Shop lights

[blueline]

Sweet! That's going to be nice!

I vote for a dedicated space for the donkeys too - they emailed me telling me that they want protection from the elements and some HVAC amenities to boot.

[Mojonito]

They sure do bitch a lot . They have their own barn.

[dr bob]

I spec'd 4-tube 4ft fixtures when we were rehab'ing the place immediately post-purchase. The existing garage had a few of these, and I continued the theme into the new workbay section. At the time, LED tubes were new and, frankly, underwhelming as far as actual light output, so daylight flourescent tubes are in there now. Over 1,000 watts of them in the ~~20x30 workbay. I did some calcs on work space lighting needs, and pretty much doubled that recommendation because I could. A recommendation for LED replacement tubes that offer at least the same lighting performance would certainly be appreciated.

Meanwhile, those fixtures the contractor used are very similar to the H-D Livonia flavor, with some of the issues Tom mentioned now addressed. The boxes themselves are pretty flimsy, and the too-casual mounting method the contractor used needed some attention before a possible gravity event. The 'flimsy' was apparent the first time I touched the ceiling-mounted fixtures to clean construction dust off of and out of the diffusers. Some large-head construction bolts with large fender washers go through them now into ceiling joists. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't choose these for 'hanging' duty where that kind of extra support wouldn't be an option, even with ballasts and other hardware supported by screws instead of the metal tabs. We lived 40+ years in SoCal where the ground moves, and developed a healthy respect for extreme local gravity and inertia zones.

For the high-ceiling barn, I'd be looking hard at hanging "bay lights" with LED bulbs. These are the style that we used to spec with mercury-vapor bulbs in round reflector fixtures, hanging from heft chains under the support beams. There's some minimal up-lighting in the way the housing is designed, but it's not a lot. If you have a light-colored ceiling there's certainly a case for adding at least a little bit of dedicated up-lighting to help with the dark-cave impression. I'm guessing that you'll be adding a lot of insulation up there at some point soon, maybe with a bright-white or reflective face. Some carefully positioned rim accent edge lighting up into the ceiling and down on wall sections would pretty dramatically turn those into features.

[blueline]

Regarding dr bob's mention of LED fluorescent replacements, I did a bit of searching and some phone inquiries a couple of years ago when I was considering that move as a way to circumvent ballast replacements in my 4-tube 48" T-8 fixtures. (18 of them in the garage = 72 tubes.)

I didn't realize it but there are a lot more options now. I was curious and when I looked today I saw four major replacement subheadings: "Bypass", "Direct Replacement", "Dual Mode", and "Hybrid", with more options within each of those groups. Whew!

I have no idea which of these styles is better than the other, though I am aware that they involve different approaches to wiring and/or using different vs existing ballasts. I sense that the LED's themselves have improved considerably in those applications and that retrofitting is now more viable.

However, it was difficult to tell just how well the conversions would work back then and I liked what I had so I just opted to buy another case of 5000k fluorescent T-8 tubes plus a few more spare ballasts and call it a day!

[Mojonito]

I spec'd 4-tube 4ft fixtures when we were rehab'ing the place immediately post-purchase. The existing garage had a few of these, and I continued the theme into the new workbay section. At the time, LED tubes were new and, frankly, underwhelming as far as actual light output, so daylight flourescent tubes are in there now. Over 1,000 watts of them in the ~~20x30 workbay. I did some calcs on work space lighting needs, and pretty much doubled that recommendation because I could. A recommendation for LED replacement tubes that offer at least the same lighting performance would certainly be appreciated.

Meanwhile, those fixtures the contractor used are very similar to the H-D Livonia flavor, with some of the issues Tom mentioned now addressed. The boxes themselves are pretty flimsy, and the too-casual mounting method the contractor used needed some attention before a possible gravity event. The 'flimsy' was apparent the first time I touched the ceiling-mounted fixtures to clean construction dust off of and out of the diffusers. Some large-head construction bolts with large fender washers go through them now into ceiling joists. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't choose these for 'hanging' duty where that kind of extra support wouldn't be an option, even with ballasts and other hardware supported by screws instead of the metal tabs. We lived 40+ years in SoCal where the ground moves, and developed a healthy respect for extreme local gravity and inertia zones.

