Best chainable LEDs for 2.5 car garage

[timothylockhart]

Hello All, I read through the first few pages and last few pages of this best lighting fixture thread and it seems like most people are recommending hard wired fixtures.
I want to light up my 24x22 Garage that has around 10ft ceilings. I have two of the Honeywell Linkable Led's Right now and they seem to do really well although I only have them hung underneath a specifically low 6.5ft ceiling. It seems like everyone's Gripe with them is that they are unfrosted and not diffused. I really really like that I can hang 10 of these off one plug and essentially light the whole garage. Does anyone have any recommendations for similiar lights that will link off of one Outlet that maybe are a bit better? I saw some clearance Braun lights at HF, 5500 Lumens 50 ish watts and 2 Frosted tubes. Seem a little less efficient and they are on clearance so I doubt I will be able to get new fixtures if any burn out. I may just go with the Honeywells and frost them myself if I notice myself looking at the dots, if there is not a similiar ease of use alternative. Willing to spend a little bit more money for a better light though.

 

[pbon]

They are all cheap and flimsy. But they work and work pretty well. I have some in my shop attic and shop basement, but my use of those areas is brief and infrequent. If you want quality, buy real fixtures and connect with surface mount conduit or use conduit to install a few surface mount boxes that you can plug 2 lights to spaced apart within their combined cord lengths.

For cheap, decent quality hanging shop lights, the HF go on sale for $17 regularly and name brand at Sams Club and Costco do as well for about the same price. But I am not sure they are daisy chain able.

 

[SARG]

I have installed over thirty of these Bbounder units from Amazon in two garages & a pole barn.

They go on sale occasionally and in various quantities. Much brighter than the 4 foot fluorescents they replaced.

They come with black or white ends and you can "chain" 4 lights per plug. Just search Amazon for "Bbounder leds".

One order I made of ten ... the cost was under $9. each.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0B7119V97/?tag=atomicindus08-20

 

[Jakemedic]

My dad taught me you get what you pay for. I purchased lighting from https://www.primelights.com/?utm_source=Klaviyo&utm_medium=campaign&_kx=5bL-uFj8_fhkZdf8l1Rq8BF8IswxOEduEQTdoi-2q0c=.NPJ3Zh. I don’t get anything for recommending these people, but their service was amazing. They drew out a lighting plan for me, recommended the fixture and shipped them to my door in 2 days. I can’t speak more highly of them. Specifically, I bought 6 “Bolts” frosted and with three bulbs per fixture I surface mounted my conduit on the ceiling and placed them on 2 switches. My shop is 768 sq ft and around 10’ ceilings. Couldn’t be happier with the lights. I was just finishing up the insulation and the final two ceiling panels in this picture.

 

[sparky 1971]

They are all about the same. Cheap, throwaway junk. Some last a long time, some, not so much even though they are identical. I actually have a few from Menards for task lighting that I bought as needed. No two are alike, they all work as advertised but are nothing to brag about. It's going to be the same across the whole spectrum of cheap plug in shop lights.

 

[timothylockhart]

My biggest issue is not wanting to run new power to the garage from my breaker box.

Is that what most people do in these situations?

Depending on output of the lights and the gauge of the wire ran to the light bulb socket could I just tap in to an existing light bulb socket and extend that through conduit to hardwired fixtures?

 

[pbon]

Take your existing ceiling light fixtures, change them to junction boxes, and run surface mount conduit to individual lights or to more surface mount receptacle boxes for plug in lights. The 4’ LED shop lights usually don’t draw more than 40-50 watts so the existing wiring should be able to handle a bunch of them.

 

[39CAMC]

Hello All, I read through the first few pages and last few pages of this best lighting fixture thread and it seems like most people are recommending hard wired fixtures.
I want to light up my 24x22 Garage that has around 10ft ceilings. I have two of the Honeywell Linkable Led's Right now and they seem to do really well although I only have them hung underneath a specifically low 6.5ft ceiling. It seems like everyone's Gripe with them is that they are unfrosted and not diffused. I really really like that I can hang 10 of these off one plug and essentially light the whole garage. Does anyone have any recommendations for similiar lights that will link off of one Outlet that maybe are a bit better? I saw some clearance Braun lights at HF, 5500 Lumens 50 ish watts and 2 Frosted tubes. Seem a little less efficient and they are on clearance so I doubt I will be able to get new fixtures if any burn out. I may just go with the Honeywells and frost them myself if I notice myself looking at the dots, if there is not a similiar ease of use alternative. Willing to spend a little bit more money for a better light though.

