Shop Lights

[Walston]

I have 8' florescence lights in my main shop. They have been there about 20 years and the 8' bulbs are getting harder to find and they are pretty dim when it is cold.

I was thinking about putting some LED lights in and wanted to know if you guys have any experience with them. I was looking at Rural King and the 6000K and 5500K lumen seemed pretty reasonably priced but lots of reviews say they quit after a year.

Anyone have experience or a recommendation?

 

[Blackhole49]

No experience with 8', but I bought 24 linkable 4' Sunco from amazon 2 years ago and so far no
issues. Love the instant start in the cold (SE MI).

 

[David G]

I have these retro kits ordered for mine, local electrical distributor had best pricing.

Keystone KT-LED43T8-96GC-850D

 

[jimtrs]

(quoted from post at 09:14:39 01/03/21) I have 8' florescence lights in my main shop. They have been there about 20 years and the 8' bulbs are getting harder to find and they are pretty dim when it is cold.

I was thinking about putting some LED lights in and wanted to know if you guys have any experience with them. I was looking at Rural King and the 6000K and 5500K lumen seemed pretty reasonably priced but lots of reviews say they quit after a year.

Anyone have experience or a recommendation?

5500k & 6000k is way too "white" for me. Heck, almost going blue. Be like an operating room. I'm using 4k LEDs in my shop. Bets upgrade I ever did.

 

[Bret4207]

I don't know what the longevity of LEDs is especially the less expensive ones I use, but they provide more light, at lower cost, without the hum and buzz and flicker of fluorescents and they start at -30F without a hitch. I'd check out reviews on the various brands available to you and take the plunge.

 

[Bob Bancroft]

That may be what I got, but I don't know! I bought 10 4' sections on line a couple years ago for I think, $240. I spaced them out over a 20'x30' area. So far, so good.

 

[showcrop]

Walston, this has been a very frequent topic here for the last 2-3 years. Most of us love our LEDs, at least since our manufacturers in China started making them good enough to last. By far the most effective way of doing it is called "ballast bypass". Watch some YouTube videos. This method allows you to not have to use the super expensive bulbs and it is quick and easy to do.

 

[1970-1655]

I replaced most of my 8' florescent lights with 2 of the Rural King 4' 5500K LED lights in 2018 and still working great. The rest have things stored under them until spring when I will be changing them out also. In the dead cold of winter the LED lights
come on quick where the 8' florescent lights would hum, flicker, and take a long time to come fully on. I just bought 2 of the 10,000K lights for my mother-in-
law's garage also. She said she wanted the brighter ones. I plugged one in and turned the rest of the lights off in my shop and those things are bright!

Would I go back to the old kind? Not likely.

 

[muleman51]

I have 8' florescent in the basement and some LEDs I like the LEDs better, will change out to all led as they die. I think I will try retro
kits in my 8 footers. Remember 8000K is what they refer to as sunlight, thats what print shops use because you get true colors with that
light. Personally I need all the light I can get these days and I put in the highest K I can get. My eyes don't seem to be getting any
better.

 

[rusty6]

I was thinking about putting some LED lights in and wanted to know if you guys have any experience with them.

The only complaint i have so far on the new led tube type lights in the shop is the noise they create on AM radio. It makes it impossible to have the radio on as there is just a loud buzz all the time. I have the plug in type work light that can either hang or be more permanently clipped on the ceiling. They are a great light otherwise. I was given a few for my birthday last year so that has been my first experience with them.

 

[Philip d]

We install what the others are talking about all the time.works
as good as they say.

 

[Blackhole49]

I just bought 6 more for my basement form Amazon in Nov. $99 with free shipping.

 

[Philip d]

That being said be careful what you buy,if your buying off Amazon look at the reviews. We really like the Lithonia 4’ LED wrap around. They have a metal frame and make a really nice light.

 

[DoubleR]

I've been buying the 4ft LEDs they sell at Rural King for 24.95. I brought one about three years ago and put it under the truss on
a pole barn with 12 ft. sidewalls. I was so impressed on how good they worked, especially in the cold weather, and the amount of
light they put out I have since purchased many more. Got them in the barn, garage, and basement. I even brought my wife a couple to
use on her garden plants she starts in the house every spring.

 

[johndeerejim]

My shop is a 2 car garage and for years I had struggled getting adequate lighting. Even after painting the walls and ceiling white (had brown
ceiling). Recently upgraded from fluorescent bulbs which took time to warm up to 100W LED bulbs that are 1500 lumen. More than enough light,
even on a cloudy day. They are bright instantly. LED is the way to go.

