Looking for shop lighting suggestions
 

Finally getting around to finishing up the inside of my shop that I started right after I retired in 2012 but never got further than the work bench and one long wall. The workbench on one end I have pretty much under control with 2 LED strip lights I recently installed. The rest has just had crappy old tube lamps all these years, most of which are getting really dark now.

The shop is 18' x 28' and is partitioned off in one corner of my 54' x 36' pole bldg. I have just had drywall on the ceiling since day one, back in '78 and it is getting pretty ratty as you might imagine.

So, the plan is to finish the other long wall w/furring strips and 3/4" foam between them and install white steel on the ceiling and 2 walls that are not already done..

The mill that followed me home a couple weeks ago will occupy the far corner angled into it to conserve space. Looking for input from you fella's that have nice lighting in your shops. Wiring will be in conduit run along the ceiling and walls with drops for outlets plus a 220 circuit for the mill.

It depends on how many hours per year you plan on using the shop,,

I use my lights a couple hours per day,, max,, on average,

The main portion of my shop is about 40X26,, and I light it with two high bay metal halide light fixtures.

Those fixtures are always on CL or eBay for just a few dollars.

Mine are almost 20 years old, and light as well today as when I put them up.

If you are gonna use the shop 8+ hours per day,, I guess you are stuck buying a bunch of new LED fixtures,,

BUT,, I am super happy with metal halide,, I could never save enough electricity to justify any other type light.

My son-in-law just put in his used metal halide fixtures,,
he is CRAZY about saving electricity,, but, these were his best option.

I only have an 8' ceiling that is already to low.
Cant raise some of the cub hoods up with the table in the highest position.
And, I'm in there most every day during the winter months and a lot when the weather is crappy spring and fall.

14 ft ceiling, most of the fixtures are over 35 years old. Hired an electrician with a lift to come in and convert them to the style LED bulb that does not use the existing ballast. It wasn't cheap, but I had about 6-8 of 36 bulbs that worked. Was able to get rid of/stop using all the extra fixtures hanging along workbenches. The only drawback is that these bulbs don't like when I do any welding--just found this out. Shop is so bright now I had to clean it--it was so dark I didn't know how filthy the place was!

Sunco 40w LED 4ft lights are the ticket.. Look on Amazoon ... can get 4 lights for around 100 and they are bright!! daisy chain them together if needed... I have bough 8 of them and they work great.

Sunco Lighting 4 Pack LED Utility Shop Light, 4 FT, Linkable Integrated Fixture, 40W=260W, 5000K Daylight, 4100 LM, Frosted Lens, Surface/Suspension Mount, Pull Chain, Garage – ETL, Energy Star

I bought a 6 pack of cheap LED lights that look like fluorescents from Amazon and the only regret I have is not buying enough for the basement, too.

4 are in my garage, 2 are on my seed table. They're bright, they were cheap, and so far they work great.

I just ordered a pack of 4 from Amazon to try. Anyone have spacing recommendations? I am lighting a 24x48 4 bay, 10' ceiling, white painted walls and ceiling.

Costco sells four foot LED 2 bulb fixtures made by Feit. Last time they had a sale, each light fixture was $20. They'll either have a sale on single pack @ $20.00 or two pack @ $40.00. They render color better and made a huge difference is brightness over the old florescent fixtures I had in my shop.

I have 3 8ft. high output fluorescent lights that I just converted to led last year and they're about twice as bright as before . very easy to eliminate the ballast all you need are wire strippers and some wire nuts just cut the wires close to the ballast to be sure you have enough wire to hook to your power wires . I also changed 2 ,4ft. and 1 ,2ft. in my house I'm very happy with all of them . my shop is 24 x 40 and I ran my 8 ft. lengthwise with the shop and the do good ...greenlight depo is where I got them at online they have other lights also

I put all LED lamps in my shop. Got rid of the old 40 watt tubes in existing fixtures. If you already have fixtures, just pull the tubes out, paint them with some good enamel ceiling white paint. Remove the cover and cut all the ballasts wiring out by making the cuts up close to the ballasts. (Most manufacturers say to leave the ballasts in the fixture because of weight and balance issues) If you are replacing the old F40CW fluorescents with the two pin twist connection on each end, your wiring will already be in place. New LED lamps will fit right into the twist locks. (called tombstones) The new LEDs are COB style which stands for Circuit on Board. This means they just need 120VAC run to them and power conversion is done inside the individual lamps. All of the conversions I've done have only required the hot lead to go into tombstones on one end and the neutral wire connected to the tombstones on the opposite end. Try to find lamps that have a 5000 Kelvin color. (AKA Daylight) Nice white bright color that is supposed to be as close to the color of normal sunlight.

Another effective and inexpensive way to do it is to use porcelain fixtures with 100 watt LED lamps in them. LEDs are like fluorescents in the fact that they do not cast the heavy shadows you get from incandescent lighting. Cost is less than 1/4th per unit of light output as incandescent lighting is. My shop has a combination of tube and screw in lamps. 6-100 watt screw in LED bulbs and 6 LED replacement tubes. All lights on draws 2.3 amps with 123 volts coming into the breaker panel. There are You tube videos out there to show you how to convert over from fluorescents too!