Shop lights

[stuartblack]

I bought a cool white light for the kitchen and found although was crisp light I couldnt tell if meat was cooked. It looked raw. I changed to warm white was not crisp but I could see if the meat was cooked. If it was me ide try both warm and cool white. Perhaps cool is best in one spot and warm in another. ?

 

[boxersatheart]

Watch for a sale at your local Sams CLub.... Got my 4 foot LED shop lights for $25 each! They come with all cords and such and can be ganged up to ten in a single row! BRIGHT!!!!!!!

 

[Anatol]

once upon a time there were no fluro tubes. Shop lighting was big bulbs in those (now fashionable) 'industrial' shades. Tubes have the advantage of not casting strong shadows, but flicker can be dangerous in shop. Maybe the days of tubes are over. Not sure I'd pay a premium to buy leds that are remanufactured to fit onto tube housings. If your tubes are getting old, or if setting up a new shop, I'd look at newer led options. I bought some amazing 110v COB floods on Amazon for $5 each, (COB is the led technology that looks like a patch of yellow pollen). These things are amazing (Chinese of course) - small (about 5"x5"), light, cool, efficient, bright and will probably last forever. They install with one screw - and a couple of wire nuts or such.

 

[harborfreight8x12]

Hi. FWIW, I have tried the LED 4' lights from Sams Club and love them. Just plug and play. I have also been confused and tried the replacement bulbs for existing florescent lights, both the ballast and re-wire types. I most definately prefer the re-wire ballast by-pass type simply because it's dangerous to keep an old ballast as I have had them catch fire. Now, I would never go with the LED bulbs that keep the ballast.
Kind regards, Al

 

[lemelman]

I'm in UK and have just replaced the six 6ft florescent tubes with LEDs which I purchased from Lampshoponline. The price was much better than anywhere else I could find, and fitting was straightforward. I just had to remove all the florescent starter stuff and wire just one end to the input mains cable. The tubes are powered from one end only - the pins at the other end are only for support. I removed all wiring from the support end.
The difference is very noticeable; instant start, no flickering, reduced running costs, and more light. Well worth the effort.

 

[terryp]

Changed my shop lights to LED last winter when I got tired of dim flickering lights in a cold shop. Went with the direct wire variety that does away with the noisy ballast. Love the instant and silent bright light, cheaper to run, too. I see it's been a few months since your post but got mine from "1000bulbs". Terry

 

[bobs7-62steamair]

This past year I replaced all my 4' flourscent lights with 4' LED fixtures from Wal Mart at $35 each, Wow What a difference, better lighting, no flickering, no bulb replacement/disposal issues, less energy consumed. Fantastic to say the least!

For those of you having access to Sam's they currently sell Honeywell 4 ft LED shop light fixtures for $29.95, just installed 4 of these for my 225 Sq Ft shop addition for fantastic and economical lighting!

 

[Charles Lamont]

We have just moved house. The last van, with my worksop contents arrives tomorrow. The worksop will be in a double garage currently with two 5ft fittings. So from the lighting point of view I can start from scratch. With what?

 

[DJP]

You should plan to build continuous strings of lighting placed as necessary for your shop layout. A line or string of 4 foot tubes provides the best light distibution.

 

[mu38&Bg#]

Fwiw, cheap chinaco LED tube replacements are just that. The drivers and/or LED are absolute garbage. Out of 4 tubes bought a few years ago, two are dead. One had LEDs die until it wouldn't run any longer. The other has a bad driver. More recently I bought tube replacements made by Hyperikon (direct wire/ballast bypass) and these so far have been OK. Those cheap COB lights are also terrible. This time I'm going to try real LED drivers and real name brand Citizen LED COBs. The cost will exceed the junk by a long shot, but it should actually last. Brand sometimes isn't even a factor as some products just slap a name brand onto this junk. I need to replace a light in a CNC machine that must be water proof. There are plenty of automotive lights on Amazon, but look at the reviews, all of them, leak or die within a year, even those carrying brand names like Hella. As the Edison base CFL in the house died off(long before their rated time), I replaced them with Cree LED. Much to my disappointment, I now have several dead Cree LED 40W replacements, which didn't even last as long as the CFL. One day they'll have this stuff sorted.

Watch a few of these He has several video about LED quality.

