LED Lighting Inside Garage

[boshog]

Getting a 30 x 40 pole barn put up in March and am considering my options for lighting the inside. I know they're expensive now, but has anyone lit a garage with LED's ?

This garage isn't going to be heated (Colorado) and I thought florescent lights would take a while to warm up, but my son told me they have cold weather florescent where this isn't a problem.

LED's will be cheap soon, and where I'm in the planning stage of how I will light this thing, I want to consider all options.

I do want good lighting as I'm hoping to get back into building cars/bikes after I pay for this thing.

Any comments would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Pete

 

[ishiboo]

Getting a 30 x 40 pole barn put up in March and am considering my options for lighting the inside. I know they're expensive now, but has anyone lit a garage with LED's ?

This garage isn't going to be heated (Colorado) and I thought florescent lights would take a while to warm up, but my son told me they have cold weather florescent where this isn't a problem.

LED's will be cheap soon, and where I'm in the planning stage of how I will light this thing, I want to consider all options.

I do want good lighting as I'm hoping to get back into building cars/bikes after I pay for this thing.

Any comments would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Pete

I had a 30x40 before I got my 40x100, if I was going to light these days LED would be it if I was looking for appearance - i.e. a drywalled ceiling. I'd install 6" recessed and use the LED retrofits though, they are available now and reasonably priced. IMO this is the best looking ceiling.

If I wasn't going to drywall or didn't care as much about appearance, nothing wrong with T8 hanging fixtures. The new ballasts have no problem cold-starting.

 

[Gary S]

Cold weather florescents work, and they are ready for use today. LEDs are still in the experimental stage and aren't ready for prime time yet.
Most people don't know it, but the currently available LED and CFL lighting today put out about the same lumens per watt, but LED costs many times more than florescent lighting.
It is your choice.
http://cleantechnica.com/2011/09/01/led-vs-cfl-which-light-bulb-is-more-efficient/

 

[Burn1]

"LEDs are still in the experimental stage and aren't ready for prime time yet."

Not exactly an accurate statement from the other poster. Experimental, no they are not. True, LED's are more expensive in terms of up-front fixture cost. Long term, LED is predicted to win out for overall ROI. Your typical "white" LED diode is nothing more than blue LED's that has been phosphor coated. The traffic light industry and avionics industry has been using LED for many years and what has driven the technology forward for many, many years. Your average consumer is hearing the buzz today which which makes the technology sound cutting edge. LED car tail lights and driving lights are common place today.

I do agree with the poster that for general illumination, florescent fixtures are the best bang/buck for a residental garage lighting system right now. LED's are getting more efficient(lumen/watt) and cost is dropping with increased competition. The phase out of filament based lamps is driving LED's forward. More users, more competition, more the R&D/tooling costs can be spread across a much larger pool of product. Look at personal computers and plasma TV's as two real examples of performance increase and price decrease over time technologies.

 

[Zoggan]

I'm going to use the 6" disc retrofit LED lights from HD that install using a normal ceiling J box. I hear it's best to use an oversize box though as it can be a tight fit. 75W equivalent uses 14.5 watts. They're $37 a piece and our local utility is giving a $20 per unit rebate!! I'm going to install 20 of them and will report back how it works out.

 

[boshog]

That's kind of the same thing I was thinking of doing, but I may initially go with the florescents.

I'm going to use the 6" disc retrofit LED lights from HD that install using a normal ceiling J box. I hear it's best to use an oversize box though as it can be a tight fit. 75W equivalent uses 14.5 watts. They're $37 a piece and our local utility is giving a $20 per unit rebate!! I'm going to install 20 of them and will report back how it works out.

 

[slacker garage shop]

LED lighting is really the future I hope. We install a ton of it but mainly for businesses with a lot of money to spend up front. I think were still a few years away before the average homeowner will be using them everywhere. Ill never touch a CFL,what a worthless light.
We did a big job for a majior grocery store chain replacing there walk in cooler lights with LED lights,end of the job we had a few left over that we couldn't return so a few ended up in my garage. They are thin so i was able to use them in a area that I couldn't fit a regular T8 fixture.

