When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
I am a fan of portable workstand LEDs. This is to provide light in the particular area I am working on, as a supplement to the ceiling, and possible wall light systems.
I mainly use the type that sits on collapsible tripods, so stable when open and easy to store when not in use. The down side is cords on the floors and something else to bump into.
I also have a couple of smaller clamp on units that I can plug into overhead draw-down extension cords. So no trip danger, but you need to find a solid place to clip them on, close to what you are working on.
I have a light grey non-slip Porcelian Tile floor in my home garage. So good light reflectivity.
When we bought our house, I had a lack of time & money to do much with the garage but I needed light. With only 7 generic sockets to work with, I started with 300w equivalent CLF's giving off about 3,600 lumens each. That was fine, but I've been looking to upgrade and weighing my options. Much to my surprise, the LED tubes are not as bright as the old standard florescent tubes.
Then I discovered these online, reluctant to spend that kind of money on a mail order bulb, when Menards started to carry them locally I grabbed one: http://www.homedepot.com/p/Feit-Elec...-LED/300059562
10,000 lumens is not a typo.
It's amazing how bright this one bulb is, 6 more of these is all I'll ever need (from above) in my garage. I just wish they ere dimable, hoping future versions are.
Anyone ever see a 'workpit' in a residential garage for those without clearance for a lift? I imagine some HOA's might disapprove, such as in Irvine or Newport Beach. Could be some other engineering issues...
Back to the lighting, I think a combo of the fixed with pull down, ar as sctanton52 mentioned, portables, though the cords get in the way they are great. Nothing stinks more than working in no to low-light.
At work we switched out all of our T8/T12 fluorescent bulbs with LED s from Hypericon. They have a 5 year warranty, and have been a pleasure to deal with. EVERYONE loves them. From technicians to office people.
I've been thinking about these. I like that they link together and avoid needing an electrician.
Those look nice with the link up feature.
Only issue is brightness. A single fluorescent T8 is 3100 lumens and most are installed in pairs. So this one fixture will be half the light of a comparable fluorescent tube fixture.
That's the only issue with T8 LED replacements, they are not nearly as bright as the fluorescent bulbs they are replacing.
I have 20 8' fixtures with 4, 4' lamps each. Today I needed to replace the ballast in one and the salesman talked me into LED replacements for the lamps. I use T8 6500K 2850 Lumens now and replaced them with 5000K 2100 Lumen LED. He said these were way brighter when I questioned the numbers. Well needless to say I'm paying extra for electric again and these LED's are heading back. I am not impressed.
The issue with work-pits, at least in my area, is you need two seperate ways in and out to meet code. My HOA would not get in the way, as it is an interior mod. But the local county Building Permit folks would.
The wifey is switching over her 'grow-op' (aka the Greenhouse) from Hi Intensity 54 Watt T5 48" fluorescents to 48" strip LEDs, both are designed for Greenhouse usage, the LEDs you can get in a couple of different color temps, basically Daylight and then a more warmer colour. I am not sure of the intensity, but they is dang bright. At night, if she has them on I can see our Greenhouse from miles away. I will try and get the specs and post them. They are plug in and they do string together with supplied small cables, so a DIY install is easy. I mounted them on some of her shelf units.
Do you guys have cages around your fixtures in the garage? The safety lobe of my brain says I should. The money side of my brain says spend that cash on hookers and blow.
This is probably a bit bigger than you were thinking, but we went with the big style overhead lights in LED for our home shop, and it's amazing the difference. White walls and Translucent panels help a lot too to get some natural light in.
Do you guys have cages around your fixtures in the garage? The safety lobe of my brain says I should. The money side of my brain says spend that cash on hookers and blow.
I only have one shop space/garage with exposed T5 tubes, and they are some 12' off the floor. If I was to have some exposed lower ones, say eight feet or lower I might consider a saftey cage. Mine are also tucked up between 20" on centre heavy duty metal floor joists so I'd have to do something real stupid to break them. Which is still possible.
My shop is 16x24, with 10 foot walls and scissor trusses to a peak of 16 feet. For one half of the ceiling, we used 3, two bulb t8 fixtures equally spaced and attached to the bottom part of trusses so they follow the bottom slope of the truss. So a total of 6 two bulb fixtures. The lighting is more than enough, and very evenly distributed. I would say it's been perfect!
I get the feeling this guy lived in an RV or on a sailboat. No space wasted. Oh..wait...we were talking about lights...dohh...slipped on the slope again.
05-31-2017, 12:30 PM
