• Welcome to The Truck Stop! We see you haven't REGISTERED yet.

    Your truck knowledge is missing!
    • Registration is FREE , all we need is your birthday and email. (We don't share ANY data with ANYONE)
    • We have tons of knowledge here for your diesel truck!
    • Post your own topics and reply to existing threads to help others out!
    • NO ADS! The site is fully functional and ad free!
    CLICK HERE TO REGISTER!

    Problems registering? Click here to contact us!

    Already registered, but need a PASSWORD RESET? CLICK HERE TO RESET YOUR PASSWORD!

LED shop lights

Twisted Steel Performance

Anything worth doing is worth overdoing.
Messages
4,028
Reaction score
7,744
Location
Pauline, SC
I need more light in my engine room, it's 25' X25' with 8ft ceilings, I had 4 - 8ft florescent tube lights but they are going bad and I want to replace them with a BRIGHT led type.

I'm guessing led's have come a long way now so I want those of you that have been around them to guide me...

I see on amazon most are 5000k - 10000lm -- I'd guess the higher the numbers the brighter they are ?? I also see most are V shaped for less shadows... I like the linkable design most have.
If anyone has a better choice that has a LOT of light link it please..

I think this may be the best choice I have found...


another couple -


 
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
The Kelvin rating can be looked at as the "feel" of the light. 2700-3000 K are more like incandescent lights such as your standard screw-in type lamp bulb. They have a "warm light" feel. 5000 K are going to be more like daylight - they're a whiter light "cooler feel" and are pretty desirable for shop environments.

Pay attention to lumens and wattage to get the best bang for your buck.

More lumens per watts with these that you listed:
1703119292877.png

However, they're both really bright (6500 K) and you will want to weigh out if you want more of them (larger quantity in the package) at the lower wattage so you have more light sources in the same area which will equate to fewer areas affected by shadows.

Regardless of which you go with, you're going to think you have the sun inside your shop as bright as it will be compared to the older fluorescent bulbs you've gotten used to.
 
3500-4500 is yellowish and considered soft white.
5000k- 5500k is close to natural sunlight.
Going to 5700 up through 6500 is into the blue light.

there is a trick with ac powered LED lights. If you can see them in person, on your phone look at the camera video recording options and you have a slo-mo . Get your phone close to the light as possible so it is recording that light only if possible. Record a couple seconds of it then play it back. If you see the light flickering- this is the cheap design which will have a short life. Also if it has the “LED warranty” - it will probably burn out but won’t be the LEDs so warranty will be worthless.
If the LED looks like it is just on steady- voltage hat is what you want.

If someone really wants the details why I can explain it- but it is a big book…

Lumens aka candle power is how bright. More the merrier. Not all LED can use a dimmer switch.

Your flourescnts can be converted to LED- if you do that I suggest getting the kind that eliminates the ballast and sends 120v to the tombstones.
I can walk ya through that if needed.

My favorite LED mfr is RAB lighting. $$$. I installed about 50 of one style at work and they all run 24/7/365. 1 failed and they instantly warranty it no questions.
 
Cover up everything with plastic sheeting and use an airless sprayer and paint your walls and ceiling white - that will help a lot.

These might be had locally:

I have six 100w LED standard bulbs in our garage which is the same size you're dealing with. The ceiling is white steel and those little bulbs make it really nice - I use 2700K at home. I'll send you a picture. Dad's tool shed uses those probably at the 5000K range and I've posted photos of that. I am pretty sure that in all the photos of it, there is only one row of lights on of the three.
 
In the meantime, while you decide and before you paint, I would recommend ordering one of these. Even as bright as dad's tool shed is, I still use it every time I'm there - I actually have a 450 model which is an older version. I run it on the middle setting and it suits me fine for the day and can recharge at night.

 
The 8’ LED tubes are really expensive. It’s about same price to replace each 8’ with 2each 4’ already LED FIXTURES. If you post pics I can try some recommendations of easy alteration that works well.
 
