Anyone have LED shop lights that last ?

[Bottlecapdigger]

I’m one my 3rd set now in about 8 years. Where the electricity savings if you got to replace a 50$ light every 2-3 yrs?
Mind you they have gotten cheaper cost wise the last set I bought was about 20 $ each, 8000 or 12000 lumes.
They all fail around the same time within a few months of each other. They all start by flickering a bit and eventually going out for good.
What have you guys/gals got in your shop that lasts? I'm looking for the ones that thread into a lamp base, the ones that are failing now have the 3or 4 wings that you can swing up or down depending where you want to focus the light.
I’m willing spend the money, I just want something that will last longer that 2 years.
So far everything I’ve looked at is Chinese made, but where is the quality ones?

BCD.
Oh also my ceiling height is about 15’

 

[billconner]

The retrofit lamps - screw base for instance - are inevitably shorter lived than the fixtures that's are only LED. It's usually the drivers that fail from heat, and having to jam them into a small package.just aggregates the heat issues.

 

[partsguy5768]

I’m one my 3rd set now in about 8 years. Where the electricity savings if you got to replace a 50$ light every 2-3 yrs?
Mind you they have gotten cheaper cost wise the last set I bought was about 20 $ each, 8000 or 12000 lumes.
They all fail around the same time within a few months of each other. They all start by flickering a bit and eventually going out for good.
What have you guys/gals got in your shop that lasts? I'm looking for the ones that thread into a lamp base, the ones that are failing now have the 3or 4 wings that you can swing up or down depending where you want to focus the light.
I’m willing spend the money, I just want something that will last longer that 2 years.
So far everything I’ve looked at is Chinese made, but where is the quality ones?

BCD.
Oh also my ceiling height is about 15’

No issues for me 7 years on these fixtures off of Amazon... no bulbs nothing...

 

[Bert_]

I don't think you will find anything reliable with a screw base more than 4-5000lumens.

Honestly I usually only install bulbs like that for occasional use. If a guy wants something to burn all day every day, I'm installing something linear.

 

[AC-WC]

I'm on my 2nd set of LEDs. The 1st batch started failing after 3 months....it was usually 1 every 2-4 months. DO NOT buy the ones from Rural King regardless of the price.
The replacements have been a mix of HF Braun lights and Menards on sale. Price is around $15-20. Look for 1yr warranty vs 90 day. 5000k/lumens hanging shop lights that can be daisy chained. These are about 2yrs old now.
I haven't bought the Barinna LED but for the price of 10 in a set you can't beat the price and they have 3yr warranty. They're listed in one of the permanent threads in this section.
I gave up on screw in bulbs for the garage a long time ago. Too dim and never enough light throw.

 

[CoogarXR]

I have the cheap $10 linkable LED lights from Menards too. It's pretty early to tell yet, I've only had them about 6mo. They seem to be OK so far, but I have one complaint. If you hang them from a chain, they are fine. But if you use the key-slot on the back to mount them directly to the ceiling, the plastic body expands and contracts so much that they pop off the ceiling. You can literally hear them creaking as they warm up. I ended up having to put conduit straps over them to hold them down.

 

[duneslider]

Those kind that you have that screw into the lamp holder and have the 3-4 wings are absolute garbage. I was given 10 and every single one when bad within a couple years, some produced so much RFI that my garage door openers wouldn't work unless the car was almost to the door.

You can convert your round boxes to an outlet instead of the lamp holder and then plug in a light that will work better and last longer.

 

[Torque&Recoil]

I'm following this one. My first set of 4' "shop light" plug-in linears (12 of them) was totally replaced after 2 years. Second set is mostly replaced. In addition to the linears, my setup also has 8 screw-in LEDs, and the failure rate of those is about the same as the linears. I have tried LEDs from Menards, HD, Rural King, and a local building supply store. It's so bad that I have a contest going with my "LED-loving buddies" - I made them guess how long one particular LED fixture would last, wrote their guesses on a piece of paper and stuck it on one of the linears.

The only positive thing I have to offer, is that I have two linears which are made in Malaysia - they haven't failed yet.

 

[txvwnut]

I've got two years on the led lights I bought from www.primelights.com. I had one bulb out of sixteen fixtures that was bad out of the box, they warrantied it with no issue.

