Free lights

[arctictq]

Just curious how good these light fixtures and bulbs would be for a 30’x44’ garage/shop?
How many do you think I would need/ want?
Thanks for the help
Tim

 

[RegeSullivan]

Assuming the ceiling is 10' or less 16 of those would light it up pretty good. I'd ditch the bulbs and ballasts and install bypass led bulbs in the 4000k - 5000k range. If the ceiling is over 10' you might need to get high output leds or maybe just add a few more fixtures.

 

[arctictq]

Assuming the ceiling is 10' or less 16 of those would light it up pretty good. I'd ditch the bulbs and ballasts and install bypass led bulbs in the 4000k - 5000k range. If the ceiling is over 10' you might need to get high output leds or maybe just add a few more fixtures.

Yeah the ceiling is a little over 10’ like 10’8” or so.
The bulbs ain’t very good? What is the bypass led, you don’t need a ballast?

 

[RegeSullivan]

Bypass led bulbs don't use a ballast. Usually you use the existing wiring and reconfigure the wiring to bypass the ballast. One thing I'll mention, you might find it easier and maybe even cheaper to buy 4' led linkable shop lights. I know some guys on GJ dis them as cheap and troublesome which is not my experience. I've converted to linkable lights in 2 garages and my wood shop. Sure, I've had to replace a some over the last 9 or 10 years but overall they've been better and cheaper than the fluorescent fixtures they replaced and use about 1/4 the electricity.

 

[sparky 1971]

If they work, use them as is and wait for ballast failure to convert them, it will happen soon enough. FWIW, troffers screwed to a ceiling look like hammered dog ****, but if you don't care about looks, it's fine by me.

 

[arctictq]

If they work, use them as is and wait for ballast failure to convert them, it will happen soon enough. FWIW, troffers screwed to a ceiling look like hammered dog ****, but if you don't care about looks, it's fine by me.

They won’t fit between the trusses I suppose?

 

[arctictq]

Bypass led bulbs don't use a ballast. Usually you use the existing wiring and reconfigure the wiring to bypass the ballast. One thing I'll mention, you might find it easier and maybe even cheaper to buy 4" led linkable shop lights. I know some guys on GJ dis them as cheap and troublesome which is not my experience. I've converted to linkable lights in 2 garages and my wood shop. Sure, I've had to replace a some over the last 9 or 10 years but overall they've been better and cheaper than the fluorescent fixtures they replaced and use about 1/4 the electricity.

Would it be more costly to wire these in, more work, more wire?

 

[sparky 1971]

They won’t fit between the trusses I suppose?

Not all the way. The fixture is 24" wide and 24" centers on the trusses give you 22-1/2" to work with.

Would it be more costly to wire these in, more work, more wire?

Not much work at all, no wire, but you obviously need to buy the lamps. There's nothing wrong with florescent lamps. Eventually you will probably need to do the changeover, but you might as well get all of the goody out of what you already have.

 

[cybrdyke]

You already have LED tubes in there. They're the kind that needs the ballast. Run them until they die. Then, bypass the ballast, get brighter tubes in 5000K.
Those fixtures are designed to go into a drop ceiling, not to go between joists or surface mount. I dont know how you intend to mount them, but expect a struggle.
CD

 

[arctictq]

You already have LED tubes in there. They're the kind that needs the ballast. Run them until they die. Then, bypass the ballast, get brighter tubes in 5000K.
Those fixtures are designed to go into a drop ceiling, not to go between joists or surface mount. I dont know how you intend to mount them, but expect a struggle.
CD

Well I should ask what’s the best fixture to get? Are the fixtures in the best light fixture sticky, still available, I’m wondering if prices went up?
What would I be looking at cost wise, how many of the best fixtures would I need for 30x44x10

 

[walta]

Just an FYI LEDs are deemed to have reach end of life L70 after so many hours of operation the light output is down 30% from new and they go down hill from there.

If your free LEDs ran 24/7, they could easily be past end of life and in terms of lumens per watt you may not be much better than new florescent tubes.

https://www.eaton.com/us/en-us/products/lighting-controls/hazardous-area-lighting/led-component-and-system-lifetime.html#:~:text=By industry standards, an LED,industry accepted TM-21 calculator.

Walta

 

[arctictq]

Well can someone tell me, in order to do this the right way, if my best bet is to go with the Best light fixture sticky? Has the sticky been updated, are them the ones on the 1st page, or are them outdated?

