driftpin
Well-known member
I bought some of the FEIT LED two-bulb shop lights (#689518) for one garage, installed them, and decided I would get more for another property's two-car garage, but they were sold-out. This was between Thanksgiving and Christmas. I checked the website for store availability, as the online shopping said, "sold-out."
Finally, after New Year's, I saw them now showing a new shipment, I called a local branch to confirm they were in-stock, they were, and I immediately, bought them. I bought an extra luminaire, because at $20/apiece, why-not?
By the time I got to install them, it was the end of January. I threw the two in-place above the front of one garage bay (the rear of the two-car bay has a loft across it, and four, four-bulb flourescent fixtures affixed to the underside). It was late, I decided to do it his morning, the job of hanging the other car bay's two luminares.
This morning, I got to the installation for the second car bay's lighting. The job done, I flipped the switch to power up all-four LED shop lights. I was greeted with three reporting for work, but one luminaire was pulling a " Beetle Bailey" and was sleeping on the job. "Probably the pull-switch is off," I hoped. A tug on the switch produced-nothing. Zip, nada, no illumination. Since it was already screwed to the hanging framework I devised to allow the luminaires to hang below the garage doors, so I would have illumination whether or not the door(s) was (were) open, I tried connecting the 120 volt plug directly to an extension cord, in the possibility that the series-wired female plug it was attached-to might be a dead plug. But, no, still a dead luminaire.
I removed it from the framing from-where it was hung. I went to the phone, and called the closest of five Costcos in the two counties. The helpful female employee, checking their inventory, said, "we have none, and it shows as a discontinued item. We won't be receiving more." Hmmm, this was a problem, as I like all the fixtures to have the same appearance in the same area, and the same light wavelength. I asked her if she could check other stores, and she said, one store had two showing in inventory. I thanked her, and called the other store.
The female employee there checked the computer, said there weren't any showing, and I informed her I had information from another store that there was stock there. She agreed to have someone check the floor, and a few minutes on hold gave me the bad news, none there.
So, I could wait and see if Costco got another shipment from FEIT, look online for another source, or look for another manufacturer's product in a similar style and light wavelength. I was already preparing to return the luminaire, I had the receipt for both of the two shopping trips when I bought four, and then five luminaires. But really, I wanted the durn thing! And working!
I originally had decided that I would return the luminaire for exchange for another, rather than tear-into the thing, trying to fix it. But at this point, I figured, "youv'e got nothing to lose." My wife, who just retired after 42 years as an electrical engineer (same employer!) told me the same thing, when I informed her that there were no luminaires available for exchange. So I opened it up.
Eight phillips screws gained me access to both ends. This is what I found, two wires for two "tombstones" at one end were detached. I had to fuss with one, it didn't want to insert and stay in the stab-in small gauge receptacle. I tried the 120 volt plug-in each time, because it appeared there was only one wire loose. No-go, re-connection #1. Then I saw the loose wire #2, I landed that in-place, and again, no-go. So now, it looked like I was down to something in the circuit board having a faulty component. That was beyond my desire to attempt a fix, or to troubleshoot. i thought, "well, let me see if the 120 volt leads are landed well." And that's when I found detached wire #3. One of the 120 volt leads had a cold solder joint, and was loose, no-longer attached to the printed circuit board. I grabbed my trusty Weller soldering gun and landed it, with a bit of extra solder. Plugging in the extension cord resulted in illumination so, exito as our Spanish-speaking friends would say. It soon was replaced in its place on the brackets I built to allow the lighting of my car bays, whether or not the garage doors were up or down.
I bought nine of the luminaires, in total, including one for a spare if one went bad. I didn't expect that I would get a dead unit upon purchase. I also didn't bother plugging in each before hanging it. Perhaps I should have. Maybe I will, in the future.
So, here are some pics of the lose wires, and the luminaires hung in the garage, below the arc/path of the high-lift garage door. They make a big difference in the illumination of the area, and I hope they last twenty-two years, as the box each was packed-in says. I will be close-to age ninety, so maybe it will be our heirs' problem. The first shot shows how I used the space above the doors for storage of bulky, light items, like Christmas stuff, and unused storage bins. Any lights on the garage ceiling would be blocked by these platforms, or by the garage doors being open. So, my solution was a light framework bolted to the overhead garage door tracks, to hold four two-bulb luminaires below the open overhead garage doors. I used 1" X 3" PT lumber, held in-place by Simpson galvanized steel brackets. I still have to through-bolt the hanging brackets for the wood beams supporting the luminaires.
If you choose to buy these, should they be in-stock again, at Costco, I suggest that you power them to check for illumination before hanging any. While I am mildly-disappointed at having to repair the workmanship, I am glad that they were all things that I could repair on my own.
