# Shop lighting



## gad5264 (Sep 13, 2007)

I know there are many different opinions about shop lighting. Long flourescents are probably the best but I already have 9 ceiling sockets in my shop that is 16'x18'

I am not looking to reinvent the wheel just looking for any information that any of you wish to share about LED screw in bulbs, or what you have found to be the best screw in light bulbs for the shop.


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## ChrisK (Dec 18, 2009)

I have a couple of screw in bulbs in my storage area. But, they are only 40W. i would think the bright white 100W replacements would be a good choice. They would need to overlap the work area to prevent shadows.

Let us know what you find.


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## bob101 (Dec 14, 2008)

I had those in my current shop and found them to be of no use whatsoever. I removed them and mounted double 4 foot tubes at each ceiling box site and then connected a few of them via armor coat cable so as not to have to go into the attic to add new runs of wiring. I run T8 bulbs which provide great lighting. the screw in bulbs that were there cast way too many shadows , and almost no light, you want your shop as bright as possible with minimal shadows. I then ran under cabinet led strips under all of my shop cabinets to increase lighting on my counters, these are cheap and easy to install, adding clean brilliant white light.


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## turbov6camaro (Sep 23, 2014)

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Commercial-Electric-4-ft-LED-Linkable-White-Shop-Light-54103161/205331022

I have 3 of those to add light where i need more, but i plan to replace the 8 foot bulbs i have with these as I get the funds.

they are very bright, and you can remove the cover for even more light if you want.

They are link able to a string of 9 also

if you have socket already these are easy plug and play, they are light and easy to hang also

EDIT:

I should add that one of these puts out more light then one 8 foot bulb


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## BillWhite (Jul 23, 2007)

I have 8 two bulb 4' T8 strips in my 20' X 20' shop. Task lights are clear incandescent "oven" bulbs. I find them to last longer, and are resistant to vibration on the grinder, drill press, etc.
I do have an LED
gooseneck that does double duty on the band saw and lathe. It give me bright detail lighting.
Bill


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## helluvawreck (Jul 21, 2010)

I just put 8' flouresants in mine. So far they've done well.

helluvawreck aka Charles
http://woodworkingexpo.wordpress.com


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## kelvancra (May 4, 2010)

I have about ten of the double tube LED's Costco sells and I like them enough I'm phasing my four foot fluorescents out.

They put out a nice white light and ample lumens to do the job.

I installed two in the walk in freezer, to replace a single eight footer. That was an immediate improvement, since they don't care about the zero degree temp. That, of course, means they'd be great for those whose shops are subjected to the cold.

You won't see a power savings, since they consume about the same wattage as their florescent counterparts.

I've replaced all my equipment bulbs (e.g., grinder, band saw) with screw in LED's that compare to 60 watt incandescent or the florescent equivalent and I'm very happy with them.

I bought the light bars from lightingwill.com for under upper cabinets in our kitchen and we rarely turn on the overhead lights anymore, so they might have application too. Of course, they require a power supply, which runs about twenty, unless you want to dim them through your 120VAC switch, then you need a magnetic transformer for around ninety bucks.


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## Lazyman (Aug 8, 2014)

I stumbled upon some 4' long LED lights at Sam's Club a couple of months ago for $30-something made by Lights of America. 4200 Lumens with at 40 watts. If you convert several ceiling sockets into 2 or even 4 plug receptacles, you can just hang several of these to the ceiling and plug them in. Comes with hardware to hang them from ceiling.

http://www.samsclub.com/sams/4ft-led-shoplight-shoplight-led/prod16460030.ip?navAction=

Lowe's has a nice one too but it is much more expensive. The Cree 100 watt equivalent bulbs aren't bad either. I have used them mostly for task lighting but with that many sockets it might be okay.


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## welcon (Dec 3, 2012)

I have 36-4" T5 fluorescent fixtures in my ceiling with two bulbs each, nice and bright.


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## turbov6camaro (Sep 23, 2014)

> I have 36-4" T5 fluorescent fixtures in my ceiling with two bulbs each, nice and bright.
> 
> - Steve


wowi would replace all those with the cree 5000k drop in LED lights, more light for less power, i replace the 8 bulbs in my kitchen and my power bill dropped from 220 to 179 a month


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## kelvancra (May 4, 2010)

When I checked, the power consumption difference between the LED's and the T-8's was negligible. Too, lumens was about the same. I didn't check on the eight footers though, but I doubt there will be a huge difference there or with the T-5's.

One thing to consider is, a lot of power companies give rebates for lighting.


