Cans vs. LED panels?

[dmitrysgarage]

Hey Guys,

New to the boards. Will be posting more info on my garage build. Essentially I have a roughly 1,500 sqft garage which is detached. I currently have about 35,000 lumens worth of shop lights which are fine, but since I'm doing a huge overhaul I think it's time to step up the lighting game.

I was thinking about dropping in 36 cans with 18w 1,2000 lumen LEDs. These are IC rated cans with UL rated LED retrofits. The total price comes to around $700. One reason I like these is that I could sprinkle them in even rows across the shop. Giving me lots of good side and top down lighting for working on and detailing cars. Today I do not have that, I have to pull cars out to park in the middle to get any real good light.

I also saw these 2x2 panels of LED strips essentially. They're perfect for drop ceilings, but also can clamp into sheetrock. Any thoughts on these? I can't tell if they're really IC rated or even UL.

Will I be happy with the cans or are they too spotlight-ey? What would you recommend?

 

[ant.foste]

What is your ceiling height?

 

[dmitrysgarage]

What is your ceiling height?

10ft. Wish it was higher

 

[American Locomotive]

Cans are nice for certain aesthetic look, or targeted spot lighting. But screw-in LED bulbs are really not every efficient, and 1,200 lumens at 18 watts is straight up awful. You'd probably get more efficiency from T8 fluorescent.

You can easily get nice even light with LED shop lights, or traditional drop-ceiling panel lights. You just need to put them in even rows. If you're going to be detailing cars, and other color sensitive work in the area, make sure whatever lights you get are at least 80 CRI. 85 or 90 CRI would be even better.

 

[dmitrysgarage]

Cans are nice for certain aesthetic look, or targeted spot lighting. But screw-in LED bulbs are really not every efficient, and 1,200 lumens at 18 watts is straight up awful. You'd probably get more efficiency from T8 fluorescent.

You can easily get nice even light with LED shop lights, or traditional drop-ceiling panel lights. You just need to put them in even rows. If you're going to be detailing cars, and other color sensitive work in the area, make sure whatever lights you get are at least 80 CRI. 85 or 90 CRI would be even better.

These are the ones I was talking about: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01GL3MSIQ/?tag=atomicindus08-20

Panel wise these were the ones I was looking at:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MDSC9YF/?tag=atomicindus08-20

Currently I have kind of the standard shop lights with LED T8s in them, which are plenty bright, but they're hard to get flush due to stud layout in the places I want them and I'm trying to not sacrifice more ceiling height. This is why I was thinking cans/panels. I do like the shop lights though.

 

[American Locomotive]

I'd probably avoid those cans, just because the efficiency is so bad. The LED panels you linked are also pretty low efficiency (85 lumens/watt), but still much better than the LED cans. Both options you linked have CRI of over 80.

 

[dmitrysgarage]

I'd probably avoid those cans, just because the efficiency is so bad. The LED panels you linked are also pretty low efficiency (85 lumens/watt), but still much better than the LED cans. Both options you linked have CRI of over 80.

Hmm, what do you think of the LED lights in the sticky on this board? They seem cheap and low profile enough to not make me feel like im losing 1/2 a foot of height.

 

[stm317]

I chose these panels recently for the same reasons as you:


I'm happy so far.

 

[lakelandcat]

Hey Guys,

New to the boards. Will be posting more info on my garage build. Essentially I have a roughly 1,500 sqft garage which is detached. I currently have about 35,000 lumens worth of shop lights which are fine, but since I'm doing a huge overhaul I think it's time to step up the lighting game.

I was thinking about dropping in 36 cans with 18w 1,2000 lumen LEDs. These are IC rated cans with UL rated LED retrofits. The total price comes to around $700. One reason I like these is that I could sprinkle them in even rows across the shop. Giving me lots of good side and top down lighting for working on and detailing cars. Today I do not have that, I have to pull cars out to park in the middle to get any real good light.

I also saw these 2x2 panels of LED strips essentially. They're perfect for drop ceilings, but also can clamp into sheetrock. Any thoughts on these? I can't tell if they're really IC rated or even UL.

Will I be happy with the cans or are they too spotlight-ey? What would you recommend?

Can lights can be efficient if you. use the right bulb, indoor floods can get you 3000+ lumens , the trick is to use the right brightness. I like the Daylight bulbs, they are a white light which is plenty bright for me. They come in 4 different brightnesses soft white, warm white, bright white and daylight. The T8 bulbs give off some good light and are wasy to move around. check out some of the new shop LED drop lights, they can get you places no other fixed lights can.

 

[klassenl]

We lit a small school with that type of panel light. Very nice light. I have no idea about so called efficiency (lumen/watt). We got the surface installation kit. But you could also chain hang them.

 

[Wileel]

Hmm, what do you think of the LED lights in the sticky on this board? They seem cheap and low profile enough to not make me feel like im losing 1/2 a foot of height.

Those are what I went with I my shop and couldn't be happier with the price for the result. My shop is only half as big as yours and I have 13 fixtures up (9 are switched and 4 are on motions), some might think its over kill but I disagree, I don't have any spots that I have found where I am working in my own shadow.