 

[The Cobbler]

Not all the way. The fixture is 24" wide and 24" centers on the trusses give you 22-1/2" to work with.

actually, the troffers are made to lay in a suspended grid ceiling, which has t-bars @ 24" O/C x 48" O/C. then there's a bit of a flat spot on the housing of the lamp . they may just fit between trusses , and if not totally , a bit of a shim on the underside of the truss will be all that's required .
I installed a 2'x2' troffer in my shed with LED bulbs, and it has the same design as posters lamp ( other than it's only 2' long) and it fit fine between the trusses

 

[sparky 1971]

actually, the troffers are made to lay in a suspended grid ceiling, which has t-bars @ 24" O/C x 48" O/C. then there's a bit of a flat spot on the housing of the lamp . they may just fit between trusses , and if not totally , a bit of a shim on the underside of the truss will be all that's required .
I installed a 2'x2' troffer in my shed with LED bulbs, and it has the same design as posters lamp ( other than it's only 2' long) and it fit fine between the trusses

The openings in a grid ceiling are 24" centers, but the grid is thin vs. the 1-1/2" wide truss boards. With trusses, 3/4" on each side, or 1-1/2" total is lost. The tapered sides will fit, but the fixture is going to get stuck with about 1- 2" sticking down below the truss. Kinda like trying to put 10 pounds of **** in a nine pound bag. I put some in the same way in my wife's dad's garage and ran screws through the sides to hold them up. They look awful but I don't care, not my problem.

 

[tfi racing]

Decent LED tubes, ok ballasts, the tin boxes they are in are totally ugly and useless garbage. Find some free industrial 8' strip lights and put those tubes and ballasts in them and after all that effort you will find out you were would have been better off buying some new cheap **** LED fixtures anyways.

 

[arctictq]

So in your opinion, what is a good looking led light fixture, I didn’t think there was such a thing?

 

[American Locomotive]

I mean if you don't care what they look like, just zip them right to the bottom of the trusses. Just punch the screws right through the sheet metal. That's what I did with some cheap LED fixtures I bought that were meant to be hung from chain.

As others mentioned, those fixtures already have LED bulbs in them. Those bulbs actually seem pretty decent looking them up - 160 lumens/watt! Some efficiency is lost because there is still a ballast, but overall pretty decent.

The only consideration with the bulbs is that they are 3500 kelvin color temperature. Typical home LED bulbs are 2700k, which imitates the color temperature of standard incandescent bulbs. Standard "office" lighting is usually 4100k. Most florescent lighting you've seen throughout your life has been 4100k. These 3500k would be approximately the same as a halogen lamp in terms of color temperature. So not quite as "white" as standard 4100k florescent, but not nearly as yellow as the normal "home" bulbs.

 

[arctictq]

Well I would like to know what I should be looking for in a n led light fixture.
Everything says how bad everything is, that people post on here, but then I never see what we should be buying. Why is this **** so secretive?

 

[sparky 1971]

Well I would like to know what I should be looking for in a n led light fixture.
Everything says how bad everything is, that people post on here, but then I never see what we should be buying. Why is this **** so secretive?

If you don't care about the looks, just use what you have. If you have open trusses, put the fixtures between them and as high as you can get them or turn them 90°and screw them to the bottom. If you have a covered ceiling, cut a hole for the fixtures to recess in, or screw the lights to the surface.

If you care about what it looks like and don't want to see lights that are designed for an office type grid ceiling, go to Home Depot and get some lights that you like and put them up.

If it were my 30X44X10 shop I would have three rows of fixtures. Each row would have five 8' strip lights butted together end to end, each with four 18 watt 50K frosted lamps. If there were clearance issues with overhead doors I wouldn't have lights there. If the doors will clear, there would be lights there.

EDIT: For some reason, even though I knew the dimensions, I had 40X60 stuck in my head, probably because that is the most common sized shop around me. I would use two rows of five 8' fixtures, not three. Obviously run the 44' direction with each row about five to seven feet off of the side walls. If it were 40X60 there would be three rows of six 8' and one 4' for a total of 52' of fixtures run the 60' direction.

 

[arctictq]

If you don't care about the looks, just use what you have. If you have open trusses, put the fixtures between them and as high as you can get them or turn them 90°and screw them to the bottom. If you have a covered ceiling, cut a hole for the fixtures to recess in, or screw the lights to the surface.

If you care about what it looks like and don't want to see lights that are designed for an office type grid ceiling, go to Home Depot and get some lights that you like and put them up.

If it were my 30X44X10 shop I would have three rows of fixtures. Each row would have five 8' strip lights butted together end to end, each with four 18 watt 50K frosted lamps. If there were t we should use toclearance issues with overhead doors I wouldn't have lights there. If the doors will clear, there would be lights there.

ok but still you don’t say what kind / brand of fixture or light that you would use. We just want to know what brand light fixture we should buy. I didn’t even take the free lights, that I originally posted about.
So now I’m trying to figure out what is a good light / or nice looking light , try hat I should put in my garage.

 

[sparky 1971]

ok but still you don’t say what kind / brand of fixture or light that you would use. We just want to know what brand light fixture we should buy. I didn’t even take the free lights, that I originally posted about.
So now I’m trying to figure out what is a good light / or nice looking light , try hat I should put in my garage.

