Hot Rods I'm Wanting Garage Lighting

I have floresent lighting in my garage. It's old and getting tired and rather dim to work in now.
Do I just replace with newer flo or..............
Looking for suggestions on what others are using for good lighting while keeping costs down?

 

I'm using cheap shop lights from HD. Don't know if you have those up there. Fixtures and bulbs run around $24 per 2 bulb fluorescent. It's nice and bright in the shop.

 

Led's cost to buy but give good light and easy on the elect bill.
I bought some 4ft led shop lights for my attic and 1 out does 3 of the old fluor fixtures.

 

We just replaced some quad 4' panels in our office (at work) with the LED panels.
HOLY SHIT! I thought I was going to have to get my sunglasses out of my car.

 

LEDs. I bought mine from BJs wholesale club.What a difference!!! I will never use fluorescent again.I have 4'ers and a round one.These lights last a long time.They are not cheap but in the long run its worth it. My eyes dont have to adjust when I come in from outside. Less shadows too.

 

If you have bi-pin Fluorescents now, a ballast/lamp upgrade will work wonders. Moving to T5 lamps will help quite a bit. Replace the lamps/ballast and clean the reflectors, you'll be surprised. If you don't have heat in your shop, or keep the temp low, look at low-temp ballasts. Buy a quality ballast, avoid the cheapies...

One fault with LEDs is their color rendition is still relatively poor; that may not matter to you, but it can make 'seeing' some things harder.

 

2X LED cold weather start-up no problem uses less juice. A little pricy right now.

 

LEDS all the way. Don't know about NB but here in Ontario we had a good gov't rebate on leds - replaced everything in the house and shop - figured with our hydro rates here in ON it would take about 2.5 years to pay for them. My next shop I would do the top foot or two of the walls with lexan or that corragated plastic to allow natural light in and keep wandering eyes out - a guy in town did this and during the day you don't need any lights on.

 

Those coraggated panels are amazing for light on the cheap. We just finished reinsulating & remodeling my late uncles Chevy dealership garage area & replaced the 1963 originals with clear ones. I've put a few leds in the old porcelain fixtures too boot. Flux

 

Keep you eyes open to promotion that you local power company might run. There are programs in many states where you can trade you incandescent bulbs for free LED bulbs (usually a limit for number of bulbs per promotion ) . They have done it twice so far in my area and I ended up with 16 free 60 watt equivalent LED bulbs that I mounted in quad socket adapters that I found on line for 2 bucks each. Total cost $8.00... Not affected by temperature and produces more and better light that the florescent tube fixtures that they replaced.

 

I've been buying 4 ft LED shop lights at Costco when they have a price drop on them for the past year. One puts out about as much usable light in my garage as two 4 ft florescent did before and I don't have to replace bulbs every few months. They keep going down in price all the time too.

 

It's not the lighting that's old, it's you that's getting old

 

LEDs in my new garage/shop, sure put out the light!

 

Wow! LED's are getting the nod.
If the LED's are anything like the type I use for emergency power outs........I don't like them.
It glows a weird bluish color and seems to not scatter like a bulb.
Are the ones you all are talking about not this type?

My garage is divided into two sections. Both have one window (probably for city code).
I do my work in the back. In the summer it's not too bad with all the garage doors up.
The winter (like now) is another story.

My flo's are 4'ers and pricey. I have looked into T5's also pricey and I guess end up doing the gas wiggle after awhile.
Any of you using good ol' 100 watt bulbs?

 

Paint the walls & ceiling flat or satin white. You'll be amazed by how much difference it makes.

 

I replaced all the fluorescent fixtures in my shop with LEDs from Sam's Club. It's at least twice as bright. I tried 'em in my basement, but didn't like the bluish light. My shop is 12' high and I think it doesn't bother me there because the height diffuses the bluish light. In any case, with a higher ceiling, I'd never use fluorescent bulbs again. No waiting for warm-up, either. Just turn 'em on and they're ready to go.

