Dolmetscher007 Posted January 21, 2018 Report Share Posted January 21, 2018 I am in the middle of a knock-down-drag-out of a total workshop renovation. I have a garage that is exactly [ 20' 9" x 22' 9" x 95" tall ]. I absolutely love the space. But it has two things that I absolutely hate about it. The ceiling height: The ceiling is just low enough (95") that I can't stand up a full length sheet of plywood (96") Sure, I know. The lighting. Right now, I have two very crappy 2 fixtures with 2 florescent tube light bulbs each. They are only about 4 ft. long, and they hang from the already low ceiling from little chains that the previous home owner rigged up. They are also not connected to any kind of controllable light switch. They each have a shitty power chord that is taped to the ceiling and runs to an equally as shitty power strip-style surge protector that is also... taped to the ceiling. It's a mess. If I go to the shop at night, I have to walk in the dark, tripping all over stuff to get to one of the lights to pull a tiny 3" chain to turn it on. I have been wanting to learn more about lights,, LEDs, and electronics in general. It is my understanding by having watched a million YouTube videos, that LED lights can be purchased in strips, and that they are not expensive, and can be purchased in several color "temperatures" or even variable so you can change their color temperature (at least I think this is true) and even put them on a dimmer to vary the brightness. I'd really love to look into making my own shop lights. I'd like them, if at all possible, to be very disbursed across the entire shop. Rather than have a few lighting fixtures across the ceiling, I'd love to have lighting fixtures with LED lights that go all the way across the shop. Essentially making the whole ceiling one large light panel. Well, I'd still build individual fixture housings; I'm not looking to have bare LED strips going all across my entire shop. That would be brighter than the damn sun, and unnecessary. But... say, four lighting fixtures that are 18 ft. long with 4-5 strips of LEDs, and they all are wired together, so I can flip a switch at the entrance to the shop. Does anyone have any experience with this, or have a solid resource you could point me towards for learning how to do this without electrocuting myself, burning my shop down, or overloading circuits and flipping breakers? I know LEDs get hot. I know that the more of them you use, the more power they pull. But... aside from that... I know diddly about electronics. Thanks guys! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chestnut Posted January 21, 2018 Report Share Posted January 21, 2018 I don't see any reason you couldn't take this material and just attach it to your ceiling somehow. I want to say i saw somewhere else a guy did this just attached to floor joists as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post drzaius Posted January 21, 2018 Popular Post Report Share Posted January 21, 2018 Making your own actual lighting fixtures is not a good idea & will come back to bite you in some way or another, even if it only complicates the resale of your house. Light fixtures that you buy are built to certain standards & then tested & certified as such. Anything home built will be flagged in a home inspection at best, & burn your home down with no insurance payout at worst. You can get a wide selection of LED fixtures that you could install in an enclosure with a lens if you like, but I think that just makes extra work & isn't needed. There are 4' LED strip fixtures that are very low profile & have lenses to diffuse the light. If you have access to, or can fish wire in the space above the ceiling, there are pancake type LED fixtures the only protrude about 1/2" below the ceiling surface 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tpt life Posted January 21, 2018 Report Share Posted January 21, 2018 Big deal. Every house I bought came with crap lighting. Pull your home mades down to sell. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
new2woodwrk Posted January 22, 2018 Report Share Posted January 22, 2018 I don't have a solution to your building new lights - however one suggestion I do have to save you stumbling around in the dark: Get one of these (or more) remote power switches: - put the remote on a hook at the entrance to your garage and turn the lights on as you enter. I use these on my dust collector (can turn it on from anywhere in the garage) as well as my rope lights on my lanai. I'm actually going to buy several more for some of my tool cart outlets. Press a button and the cart is live! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krtwood Posted January 22, 2018 Report Share Posted January 22, 2018 Something to pay attention to with cheap lights is the color rendering index, CRI. A low CRI indicates it's not giving you very much of the full spectrum of light and thus it can cause colors to not look right. This is probably the video Chestnut is referring to. The strips are low voltage so you don't have quite the electrical requirements as with 110v, but you have to deal with the drivers for them. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chestnut Posted January 22, 2018 Report Share Posted January 22, 2018 Yeah my lights are garbage CRI wise which is why i complain about color a lot. If i haven't i do every time i edit pictures to post them I'm just not sure if it ever gets typed out. I use my flash in the shop a lot more now because of it. I won't ever do video so the flash is really all i need to get good color again. I use these guys cause they are inexpensive and put out a lot of light. They were 50% off one week so i stocked up. I don't know what the heck I'm going to use them for. They are the regular chain style but i get them so they are only a few inches off the ceiling. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KenMasco Posted January 23, 2018 Report Share Posted January 23, 2018 I'm experimenting with Rockler's 4275 Lumen LED bulbs (picture) and am starting to believe I will swap out all my T8 fixtures with this incredible bulb. I have three installed at the moment and without scientific measure TS, I estimate each of these $30 bulbs puts outlay more light than two 4' T8 fixtures, perhaps as much as twice as much. It's a bit like looking at the sun. And, they only consume 50 Watts. I'll probably need fewer lights and get better visibility for my ageing eyes. I've had three installed for over a year now and had no troubles at all Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark J Posted January 23, 2018 Report Share Posted January 23, 2018 @KenMasco how well dispersed is the light. It looks like it would be more pooled like a can light than dispersed like a globe fixture. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