The fixtures are all the same and to be honest, I don't even know what the brand is for what I use. They are nothing more than a shell that will hold the lamps. Use Google and search for led lamp ready strip light. Get whatever ballast bypass lamps you can find, I use mcled brand, but have no clue as to availability wherever you are.

 

[RegeSullivan]

I have several brands all about 4', 2 tube linkable... all bought on Amazon. I look for 5000K. Some prefer warmer (2700K to 4000k). Some prefer cooler (6000K to 7000K) gives me eye strain and headaches after a few hours. 10 years ago they cost about $20 - $25. Today, they are thinner, flex like wet noodles but put out better quality light and use even less power but you can get them for under $8 if buying in lots 5 or more. I just bought an 8 pack for $50 and change. I don't think brand matters much. Even amoung the same brand you will find different internals even if purchased just a few months apart. My suggestion is spend $50 or $60 bucks and take a chance on a 8. 10 or 12 pack and see what you think. I'll bet you are surprised by how bright and easy they are to hang.

 

[mikedodge]

My shop is about the same size and it's lit with I believe six 8 foot twin tube fixtures. I've never used my light meter in there but it's as bright or brighter then most commercial shops. Color of the walls and ceiling and future placement make a big difference also.

Hit up home depot and find some fixtures you like. Stick with name brands.

 

[Innovate1]

If you buy LED fixtures they probably don't have changeable bulbs so brand is more important although some of the no name ones seem ok but may quit working earlier. LEDs life is a function mostly of how hot the LEDs get. I opted for getting fixtures that had standard tube sockets with LED bulbs so they could be changed without replacing the whole fixture when they quit working. Really depends on the looks you want too. I went with T442SSUBCXX00P0-18W4K from prolighting.com. They are just open 2 tube fixtures. 12 of them in my 30 x 40 with 14' ceiling. Ceiling is metal so has good reflectivity which helps. I think it has plenty of light but again, it all depends on the light level you want.

 

[arctictq]

Thanks guy’s
After looking a little at the “led lamp ready strip lights.” I have a couple more questions.

Some say non shunted, is that what I want? What does that mean?

There are single end or double ended power, what’s best? Sounded like one had special bulbs that you had to buy from them.

Then one says direct wire led lamp, that just means it doesn’t have a cord right? I probably don’t want a cord right?

 

[Innovate1]

Thanks guy’s
After looking a little at the “led lamp ready strip lights.” I have a couple more questions.

Some say non shunted, is that what I want? What does that mean?

There are single end or double ended power, what’s best? Sounded like one had special bulbs that you had to buy from them.

Then one says direct wire led lamp, that just means it doesn’t have a cord right? I probably don’t want a cord right?

If you do single end powered bulbs you need non-shunted tombstones (the connectors for the ends of the bulbs. It just means the two pins are shorted together in the connector. With double ended bulbs it doesn't matter so went converting fixtures to LED the double ended eliminates any issue with shunted vs non shunted. I think the double ended are the way to go and have gotten most common. If you are buying LED ready fixtures they should say if they are wired for singled or double ended. Having a cord is up to you - depends on how you plan to set up the power feed.

 

[sparky 1971]

The fixtures are more than likely wired single ended, if so, you want non-shunted but if you get hybrid led lamps, it won't matter because they can be used single ended, double ended, or as a direct replacement with an existing T8 ballast.

hybrid led lamps - Google Search

 

[arctictq]

Yes I was planning on getting led ready fixtures.
Just wondering if one is better than the other between the double end or single end.
Or easier to find bulbs or cheaper bulbs

 

[cybrdyke]

Yes I was planning on getting led ready fixtures.
Just wondering if one is better than the other between the double end or single end.
Or easier to find bulbs or cheaper bulbs

Get double-end wired fixtures. Alot of tubes these days can be wired single-end or double-end, but the fixture will come pre-wired one way or the other. Get it wired for double-end tubes. Single-end is older technology.
CD

 

[nadogail]

When you don’t have the money to buy pretty and nice things, Free Stuff is pretty generally pretty good to use and fits nicely into most peoples budgets.

 

[Crazyjake8493]

I got a bunch of free troffers when I was rewiring my garage. I pulled the bulbs and ballasts and put in the ballast-bypass LED bulbs. No regrets.

 

[nadogail]

Cheap is Dandy, but Free is Better.

 

[Bert_]

Lately I've been really happy with salvaged 8' strips and RAB 8' LED bulbs. Fixtures can be had for free. I bought a few cases of lamps at $20/bulb which was a great deal, now they are closer to $30/bulb which still is a good price.

These bulbs are 5500lm so a 2 lamp strip gets you 11,000lm.

 

[arctictq]

Yeah Them Free lights are sounding better after getting estimates on doing polyaspartic coating $7000, 12x44 apron $4200, also need some landscaping done and I don't even have the power to the building yet, suppose that will be another $10,000
Man a guy could easily rack up over $100,000 in these Garages. I definitely got into the wrong trade. lol