GARAGE LIGHTING -- Output, EMF, etc
 

OK, so over the past year I have purchased a couple of different brands of LED lights for the garage. A four 20 watt work lights and a 100 watt work light (they look like a halogen bulb style, rectangle with bulb in the middle). When I try to use these but the EMF effects the radio so bad all you can here is static. I guess the next step is to try an external antenna for the roof. Also, this style of lighting is mostly a point light source. Even with sandblasting the glass on the front it's still has a shadowy kind of output that's annoying. You also want to a color temperature that is below 5000K, the "white" light output has a blue cast to it. So, is it back to the 4 foot florescent shop light (which still has some, but less emf) or something else? I had tried a metal halide, it was 400 watts, took about 10 minutes to reach full out put. It was too much and looked like the aliens landed from the light streaming out the windows. :rofl:
So what have you guys done or thought about doing?
- Jeff

In my new garage, I have a bunch of GE "ET14" LED 1x4' troffer lights mounted in the ceiling. It's awesome, but not a cheap solution. :)

--Ian

I was checking out these lately:

Costco LED shop lights - Pirate4x4.Com : 4x4 and Off-Road Forum

4' LED Shop Light, 3700 Lumens at Costco. $40, now for a limited time, $32 | BudgetLightForum.com

The Costco light looks interesting. (And the have a good return policy)
3700 lumens isn't all that much.

I'm using the costco LED light fixture. Get's the job done for me but I'm not too picky.

Non-Waterproof Strips

I put some of these in my kitchen under the counters. I love them.

You'd have to do some calculations to get the right light-on-surface for a work shop though. I'd aim for 250 lux (lumens per square meter) for a good light level.

Using a 90% coefficient of utilization (Cu) and a 90% light loss factor (Llf) (guessing since LED) you end up with this:

Illumination in lux = Lumens per lamp * Cu * Llf / Area per lamp

But you want to know how many for your space, so you can do it this way:

Area per lamp = square meters of workspace(Aw) / number of lamps(NL)

plug and chug.

Number of lamps = (Aw * 250) / ( 0.81 * Lumens per lamp )

And you can do it with the strips by using the output per LED (~6 lumens per led for this example--some strips are more or less)

Assuming a 400 square foot shop (37.1 square meters) it'd look like this:

Number of LEDs = ( 37.1 m^2 * 250 lux ) / (.81 * 6 lumens )

Or you'd need 1908 LEDs at a minimum.

You can use the formula for other types of lighting too, or per strip in the link above. For example the high output strip is 4100K color and 5000 lumens per strip.

You'd need 3 strips (2.2 rounded up).

Cool math :facepalm:


The strips seem like a great Idea. Would you cut these to 3 five foot strips mounted to a reflective surface and call that one light panel. And then three panels would produce about 15K lumens of light.?
I don't see a reason to buy the more expensive dim-able transformer if you are looking for max output. It gives you two choices in color temp. You could maybe mix color temps together.
I found these on ebay.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/High-CRI-90-...jUAAOSwxYxUrf6
The CRI is 90+ what wattage transformer would you put with this?
- Jeff

250 lux sounds low to me.

I have 10 4K lumen lights in my new 22*24 garage. Using your formula that's 648 lux/square meter, and it's nice and bright. Having it at less than half would be really disappointing.

--Ian

Edit: This chart suggests around 750 lux for "mechanical workshops". http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/li...oms-d_708.html

250 minimum. And I round up to the next strip. You can always get more if you need more light.

Also keep in mind that your perception is nonlinear so 250 isn't going to seem less than half as bright.

Also keep in mind you'll be under a car with a work light and ambient lighting wont help you that much there unless you really polish that concrete!

I just took off 32 40w t12 fluorecent lamps and changed them to 16 24w led lamps from here (no relation) much brighter (640 lumens/m), no interference and cheap at under $11 ea, i could not be happier and just finished getting 25 more to finish changing out the old flourecent lamps

https://www.earthled.com/collections...ant=2403570948

Perhaps. Turning half the lights off makes it a lot dimmer! :)

The new garage is getting a Bend-Pak HD9-ST, so that should help with the dimness underneath to some degree.

--Ian

Bringing this thread back from the dead because I cannot find something. Recently someone posted LED overhead garage lights that they bought in bulk online. I think the post is buried in a build thread because I cannot, for the life of me, find it again. I have use all kinds of google fu. I want the link to buy them if anyone has it. They would be perfect for my garage space.

It was in soviets thread.

Awesome! You're a life saver. For anyone else interested:

10 125PACK 22W 4ft Day White 6000K LED T8 Integrated Fluorescent Tube Light Lamp | eBay

That way it is in a thread that makes sense for easier finding later.

I got led 4' bulbs to install on my existing fixtures at earth led for $10 each, very happy with the results

Just ordered two of these for a robot cell here at work.
http://www.bigasslight.com/products/the-garage-light/
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...96d6595aba.jpg



Will report back on quality once they arrive. Going in a robot cell so they better have low EMF.
I'm sure this is WAYYY to rich for the folks here buying them retail, it's to rich for me here at work too. But management wants them purely for aesthetics rather than light output, not my original decision. I also paid a little under retail, with a free 60 day trial, so if they truly suck then i'll send them back.

Wow those are expensive. The bulbs also appear to be proprietary which is also a no go. They are bright as hell for just two tubes though. At least according to the site.

Are LED's technically considered bulbs?

Are there LED strip / fully contained LED light systems that have replaceable LED strips? Are there universal ones?

You're right that it is not really a bulb. There are a lot of LED overhead lights now that mimic florescent tubes with a ton of little LED's in them. These are all pretty much standard and could be swapped out with other similar tubes in the actual light fixture rather easily and cheaply.

I We experimented with those at my workplace. Output up close it great, blinding to look at, but the light diminished quickly as you got further away. Then again, we were trying to use them as warehouse lights, in a cost is no option type of thing. Waiting to hear how they work for you.

Personally I findLED lights annoying. The color, regardless of K it seems and the intensity.