4-foot LED lights for garage ceiling?

October 30, 2018 4:14 PM

Does anyone have a recommendation for a couple of 4-foot light fixtures for my garage ceiling? I would prefer LEDs to fluorescent bulbs because it's like 12 feet up, and also they'll be in an unheated New England garage.

We have cheap Eaton(?) 4-foot fluorescent fixtures in the basement that I got at Lowe's, and they keep dying. I know that LEDs are "good enough" now to be viable and not-crazy-expensive options for garage lights or shop lights.

Are expensive ones (e.g., Lithonia) worth it, and why? I only have one idle fixture that I could cut the ballast out of and just swap in the LED tubes that replace T8 fluorescent bulbs; are those good enough that I should go that way?

Thanks!

posted by wenestvedt to Home & Garden (11 answers total)

I've installed both this model and the ballast-bypass LED replacement tubes in existing fixtures. I really like the former model, but they are indeed expensive compared to a replacement tube. I will probably stick to the replacement tubes anywhere where I have a functioning fixture, but if I were doing a new installation, I'd spring for the more expensive units.
posted by tybstar at 4:36 PM on October 30, 2018 [2 favorites]

I recently put several 4000K 4ft led big box LED units up in my unheated garage shop. High ceilings like you describe.

What a satisfying purchase. They were about $35 apiece and I never ever ask myself if it was worth it and I am one seriously cheap guy.
posted by Glomar response at 4:45 PM on October 30, 2018 [3 favorites]

Costco has some LED shop lights for around $30. They are brighter than God, and you can daisy-chain them.

Buy four, and point them a little toward the corners by shortening and lengthening the suspension chains.

Seriously, you could do showroom-quality auto painting by these things.
posted by notsnot at 5:34 PM on October 30, 2018 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: (Yet another reason I wish I was a Costco member! *sigh*)
posted by wenestvedt at 5:36 PM on October 30, 2018 [1 favorite]

I bought some replacement LED tubes on Amazon for my basement fixtures that kept killing tubes. Pretty sure I spent less than $200 for 8 tubes. But my main point is wow, so worth it.

And they're much brighter, even the lowest ones. You may get away with only replacing half the tubes.
posted by Dashy at 6:04 PM on October 30, 2018 [2 favorites]

I don’t own them but I saw these at my local Lee Valley store and was gobsmacked. I’m in an apartment for the foreseeable future, otherwise I would have got them.
posted by bonobothegreat at 6:42 PM on October 30, 2018 [2 favorites]

I got whatever Home Depot had, which is not often a great choice, but they are bright, come on instantly, and were not that much more expensive than tube fixtures. Check the lumens, they are really bright.
posted by wnissen at 7:51 PM on October 30, 2018

I replaced the fluorescent fixtures in my shop with the Costco LED about 4 years ago. Shop is 30'X30' with 10' high ceiling. The LED are great! While installing them I dropped one and component sections scattered on the floor. Putting the pieces back together was straight forward, even without an Assembly graphic. Been working just as well as the others ever since.

I just checked the fixtures and couldn't find a manufacturer name, sorry.

I've installed electrical outlets in the ceiling controlled by a switch by the door. Also hang a couple of power strips that end just above head level that I use for hand held power tools like sanders and jig saw.

I love the LEDs
posted by X4ster at 8:41 PM on October 30, 2018 [1 favorite]

If you haven't bought yet, AliExpress will sell you 5M (18ft) led stick on strips for under $5 a pop and a 6A 12V power supply for not a lot more. (Use warm white.) Amazon have both as well, for a little more and without the 30 day delivery timelines. Note that the stickiness on those strips is kind of sad, but amazon sell clips to hold the run on the ceiling if that's what you have to do. If you need light and you don't care so much about the 'elegance' of striplight fittings I would at least consider it.

You would be left running 12V wiring around the place, and it can, potentially, start a fire, so I recommend putting a fuse near the supply to be on the safe side. But even with that you'd probably not be up to the price of a single LED strip and holder, let alone the electrician's time to do this properly with mains wiring.
posted by How much is that froggie in the window at 11:24 PM on October 30, 2018

I bought these on Amazon a couple years ago, and they've been nice. The mounting hardware (wire cable) is actually pretty decent, adjustable, and allows for some flexibility of installation. I do machining in my garage, so having good all-around lighting is fairly important to me.
posted by aramaic at 9:40 AM on October 31, 2018 [1 favorite]

I have a set of these Barrina integrated LED fixtures in bright white (6500k) and they are awesome for my needs and very affordable.
posted by vers at 4:09 PM on October 31, 2018 [1 favorite]