Help me install better garage / shop lighting - Page 3

gtojohn · 11-27-14, 02:58 AM

The 10" velux sky tube goes for $178 now. My kitchen one is nice, about as bright as a 100watt incandescent, but I'd like 2-3x more light to work under the hood with.
If your fixtures are still gloss white try adding a more reflective material behind them. The newer upgraded fixtures have silver reflectors. I've added reflectors on my exterior lights to get extra distance and light where I want it vs wasting it upwards or against the house. At my previous house, when I worked on cars more, I had some track lights I'd spot in under the hood.

Daox · 11-28-14, 06:42 AM

Thanks for the pictures and ideas guys.

I also just nabbed a few pull switches off amazon (needed to get me up to $35 for free shipping) to add to the fixtures I have so they aren't always on.

Zizzfire@outlook.com · 12-02-14, 03:14 PM

I would use a new innovation called The Light Bandit, No electric bill. Great daylighting tool for those dark areas! See it on Facebook & Kickstarter.

Daox · 12-08-14, 10:42 AM

I picked up a couple LED bulbs from the local Menards the other day. They're made by Feit. The bulbs are 19W, 1650 lumens, and they don't use the ballast. I'll post up pictures when I get a chance.

I have to fix one of my fixtures first though. One of the tabs that holds the bulb is broken. I just found out that you can buy those parts, so I just have to figure out which ones fit.

GdB · 12-09-14, 05:09 PM

Maintenance and reliability is better with LED's. I have lot's of high quality commercial fluorescents in garage. Half are not working and fixing them (changing ballast) is a PIA. I will take them out eventually and use super cheap CPF or LED's. I wish I had just installed a bunch of each to service bulb sockets.

Robaroni · 12-10-14, 09:05 AM

Daox,
I can't tell you how happy I am with the LED's I installed in the shop. No more flickering Florescent bulbs, 96 watts usage as opposed to 320 watts. No more saving bad bulbs for recycling. And then there's the time I swung a steel rod and hit the tubes, what a mess!
I know this is a cost issue for you but I think once you can afford the change you'll find it well worth it.

bennelson · 12-10-14, 10:04 AM

I know I'm late to the party, as I only just now saw this thread, but here's my two cents.....

Randen and others - Light Tubes (fancy modern tubular skylights, which I am generally a fan of) are not likely to be useful in this situation. In December in southeastern Wisconsin, sunset is at 4:15 PM, and (No joke!) I haven't seen the sun in four days. As much as I love skylights and solar tubes, I know they wouldn't work in my garage, and Daox is in the same part of the country.

In Doax's original drawing, I like simply having two 4 foot fluorescent fixtures on either side of the left car bay. It's a good amount of light in the right location.

I'm a big fan of ELECTRONIC ballast fluorescent's. Menards has American Fluorescent brand 4-foot shop light fixtures for $17.98 each. They are pre-wired with a standard wall plug, have electronic ballasts, and will run T-12 or T-8. Those fixtures with T-8 daylight tubes in them are GREAT! They are well made, good quality fixtures at a very affordable price. Best shop light out there.

They are MUCH better than the old magnetic ballast fixtures. ZERO flicker, more energy efficient, and much faster warm-up time when cold. (Important for an unheated garage.)

You can use those funny little adapters that let you convert a bulb socket to an electric outlet. Then plug the fluorescent into that. You then just keep using the same light switch you always have. You can also get an adapter that is a T off the original bulb socket. That can give you a power outlet AND still have a bulb.

In the four existing bulb sockets, put in LED bulbs. (Tim, how many of the Feit bulbs did you get?) You can get LED bulbs now for $6-$7 dollars each.
Here is my current favorite LED bulb - TCP multipack at Home Depot

Even if the fluorescents take a moment to warm up, the LED bulbs come on instantly, so you have plenty of light right away, and even more when the tubes come to full brightness.

The LED tubes are nice too, and are good long-term investments. Still a little pricey at the moment if you want to buy a bunch. If you do want to use those, as others have said, just use old (cheap) fluorescent fixtures to modify.

Just my two cents...