 

[got2boostit2]

Unknown brand of LED strip lights bought in a Group Buy off of Xceedspeed forum almost 20 years ago. They are mounted in a non-heated non-air-conditioned environment and still working great. Now watch, just because I've posted this.........SMH Wish I had bought 50 of them instead of a dozen.

 

[Lassen Forge]

My T5 tubes lasted me at least 6 years, still going strong when we moved.
I have them in my shop here, 3 years so far. The T5 equivalents still kick out light like a bad dog, no failures so far.

 

[Dewaynep]

I haven't bought the Barinna LED but for the price of 10 in a set you can't beat the price and they have 3yr warranty. They're listed in one of the permanent threads in this section.

I had/have the Barrina LED shop lights (8 foot). They have been terrible. I bought (3) 6 packs starting June of 2020. Barrina replaced 2 of the 6 packs under warranty after about 1 year, but said they would not replace them again. I have replaced them with a different brand and they're working OK. I still have 6 bulbs I need to replace but haven't purchased them yet. We'll see how long these other bulbs last. I'm reserved to the fact that LEDs, even the expensive ones, don't last as long as we've been told.

 

[AC-WC]

I had/have the Barrina LED shop lights (8 foot). They have been terrible. I bought (3) 6 packs starting June of 2020. Barrina replaced 2 of the 6 packs under warranty after about 1 year, but said they would not replace them again. I have replaced them with a different brand and they're working OK. I still have 6 bulbs I need to replace but haven't purchased them yet. We'll see how long these other bulbs last. I'm reserved to the fact that LEDs, even the expensive ones, don't last as long as we've been told.

That's disappointing they're not much better than anything else

 

[Bert_]

Out of all the fixtures I've installed I'm the most happy with the direct wire led tubes in existing or salvaged fluorescent fixtures.

First real quantity I put in was a hardware store. That was about 8 years ago. The fixtures run 10hrs a day 5-6 days a week. No failures yet. Those are GE tubes. The bulbs are cheap, I think I'm paying about $6 each.

I've also got a few of the 8' satco tubes out there. They are all working good but none have that many hours on them.

 

[Jgaz]

Installed my first two fixtures from primelights.com in December or 2018.

I have a total of eight 4’ fixtures in use now. Youngest is at least five years old.
Not one issue with any fixture or bulb

Mine are the two tube bolt series. I usually bought them during their Black Friday sale

 

[sparky 1971]

I have one customer that has wall pack fixtures inside a shop. In a penny pinching move for him I converted them from metal halide to LED corn lamps. I'm not really all that impressed with the light output, but he's happy and claims it's way better (they are when compared to the lamps that were mostly black and ready to fail when I took them out). I will say that they seem to last, most of them have been in 5ish years and I only know of one failure and that was within a couple of weeks. They might work ok on a 15' ceiling, but I have my reservations about recommending them. You may pick one or two up and try them out. I'm sure there are cheaper versions from ScAmazon, but I think I used one of these:

Search Results

www.ledlightexpert.com

 

[M.Brane]

These are what I have. Going on 3 years, and not a hint of failure. They put out a nice warm, diffuse bright light. Easy to mount surface or hang. Linkable.

 

[FTG-05]

About a third of my Honeywell/Sams Club "shop" LRD lights have failed in the last 12 years or so. I started replacing them with commercial grade 100-277 VAC LED 110 watt lights. Zero failures from them.

Example: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CLFBVJM7?tag=atomicindus08-20

 

[DGersic]

Looking back, I converted my garage lights to LED in 2016. Bought 4’ “tube” lights from Menards to replace the fluorescent bulbs and the ballast, retaining the sheet metal fixture to house them. They’re still working great.

I put some of the cheap HF 4’ LED fixtures in the basement, those are also still working great.

 

[iforgot]

I have 10 5,000 lumen 4 ft shop lights from WalMart. They were around $20 each. They have worked flawlessly for over 5 years. What's not to like?

 

[Crazyjake8493]

I only have screw-in LED bulbs in our house, but in 14 years I've only replaced one LED bulb.

My garage is all 2x4 troffers taken from a school remodel. I removed the ballasts and installed ballast-bypass LED tubes. That was back in 2013, and I have never had to replace one.