 

[Apprentice707]

I have replaced all the fluorescent tubes in my UK workshop with LED tubes I bought from Aldi about 18 months ago. They have proved reliable and effective so far and have cut my running costs. The numerous task lights I have around the place have also been replaced with LED bulbs bought from various suppliers around the UK via the internet. Again so far so good, I have also bought bulbs direct from the Far East, but alas some of these have failed due I believe to poor quality control and final inspection. I find the best bulbs for task lighting is the "Pineapple" type with lots of LEDs on them and always buy the Cool White type of light.
Unfortunately my eyesight is not what it used to be so I need all the light I can get for close up work as I am sure many others do!!!
A Merry Xmas to all and a Prosperous and Healthy New Year

 

[mecanotrain]

Hello from France,
Ditto for me in my french workshop (also bought at ALDI)
Merry Xmas to all.
Roger

 

[CFLBob]

As the Edison base CFL in the house died off(long before their rated time), I replaced them with Cree LED. Much to my disappointment, I now have several dead Cree LED 40W replacements, which didn't even last as long as the CFL.

A few years ago, I put a Cree light in my kitchen. A ceiling fixture, one of those "Par 30" bulbs (40?) When it died, I went to Cree's website and found they say they should last 25,000 hours. I didn't have receipt or anything, but I had a pretty good idea when I replaced it. Did some calculator work and figured it had to have less than 18,000 hours.

So I sent them an email. Didn't ask for anything other than information: tell me what I have to do to get that lifetime.

The next day they replied asking for my address to send me a replacement bulb.

 

[Cogsy]

That's good service , especially if it lasted 18000 hours - that's roughly 2 & 1/2 years of constant of continuous 24/7 operation! From memory my LED tubes were marked with a 30,000 hour life but if they get half that I'll be happy. Even at 40 hours per week (which I don't do anywhere near in the shed) that should get me around 8 years. More importantly for me is that they switch on instantly, don't have any visible flicker, don't make any noise and (most importantly) are so much brighter than the fluorescent tubes they replaced. I'll never buy another fluoro again.

 

[jdurnya]

I found some nice LED Lighting for my shop on amazon...

 

[Wizard69]

Just a bit of an update, I had one corner of my shop basement with either no lighting at all or one four foot fluorescent fixture. Needless to say that corner was dark! This summer I got funds together to upgrade the lighting in this corner.

What I went with was Lithonia Lighting’s “7” LED Versi Lite” in the 4000K color temp. I put these on 48” centers amounting to 8 fixtures (two rows). Since these are small round fixtures installation was very easy.

I’m extremely happy with the light output. The light coverage is very even. I still have a few other fluorescent fixtures that should be replaced with new fixtures. I will most likely go the Versi Lite route. Especially in this case as there is all sorts of plumbing and facilities stuff to route around.

The whole array of lights only draws about 5.6 amps which is outstanding considering the light coverage I’m getting.

 

[Rod Cole]

I read somewhere, and more than in one place, that over time LED take your eyes out. If I remember right it was something about the "blue" light in the spectrum being put out by the LEDs. I'm no expert on LEDs just something I read that, if true might be worth looking into for

 

[petertha]

I was getting close to taking the plunge, but read the reviews on this particular LED bulb & requisite ballast. Now I'm not so certain. I wonder if its a function of manufacturer or vintage of florescents or..?

https://www.homedepot.ca/product/ph...nt-fit-daylight-5000k-energy-star-/1000837301

 

[DJP]

At our local COSTCO they sell reading glasses in multipacks. One selection is to compensate for blue spectrum light from computer screens. They essentially are light amber glass so there must be a problem for people who spend long periods at a computer screen. I know that LED bulbs can be purchased with a warmer spectrum of light but that doesn't apply to computer or phone.

The message therefore is to limit your time in a workshop if you have with blue spectrum LED lighting.

 

[Cogsy]

I can't see the home depot link for some reason (they've got my ISP blocked) but I assume from DJP's comment there's something about blue light exposure in the reviews. We are exposed to far more intense blue light from the suns' rays than any LED and currently there is no evidence to suggest blue light from LEDs cause any issue at all, be it circadian disruption or macular degeneration. General lighting LEDs have an advantage that they don't emit any UV light either, which can't be said for fluoro's or even CFL's (although again, the intensity is very low). There are quite a few companies trying to exploit the perceived threat with special lenses, filters, etc. but the evidence is that we have nothing to worry about. It feels a lot like the whole 'cell phones will give us all brain tumors' panic in the early 2000's.

Edit to add: If you're still concerned, consider that you're not looking directly at the lighting in your shop/house most of the time, but your LED/LCD computer monitors or TV's are emitting the same blue light and you're staring right at the thing whenever you're using it and from a much closer distance (light follows the inverse square law so double the distance reduces the intensity to 1/4). If you were going to limit exposure then you'd start with your screens (again, not necessary though).