 

[crook038]

I chose cans with LED retrofits. My pole barn is 42X48 and I installed 56 lights. I used IC cans so I can use blow in insulation when finished.
Sean

 

[cybrdyke]

These are the ones I was talking about: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01GL3MSIQ/?tag=atomicindus08-20

This product is a can insert. You'll still need to buy and install the metal domed can and brackets that mount it between the studs. These aren't efficient at 18w/1200 lumens, and they're expensive at nearly $12 each.
Newer technology is a snap-in LED disc w/driver. Just cut a hole and snap it in. No can. It will cost a little more initially, but the install will go much faster. Like this:

Panel wise these were the ones I was looking at:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MDSC9YF/?tag=atomicindus08-20

These panels are made to mount in a grid ceiling. If you dont have one, you can check with the manufacturer to see if they have a surface mount kit, which will add 3" or so of depth to the fixture. You could also hang them with aircraft cable or jack chain, but that adds depth, too. You might be able to build your own frame, depending on your skill level. This particular panel is woefully inefficient at 40w/3400 lumens. (I had to chuckle at the description because it starts off with..."be careful of cheap imitations"). Top quality 2x4 panels will cost you closer to $100 each.

Currently I have kind of the standard shop lights with LED T8s in them, which are plenty bright, but they're hard to get flush due to stud layout in the places I want them and I'm trying to not sacrifice more ceiling height. This is why I was thinking cans/panels. I do like the shop lights though.

You can get LED strips, no lamps or sockets, that are 4' long, but only about 2 or 3 inches deep. Like this:

Good luck,
CD

 

[bushmechanic]

Cans are nice for certain aesthetic look, or targeted spot lighting. But screw-in LED bulbs are really not every efficient, and 1,200 lumens at 18 watts is straight up awful. You'd probably get more efficiency from T8 fluorescent.

You can easily get nice even light with LED shop lights, or traditional drop-ceiling panel lights. You just need to put them in even rows. If you're going to be detailing cars, and other color sensitive work in the area, make sure whatever lights you get are at least 80 CRI. 85 or 90 CRI would be even better.

Most screw in LEDs ****. Not all. Get the good stuff and you can make it pull whatever you want.

I'm in the can camp here.

 

[The_Auto_Tech]

Can lights are nice for aesthetics but I'd rather run the standard 4' light setups. The LED ones have a crazy warranty and are fairly efficient and cheap.

 

[PhysicsDude]

I chose cans with LED retrofits. My pole barn is 42X48 and I installed 56 lights. I used IC cans so I can use blow in insulation when finished.
Sean

How do you like thost LED cans?

I fitted my standard 2 car garage with 8" canless recessed lights and I don't care for them. They look really nice, but I think they produce too many shadows. Maybe in a larger shop the higher number of lights and higher ceiling makes them better, but I wish I would have gone with 4' LED tubes.

 

[crook038]

How do you like thost LED cans?

I fitted my standard 2 car garage with 8" canless recessed lights and I don't care for them. They look really nice, but I think they produce too many shadows. Maybe in a larger shop the higher number of lights and higher ceiling makes them better, but I wish I would have gone with 4' LED tubes.

I like the setup I have. In my case I have 13 ft. Ceiling height and spaced them closer together so it works out for me. I like the clean look of the recessed lights but it wasn’t the most inexpensive option. In the end, it’s what I wanted and would do it again the same way.
Sean

 

[dscheidt]

How do you like thost LED cans?

I fitted my standard 2 car garage with 8" canless recessed lights and I don't care for them. They look really nice, but I think they produce too many shadows. Maybe in a larger shop the higher number of lights and higher ceiling makes them better, but I wish I would have gone with 4' LED tubes.

The important thing to remember when laying out cans is that they throw light in a cone. The cones have to overlap at the desired work height, or they will have shadows. Putting brighter bulbs in doesn't help that, it just makes the shadows deeper. For working on cars, the height is probably the height of the hood, not the floor. That reduces the effective ceiling height, and increases dramatically the number of required cans.

I worked out for my 20X20X9 garage that I'd need about 20 or 24 cans to do it right. I probably could get by with a few less, by figuring out where the shadows would be acceptable, but still way more than is practical outside of a Taj Garage.

 

[n20junkie]

In my new garage I was going to use can lights upstairs to preserve ceiling height, but ended up using the retrofit LED's that fit cans AND standard ceiling boxes. They are nice and bright, and resonably priced. Lowes has the utillitech versions for $12 or so and you can use retrofit ceiling boxes to make your install easy.

 

[Radix2]

Can lights at decent lumens are putting out a lot of light in a small aperture - it has more glare - led panels or larger options spread the light out and have less glare. You also will benefit from styles that put some light up on the ceiling and have as wide a dispersion as possible - can lights ( esp the old style with the recessed bulbs) are directional an this leads to more shadows.

 

[The_Auto_Tech]

In my 15x27x8 garage I have 6 3300 lumen 4' LED lights. They were about 20 dollars a piece at Menards and use standard 110 plug ins. They have a 5 year warranty on them as well. My garage is insanely bright now, even with OSB walls, and I don't run into shadow issues unless I'm working underneath a vehicle.