collinb Posted January 23, 2018 Report Share Posted January 23, 2018 I bought the LED shop lights at Sam's for $38 ea. I think they're about $45 at Wally World. They hang by chains and have a standard household plug-in. IOW, no home modification is necessary. That said, I did put in home-brew under-counter LED lighting in our kitchen. But now that some nice strips are available for a reasonable price those are due an upgrade. Today LEDs are cheap enough that it's not much different in price and probably faster to do it the right way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thatCharlieDude Posted January 23, 2018 Report Share Posted January 23, 2018 On 21/01/2018 at 6:15 PM, new2woodwrk said: I don't have a solution to your building new lights - however one suggestion I do have to save you stumbling around in the dark: Get one of these (or more) remote power switches: - put the remote on a hook at the entrance to your garage and turn the lights on as you enter. I use these on my dust collector (can turn it on from anywhere in the garage) as well as my rope lights on my lanai. I'm actually going to buy several more for some of my tool cart outlets. Press a button and the cart is live! I love this idea, we use those for our outdoor christmas lights. You could also get a Amazon Echo (or Google Home) and wireless switches and then you could just talk to your lights or use a clapper. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
new2woodwrk Posted January 23, 2018 Report Share Posted January 23, 2018 4 hours ago, thatCharlieDude said: I love this idea, we use those for our outdoor christmas lights. You could also get a Amazon Echo (or Google Home) and wireless switches and then you could just talk to your lights or use a clapper. Yah, not a fan of those intrusive things from google and amazon, but yeah that's the idea I use the remote switches all day long - they work really well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KenMasco Posted January 23, 2018 Report Share Posted January 23, 2018 Mark J, it does seem that way but it isn't. I think the reason is that they are so bright and there is a lot of bulb surface facing in all directions. In fact I've been thinking of building a reflective shade to focus the light Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RileyD Posted January 23, 2018 Report Share Posted January 23, 2018 +1 on the remote light switches. I use this power strip for the 4 light fixtures in the shop. https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B003P2UMNK/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1 I also use 2 more to control my Christmas lights, they are set to use the same switch position so I have one switch upstairs and one downstairs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thatCharlieDude Posted January 23, 2018 Report Share Posted January 23, 2018 3 hours ago, new2woodwrk said: Yah, not a fan of those intrusive things from google and amazon, but yeah that's the idea I use the remote switches all day long - they work really well. I was more or less joking about the Echo but voice controlled hands free lights are nice. It would be overkill in a workshop unless you're using it to control multiple items. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
new2woodwrk Posted January 23, 2018 Report Share Posted January 23, 2018 2 minutes ago, thatCharlieDude said: I was more or less joking about the Echo but voice controlled hands free lights are nice. It would be overkill in a workshop unless you're using it to control multiple items. "Would you like to play a game?" LOL 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thatCharlieDude Posted January 23, 2018 Report Share Posted January 23, 2018 16 minutes ago, new2woodwrk said: "Would you like to play a game?" LOL More like "I don't know that." 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhighlander Posted January 24, 2018 Report Share Posted January 24, 2018 8 hours ago, new2woodwrk said: Yah, not a fan of those intrusive things from google and amazon, but yeah that's the idea Don't worry, you phone is already intruding on you, just keeping on the down-low. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wdwerker Posted January 24, 2018 Report Share Posted January 24, 2018 4 hours ago, new2woodwrk said: "Would you like to play a game?" LOL War Games 1985 film quote. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thatCharlieDude Posted January 24, 2018 Report Share Posted January 24, 2018 26 minutes ago, wdwerker said: War Games 1985 film quote. Yup, love that movie. I use clips of it in my classes. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thatCharlieDude Posted January 24, 2018 Report Share Posted January 24, 2018 1 hour ago, wtnhighlander said: Don't worry, you phone is already intruding on you, just keeping on the down-low. NSA doesn't need to use your Echo when it can eavesdrop via your phone with video and sound! lol 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
new2woodwrk Posted January 24, 2018 Report Share Posted January 24, 2018 9 hours ago, wtnhighlander said: Don't worry, you phone is already intruding on you, just keeping on the down-low. I keep both my phone and computer's video cam off - I never answer my phone since I don't need it for business. If it's important, they'll leave a msg and I'll call back - if not - oh well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MisterDrow Posted January 25, 2018 Report Share Posted January 25, 2018 I have two of these and a hanging LED shop light that cost me around $45 in my garage... it's brighter than daylight in there.https://www.homedepot.com/p/Feit-Electric-300W-Equivalent-Daylight-LED-High-Lumen-Utility-Light-Bulb-C4000-5K-LED/206677057?cm_mmc=Shopping|THD|google|&mid=sBtmPHcBN|dc_mtid_89037lm25188_pcrid_222164609488_pkw__pmt__product_206677057_slid_ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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