For the high-ceiling barn, I'd be looking hard at hanging "bay lights" with LED bulbs. These are the style that we used to spec with mercury-vapor bulbs in round reflector fixtures, hanging from heft chains under the support beams. There's some minimal up-lighting in the way the housing is designed, but it's not a lot. If you have a light-colored ceiling there's certainly a case for adding at least a little bit of dedicated up-lighting to help with the dark-cave impression. I'm guessing that you'll be adding a lot of insulation up there at some point soon, maybe with a bright-white or reflective face. Some carefully positioned rim accent edge lighting up into the ceiling and down on wall sections would pretty dramatically turn those into features.

That’s kind of what I figured about the “cave feeling”. I’m curious since I pretty much quadrupled the current light output how much of that cave feeling will remain. I will update this thread once they arrive.

[Mojonito]

Regarding dr bob's mention of LED fluorescent replacements, I did a bit of searching and some phone inquiries a couple of years ago when I was considering that move as a way to circumvent ballast replacements in my 4-tube 48" T-8 fixtures. (18 of them in the garage = 72 tubes.)

I didn't realize it but there are a lot more options now. I was curious and when I looked today I saw four major replacement subheadings: "Bypass", "Direct Replacement", "Dual Mode", and "Hybrid", with more options within each of those groups. Whew!

I have no idea which of these styles is better than the other, though I am aware that they involve different approaches to wiring and/or using different vs existing ballasts. I sense that the LED's themselves have improved considerably in those applications and that retrofitting is now more viable.

However, it was difficult to tell just how well the conversions would work back then and I liked what I had so I just opted to buy another case of 5000k fluorescent T-8 tubes plus a few more spare ballasts and call it a day!

It’s such a headache, isn’t it? I figured if I was going to have to change ballast anyway I might as well go all out and get mission specific lights. As the Beatles once said, “here comes the sun.”

[JohnnyG9]

When looking at LED's, a key point is the "CRI" (color rendering index). Most of these LEDs from HD or Lowes are "80+" CRI, which is ok, but tends to render a little flat (colors). Premium interior LEDs are generally >90 CRI. You'll be able to tell the difference. Obsessed Garage sells these in the Cree line. But they are pricey, like 3x.

For shipping purposes, I lean to doing two 4' fixtures (in series) rather than a single 8'.

Stay away from the cheap stuff on Amazon, 30 day warranty, you get what you pay for there.

I'm also a fan of 4000k lights in the garage. I find 5000k give me a lot of eye strain, after a few hours.

[Stormy_Monday]

I have started researching LED lighting for my music room. When I suggested similar fixtures to what I have in the garage I was overridden. The new ceiling fans all seem to have anemic LED lighting. So I will need separate light fixtures.

[dr bob]

Ceiling fans add some extra complexity to lighting, as they will cast moving shadows if you use lights above them. Meanwhile I've seen some interesting compromises, including some wire supports for what look like bare low-voltage LED GU reflector bulbs pointing down. I see some of those same lights in museum and art-wall installs, where what looks like a floating-in-air bulb is used to highlight something on display. Depending on the wall and ceiling colors in your music room, this might be an option with the ceiling fan.

K spec'd ceiling fans just about everywhere during our little home rebuild project. I have 4" LED rounds in the ceiling of my office, and her ceiling fan sits nicely underneath. The fan is pretty useless.

Meanwhile, another fan on the porch over a tall table had wimpy lighting as part of the package. I discarded the candles and replaced them with much brighter LED bulbs inside a single white center diffuser. The controller offers dimming so no issues with finding the right level for the moment. If you music room fan has external bulbs dangling underneath, you can add brighter bulbs or find a different lighting package that will support the bulbs you need.

Of course this reminds me that I was supposed to pick up a dozen 4000K BR20's today for another project. A monster's work is never done.

[rallynerd]

I have about 20 8 foot old school flouresent lamps in my 2 garages ,the buzzing and flickering drove me nuts ,and the bulb life was crap, I found a site (justleds) and got a whole box of replacement lamp tubes you can pick the pins etc so that they pop in ,the good part is that you remove the ballasts and just hook the lamps up to 120, and your choise of Kelvin, get the frosted tubes otherwise you see the led's