Shop Overhead Lighting

[rkrueger]

One of the two fluorescent light fixtures I have in my garage/shop has started to flake out on me. I've determined it is not the lamps. In my researching of troubleshooting the issue, I decided I wanted to replace both fixtures and subsequently fell into the abyss of options, light color, led vs fluorescent, etc...  I spent maybe 4 hours last night researching and looking for what I thought might be right, including the Wood Whisperer post made on the subject,  and I have yet to come up with something. I'm hoping someone here may have some advice for me, or some product suggestions.

 I don't need a lot. My garage is a typical 2-car sized garage that is currently lit by two 4' strip fixtures that each have two 40watt fluorescent lamps, for a total of 160 watts.

I'm steering towards an LED solution right now, but I'm not opposed to staying with fluorescent either if LED is too cost prohibitive. The problem I've been having is finding an LED solution that is rated at 5000-6000 Kelvin,  at least 85 CRI, can be direct wired, and surface mounted.  It would probably be easier to find a fluorescent fixture and then the right rated lamps for it, but I like the idea of staying LED. I found plenty of good LED ones from the home stores, but they are all 4000 kelvin.

Direct wire and surface mount aren't hard rules for me, but I'd prefer it that way as that's how it's set up now. My ceiling is not that high which makes flush mount more desirable. I could probably replace ceiling junction boxes with outlet boxes to plug corded lights into, but I think direct wire is cleaner.

So any products out there that would fit the bill for me? What are you guys using.

[BobInAustin]

I opted for LED tubes.  Bought cheap 4' fluorescent fixtures and tossed the ballasts.  Pretty reasonable price and great light.

[estesbubba]

A couple of people here went with Big Ass LED lights and like them, but they are pricey. I went with 8' High Output T8 fixtures from Home Depot with Sylvania FO32/850/ECO 5000K bulbs from an electrical supply house and the light is awesome. The fixtures run $60 and put out almost 14K lumens IIRC.

[rkrueger]

So did you need some kind of retrofit based on you saying you tossed the ballast, or do the LED tubes work straight out of the box into fluorescent light fixtures?

Where did you get the lamps?

<edit>

Didn't take me long to do some quick search and research to find what I was looking for. It seems it would be a lot easier for me to replace the tubes with LED tubes instead of finding the fixtures with built in LED.
Like you, I could buy two new fixtures,  bypass the ballast as instructed, and get myself the right rated LED tubes.

This could be the easiest solution for me I think. I can't believe I didn't stumble on LED tubes last night.

Edited December 9, 2015 by rkrueger

[rkrueger]

Whoa! I see the caveat already... each of these LED tubes are just about as expensive as an entire fixture...

[xxdabroxx]

I'd just replace the ballasts and add a couple fixtures while you are at it.  Really simple to wire. 

[BobInAustin]

Whoa! I see the caveat already... each of these LED tubes are just about as expensive as an entire fixture...

I think the tubes I bought were about $20 ea from LED whoilesalers on Amazon. $75 for 4 right now http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008XHVAA6?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_search_detailpage

I wanted warm white since that is what is all inside my house and wanted the color to be close to that.  I used the cheapest 4' fixtures from HD and screwed them to the ceiling.

Another bonus (for me) of the LEDs is they do not attract bugs like incandescent and fluorescent bulbs do.

 

 

[drzaius]

I love LED, but for great light at a cheap price, you can't beat fluorescent. If you are after really good CRI, Philips TL950 have a CRI of 98. I've got 32 of their 4' tubes in my 575 sq ft shop & it's great.

[jimbofoxman]

I just been slowly replacing mine with 4' LED hanging light fixtures from HD.

HD LED Light\

Need less fixtures with these than with the T12's I've been replacing them with.  For me it's around replace 4 with just 3.

Edited December 10, 2015 by jimbofoxman

[andrew-in-austin]

I ended up with 9 x 4-tube (4ft) T8 fixtures, for a total of 36 fluorescent tubes.  It is -bright- at night.

This seems to work ok for me, but if I were to do it all over again, I would try about 25 of these:

http://www.amazon.com/Designers-Edge-One-Light-Incandescent-Industrial/dp/B000A7UQES

and remove the plastic insert (so there is no heat build-up) and install GE link LED bulbs.  I have theses LED bulbs in my house and they are crazy bright.  You can also control them with a smart hub (like the Wink) and turn on/off individual bulbs as you need them with your phone.

[Brendon_t]

I just bought two new 8' T8 fixtures from hd, 4700 lamps and for the space, even with the osb not painted yet, they are very bright.

I looked at the led but at $40 for a lamp, I'll stick with the cancer causing tubed as long as California will let me. 

[rkrueger]

I just been slowly replacing mine with 4' LED hanging light fixtures from HD.

HD LED Light\

Need less fixtures with these than with the T12's I've been replacing them with.  For me it's around replace 4 with just 3.

I actually looked at those, but I need a flush mount and would prefer 5000k on the color.  They do have some flush mount options available for a good price too, but those are sitting at 4000k as well.

I think I'm going to go with the LED T8 with ballast bypass. The only problem is the ones with high CRI are pretty expensive (ie Toggled). I used Design Lights QPL to find ones that fit my criteria, and there were many, but virtually none of them are readily available or easy to order.