You seem on the right track, but stay away from the Honeywell ones. I put 12 of them up in my shop (2 circuits) and even though they are less than 2 years old, 4 of them are flaky turn on and off and 1 failed completely. When the first one acted up, I started researching if they had a warranty and read all of the reviews and found that 30% failure rate (or worse) is typical.

DaveW

 

[Citation]

I did a few of the cheap Amazon ones in my garage. They work but I wouldn't want to daisy chain them. I would suggest putting outlets on the ceiling tapped into the existing lighting wiring. With outlets you could avoid daisy chaining and you would have a wide range of lights you could install.

I say this yet my garage lights are (not proudly) plugged into those screw in cheater sockets.

 

[glend123]

I bought 10-12 of them off Amazon. relatively cheap. They are all working 5 years later. nice and bright.
don't make yourself crazy over-analyzing it.

 

[SARG]

I bought 10-12 of them off Amazon. relatively cheap. They are all working 5 years later. nice and bright.
don't make yourself crazy over-analyzing it.

Agreed ... I've had the Bbounder units installed for several years with no failures yet.

 

[atlm]

I have installed over thirty of these Bbounder units from Amazon in two garages & a pole barn.

They go on sale occasionally and in various quantities. Much brighter than the 4 foot fluorescents they replaced.

They come with black or white ends and you can "chain" 4 lights per plug. Just search Amazon for "Bbounder leds".

One order I made of ten ... the cost was under $9. each.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0B7119V97/?tag=atomicindus08-20

Agreed ... I've had the Bbounder units installed for several years with no failures yet.

@SARG, thank you for sharing this information. I found those Bbounder 6500k lights on Amazon for $59.99 after coupon for a 10 pack, so ordered them. It's good to hear that your experience aligns with those in the reviews.

 

[SARG]

An excellent price & I would buy another bundle ........ but I already have a half dozen spares already. I started buying them in 2020 and I haven't had to replace one yet.
I really appreciate them through the winter months because the cold has zero impact on the brightness.

 

[atlm]

An excellent price & I would buy another bundle ........ but I already have a half dozen spares already. I started buying them in 2020 and I haven't had to replace one yet.
I really appreciate them through the winter months because the cold has zero impact on the brightness.

12 pack with reflectors on sale right now for $79.99. I ordered them, also, so will have 22 total for less than $140.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B9W838VC/?tag=atomicindus08-20

 

[couch67]

I bought a 10 pack of Sunco LED's on Amazon 3 years ago. Not a single issue (knock on wood)

 

[theoldwizard1]

I bought the $20 ones from Costco about 5 years ago. Only complaint is they don't like cold weather (below 20°F). They blink or won't start. They work fine after 5-10 minutes.

 

[AC-WC]

I can tell you which ones NOT to buy. Rural King Work Saver brand is awful. I bought 12 and only 3 are still working They're only 1 1/2 yrs old. Initial light output and color was great. 5000 lumens and 5000k color is great for working on things.
Bought 1 from Menard's waiting on longevity, it's only 3 months old. Just bought a Walmart light w/3 yr warranty so we'll see on that one.

 

[atlm]

Update on the Bbounder lights: the original open version is great (thanks @SARG). I hung 12 in my ~450 sq ft shop and it’s lit up evenly and super bright.

When hung from the chains, the newer model with a reflector was noticeably darker on the sides and top, as the reflector blocked some of the light. It was more of a light blocker than light reflector. Those got returned to Amazon, and replaced with a second set of the original open version.

The set of 10 continues to be on sale for 59.99 - 69.99. Two sets is giving me a few spares plus 4 that I’ll put in my garage. Sweet.

 

[driftpin]

I also have the '2 lightbulb' FEIT strip lighting from Costco, been up about 7 years now. a 1 light strip (of the two strip lights paired together) has gone out and I suspect it may just be a loose connection, but the other lights all work fine.

Note how I set them up to provide light whether the OH door is up or down.