3500-4500 is yellowish and considered soft white.
5000k- 5500k is close to natural sunlight.
Going to 5700 up through 6500 is into the blue light.

there is a trick with ac powered LED lights. If you can see them in person, on your phone look at the camera video recording options and you have a slo-mo . Get your phone close to the light as possible so it is recording that light only if possible. Record a couple seconds of it then play it back. If you see the light flickering- this is the cheap design which will have a short life. Also if it has the “LED warranty” - it will probably burn out but won’t be the LEDs so warranty will be worthless.
If the LED looks like it is just on steady- voltage hat is what you want.

If someone really wants the details why I can explain it- but it is a big book…

Lumens aka candle power is how bright. More the merrier. Not all LED can use a dimmer switch.

Your flourescnts can be converted to LED- if you do that I suggest getting the kind that eliminates the ballast and sends 120v to the tombstones.
I can walk ya through that if needed.

My favorite LED mfr is RAB lighting. $$$. I installed about 50 of one style at work and they all run 24/7/365. 1 failed and they instantly warranty it no questions.
Do you have a link?

For some people, what is undetectable flickering to others is unbearable to them.
 
If you are subject to migraines or seizures the strobe type LED's are a real weapon turned loose by the cheap lighting industry. I suggest it's a weapon of war sent in by China to disable Americans, but, more likely American's cheap willfully ignorant arrogance. Add Commiefornia's lets have a bigger D$%k and require even more efficiency after 100W incandescent was already reduced to 15W with LED so the strobe free electronics are even more expensive and frankly not available in 100W. Need to use two 60W lamps to get 120W of light using 20W of LED power...

The industry is already confusing flicker and strobe by marketing strobe lights as flicker free like Phillips does. Hell, we can't even make a light bulb here as it was legislated out of production. What was $0.99 a four pack is now $16 a lamp for good LED's. The good LED fluorescent replacement tubes are even more expensive. They will not burn enough electricity vs. incandescent let alone fluorescent to be worth the cost and trouble. Although a high quality LED is better than the problems even modern high frequency fluorescent could offer.

Will's advice to slow motion film a LED eliminates the worst strobe weapons sold as lighting.

Here is some information on flickering and strobe effects. Link intended for info on strobe and flicker effects only. Although OUCH!!! I re-lamped my place from them. My old electronic fluorescent ballasts and old tubes did not pass the slow motion video test. Dried out caps I suspect. This LED cost 2X vs. replacing the ballasts and mercury tainted tubes. I am SOL for BR30's as theirs have flicker. (I have some old BR30 LED's that pass the slow motion video test.)

https://www.waveformlighting.com/flicker-free-led-lighting

Out of 24 LED lights I got over the years only 3 passed the slow motion video test. One is a horrid color rendering and noisy, but, at least it doesn't strobe.

The Glare from LED street lights is awful. But that and headlights with added blue glare is getting OT.
 
Last edited:
I'll have to figure out the slow mo on the phone. Might not have it on.our cheap Lively phones.
I have a friend that's particularly bothered by LEDs.

He alerted me to flickering we never noticed.

Legislators always wanting to make laws about everything and anything should attack this problem.
At least if they mandated tax dollars only be spent on domestic products, at least there might be a domestic product to choose from.
 
Do you have a link?

For some people, what is undetectable flickering to others is unbearable to them.
I don’t have a link but I made 2 videos each about 10 seconds long. One just shows different color but both flickering the other shows good and bad type of LED (flickering issue vs not)
I can’t remember how to upload on youtube-
I will try to figure it out later today.
If anyone pm me their number I can text share the video
 
I don’t have a link but I made 2 videos each about 10 seconds long. One just shows different color but both flickering the other shows good and bad type of LED (flickering issue vs not)
I can’t remember how to upload on youtube-
I will try to figure it out later today.
If anyone pm me their number I can text share the video
I meant a link to the product you liked
 
On iphone just open camera and your options of pictures or videos include “slo-mo”
Not sure how it works on other phones.