 

[iforgot]

I only have screw-in LED bulbs in our house, but in 14 years I've only replaced one LED bulb.

My garage is all 2x4 troffers taken from a school remodel. I removed the ballasts and installed ballast-bypass LED tubes. That was back in 2013, and I have never had to replace one.

You may be on to something that hasn't been mentioned in this thread. The quality of the electric power source is a major factor in premature bulb failure.

 

[pbon]

In 2018, I bought 30 James LED 4’ strip lights ST4FT40 5000k for $42 each from LEDlightingwholesaleinc.com. All hardwired, multiple switches, all with dimmers. Zero failures so far.

 

[dave*99]

I wonder if any 5 year old plus bulb/tube is the same quality etc as it is today. Even the same manufacturer and part number may have changed.
Ugh.

I have some 4’ older fixtures with bypass tubes. They are easily retubed. I’m thinking in our throw away world it makes sense.

 

[Jayman17]

Yet another class of products that over promise and under deliver...

 

[Bert_]

I wonder if any 5 year old plus bulb/tube is the same quality etc as it is today. Even the same manufacturer and part number may have changed.
Ugh.

I have some 4’ older fixtures with bypass tubes. They are easily retubed. I’m thinking in our throw away world it makes sense.

For 4' tubes I have almost exclusively used ge LED14BDT8/G4/840 along with the 16w version. I have installed over 1000 and had a couple duds right out of the box but otherwise no failures yet. I figure the earliest ones that I put in have around 20,000 hours on them at this point.

 

[American Locomotive]

Those "tri-wing" bulbs are the worst. I've seen sooooo many of them die very premature deaths. Most screw-in LED bulbs have very short rated lifespans, typically 15,000 hours or less. Which is not very long at all, and indicates they're using very low quality components that are running very hot.

On the other hand, most 4' fluorescent LED retrofit bulbs I've seen seem to be rated for 50,000+ hours. They run a lot cooler, that's for sure. You can pick up old fluorescent fixtures for basically free, or even get new "ballast-less" LED-ready fixtures for very cheap. I personally think this is the way to go for reliable, reasonably priced shop lights.

Obviously "rolling your own" isn't for everyone and there is a convenience factor for the simple plug-in 4' LED shop lights. However in my experience, many of them are garbage. Especially the 4' Commercial Electric fixtures from Home Depot. Don't bother with them, they'll start failing within a year. I've had really good luck with the $20 "Max Lite" fixtures from my local bargain store though.

You may be on to something that hasn't been mentioned in this thread. The quality of the electric power source is a major factor in premature bulb failure.

I disagree. The nature of LED fixtures (and their power supplies) makes them very tolerant of bad power. The vast majority of LED failures I've seen from fixtures/bulbs I've personally dissected are not "power related" at all. They're almost because of very poor/cheap design and construction choices. Screw in LED bulbs will often run the electronics at 100+°C, at which point the lifespan of the capacitors (and emitters) is going to be in the single digit thousands of hours (less than a year of constant use). The 4' Commercial Electric fixtures from Home Depot run 3 strings of LEDs in parallel, which is very bad practice, and will essentially always result in cascading chain failures of the LEDs.

 

[Dagny]

I second the 4 ft. tubes made to replace t8 bulbs. If your 9 ft. or lower. the fixtures are still available at electrical wholesalers. The first ones I put in a dairy barn at least ten years ago and run 24-7. The stuff you get for 10 or 20 bucks is just what you paid for.

I recently took down some highbays from menards and switched some drivers from lights that were only half dead to make half as many working lights. The drivers were undersized,not rated to run as many LEDS as were in the fixture. Raab fixtures are top notch but my customers won't pay for them.

 

[dave*99]

For 4' tubes I have almost exclusively used ge LED14BDT8/G4/840 along with the 16w version. I have installed over 1000 and had a couple duds right out of the box but otherwise no failures yet. I figure the earliest ones that I put in have around 20,000 hours on them at this point.

I trust that advice. GE needs to keep that reputation.

 

[Bert_]

I trust that advice. GE needs to keep that reputation.

Not really. GE sold off their lighting division several years ago.

