Garage LED Lighting

Since the recent time change I have discovered the strong need to update the lighting in my 2-car garage. Currently, I only have one small light bulb near the garage door opener. This is not sufficient for working on projects.

I am considering putting in 4 sets of LED lights but wanted to ask if anyone has recommendations or cheap alternatives. I am already stretched pretty thin from buying two project cars, so a cheap option may be the way to go. I have electrical experience and know how to do the wiring and installation.

The ceiling is too low for drop lighting, so ceiling flush mount would be preferred. Does anyone have recommendations?

I recently bought a multi-pack of these from Amazon, although I haven't had the time/room to install them.  My plan is to run a continuous length of lights on each side of the cars down my long 1 bay garage.

Ian F said:

I recently bought a multi-pack of these from Amazon, although I haven't had the time/room to install them.  My plan is to run a continuous length of lights on each side of the cars down my long 1 bay garage.

Those look pretty cool. I have not seen linkable lights like this before. I wonder if they would be bright enough.

I bought a couple of the LED sets from Costco a couple years ago and am thoroughly impressed.  They look just like a typical dual 4' florescent fixture without the buzz or warm up time.

I believe they were $30 each.

Ian F said:

I recently bought a multi-pack of these from Amazon, although I haven't had the time/room to install them.  My plan is to run a continuous length of lights on each side of the cars down my long 1 bay garage.

I think you just cost me about $140...

Someone here did flush mount lighting with the linkable rolls of LEDs not too long ago. They used a used computer PSU to power it and spent like 50 bucks on the project for some absurd lumen rating.

Edit: It was AWSX1686 here's the thread. Maybe summon (or PM) him and see how it's held up.

1' x 1' Flush mounted LED panels: $50 at Home Depot

I also kinda wanna run LED strips down the length of the corner of the wall and the ceiling in my garage - I found tons of options on Amazon. Just be sure to get actual white, not blue-white like phone screens and such. That blue light will give you headaches if its all you see for too long...

I have 8 of these bad boys in my shop and am very happy with the output for the price, they're super bright and the color doesn't make my brain itch like some of the LEDs I've had elsewhere.

Picture with the lights on:  

In reply to 4cylndrfury :

Fun fact: those 1x1 LED panels can be had on Amazon and Ebay pretty cheaply, and they make GREAT, diffuse under-car lighting thanks to their inherent robustness and flatness.  I have 2 that I slide around with me when I'm under the car

sobe_death said:

In reply to 4cylndrfury :

Fun fact: those 1x1 LED panels can be had on Amazon and Ebay pretty cheaply, and they make GREAT, diffuse under-car lighting thanks to their inherent robustness and flatness.  I have 2 that I slide around with me when I'm under the car

That is a great idea for supplemental lighting while working under the car. I was just looking at floor shop lamps. I will check out the 1x1 panels as well.

I was thinking about putting 4 sets of lights up to get the best coverage. I can use the existing wiring and replace the bulb fixture that is there since LEDs use much less power.

I will spend a little more time on Amazon, then make a decision. Thank you for all of the ideas! An update will be posted after I order and before/after install.

I stuck a roll of this up on my ceiling. Works pretty nicely, and a great deal for the amount of light. If you have a 12v supply, it's only about $10/roll.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01MSWCKJ4

I have a three bay garage. The center bay is not as deep as the outside ones. I had two 8’ double T12 fluorescents in each bay (6 total), plus an extra 4’ double in each of the outside bays. 

I had a ballast fail in one of the center lights, so I decided to gradually convert to LEDs. I put two 8’ double strip LEDs in the center ($89 each at Home Depot). They are insanely bright, so much so that I just went with 4 footers ($45 each) everywhere else.

Installation was not hard, but a little clumsy. The garage is incredibly bright now and the LEDs are refreshingly silent. I'm not sure what the Lumen rating was on my old lights, but the 4 foot LEDs are brighter than the 8 foot fluorescents.

Eight footer

I replaced my lone socket with an outlet, and just plugged in four 48" LED shop lights hung from the ceiling.  (so I still use the same wall switch to turn them on/off)

The lights I had just waited until they were on sale for some ridiculous price somewhere. 

