price anywhere

ridered3 · Dec 12, 2016

blacksheep10 said:
I am a member and went over to the site and they are still listed at $34. What are the provisions of this promotion? I did not see them shown for that price anywhere

They are $28 each instead of $20. I updated the first post accordingly.
Post #421 on this Pirate thread.
http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/shop-tools/2046666-costco-led-shop-lights-17.html

Bronco72 said:
Mine is 30x40 and i use fluorescent fixtures with t8 led bulbs. The ballest is removed and the end the bulb hooks to is wired to line voltage. Bright as hell. I love them evan with 12' celings. My lights are 8' but have four 4' bulbs in them. The 4' bulbs are WAY cheaper than a 8' one.

If possible, post up how you converted the 8 foot fixtures to hold two 4 footers. It's probably obvious, but I've not messed with the fluorescent fixtures before.

rpf500 · Dec 12, 2016

You can see the T8 light in the middle at the far end. I wasn't impressed but my ceiling is high too so that doesn't help.

ridered3 · Dec 12, 2016

blacksheep10 said:
I am a member and went over to the site and they are still listed at $34. What are the provisions of this promotion? I did not see them shown for that price anywhere

Did a little more looking. Looks like it has something to do with their last minute gift sale thing. Here's the Catalog. Lights shown on page 3.
http://catalog.samsclub.com/lastminutegifts/app.php?RelId=6.7.0.18.4&xid=promo%3Adsc

rpf500 said:
You can see the T8 light in the middle at the far end. I wasn't impressed but my ceiling is high too so that doesn't help.

Thanks for the link. Garage ceiling was dry walled by the previous owners so I won't lose any light into open rafters unlike yours.

Mods feel free to merge this with the Shops/Garages thread if you want to.

TBItoy · Dec 12, 2016

Bronco72 said:
Mine is 30x40 and i use fluorescent fixtures with t8 led bulbs. The ballest is removed and the end the bulb hooks to is wired to line voltage. Bright as hell. I love them evan with 12' celings. My lights are 8' but have four 4' bulbs in them. The 4' bulbs are WAY cheaper than a 8' one.

I've been replacing my old t12 with led replacements as the ballasts burn out, MUCH brighter and cleaner looking light.

Just don't get too "cool/cold/white/blue" of a color.

trucker · Dec 13, 2016

I used 6 of these in my 40' X 30' shop. I am very happy with them. Plenty of light.

John

jp fan · Dec 13, 2016

I bought the Led ones at Sams Club and are very happy with them I can tell a huge difference between that shop and my house garage that has regular T8 lights, I do have one light that the cold start is messed up and it blinks for about 2 min. when first turned on but then it stays on and is good just never took it back, they have been up for over a year now

The-Boss · Dec 13, 2016

I put a bunch of the Sams leds in my shop over a year ago. Zero issues and they are extremely bright but don't hurt your eyes. Not blue but very white light. They were $40 each when I purchased and have been worth every penny. I am sold on them. One thing to note is they don't project up or directly to the side but it is a non issue for me.

giles45shop · Dec 13, 2016

I have a couple of new 4' two bulb T8's along with four of the Sams 4' LED's in my shop. Overall, I am very happy with the LEDs, especially for the price. I did an experiment comparing the two T8s withe two LEDS and a light meter app on my phone. The LEDs had slightly higher brightness values on the meter, but visually it did seem like the T8s had slightly more spread. However, both were plenty bright, so the cheaper LED won out. I'm slowly replacing all the old incandescent 200W bulbs with 4' LEDs. When done I will have two rows of 10 each in my 30×60 shop. The first half is already done and it's plenty bright

whiskeymakin · Dec 13, 2016

I love the t5 h.o. lights. Put 9 in my shop. Plenty of light! Best part is the -20 cold start vs. The cheapo lights that flicker and half ass put out any light when it's cold out.
I'm not crazy about the led lights, some have a blue/purple looking tented light they put out. I like white light.
Amazon has a version like the ebay ones in the link.
Look at this on eBay [url]http://www.ebay.com/itm/381203126420]http://www.ebay.com/itm/381203126420]Look at this on eBay [url]http://www.ebay.com/itm/381203126420[/url]

lowbudgetjunk · Dec 13, 2016

ridered3 said:
Did a little more looking. Looks like it has something to do with their last minute gift sale thing. Here's the Catalog. Lights shown on page 3.
http://catalog.samsclub.com/lastminutegifts/app.php?RelId=6.7.0.18.4&xid=promo%3Adsc
Thanks for the link. Garage ceiling was dry walled by the previous owners so I won't lose any light into open rafters unlike yours.

Mods feel free to merge this with the Shops/Garages thread if you want to.

I feel like this is stand alone topic and would be a little much to sift through if they were merged.

-Admin

Bronco72 · Dec 13, 2016

If possible, post up how you converted the 8 foot fixtures to hold two 4 footers. It's probably obvious, but I've not messed with the fluorescent fixtures before.
[/quote]

I bought my lights from my local electric supply house. Thay came led ready with out a ballast and with four of the ends that the bulb snaps into. I thnk the whole fixture with bulbs was close to 90$ each. Nice bright white light and the cold dont bother them. I thank a 8' bulb was around 75$ each is why he set me up 4'ers

bobo · Dec 13, 2016

I have the LED lights from Sam's that you listed. Great light for the price. Very bright white light and no issues to date. Had them about 4 months.

Going to get some more to install on both carports and in the wife's shed/junk collection.

Jeremy

TBItoy · Dec 13, 2016

Bronco72 said:
If possible, post up how you converted the 8 foot fixtures to hold two 4 footers. It's probably obvious, but I've not messed with the fluorescent fixtures before.

I bought my lights from my local electric supply house. Thay came led ready with out a ballast and with four of the ends that the bulb snaps into. I thnk the whole fixture with bulbs was close to 90$ each. Nice bright white light and the cold dont bother them. I thank a 8' bulb was around 75$ each is why he set me up 4'ers

I've been using the Hyperikon from Amazon $108 4 pack 8footers with tombstones. The 4000k are a good color, not too yellow. The 5000k is very white but not blue.

https://www.amazon.com/Hyperikon-equivalent-Daylight-Dual-Ended-UL-Listed/dp/B00SUMEOMK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1481681867&sr=8-1-spons&keywords=Hyperikon+led+8ft&psc=1

ridered3 · Dec 13, 2016

lowbudgetjunk said:
I feel like this is stand alone topic and would be a little much to sift through if they were merged.

-Admin

Works for me. After I posted it I second guessed myself about starting new topic or not. Thanks.

Seems like most everyone is happy with the Sam's lights. As stated, I am just trying to add more light into the basic garage, not a shop.

Keep the pictures, opinions, reviews, and links coming.

ridered3 · Dec 13, 2016

trucker said:
I used 6 of these in my 40' X 30' shop. I am very happy with them. Plenty of light.
John

Thanks for the screenshot and info. Here's a link to more info if anyone else is interested in them.
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Feit-Electric-4-ft-4-Light-White-LED-Utility-Shop-Light-74060/205704134

whiskeymakin said:
I love the t5 h.o. lights. Put 9 in my shop. Plenty of light! Best part is the -20 cold start vs. The cheapo lights that flicker and half ass put out any light when it's cold out.
I'm not crazy about the led lights, some have a blue/purple looking tented light they put out. I like white light.
Amazon has a version like the ebay ones in the link.
Look at this on eBay http://www.ebay.com/itm/381203126420

Thanks for the info. Fixed your eBay hyperlink to make it clickable.