OCD is killing me regarding LED's

[Dentaltec]

Great site, been loving reading all the threads some are so ridiculously epic and intense. The scissor lift thread is crazy good.

SO I have spent the last 10 days reading about LED shop lights for my garage. I have a huge home garage that right now is using 12 8' double tube flor, fixtures.

Ballasts are starting to fail and I am looking to upgrade to LED's I have read every thread on this forum especially the stickies and done so much research that once I learn something I then go crazy over thinking everything else.

The garage I have at my home is 25'x75', 50' is the 12 foot ceilings. I am having a hell of time finding 90+ CRI tube/fixture combo. I am not sure if I need a high bay or low bay fixture? I do not want to hang I want to flush mount.

Can someone just tell me what to buy so I can move on to cabinets

 

[donpauli2]

For a twelve foot ceiling or higher you need " high bay" types. Twelve foot is gonna be at the lower limit but good ones with 6 or 8. T-5 it T-8 will give you a sun tan


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[Bert_]

12' is pretty marginal for a highbay, maybe doable if you get a wide distribution type. If you do go the highbay route it would be better to get a larger number of smaller fixtures with your ceiling hight.

Strip lights are still a very viable option at this height, though if you have a ceiling that is not very reflective it would be best to get lights with a reflector.

 

[Borntoolate]

did that help with your OCD? I was the same way for two weeks. We are Costco members and they had LEDs to sell at $30 each Still seemed pricey but I can only handle OCD so long. So I ordered 20 of them. Done! 20 as in 10 double sets for my 33'x33' shop that is not built yet.

 

[Dentaltec]

Yeah these decisions on anything NEW is a huge burden on me I MUST learn everything before I can make a good choice.

Still figuring it all out, hell its just light right? HA!

 

[Borntoolate]

No. Lights are important. Whatever you do ain't cheap. Do it right the first time. Otherwise you are stuck for years or have to do rework. But at some point you do have to pull the trigger

 

[gregdd]

If you are not sure what to get why not buy one. Check it out and see what you think. Led prices are going down every day. If you take your time is just going to get cheaper.

 

[cybrdyke]

The garage I have at my home is 25'x75', 50' is the 12 foot ceilings. I am having a hell of time finding 90+ CRI tube/fixture combo. I am not sure if I need a high bay or low bay fixture? I do not want to hang I want to flush mount.

Can someone just tell me what to buy so I can move on to cabinets

A couple of thoughts for you:

• You want to "surface mount", not "flush mount". Semantics...but it might help you in your search to use the correct term.

• Unless you're painting or shooting video in there, you dont need 90 CRI. That's probably one reason that you're struggling to find something. Anything in the 80 range is way better than what you have now.

• Your ceiling is too low for highbays. Their beam is too intense and too narrow for even lighting from that height.

• If you're sold on using a tube system, then you'll be fine with standard T8 or LED T8. A good strip fixture or surface wrap fixture will work fine.
• But why use tubes if you're going LED? You can easily find LED strips or LED wraps that deliver 4000 or more lumens.

• Your space is 25' wide. Are there cabinets, racks, shelves, etc...along the walls? Does that reduce the floor space by a couple of feet? If so, I'd go 3 fixtures across. If not, make it 4. Run them lengthwise down the 75'. 9 fixtures deep. 10 if you have old eyes.

Good luck,
CD

 

[motofool33]

A couple of thoughts for you:

• You want to "surface mount", not "flush mount". Semantics...but it might help you in your search to use the correct term.

• Unless you're painting or shooting video in there, you dont need 90 CRI. That's probably one reason that you're struggling to find something. Anything in the 80 range is way better than what you have now.

• Your ceiling is too low for highbays. Their beam is too intense and too narrow for even lighting from that height.

• If you're sold on using a tube system, then you'll be fine with standard T8 or LED T8. A good strip fixture or surface wrap fixture will work fine.
• But why use tubes if you're going LED? You can easily find LED strips or LED wraps that deliver 4000 or more lumens.

• Your space is 25' wide. Are there cabinets, racks, shelves, etc...along the walls? Does that reduce the floor space by a couple of feet? If so, I'd go 3 fixtures across. If not, make it 4. Run them lengthwise down the 75'. 9 fixtures deep. 10 if you have old eyes.

Good luck,
CD

Follow the CybrDyke, Lights he knows

 

[rharman]

For a twelve foot ceiling or higher you need " high bay" types. Twelve foot is gonna be at the lower limit but good ones with 6 or 8. T-5 it T-8 will give you a sun tan


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T5's? Seriously? I use those in my under cabinet kitchen lights. No way in a big volume space.

 

[American Locomotive]

90+ CRI is really hard to find in LED shop lights without spending a ton of money (it's actually much easier to achieve with florescents, strangely enough).

As mentioned, you don't really need 90+ CRI, generally something in the 85 CRI range or so is more than good enough.

 

[motofool33]

T5's? Seriously? I use those in my under cabinet kitchen lights. No way in a big volume space.

t5ho are on par with LED lighting dollar for dollar probably cheaper

 

[ard]

[*]If you're sold on using a tube system, then you'll be fine with standard T8 or LED T8. A good strip fixture or surface wrap fixture will work fine.
[*]But why use tubes if you're going LED? You can easily find LED strips or LED wraps that deliver 4000 or more lumens.
[/LIST]

Sounds like good inputs, but a question for you...