PS: Robaroni - Too true about smashing fluorescents. I broke a 100 watt CFL once. (Not 100 watt equivalent... 100 watts, which is a HUGE CFL!) Big mess. Another advantage of LED is shatter resistance. The bulb-style LEDs are great for trouble lights, clamp-on lights, and "painters'" lights. Those are ones that tend to get moved around and knocked over a lot. Incandescents get hot and the filament gets shaken to death, CFLs have a warm up time and are a mess when they break, but LED bulbs in those fixtures are GREAT!

PPS: Another great place for an LED bulb is in the light socket of an automatic garage door opener. Openers shake a lot while moving the door (which is bad for incandescents.) The warm up time on a CFL in there isn't ideal when you just want to quickly put your can in the garage at night. Also, I'm amazed at how the shape of a CFL picks up dust. No joke, please regularly check any CFLs in a shop or garage. It cuts down on your light AND is a fire hazard. An LED bulb in the garage door opener comes on instantly, at full brightness, doesn't get dusty in the same way as a spiral CFL, and is energy efficient.

PPPS: Tim, those 19w LEDs that you got, did you mean that those were LED tubes for the fluorescent fixtures or standard screw base for the regular bulb sockets?

Daox · 12-10-14, 10:28 AM

The LED bulbs I got are 4' tube bulbs as shown below.

Specs:
1650 lumens
4100k color temp
19W
50,000 hour life

http://www.feit.com/led-lamps/led_li...4819-ledif-41k

Robaroni · 12-10-14, 03:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Daox

The LED bulbs I got are 4' tube bulbs as shown below.

Specs:
1650 lumens
4100k color temp
19W
50,000 hour life

4ft LED Fluorescent Tube Replacement (frost)

Daox,
What's the price on the Feit's?
I'm wondering if HD will be stocking LED tubes at some point, if they aren't already. The ones I have are supposed to be rated at 24 watts but my P3 shows less, the guy on eBay gave me a deal because the 20 watters I ordered were out of stock.
I'm going to gradually replace all my tubes with LED's in the rest of the basement workshop.
Rob

eNeufenergy · 12-11-14, 02:37 PM

I took a slightly different approach to lighting my garage/workspace/storage/shop. My house, built in the 1970's seems to have the worst of all possible solutions relative to energy and adaptability. The garage is no different.

It seems to have had two Edison 26 sockets, which were then replaced with two 4' twin Fl fixtures, neither "solution" really solving the issue of lighting a double garage.

When we purchased the house @10 years ago, the CFL's were coming down in price, Fl tubes seemed to still be popular and LED was far away, but promising.

My solution was to spread the lighting out around the entire garage to eliminate as much shadow, offer flexibility in lighting options and hopefully be adaptable to what future lighting technology might become available.

So, I spent a day in the attic rewiring the lighting. I opted for two light circuits, one switched 4 linked Edison sockets, the other switched an additional 8 sockets spaced fairly evenly over the approximately 400 sf. floor.

As I recall, the sockets themselves were on the order of about $1.50 each, the round rough in boxes about the same, and the CFL's were @$3.00 bucks apiece. Since then the price (CFL's) has come down considerably, but then adding up the initial cost of 60' of 14ga. wire, two switches, plate. Total was about $125. Today the cost would be maybe slightly under $100 - CFL's dropped considerably but copper wire has gone up.

My own labor cost hasn't changed one damn bit.

I screwed in different wattages which allowed me to tune in the light where I thought I would need it most; the same issues I read about like trying to light an area around a car hood.

I'm very pleased with the outcome. The CFL's are clear of the overhead door when it comes up. I broke a couple initially, mostly because my muscle memory thought about where the old lights were, rather than my new reality.

And the good news is I can change them out to LED's as their price is now coming down. I did change them in the house, which lowered my Kwh usage by about 1.5K per day, but also has been mentioned by others my garage lighting is not on that much. But the thing is, when you want to work, I can now have a little - like fetching a dust pan - or alot, when I'm trying to fix some rusty broken thing with a magnifying glass.

My labor X less capitol cost = more flexibility. Or to put it another way - What I have X what I don't have = what I want.

