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Costco LED light question

sanddan

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Jul 7, 2005
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708
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Oregon
Using the 4' Costco LED lights, how many are required to light a 12' by 36' space? The area I am working on is under a loft in a pole barn shop so the mounting height is 8'. This is my main work/fab area and includes the welding table, grinders, several band saws and some benches. I currently have 7, 8' florescent lights that will be replaced by the LED's. Less noise and instant start with no strobing are the reasons for switching. For the most part the current lighting is ok except for some shadows over the welding table which also doubles as my main work surface in that area. Not having used these lights before I'm not sure how close together they need to be for good coverage.
 
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Showkey

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Aug 9, 2014
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Wausau WI
Ball park seat of the pants guess is 14 4’ LED to replace 7 8’ T12 would be a good starting point.
Then add a few more directly over work surfaces for task lighting.
 

matt_i

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Mar 14, 2008
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SE Michigan
I put 20 of those fixtures into a 25x40 space, and I've only ever turned on 10 of them (ceiling is not finished and it didn't make sense to me to hang them from the joists and then take them back down to drywall).

It seems more evenly lit than any other residential shop I've worked in and the best part is when its cold out and the lights come on instantly without flickering or "warmup" periods where its obvious they are producing less light.

In the other part of my shop I put a 4 tube T5HO where I needed concentrated light. I was worried about it overpowering the welding helmet from the back or creating glare but so far I haven't noted any issues while welding.

So, I think I'd start with 10 of them. You can always wire it so that you have two switches and one turns on half of them and the other turns on the rest. This way if you're just moving some stuff around or going to find a bike pump you don't need everything turned on but in reality these are very energy efficient compared to previous forms of lighting.
 

dkroth

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Mar 11, 2010
Messages
3,067
Location
Rochester, New York
I agree with Showkey. Two Costco lights for each of your 8-footers. That should produce visibly more light than your existing set up, especially if your tubes are old and/or dirty.

I have 15 Costco lights in my 22 x 32.

BTW, instant is a subjective term. There is the briefest of pauses between the switch going click and the LEDs coming on. They come on a full brightness, but there is a few ms where the electronics get up to speed.





.
 

BLUE72CAMARO

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Jan 1, 2014
Messages
911
Location
IL
I have 18 of them in my 24x54 shop and the center of the shop is very well lit but could use a few more over the work benches around the edge for task specific lighting. I think your biggest issue will be the 8' height as that will not let the light spread out very well from each fixture requiring more to have even lighting.
 

poopedhispants

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Joined
Mar 9, 2011
Messages
1
Does anyone have a pic of their ceiling with their lighting setup? I have a 24 x 30 with 12’ ceilings and currently there are 4 regular old light bulbs evenly spaced. I’m not sure exactly how I might layout 15-20 of these. Thanks so much!!!


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sanddan

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Jul 7, 2005
Messages
708
Location
Oregon
I put 20 of those fixtures into a 25x40 space, and I've only ever turned on 10 of them (ceiling is not finished and it didn't make sense to me to hang them from the joists and then take them back down to drywall).

It seems more evenly lit than any other residential shop I've worked in and the best part is when its cold out and the lights come on instantly without flickering or "warmup" periods where its obvious they are producing less light.

In the other part of my shop I put a 4 tube T5HO where I needed concentrated light. I was worried about it overpowering the welding helmet from the back or creating glare but so far I haven't noted any issues while welding.

So, I think I'd start with 10 of them. You can always wire it so that you have two switches and one turns on half of them and the other turns on the rest. This way if you're just moving some stuff around or going to find a bike pump you don't need everything turned on but in reality these are very energy efficient compared to previous forms of lighting.

Thanks. I bought 10 when at Costco so it looks like I'm in the ball park.
 
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sanddan

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Joined
Jul 7, 2005
Messages
708
Location
Oregon
I agree with Showkey. Two Costco lights for each of your 8-footers. That should produce visibly more light than your existing set up, especially if your tubes are old and/or dirty.

I have 15 Costco lights in my 22 x 32.

BTW, instant is a subjective term. There is the briefest of pauses between the switch going click and the LEDs coming on. They come on a full brightness, but there is a few ms where the electronics get up to speed.

.

Maybe instant wasn't the right word. Full brightness might be better. The florescent lights take a while to get up to full bright, flickering all the while.
 

Shiftless

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Mar 9, 2014
Messages
14,954
Location
East Bay SFO
Do not worry about delay with those Costco FEIT shop lights. I have 5 of them on the ceiling controlled by one switch. I click the switch and it takes approximately half a second for them to be fully bright.
 

bobj49f2

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Nov 13, 2009
Messages
430
Location
SE Wisconsin
Very relevant post to what I'm doing right now. I have a 50 x 30 pole building. It was uninsulated with open ceiling joists. There are three eight foot florescent lights mounted width wise. We are now insulating the entire building, going to use it as my business shop. We built a mezzanine ten feet from the back wall, the area under it has an eight foot ceiling and we'll have four LED Costco lights. So far those seem adequate giving good light. The rest of the building had 15 high ceilings we're going to use white corrugated steel panels. This area will be the remaining 40x30 area. I am planning to run two lines eight LED lights front to back of this area. Just curious, would this be enough lights to give good, bright lighting?
 

69supercj

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Jan 26, 2010
Messages
555
I just bought 8of the Maxlite 2 bulb 4 footers and 16 bulbs from Bees lighting that have replaceable bulbs unlike these from Costco and I got them for 236 bucks with free shipping. Figures out to about 23 bucks per unit AND if/when a bulb burns out you can replace it and not the entire unit!!
 
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