LED lighting

[Mark Rainey]

Rockler has a 10,000 lumen LED 4 foot strip for $99. I have a basement shop with fluorescent lights. I need more light over my workbench. This light seems like a good option. Would it be too bright? Would 2 5000 strips linked and separated a bit give just as much light with less shadows? Thanks Mark

[Jim Becker]

No way would I pay $99 for a LED fixture like that when the LED fixtures from Costco are a fraction of that cost. Being in my shop is like being at the beach on a sunny day with the Costco lamp... I effectively paid about $20 per fixture.

[Bill Dufour]

I was in costco within the last month and the had the $19.99 fixtures for sale. They can be daisy chained together as well.
Bill D.

https://www.costco.com/Feit-4'-Linkable-LED-Shop-Light-2-pack.product.100462723.html

[Jim Becker]

I'll add that the lighting fixtures sold by woodworking stores have huge markups compared to other sources. There are quite a few threads here on SMC about shop lighting and specifically LED choices/sources, depending on what someone wants to accomplish.

[John Ziebron]

I'll agree that I also wouldn't pay $100 for a LED shop light. But for those of us that aren't Cosco members but live near a Menards there is another good option this week.

Menards has a 2 pack of 46 inch LED shop lights rated at 3500 lumens each on sale for $29.99 plus a rebate of $10.00 which makes them $10 per fixture. They have a limit of three 2 packs per rebate, but even without the rebate it's $15 per light. I bought a pack yesterday and when I realized they were brighter than my twin 32 watt flourescent fixtures I went back today and bought 2 more packs.

[Greg R Bradley]

Over a workbench or extra light for a tool is a perfect use for the Costco Feit LED units. They have a plug and a pull chain, which pretty much tells you NOT to buy a bunch and use them to light the entire shop. But people do anyway even though that is usually a mistake.

For your use, the are perfect. Buy 2-3 and you will be glad you did.

[Kris Cook]

Over a workbench or extra light for a tool is a perfect use for the Costco Feit LED units. They have a plug and a pull chain, which pretty much tells you NOT to buy a bunch and use them to light the entire shop. But people do anyway even though that is usually a mistake.

Hmmm. I just bought 20 of the Costco lights and plan to use them along with some supplemental task lighting to light my entire new shop and garage currently under construction. The instructions indicate 4 units can be daisy-chained together. I plan to plug 4 daisy-chained units into a switched outlet for each run.

I don't see the problem...

[Jim Becker]

Over a workbench or extra light for a tool is a perfect use for the Costco Feit LED units. They have a plug and a pull chain, which pretty much tells you NOT to buy a bunch and use them to light the entire shop. But people do anyway even though that is usually a mistake.


I certainly don't feel it was a mistake and if a unit fails, they will cheerfully take it back. My shop feels like the sun is hanging from the ceiling every time I turn the lights on!

[Greg R Bradley]

I certainly don't feel it was a mistake and if a unit fails, they will cheerfully take it back. My shop feels like the sun is hanging from the ceiling every time I turn the lights on!
They don't seem to fail at all based upon the 8 I have in various places. The light fall off over time is more than a good T-8 bulb and the total life is about the same. I used a number of them for temp use and when used where you pull the chain for extra light they are working well. The ones used for fill in where I didn't have time to wire in more T-8 fixtures are clearly going to hit the trash about the time the surrounding T-8 fixtures are ready for a bulb change.

Also, the only way they seem as bright as a T-8 fixture is where you benefit from more light down due to the narrow beam angle. So they do a good job replacing a T-8 fixture with a reflector hung low over a workbench or tool. It really all depends on where you use them and how much you run them. LEDs can have some big advantages on lights that are turned on/off several times a day.

Most of the time the "huge improvement" that people see is based upon a NEW fixture as opposed to an old one. The other one is where the old fixture was not appropriate for the use such as where more down light is an advantage. Another factor I see is that certain vision issues can benefit from the harsher light that you get with less even lighting. Those people also seem to like extreme high color temp like 6500K.

[Jim Becker]

I don't disagree, Greg. One thing I did do with the LED deployment is "more fixtures" which certainly increased the light level, too. My ceiling is now white which helps with light bouncing back from below. I have one area (front near my bandsaw and doors) where I think I want to add two more fixtures and will be doing so as soon as I catch a sale on the units.

[Bill Space]

I have some of the Costco LED fixtures. I just noticed that one partially failed. One of the tubes is dark for about the first 25 percent of its length.

Just mentioning this as it surprised me. I was expecting that if I had a failure either one of the tubes would turn dark, or the whole fixture would quit working.

Just a point of interest, not a complaint. Where that fixture is the light is still adequate...

Bill

[Jim Becker]

They will cheerfully take it back, too, Bill.

[Rich Engelhardt]

Menards has a 2 pack of 46 inch LED shop lights rated at 3500 lumens each on sale for $29.99 plus a rebate of $10.00 which makes them $10 per fixture. They have a limit of three 2 packs per rebate, but even without the rebate it's $15 per light. I bought a pack yesterday and when I realized they were brighter than my twin 32 watt flourescent fixtures I went back today and bought 2 more packs.That sale is over. I did manage to pick up 9 of the 2 packs (the $10 rebate is only good on 3 of the 2 packs - but even so, $15 instead of $10 per fixture isn't too shabby) while the sale was on.

I replaced 4 old T12 florescent fixtures that were in my basement & I became an instant fan of LED fixtures.

[Mike Goetzke]

Anyone have an issue with these light fixtures flickering - especially notice it at startup.

Mike

[Jim Becker]

My LED fixtures never flicker that I can see...

[Mike Goetzke]

My LED fixtures never flicker that I can see...

I replaced my t10's with Sam's club LED's. Yes, it's like I'm under the sun in my garage/shop. I'll have to watch it some more but they seem to flicker together. Seems to go away as they are left on longer but very annoying. They do have a 5-year warranty. Maybe I should try another circuit?

[Greg R Bradley]

LED flicker is a problem with some. It really depends on the driver. Is the flicker at 60Hz?

Sam's Club fixtures were Honywell and look better than the Feits at Costco but seem to not work as well.

Feit has a poor reputation for warranties BUT these particular lamps seem to be pretty reliable and Costco warranty solves any issue you will have with failures.

One third of these Home Depot Commercial Electric failed in 1.5 years. One did still have 1/3 working.400609

[Ben Grefe]

I have some of the Costco LED fixtures. I just noticed that one partially failed. One of the tubes is dark for about the first 25 percent of its length.

Just mentioning this as it surprised me. I was expecting that if I had a failure either one of the tubes would turn dark, or the whole fixture would quit working.

Just a point of interest, not a complaint. Where that fixture is the light is still adequate...

Bill

I have the Costco fixtures as well. 2 out of 20 were dead on arrival with this same failure.

[Curt Harms]

Anyone have an issue with these light fixtures flickering - especially notice it at startup.

Mike

I have a PAR30 type lamp that will flicker sometimes, its mate doesn't.They were purchased a few years ago and fairly early in the affordable LED era.