11-28-14, 06:42 AM	#22
Daox Administrator Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Germantown, WI Posts: 5,525 Thanks: 1,162 Thanked 374 Times in 305 Posts	Thanks for the pictures and ideas guys. I also just nabbed a few pull switches off amazon (needed to get me up to $35 for free shipping) to add to the fixtures I have so they aren't always on. __________________ Current project - To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. & To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

12-08-14, 10:42 AM	#24
Daox Administrator Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Germantown, WI Posts: 5,525 Thanks: 1,162 Thanked 374 Times in 305 Posts	I picked up a couple LED bulbs from the local Menards the other day. They're made by Feit. The bulbs are 19W, 1650 lumens, and they don't use the ballast. I'll post up pictures when I get a chance. I have to fix one of my fixtures first though. One of the tabs that holds the bulb is broken. I just found out that you can buy those parts, so I just have to figure out which ones fit. __________________ Current project - To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. & To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

12-10-14, 09:05 AM	#26
Robaroni Journeyman EcoRenovator Join Date: Jun 2013 Location: Delhi, NY Posts: 332 Thanks: 20 Thanked 53 Times in 40 Posts	Daox, I can't tell you how happy I am with the LED's I installed in the shop. No more flickering Florescent bulbs, 96 watts usage as opposed to 320 watts. No more saving bad bulbs for recycling. And then there's the time I swung a steel rod and hit the tubes, what a mess! I know this is a cost issue for you but I think once you can afford the change you'll find it well worth it. Attached Thumbnails Last edited by Robaroni; 12-10-14 at 10:49 AM..

12-10-14, 10:04 AM	#27
bennelson Home-Wrecker Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: SE Wisconsin Posts: 546 Thanks: 3 Thanked 165 Times in 96 Posts	I know I'm late to the party, as I only just now saw this thread, but here's my two cents..... Randen and others - Light Tubes (fancy modern tubular skylights, which I am generally a fan of) are not likely to be useful in this situation. In December in southeastern Wisconsin, sunset is at 4:15 PM, and (No joke!) I haven't seen the sun in four days. As much as I love skylights and solar tubes, I know they wouldn't work in my garage, and Daox is in the same part of the country. In Doax's original drawing, I like simply having two 4 foot fluorescent fixtures on either side of the left car bay. It's a good amount of light in the right location. I'm a big fan of ELECTRONIC ballast fluorescent's. Menards has American Fluorescent brand 4-foot shop light fixtures for $17.98 each. They are pre-wired with a standard wall plug, have electronic ballasts, and will run T-12 or T-8. Those fixtures with T-8 daylight tubes in them are GREAT! They are well made, good quality fixtures at a very affordable price. Best shop light out there. They are MUCH better than the old magnetic ballast fixtures. ZERO flicker, more energy efficient, and much faster warm-up time when cold. (Important for an unheated garage.) You can use those funny little adapters that let you convert a bulb socket to an electric outlet. Then plug the fluorescent into that. You then just keep using the same light switch you always have. You can also get an adapter that is a T off the original bulb socket. That can give you a power outlet AND still have a bulb. In the four existing bulb sockets, put in LED bulbs. (Tim, how many of the Feit bulbs did you get?) You can get LED bulbs now for $6-$7 dollars each. Here is my current favorite LED bulb - TCP multipack at Home Depot Even if the fluorescents take a moment to warm up, the LED bulbs come on instantly, so you have plenty of light right away, and even more when the tubes come to full brightness. The LED tubes are nice too, and are good long-term investments. Still a little pricey at the moment if you want to buy a bunch. If you do want to use those, as others have said, just use old (cheap) fluorescent fixtures to modify. Just my two cents... PS: Robaroni - Too true about smashing fluorescents. I broke a 100 watt CFL once. (Not 100 watt equivalent... 100 watts, which is a HUGE CFL!) Big mess. Another advantage of LED is shatter resistance. The bulb-style LEDs are great for trouble lights, clamp-on lights, and "painters'" lights. Those are ones that tend to get moved around and knocked over a lot. Incandescents get hot and the filament gets shaken to death, CFLs have a warm up time and are a mess when they break, but LED bulbs in those fixtures are GREAT! PPS: Another great place for an LED bulb is in the light socket of an automatic garage door opener. Openers shake a lot while moving the door (which is bad for incandescents.) The warm up time on a CFL in there isn't ideal when you just want to quickly put your can in the garage at night. Also, I'm amazed at how the shape of a CFL picks up dust. No joke, please regularly check any CFLs in a shop or garage. It cuts down on your light AND is a fire hazard. An LED bulb in the garage door opener comes on instantly, at full brightness, doesn't get dusty in the same way as a spiral CFL, and is energy efficient. PPPS: Tim, those 19w LEDs that you got, did you mean that those were LED tubes for the fluorescent fixtures or standard screw base for the regular bulb sockets? __________________ To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. Last edited by bennelson; 12-12-14 at 10:03 AM.. Reason: PS and PPS