 

[slacker garage shop]

Here they are.

 

[Burn1]

Nice score on the LED free-bee's. Say, what does your company charge for those LED light strip's? Be nice to know what the going rate for those strips are currently.

 

[mrwalsh37]

I just got finished installing 10 LEDs in recessed lighting in my 19x24. I bought the bulbs in bulk on ebay at about $12 each. They were apparently salvaged from closed starbucks... Anyway, I'm pretty pleased with the warm color temp and brightness. I debated CFL, but didn't want to deal with the warm-up time and cold weather issues that affect the cheaper ones.

 

[slacker garage shop]

Nice score on the LED free-bee's. Say, what does your company charge for those LED light strip's? Be nice to know what the going rate for those strips are currently.

Rip off price. Those lights were $230 each cost.

 

[PRH44]

Never knew a lighting Rep. that was just getting by.

 

[BFBOB]

Bang/buck ratio currently favors metal halide. Check the lm/W of 70W MH's. Color is good, though usually only 2-3 choices. Downside: high initial cost (but eBay is your friend) and more directional than 4' or 8' fluorescents--(but that may not be a minus depending on your preferences.)

 

[rlitman]

Cold weather florescents work, and they are ready for use today. LEDs are still in the experimental stage and aren't ready for prime time yet.
Most people don't know it, but the currently available LED and CFL lighting today put out about the same lumens per watt, but LED costs many times more than florescent lighting.

Wellll. Lets see. In my kitchen, I have 6" cans, and used to use CFL lights. The "instant" start, and the cold cathode CFLs (the best you can get) tended to last about 3000 hours (barely better than an incandescent), because CFL bulbs just don't last when installed tip down. At their best, they took 5 minutes to reach full brightness (even if they "instantly" put out some light, they always started dim), and they consumed 12-13W to put out the same lumens as a 65W incandescent.

I switched those to LED (the ones at HD that replace the trim ring).
They reach full brightness instantly, have already outlasted any CFL I've used in there, and use 10.5W. The electrical savings don't sound like much on the surface, BUT when I had CFL bulbs in there, I was leaving the lights on most of the day, because I couldn't wait for them to warm up.

In my garage, I have a few different types of cold weather starting fluorescent (4' shop lights, and CFLs). There, I don't mind the warmup time so much, since I'll step in, turn the lights on, turn the heat on, leave, and come back in a few minutes.

 

[rockchucker]

LED's are definitely getting better and better. All of the Street Lights are LED in Seattle now. Or most of them anyways. They are very well lit and only use 1/10th of the power.

I have a bunch of 4' Fluorescent in my shop and then 2 - 4' with 4 Bulbs each that are T-5's. You can find the Bulbs in Blue and Red Spectrum. I alternate the Bulbs and it is a night and day difference. Of course they are not super energy efficient but they sure do a great job of spreading the light around.

 

[AndysMBgarage]

I've got these Haler LED downlights in my garage.
The workshop and office has 4 and the garage has 9 and 3 set in adjustable gimbles in the wall shining up under my hoist.

I selected them because of their fire rating/warranty/power efficiency and how cool the transformer runs. They run so cool you can lay the insulation batts over the downlight transformer and not break the thermal insulation barrier.

Provided your wall colours are relatively light their output is more than adequate. We fitted them throughout our home and were so happy with them I decided to use them in my garage.

Cheers

 

[MBfreak]

LED light fixtures tend to have the same properties as the fuel cell electric vehicle.
Unbeatable , once they are ready for a normal consumer.
But it will be a while.
That said I have switched to LED lamps for flash lights and also to replace the workshop portable work light.
The old 8 W fluorescent lamp was good but the new LED ( 60 LED) is far better.
The LED drawback is that it is easy to forget and hard to find, since there is no wire attached

I found the thread that made LED/CFL comparison IRL very relevant.

Ola