I can buy a very nice 4 ft wrap, with reflector and diffuser for 80, three bulb...and 3 hyperikon 4K bulbs (2200L, 80+CRI) for 9.50 each. So $110.

Or I can buy the SAME fixture already LED for $285.

Consistently the 'integrated LED fixture' seems to be 2x to 3x the price of a fluorescent fixture with retrofit bulbs.

Am I looking at the wrong fixtures?? I need 16 fixtures- $5 grand versus 1700.

 

[My Old Tools]

The Feit lights at Costco are CRI 90 and they work great up to about 18' off the floor. They might go higher but I didn't need to. My lowest ones are 10' off the floor. They go on sale periodically for $19.95 to $27.95. I used 16 of them in my 30x40x12 with a peak up to 22'.

 

[cybrdyke]

Sounds like good inputs, but a question for you...

I can buy a very nice 4 ft wrap, with reflector and diffuser for 80, three bulb...and 3 hyperikon 4K bulbs (2200L, 80+CRI) for 9.50 each. So $110.

Or I can buy the SAME fixture already LED for $285.

Consistently the 'integrated LED fixture' seems to be 2x to 3x the price of a fluorescent fixture with retrofit bulbs.

Am I looking at the wrong fixtures?? I need 16 fixtures- $5 grand versus 1700.

You might be looking at LED highbays.

$285 is robbery for an LED wrap fixture. You can get a 5000+ lumen LED surface wrap for around $100 all day long.

You'll also find LED strip lights, which are about 2x2, with a diffuser for the same price. These perform essentially as a wrap fixture, but are much smaller. This is up to your preference. Google "Philips Fluxstream EZ" for an example. Many other companies make a similar fixture.

Hope that helps.
Good luck,
CD

 

[openwheelracing88]

The Feit lights at Costco are CRI 90 and they work great up to about 18' off the floor. They might go higher but I didn't need to. My lowest ones are 10' off the floor. They go on sale periodically for $19.95 to $27.95. I used 16 of them in my 30x40x12 with a peak up to 22'.

Is Feit LED shoplight from Costco really CRI-90? That value is not on the box, nor have I seen any confirmation on that. I have 6 of them installed in my garage and I am extremely happy. I wouldn't be surprised if CRI is high but I have my doubts.

 

[My Old Tools]

I don't see it on the current box. When I bought mine a couple of years ago it was on the box.

 

[American Locomotive]

I highly doubt it's 90 CRI, especially since all the other specs are pretty mediocre.

 

[Dentaltec]

Thank you all for the sage advice, I appreciate it so much

 

[tfi racing]

Use a 4 lamp conversion kit similiar to this(many choices out there),a quality T8 ballast,and good LED 4' T8 lamps.A bit labour intensive but a good alternative if your existing fixtures are a problem to remove.

http://ledt8bulb.com/t8-led-retrofit-conversion-bracket-kit-8-foot-fluorescent-4-lamp-led.html

 

[My Old Tools]

I highly doubt it's 90 CRI, especially since all the other specs are pretty mediocre.

Maybe not, but they work good and look good to my eye.

 

[Borntoolate]

So what did you do?

 

[Dentaltec]

I went with some 4 food 6 bulb LED's highbays that I got on amazon, got tired of all the numbers and just said F it, over did it like most things I do, its literally daylight anywhere in this not one shadow. Instant on, silent and no eye strain at all

View media item 89536

 

[sberry]

Does it all need to be lit like the sun? I like some overall, some zone. As for "doing it twice",,, well that can be a good way to do some things, gives a little chance to figure it out, save some along the way, tailor it, and twice is often as easy as the planning every watt and that doesn't always work out. Moving some stuff after the fact can be as good and easier.

 

[nsula_country]

Several 90+ options in T8 fluorescent. I would not even think of using T5 at 12'.

I'm running Maxlite XL Premium T8 fluorescent lamps in our shop with 1.18 ballasts in reflector high bay fixtures at about 18'. Mainly because at the time LED's were cost prohibitive for 144 lamps. If I recall, the CRI was 88 or 90, 5000k.

T8 fluorescent or T8 LED, use a reflector fixture. Distribution is more even.

I think they look silly, but a friend used LED 2x4 troffer fixtures and surface mounted them in his shop. I'm not impressed with the light output. Because they are designed for office environments.

CT

 

[nsula_country]

Just realized this is a year old thread...

CT

 

[Dentaltec]

Just realized this is a year old thread...

CT

Yes the picture 2 above is of the finished garage, My lights are as perfect as can be. Overkill probably but its my garage!

 

[WaterBoyz]

I went with some 4 food 6 bulb LED's highbays that I got on amazon, got tired of all the numbers and just said F it, over did it like most things I do, its literally daylight anywhere in this not one shadow. Instant on, silent and no eye strain at all

View media item 89536

Got a link?

I over-analyze to the point of having to start my "research" over.