 

[miangus]

I replaced the shop lights in my garage with LEDs from
Menards. I had the hanging plug-in duel tube fluorescents.
The LED replacements hang from shot chains with a short
cord so they were an easy replacement. The result was a
much brighter garage.

 

[teddy52food]

We changed my lights to LED a year ago. I have a bunch of good 8 foot bulbs. I am
in mid MN. Where are you?

 

[GWIndy]

Replaced all the 8' florescent lights with new LED last spring. By passed the ballasts and kept the original fixtures. Took 42 new bulbs, brighter and looks good. Lights are 18' above the floor. Bought at Kirby-Risk, commercial electrical supplier.
Model # T8-43-96GR17d-850-DE-BYP. Wish I had changed out a few years earlier.

 

[farmallsandcoops]

Replaced 3 8ft high output flourescents that were down the middle of the shop (10 ft ceilings) with 6 4-ft. LED versions from Feit. On sale at Costco for
$19 per. Mounted at 45 degree angle where wall meets ceiling. No shadows and I love the light and they light up in the coldest temps. Replaced other 4
foots with the Feit lights. Added 10 more in new enclosed portion of shop and 6 under an overhang. I have also purchased these at Costco for friends.
Probably a total of 30-40. I had one go bad less than an hour of lighting after installed under the overhang. Costco took back with no questions asked and
I put a new one in. I now have 3 8 foot and 4 4-foot florescents that need a home, plus 4 new 8 ft bulbs.

 

[flembo]

I can't comment on 8' tubes but I have changed all my 4' ones to led, 8 double fixtures in all and all with the type you bypass the ballast and run the wires to one end. These lights are in my barn, the attached garage and the cellar and all work well and super bright. The barn and garage are unheated and the lights come on fast. Some of these lights have been in for over 5 years and have never had to replace any. I started switching to leds when they first came on the scene and now have nothing but led. I have only had 1 or 2 bulbs go bad and one outside light the glass bulb fell off but the leds still worked I glued the glass back on and I believe it is still next to the front door. I even have outside led flood lights. Before the leds came out I tried those florescence screw in type, a waste of money in my opinion.

 

[jm.]

I put 4 or the 6s in my shop 16 months ago.... form rural king so far so good and plenty of light

 

[Mark-Mi]

There is a lot of them Lithonia wrap arounds do you have a part number for one in particular.
Thanks Mark

 

[Gambles]

It won’t help the OP, but I see Menards has the 4-foot LED
bulbs on sale for $4.99/2 pack. Dimmable, 25K hour rating
(yea, right), and Sylvania branded. We all know Sylvania is
just putting their name on these and a lot of cheapies buzz the AM radio, but I just might check some of these out.

 

[Steve@Advance]

Hard to say what you will get...

I bought some 8' HO's from Ebay a cpuple years ago, they are doing fine.

Then bought some 8' Slimlines also from Ebay, they are failing, poorly made power supplies.

Not sure what you get buying from local suppliers, but anything from Ebay or Amazon is going to be a Chinese crap shoot.

In the future, I think I will find them local, at least if they fail I can take them back.

 

[Walston]

Thanks guys

 

[Texasmark1]

Couple of years ago I too got tired of my winter time dim fluorescents that were about 12 yrs old. Went to ebay and picked around and found some good
deals on LEDs. Should have done it long ago...course they weren't around long ago.

 

[4520BW]

I replaced all the 8' fixtures in our shop with the 5500 leds from rural king and its so much brighter and have been hanging for 3 years now with no problems. I also replaced the 4' ones in my garage with the 4500s from rural king. Thinking about making a stand and putting a 5500 on it to roll around the shop for a work light. Been waiting on rural king to have them on sale but I may just grab one on my next trip up there.( wish we had one here instead of a tsc)

 

[Philip d]

Here’s the ones we commonly use
Amazon.CA link

 

[Brown Dirt Cowboy]

Is there anything we can do to elimanate that radio buzz?

 

[Royse]

I bought a couple of the cheap 8 foot ones at Menards and
replaced 8 foot fluorescents with them a couple years ago.
They have worked well and have been trouble free so far.

The only thing I didn't like was the construction/assembly.
The 8 ft bulb section unsnaps from the base section so you can
wire and mount the base but the wiring between the two halves
doesn't disconnect. So you are left trying to wire/hang the 8 ft
base while somehow supporting the 8 foot light section too.
Working alone on a 10 ft ceiling, I was able to get them installed
by using two ladders to support the bulb section but it was a pain.