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## turbov6camaro (Sep 23, 2014)

> When I checked, the power consumption difference between the LED s and the T-8 s was negligible. Too, lumens was about the same. I didn t check on the eight footers though, but I doubt there will be a huge difference there or with the T-5 s.
> 
> One thing to consider is, a lot of power companies give rebates for lighting.
> 
> - Kelly


http://creebulb.com/products/specialty/32-watt-replacement-48-inch-t8-soft-white

18 watts consumed about %40 less energy, plus you never have to replace them and the light dont get worse as they age.

with the cree you leave the ballast in, witch i didn't know if i would like at first, but the ballast stopped humming witch was 25% of my goal lol

the 5000K light was very welcome as well


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## rwe2156 (May 7, 2014)

I have some double 4' two bulb T8 lights and 8' T12.

The t8's are twice as bright.


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## kelvancra (May 4, 2010)

The light output of florescents often falls off over time. For example, our 8' T-10's in the walk in freezer were very dim. Even new tubes didn't help, even with covers and buying tubes purposed for those applications.

Changing the transformer AND the bulbs would have helped a lot, but they still would have been effected by the cold and they would have started degrading too.

The price difference between T5's and T8's is notable, but the efficiency isn't, when cost is figured in. When I looked at the benefits of doing so, I went with two four foot LED's for the same price of a new ballast and two eight foot tubes, which would have been even more, if I swapped to T8's or T5's. Now we don't have to be concerned about the effect the cold has on florescent lights.

The light output is forty times what the tired ballasts and bulbs were producing. Even with the right cold weather tubes and covers, I don't think they'd compete with the two four foot LED's I used to replace them.


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## kelvancra (May 4, 2010)

The $31.00 4' lamps sold at Costco use 38 watts, have a color temperature is 4100 K (cool white) and the two bulbs offer about a 3,700 lumen output.

It looks like it would take two of the 18 watt Crees in the link to get to the same place. How's the price comparison?

For me, I'm adding lights, as well as replacing, so the price of the Costco units is such that I'm just removing the old fixtures and putting in clean installs.

Problem I have (we should all have such a problem) is, I run my house and shop for a total electric bill of around $120 a month (two dams are nearly within rock throwing distance). That's for shop lighting, radio, 3hp saw and collector (more, when my friends are over running the other collectors and saws), air conditioning or heating, a couple fridges in the house, the house HVAC system (lot of well over hundred degree days this year, several over one fourteen).

For those reasons, it's hard, at this time, to get excited about ten six watts of savings on a bulb. On the other hand, dependability and such makes the LED's more appreciated.

When relatively new, my florescent motion light worked well, but died within months of purchase. I removed the bayonet socket and installed a standard one, then installed a screw in LED. It works every bit as good, actually, better in the cold, and is going strong one and a half years later.

I tore one of the LED's from Costco apart to see how hard it would be to swap the LED strip and it's nothing someone armed with a decent iron couldn't handle, if the need arose. As it was, I was able to make two into one eight footer for the freezer application I mentioned earlier.



> When I checked, the power consumption difference between the LED s and the T-8 s was negligible. Too, lumens was about the same. I didn t check on the eight footers though, but I doubt there will be a huge difference there or with the T-5 s.
> 
> One thing to consider is, a lot of power companies give rebates for lighting.
> 
> ...


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## TheWeiss (Jan 7, 2015)

I have the same lights that turbov6camaro linked to above and I think they are awesome. They plug in and can be daisy chained, they are super bright and relatively inexpensive. In fact, I'm planning to grab a few more soon.


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## turbov6camaro (Sep 23, 2014)

> The $31.00 4 lamps sold at Costco use 38 watts, have a color temperature is 4100 K (cool white) and the two bulbs offer about a 3,700 lumen output.
> 
> It looks like it would take two of the 18 watt Crees in the link to get to the same place. How s the price comparison?
> 
> ...


please not that since LED replacment hit the market the lumen vauvle on T5/8/10 bulb have gone sky high, note they say UP TO. I have seen claim that one T5 48" puts out 2700 Lumen…......... maybe on Pluto…

also note that is 38watts per bulb = 152 per fixture with cree that only 36w per fixture with 2 bulbs

the Cree replacements are much brighter than any T5/8/10/12 i have found even a new bulb. they also don't flicker/strobe witch reducing eye strain.

do what best for you, but i'm OCD about light LOL and my power bill.

what have been doing is as light go bad i replace them with the LED. for the most part. my house about 90% LED now 90% of that is CREE


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## kelvancra (May 4, 2010)

So guys, what do these single tube, 18 watt, 1,700 lumen units run?

I don't know if I made it clear - the 38 watt, 3,700 lumen bulbs I mentioned, that Costco is selling, are LED's, NOT florescents.

They are now going for thirty-six dollars.


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## turbov6camaro (Sep 23, 2014)

> So guys, what do these single tube, 18 watt, 1,700 lumen units run?
> 
> I don t know if I made it clear - the 38 watt, 3,700 lumen bulbs I mentioned, that Costco is selling, are LED s, NOT florescents.
> 
> ...


oh o though they where Florecent, no reason for you upgrade obviously.

the cree t4 drop in are $20 last time i was at Home depot but these still use the ballast, so if it is bad you are better off just replaceing the hole thing wit ha LED fixture


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