But I continue to have no problems and the tubes are $6

 

[dave*99]

Not really. GE sold off their lighting division several years ago.

But I continue to have no problems and the tubes are $6

Well that tracks with my thought that whatever you bought a few years ago may not represent what you buy today.

 

[Jakemedic]

Mine from primelights.com have been installed almost 5 yrs now without an issue. But I cannot say the same for Menards LED shop lights from a Black Friday sale a few yrs ago. Out of 7, 2 have failed. Classic example I got what I paid for.

 

[Bert_]

Well that tracks with my thought that whatever you bought a few years ago may not represent what you buy today.

I'll keep using them until I have a reason not to. The product appears unchanged. If I start having problems I'll be sure to post about it.

 

[The Cobbler]

at the volunteer warehouse, we converted about 8 4' Fluorescent 4 tube fixtures to t5 led conversions with ballast by pass about 4 yrs ago ( maybe 5, I've lost track) zero failures to date . bought the bulbs from Habitat for about $10 a pc
a few months after that I bought a bunch of LED 2' U bulbs from Princess Auto for about $4 per bulb and a friend had about 12 or so fixtures he gave us that we converted & installed, zero failures to date , again ballast bypass.
A few years ago I bought about 40 2' straight ballast bypass LED bulbs from Habitat for $2 a pc . it seems that about 2 bulbs out of 5 fail almost immediately, but there has been 5 in service for about 3 years that have not failed .
lights are on probably 3o ish hrs per week.
I think that's pretty good odds for unknown discount lamps .
When I read the comments of the LED fixtures failing and needing replacement, I feel comfortable I did the right thing by coverting Fluorescent fixtures to LED.

 

[bornbadbob]

I put 8 4’ leds in my garage probably 6years ago, all still work great and are often left on all day. I have a 4’ led over the work bench that I have had at least 15 years, still works as well as it fridge first day

 

[cybrdyke]

I wonder if any 5 year old plus bulb/tube is the same quality etc as it is today. Even the same manufacturer and part number may have changed.
Ugh.

I have some 4’ older fixtures with bypass tubes. They are easily retubed. I’m thinking in our throw away world it makes sense.

It's unlikely that anything from 5 years ago is going to be exactly the same as today's product. Part numbers might be the same, and functionality might be the same, but the LED boards and drivers are likely different. There's been quite a few advancements over the years. Most of them are incremental to the product, but reduce the cost to make it. You might not notice any of the changes, but they'll be in there.
CD

 

[Skellyii]

Mine from primelights.com have been installed almost 5 yrs now without an issue. But I cannot say the same for Menards LED shop lights from a Black Friday sale a few yrs ago. Out of 7, 2 have failed. Classic example I got what I paid for.

I have some GE and Sylvania T8 ballast bypass replacements I installed in the basement and garage of one of my rental houses probably 8 years ago. Still going strong.

On the other hand, I bought a dozen clearance 4 ft LED units from Menards a couple of years ago to temporarily light my garage. A GJ member that stopped by mentioned that he was able to work on his tan in my garage. One of the Menards LED units just died a couple of weeks ago. They were supposed to be "temporary", so I didn't buy any extras.

And yeah, we all know what "Temporary" means.

 

[u2slow]

I got a set of linkable barinna strips to cast light from the edge of an 8' high shelf running the length of my shop. Worked out nice.

Out of all the fixtures I've installed I'm the most happy with the direct wire led tubes in existing or salvaged fluorescent fixtures.

This. I had collected some 25-30 used fixtures over the last decade and finally installed them all last winter Still using up some ballasts and tubes I have on-hand, but the rest got direct-wire LED. The whole idea of todays throwaway fixtures bothers me greatly.

Edit: I have avoided 8' lights of any kind. Always trouble.

 

[682bear]

I have probably a dozen of the $20 four foot long 10,000 lumen fixtures from Walmart in my basement... some are over ten years old. I've never had one fail.

The T8 LED conversion tubes I bought to replace the flourescent tubes in my shop were very disappointing... they only put out half the light of the flourescents that they replaced. I took the fixtures down and replaced them with 8 foot LED fixtures from Amazon.

-Bear

 

[whateg01]

My cheap lights from Menards, the ones in the yellow boxes, are about 5 years old now, I think.