So I have been slowly working in the small garage so the boys have a workshop and gym. Got new Tin put on the roof and have been stalled out but think getin some lighting would be a good probablynot really expensive step I can work on.

Currently it has an old fuze box powered by a 220 from the house box. it has several outlets on each wall and a light switch with wires directly wired to long Florent lights that don't work. Likely just bad bulbs bit they ar put in like a drunk sailor hung them. Not level and locations chosen by a special needs individual level thinking.

I figured ther are likely better and more efficient lights out there but dint know if they would hard wire in or if I will need to swap the hard wires from the lights to a 110 plug and then plug in the lights so they work with the light switch and we dot need to bother will pull cords or switches in each light.

the building is small 26x16 maybe. has a lean too roof not gable so uoen and hide on one side low on the other side. front has a bench across it and old built in shelves I'm going to rip out and redo in an attempt to get an organized place for everything. ( will likely start a post looking for idea and inspiration when I get to it.)

What's available for lighting types pros and cons and what would you recommend and things to think about often over looked with lighting.. I'm finally old enough to have learned to ask and plan very buy crap on a whim and run with it.

You can get a kit to change the old style fluorescent to led but you might better off starting from scratch.

I just got some led fixtures from menards and hung them from light chain. I bought some adapters that screw into the light socket and plugged them in. Works great and makes great light. Four 4 foot lights in a 28x36 garage is plenty.

I put double t-8 fixtures in my new wood shop. They are direct wired. My goal was to achieve 100 lumens per square foot and I came pretty close at 97 per sq.ft. I always run all the lighting, interior and exterior off the same breaker/circuit and it's dedicated to lighting only. that way if you trip a breaker running a tool or something you are not plunged into darkness.

I used non-shunted lights and fixtures.

There’s lots of cheap led shop lights out there that just plug in, seem to last forever.

I have porcelain bases in my garage and found these to replace the bulbs with. They are plenty bright. Mr. Magoo would be able to see under these!

This. Takes minutes to hang them up and they give off plenty of light.

My new garage light is coming today.Replacing my Halogen because my fixtures are no good.
We will see or maybe not.LOL


<https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0897JC95G?ref_=ppx_hzod_title_dt_b_fed_asin_title_0_0&th=1

That looks like it'll do the job.

I was thinking about this but no plugs are in the rafters so I would need to put some in. Easy enough but at that point would be just as easy or easier to wire them directly like the old ones and just hang them level and use the slack to relocat them some. But I guess thet depends on type of light available to buy.


I have several led lights like above my wife uses for cheap grow lites starting seeds and was what came to mind first. May be the best option still just wirw up some outlets and if and when thy do go bad easy to replace just un plug. and replace.

Most have a long enough cord to reach a wall outlet, and they can be strung together so you only need one to reach the wall.

Lugnut has the right idea. Hardwire the fixtures. Almost all new shop fixtures in the 4' size will be LED, and they are great. Pay attention to the lumens rating. For a garage, you will want DAYLIGHT spectrum, which is a white light, rather than "WARM" yellow spectrum. Look for at least 5000k. 6500 is even better IMHO.

what mad-mike said,

Barrina LED lights on Amazon. Easy inline end to end or plug in extensions between them or direct wire. Just need a power source and you’re good to go, switched cords come with the lights so no light switches needed. Powerful LED bright lighting thats reasonable. I looked into lighting options this was best for the money.

I need to redo the lighting in my 30X50 shop I looked into switching to 8 ft LED from the old fluorescent lights but that would cost over a thousand bucks to do 12 lights.

10 8 footers $190 with everything you need in the box they come in shorter sizes also. Buy a pack bigger than you need so you can swap out bad ones in the future easily.

I was waiting on a 6 foot light to light up the far end as a 8 footer was too long to fit.

The new light arrived.Pretty nice to just screw it in. I did have to change the fixture. The new light is 18500 lumens. I have a car and half size garage.If I had a two car garage you would need two.My old halogens which I had two, totaled 1000 watts .I would say this new light is similar to the amount of light the halogens produced.Lumens, it's all about them.Cross your old lights to the LED lumens amount and you will have it.