I will say that my venerable pneumatic Handy Air-Lift motorcycle worktable was a very comfortable place from-which to work while I was hanging these luminaires. It is wide, stable, and tall-enough to access where I needed to-be.
Finally, after New Year's, I saw them now showing a new shipment, I called a local branch to confirm they were in-stock, they were, and I immediately, bought them. I bought an extra luminaire, because at $20/apiece, why-not?
By the time I got to install them, it was the end of January. I threw the two in-place above the front of one garage bay (the rear of the two-car bay has a loft across it, and four, four-bulb flourescent fixtures affixed to the underside). It was late, I decided to do it his morning, the job of hanging the other car bay's two luminares.
This morning, I got to the installation for the second car bay's lighting. The job done, I flipped the switch to power up all-four LED shop lights. I was greeted with three reporting for work, but one luminaire was pulling a " Beetle Bailey" and was sleeping on the job. "Probably the pull-switch is off," I hoped. A tug on the switch produced-nothing. Zip, nada, no illumination. Since it was already screwed to the hanging framework I devised to allow the luminaires to hang below the garage doors, so I would have illumination whether or not the door(s) was (were) open, I tried connecting the 120 volt plug directly to an extension cord, in the possibility that the series-wired female plug it was attached-to might be a dead plug. But, no, still a dead luminaire.
I removed it from the framing from-where it was hung. I went to the phone, and called the closest of five Costcos in the two counties. The helpful female employee, checking their inventory, said, "we have none, and it shows as a discontinued item. We won't be receiving more." Hmmm, this was a problem, as I like all the fixtures to have the same appearance in the same area, and the same light wavelength. I asked her if she could check other stores, and she said, one store had two showing in inventory. I thanked her, and called the other store.
The female employee there checked the computer, said there weren't any showing, and I informed her I had information from another store that there was stock there. She agreed to have someone check the floor, and a few minutes on hold gave me the bad news, none there.
So, I could wait and see if Costco got another shipment from FEIT, look online for another source, or look for another manufacturer's product in a similar style and light wavelength. I was already preparing to return the luminaire, I had the receipt for both of the two shopping trips when I bought four, and then five luminaires. But really, I wanted the durn thing! And working!
I originally had decided that I would return the luminaire for exchange for another, rather than tear-into the thing, trying to fix it. But at this point, I figured, "youv'e got nothing to lose." My wife, who just retired after 42 years as an electrical engineer (same employer!) told me the same thing, when I informed her that there were no luminaires available for exchange. So I opened it up.
Eight phillips screws gained me access to both ends. This is what I found, two wires for two "tombstones" at one end were detached. I had to fuss with one, it didn't want to insert and stay in the stab-in small gauge receptacle. I tried the 120 volt plug-in each time, because it appeared there was only one wire loose. No-go, re-connection #1. Then I saw the loose wire #2, I landed that in-place, and again, no-go. So now, it looked like I was down to something in the circuit board having a faulty component. That was beyond my desire to attempt a fix, or to troubleshoot. i thought, "well, let me see if the 120 volt leads are landed well." And that's when I found detached wire #3. One of the 120 volt leads had a cold solder joint, and was loose, no-longer attached to the printed circuit board. I grabbed my trusty Weller soldering gun and landed it, with a bit of extra solder. Plugging in the extension cord resulted in illumination so, exito as our Spanish-speaking friends would say. It soon was replaced in its place on the brackets I built to allow the lighting of my car bays, whether or not the garage doors were up or down.
I bought nine of the luminaires, in total, including one for a spare if one went bad. I didn't expect that I would get a dead unit upon purchase. I also didn't bother plugging in each before hanging it. Perhaps I should have. Maybe I will, in the future.
So, here are some pics of the lose wires, and the luminaires hung in the garage, below the arc/path of the high-lift garage door. They make a big difference in the illumination of the area, and I hope they last twenty-two years, as the box each was packed-in says. I will be close-to age ninety, so maybe it will be our heirs' problem. The first shot shows how I used the space above the doors for storage of bulky, light items, like Christmas stuff, and unused storage bins. Any lights on the garage ceiling would be blocked by these platforms, or by the garage doors being open. So, my solution was a light framework bolted to the overhead garage door tracks, to hold four two-bulb luminaires below the open overhead garage doors. I used 1" X 3" PT lumber, held in-place by Simpson galvanized steel brackets. I still have to through-bolt the hanging brackets for the wood beams supporting the luminaires.
If you choose to buy these, should they be in-stock again, at Costco, I suggest that you power them to check for illumination before hanging any. While I am mildly-disappointed at having to repair the workmanship, I am glad that they were all things that I could repair on my own.
I will say that my venerable pneumatic Handy Air-Lift motorcycle worktable was a very comfortable place from-which to work while I was hanging these luminaires. It is wide, stable, and tall-enough to access where I needed to-be.
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