12-10-14, 10:28 AM	#28
Daox Administrator Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Germantown, WI Posts: 5,525 Thanks: 1,162 Thanked 374 Times in 305 Posts	The LED bulbs I got are 4' tube bulbs as shown below. Specs: 1650 lumens 4100k color temp 19W 50,000 hour life http://www.feit.com/led-lamps/led_li...4819-ledif-41k Attached Thumbnails __________________ Current project - To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. & To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

11-27-14, 02:58 AM	#21
gtojohn Journeyman EcoRenovator Join Date: Jul 2014 Location: Austin, TX Posts: 314 Thanks: 39 Thanked 50 Times in 45 Posts	The 10" velux sky tube goes for $178 now. My kitchen one is nice, about as bright as a 100watt incandescent, but I'd like 2-3x more light to work under the hood with. If your fixtures are still gloss white try adding a more reflective material behind them. The newer upgraded fixtures have silver reflectors. I've added reflectors on my exterior lights to get extra distance and light where I want it vs wasting it upwards or against the house. At my previous house, when I worked on cars more, I had some track lights I'd spot in under the hood.

12-02-14, 03:14 PM	#23
Zizzfire@outlook.com Lurking Renovator Join Date: Dec 2014 Location: San Diego, CA Posts: 2 Thanks: 1 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	I would use a new innovation called The Light Bandit, No electric bill. Great daylighting tool for those dark areas! See it on Facebook & Kickstarter.

12-09-14, 05:09 PM	#25
GdB Lurking Renovator Join Date: Aug 2014 Location: Cypress, CA Posts: 5 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Maintenance and reliability is better with LED's. I have lot's of high quality commercial fluorescents in garage. Half are not working and fixing them (changing ballast) is a PIA. I will take them out eventually and use super cheap CPF or LED's. I wish I had just installed a bunch of each to service bulb sockets.

12-11-14, 02:37 PM	#30
eNeufenergy Lurking Renovator Join Date: Dec 2012 Location: Oregon Posts: 4 Thanks: 1 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	I took a slightly different approach to lighting my garage/workspace/storage/shop. My house, built in the 1970's seems to have the worst of all possible solutions relative to energy and adaptability. The garage is no different. It seems to have had two Edison 26 sockets, which were then replaced with two 4' twin Fl fixtures, neither "solution" really solving the issue of lighting a double garage. When we purchased the house @10 years ago, the CFL's were coming down in price, Fl tubes seemed to still be popular and LED was far away, but promising. My solution was to spread the lighting out around the entire garage to eliminate as much shadow, offer flexibility in lighting options and hopefully be adaptable to what future lighting technology might become available. So, I spent a day in the attic rewiring the lighting. I opted for two light circuits, one switched 4 linked Edison sockets, the other switched an additional 8 sockets spaced fairly evenly over the approximately 400 sf. floor. As I recall, the sockets themselves were on the order of about $1.50 each, the round rough in boxes about the same, and the CFL's were @$3.00 bucks apiece. Since then the price (CFL's) has come down considerably, but then adding up the initial cost of 60' of 14ga. wire, two switches, plate. Total was about $125. Today the cost would be maybe slightly under $100 - CFL's dropped considerably but copper wire has gone up. My own labor cost hasn't changed one damn bit. I screwed in different wattages which allowed me to tune in the light where I thought I would need it most; the same issues I read about like trying to light an area around a car hood. I'm very pleased with the outcome. The CFL's are clear of the overhead door when it comes up. I broke a couple initially, mostly because my muscle memory thought about where the old lights were, rather than my new reality. And the good news is I can change them out to LED's as their price is now coming down. I did change them in the house, which lowered my Kwh usage by about 1.5K per day, but also has been mentioned by others my garage lighting is not on that much. But the thing is, when you want to work, I can now have a little - like fetching a dust pan - or alot, when I'm trying to fix some rusty broken thing with a magnifying glass. My labor X less capitol cost = more flexibility. Or to put it another way - What I have X what I don't have = what I want.