 

LEDs are a game changer. Fluorescent's are officially obsolete as far as I'm concerned. Started shit canning dead/wounded fluorescents in the garage, replacing with LEDs. Seriously, it's a night & day difference.
Caught 'em on sale at Rural King, 4 footers, $24.99. Get Ya Some, & never look back! One LED fixture lights about triple (at least) of what a fluorescent does. FWIW, I notice none of the blu-ish tint on these ones.
http://www.ruralking.com/4-led-shoplight-4500-lumen.html

 

These 50W, 4400 lumen (same as four 75W incandescent) are getting talked up on yellowbullet.
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Keystone-GL-50-LED-Utility-Bulb-4400-lumens/124594277
Also in 30W, 2500 lumen (same as three 60W incandescent)
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Keystone-GL-30-LED-Utility-Bulb-2500-lumens/141077460

 

If you have a typical home 2-3 stall garage with open rafters and no drywall ceiling, put one fixture at the highest point at the peak you would be surprised on how much light it give off. I have a single 100w incandesant on a single switch.

 

Make sure you get the "warm white" types - it's color is closer to the regular incadecent bulbs you're used to. It's funny, up here in the colder climates we like the "warm white", yet in the hot climates, "cool white" is the norm.

 

For more info I think garagejournal.com might have an entire forum for just lighting

 

We have always had a problem with the lifespan of regular incandescent bulbs, so a few years ago I went to the "squiggle" fluorescent bulbs throughout the house and out in the garage. Now, as they blow, I'm replacing them with LED's. One 60w LED puts out more light than a 150w incandescent or a 75 w florescent either one. The light is not only brighter, it's more white with maybe a light bluish tint. I still have a 4' florescent over my tool boxes and a 4 screw in light fixture that I saved off of an old ceiling fan that has squiggles in it, I'll replace them with LED's as soon as they go out, too. I've been buying the WalMart brand LED's, so far, I've been happy with them. Over a year and none have blown, I was going through squiggles every six months, and was lucky to get three months out of an incandescent bulb.

 

I'm using 500 watt halogen fixtures. They put out a lot of light but sure suck up the electricity. They also help heat the shop in the winter. The only problem that I have had with them is that I bought Cooper fixtures from Lowe's the first time out and the fixtures lasted less than a year. I replaced them as they failed and now have replaced all 10 of them with Heath Zenith and have had no further issues. I really hate doing things (and paying for them) twice. I also have three 400 watt mercury vapors along the top ridge and my portable lights. It may spin the watt hour meter but I can see what I am doing.

 

I have 12 of the 4 foot two bulb florescent light fixtures with daylight bulbs.

I also have sheet rock walls painted white which helps a lot. HRP

 

Both sections are currently white.

I have finished walls and normal (house style) ceilings.

 

HRP.....that's good lighting. Mine are almost mood lighting for a romantic dinner not building/maintaining my Hot Rods!

 

Not a separate forum but tons of lighting threads in the electrical forum.
I expect Ryan to post here at any second about posting there instead of here.

 

I got the 8 foot florescent that use 4- 4 foot bulbs, got low temp ballast ones, I switched them from T12 to T8's and they are much better, then I replaced the light over the bench with an LED fixture , and that sold me. Next garage is getting LED.
I have seen retrofit kits for 4 foot fixtures, @ H D and online.

 

400 watt halogen low bay lights, not a bad deal either. Cheap to operate. I put these in 13 years ago. Before the LED stuff really went big time. Just got to let them warm up n cool n cool off is the down side , so I supplemented with flood lights to guide my way in the dark till they hit full strength.
Flux

 

My new house is off-grid, so I've been installing LED's as I get the light fixtures installed...amazing that a 7w LED will produce as much light as a 40w bulb. Lowe's has some nice LED 4' and 8' shop lights that I'm looking at both in terms of energy consumption and lumens output. A little spendy, but they will outlast fluorescents many times over.