Shop lighting?

Fixall

Fixall

Brian
Joined
Mar 26, 2018
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A recent thread here reminded me that my current shop lighting is lacking in a big way. Until the shop is finished (late next year), I have the garage partitioned into a makeshift shop with fiberglass welding blankets. The blankets cut out a lot of the light in my "shop". I'm currently supplementing the overhead light with a couple of cheap, portable, LED work lights. I'd like to find a better solution... Hopefully one that would involve minimal installation since it's a temporary need (and I have enough projects on my plate). Something that is moveable from space to space would be great.

Any solutions that are working out really well for you?
 
Stacy is correct once again. I had a shop full of cheap $20 5000k lights and thought they was awesome. Menards has a 20,000 Lumen light for less than $50. Goes on sale every once in awhile. I've replaced several crucial ones with those. Over the grinder, over bench top bandsaw and buffer and another over the drill press and wood bandsaw. Just don't look up at them! The only problem is they are made to hang with chains which they come wtih.
 
Be aware that LED bulbs tend to dim over time. I replaced all the 4 ft fluorescent tubes in the shop with 5,000K LED bulbs. NICE light, but a couple yr later when I had to replace a couple of tubes I was surprised how much brighter the same 5,000K tube was when new vs the 2 to 3 yr old LED tubes. I don't remember the brand of LED tubes used, but was a decent name brand.
 
jlauffer said:
Don't have a "shop" per se, but a couple years ago I replaced my 2 garage lights with this type, and they have been fantastic so far. I see that they have 5 and 6 "leaf" versions now.

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I have one of these and plan on adding more. So far they've worked well. I have a Harbor Freight 5000 K over my grinder that I'd like to replace. And several others.
 
When I resurrected my shop last year, I found my vision has waned significantly for our type of work. I re-did the lighting with Barrina LEDs that were recommended (from Amazon). Very economical, easy to hang. I used a mix of 5300K and 6000K light bars as I find I don't like the harshness of 6000 all the time. It is MUCH whiter than 5300, which is noticeably more yellow light in comparison, and it is the best light to look at the fine detail of scratches in knife blades. I like the mix, switched individually. I've recently purchased another box to hang in the garage to light my little TIG adventure.
 
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I switched my 5000K florescent bulbs for these 6500K led ones and love em. No humming or flickering , brighter light AND light bill is cheaper

Barrina (Pack of 12) T8 T10 T12 LED Light Tube, 8ft, 44W (100W Equivalent), 6500K, 4500 Lumens, Frosted Cover, Dual-Ended Power, Fluorescent Light Bulbs Replacement​

 
Man…. I woke up to all kinds of great info here! The light spectrum is something that didn’t even cross my mind. I’m going to read through these better and come up with a plan. Lights that hang from chains is doable.
 
I have those Barrina LED tubes in 6500K in my work spaces as well and can't recommend them enough! Super easy to install in any number of different configurations, either hard wired or plugged into an outlet and super cheap.
 
I just ordered an eight pack of the Barrina 6500k LEDs. I didn't realize installation was so simple. I might order a couple of those leaf style LEDs to supplement the tubes, but we'll see where we're at once I get the Barrina's installed. :)

Thanks everyone!
 
One real plus on the modern LED shop lights is they usually have sockets one one end and the cord on the other. That allows you to chain connect them together. One switched power socket at the ceiling runs a whole room of lights.
 
Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith said:
One real plus on the modern LED shop lights is they usually have sockets one one end and the cord on the other. That allows you to chain connect them together. One switched power socket at the ceiling runs a whole room of lights.
Click to expand...

Yea! The lights in the kit I picked up can be connected directly together to make a really long light, and also come with several connecting cords in case they need to be spaced out too. Pretty rad.

I'm going to hook them up to a smart plug. Music, lights, air compressor, and dust collection all voice controlled. :D
 
Over the years I had bought several 48" 2-bulb fluorescent shop light fixtures for various areas of my shop. I typically put daylight spectrum fluorescent tubes in them but got tired of waiting for them to "warm up" in the winter. Eventually I changed them all out with 110VAC direct wire 6500K LED replacement bulbs. Just had to cut all of the ballasts out and wire nut a few wires together.

I also got a couple of multi-socket screw in fixtures for the existing garage sockets, similar to the "leaf" ones posted above. They take five screw in style bulbs, also daylight LED.

Best upgrade I ever did to my shop, aside from putting in a heater. Next on the list is going to be a mini-split for next summer. :)
 
sounds like someone got AI in their shop, lol
 
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