4cylndrfury said:

 

1' x 1' Flush mounted LED panels: $50 at Home Depot

 

I also kinda wanna run LED strips down the length of the corner of the wall and the ceiling in my garage - I found tons of options on Amazon. Just be sure to get actual white, not blue-white like phone screens and such. That blue light will give you headaches if its all you see for too long...

Those are REALLY cool!

In reply to Robbie :

FYI, LED panel lights are WAY cheaper on Amazon than the box stores. I got my 2ft X4ft panels for around $80/piece for my garage. They're less than half an inch thick (except for the driver), really lightweight, over 6200 lumens and just 50W. Anything with a Lumen/Watt rate under 120 is considered to be less than desirable from an efficiency standpoint (and they seem to be getting better all the time) so you may want to take that into consideration while shopping. I like the idea of using the smaller ones as work lights under vehicles!

I used some of the Costco led shop lights and have been quite happy with them. I also bought one single pack of these to test:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B06Y65CLN6/ref=yo_ii_img?ie=UTF8&psc=1&th=1

at $7.50/ea for 1000 lumens of light they're tough to beat on a cost per lumen measure. They're tiny and mount directly to a standard box and put out a lot of light. I'm thinking about using ~36 of them once I put drywall up on my ceiling. 

I replaced the 4ft. neon tubes with these 5000 lumen LED flood lights.   Garage is 24 X 42, I have four fixtures, each holding three 4 ft. tubes.  11 ft. ceilings, these are recessed into the old aluminum fixtures, throws a shadow on a sunny day.  $38 each.

dculberson said:

I used some of the Costco led shop lights and have been quite happy with them. I also bought one single pack of these to test:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B06Y65CLN6/ref=yo_ii_img?ie=UTF8&psc=1&th=1

at $7.50/ea for 1000 lumens of light they're tough to beat on a cost per lumen measure. They're tiny and mount directly to a standard box and put out a lot of light. I'm thinking about using ~36 of them once I put drywall up on my ceiling. 

Build a wood cube with 4 of those and on the 5th side that isn't the bottom have a hole for the extension cord to come out and a GFCI outlet. Then you have the ultimate drop light for placing under your car while you work.

dculberson said:

I used some of the Costco led shop lights and have been quite happy with them. I also bought one single pack of these to test:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B06Y65CLN6/ref=yo_ii_img?ie=UTF8&psc=1&th=1

at $7.50/ea for 1000 lumens of light they're tough to beat on a cost per lumen measure. They're tiny and mount directly to a standard box and put out a lot of light. I'm thinking about using ~36 of them once I put drywall up on my ceiling. 

Hmm...   I wonder about putting a few of those in the walls around floor level to get more light under a car?  

Robbie said:

dculberson said:

I used some of the Costco led shop lights and have been quite happy with them. I also bought one single pack of these to test:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B06Y65CLN6/ref=yo_ii_img?ie=UTF8&psc=1&th=1

at $7.50/ea for 1000 lumens of light they're tough to beat on a cost per lumen measure. They're tiny and mount directly to a standard box and put out a lot of light. I'm thinking about using ~36 of them once I put drywall up on my ceiling. 

Build a wood cube with 4 of those and on the 5th side that isn't the bottom have a hole for the extension cord to come out and a GFCI outlet. Then you have the ultimate drop light for placing under your car while you work.

That's a neat idea, although keep in mind this is a 120V fixture, so all of the wiring will need to be essentially residential wiring.  I would add a male receptacle to connect and extension cord for power as well as a dimmer to control the light level.

A 4-sided pyramid might also work.

Put some sort of magnet on the back.  Stick to the side of a jack stand. 

There's a big sticky thread on the garage journal forum with garage lighting advice from a professional, including LED part numbers and also sample lighting arrangements for various size garages.

https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=278420

I'm looking at getting these...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5k5d9jJW7xY

The difference is pretty substantial for $60 lights. You can see the difference @ 6:17. The Amazon link's in the description.

In reply to 2GRX7 :

This video is all iv been thinking about while reading this whole form. 

Nice thing is there is tons of options out there now and the cost and color of leds has gotten so much better. 

I like the idea of a floor light but you better have a clean garage or else its going to look really when you shine across it. I use a flashlight across the floor to find dropped screws and bolts by looking for the shadow they make.