No I don’t- the ones I been getting at work are bought through a purchasing agent. I never looked at the brand of bulbs. They just bought several types and once installed as samples I told them get either item 1 or 2 and none of the other ones.

I can try to look at some of the good bulbs I have at my house later and post- but I don’t have 4’ or 8’ ones yet. All my tubes are still stock. My shop is mighty dim with about half burned out. Making the upgrade is on my to do list but I cant get to it until end of January earliest.
 
Videos under some lighting does indeed suck, dark lines travelling up and down the finished product. Refresh rate with lighting/displays can drive one insane along with blue light. That's what I blame it on, yeah. LED lighting operates as an electrical arc. Noisy light. Some can drown out radio TX/RX. Cheap is cheap. The Kelvin (K) of light bothers/blinds the human eye above 4k. Too blue. LED headlamps on vehicles are awful especially in the rain, wonder when they will catch on. Different subject there. Longer life cooler operation less amp draw is a plus. Often wondered how many found out the hard way on using the LED woderbulb in a conventional oven at 400*F. Just some musings.

In the home shop I'm still rocking the 110w H.O. ballast 8' tubes. Got some going on 20 years now. Keep them clean and rotate in some new (ever more faulty) tubes and go as long as I can.
 
Last edited:
Legislators always wanting to make laws about everything and anything should attack this problem.




@3500GMC Both the above sites and this one give more depth to the problem that also affect LED screens like TV's, Cell Phones, and computer screens. Blue light is one suspected cause as well as the ON-OFF of diodes vs. the smooth dim and brightness that incandescent lamps have. Fluorescent lamps also have a smoother bright dim as the phosphor glows some after the arc goes out when the AC polarity changes. The Magnetic ballasted fluorescent lamps make me sick. I have to start wearing a hat indoors due to all the new LED lights showing up in retail stores. Even the ones that don't strobe or flicker are "Harsh" and IMO the blue light overpowering the rest of the colors is part of it. Look at any of the graphs even from the Waveform site and there is a blue peak. Some LED's are painfully bright to me while the lumen rating isn't so high.

https://store.waveformlighting.com/..._Photometric_Report.pdf?v=6026647455880984382

I did try one of their blue free LED lamps. (I run some Red LED's and high frequency fluorescent in the evening to save night vision.) Although it doesn't bother me the blue free really bothers other family members of mine who also suffer from the same problems I have.

JTL does sum the situation up well link/post below. Lack of research = therefore there isn't a "problem". Further "It doesn't affect me so Too Bad. Next item to do?"


Over the years I have solved many headaches (literally) for users by changing the 60Hz refresh rate on now obsolete CRT computer monitors to 72Hz or higher. Even identifying WTH do I have a damn headache every single day may be ignored by most people.

When it becomes a migraine where the center of your vision is a black hole ones goes to the ER. When you see an aurora like "Heat Waves" coming off the road in your office you go to the ER. Pass out and wake up vomiting resulted in a year of medical fun and then playing the ADA card with my employer where simply relamping the office with high quality high frequency ballasts and new T8 tubes helped. Sadly the tubes age and will strobe and flicker at end of life.

The LED flick on a moment then off flashing due to failure modes is an extreme problem for me. Of course no one can be FN bothered to take the light out of service or repair it in a timely manner.

Although one may think this is OT I actually serve as a warning. If the one starts getting headaches etc. from the new lighting... Well good luck avoiding the problem as everywhere is changing over to is just as CHEAP and fast as they can.

The H.O. tubes in some fixtures I had were not lasting very well before the lamps went bad. So it was a real gamble to switch to LED vs. renewing with high quality high frequency ballasts. Even with 30 day free shipping on returns from the LED vendor the fixture wiring changes are time consuming.
 
Last edited:
The brightest LED lights I've installed have been Hi Bay Lights. They have a big shiny reflector. Extremely bright.
Hi Bay is a commercial type term for bright commercial light.
 
Back
Top