New lighting project finished - PAR 38 - 5000K LED Upgrade

[cardaddy]

Been thinking about doing a lighting upgrade for a while. So while CarMomma was off for the week, and we were going around running errands, I decided to bring it up.

We happened to be in Lowes and noticed that they'd put all their PAR38 5000°K LED "outdoor rated" floodlights on clearance. They were normally $38 each, marked down to $28 each.

When we noticed them our local store didn't have but 4 (bought them all). Along with the bulbs I bought single gang outdoor plastic boxes, metal flood fixtures, and a switch for the boxes. All in all there are 8 boxes, 1 on each end of the 4 fluorescent fixtures. I put the switch there so that we can still turn on the fluorescent lights without all the LED's running.

The next day she went to the town north of here and found 3 more.
Then I went to yet another town about 35 minutes out and picked up 7 more.

Problem is, I planned on mounting at least 8, then changed that to 12, with the ability to have 16. (Don't need the extra 4 over at one side of the garage because I don't work on that side.) As it ended up I put 14 total lights up.

The bulbs are 5000°K 1400 lumen 23 watts. Much cooler, much less current than a similar (120 watt) filament type flood, and REALLY bright! :dblthumb2:

It wasn't exactly a cheap upgrade, I'd say a good $500 spent (if not $550). But the results mean I don't have to worry about pulling tons of current, making tons of heat, and dragging a twin-head, single head, or any other type halogen around over my shoulder or putting third-degree burns on my back anymore. Not to mention if you bump the darned things wrong you blow the bulb! The best part is I won't have to be replacing any bulbs pretty much during my lifetime!

Still haven't played around with aiming for the best coverage, but it's plenty bright. (As CarMomma has said she needs to wear her sunglasses to go through the garage to take the darned trash out!) :laughing:

Compared to what it was like before (and it wasn't bad) it's freaking awesome now.
The fluorescents are a mix of 6000°K and 4000°K (cool whites). There are two 5000° (or maybe even 5500°K CFL (swirly type) bulbs in the garage opener.

All the photos are with my Samsung S4, without any flash, without any halogens. One I think might have the added LED work light. If it's there, you'll see it sitting on top of the far side cabinet.

 

[allenk4]

The neighbors are going to think you are setting up a Grow House

 

[cardaddy]

The neighbors are going to think you are setting up a Grow House

:righton::awman:

Yeah I thought about that as I cleaned out three different Lowes stores!:laughing:
Already brought over the garage side neighbor to check them out while I was working on them. You know what they say, if you can't see it from space it's not worth doing.

With remote power meter monitoring I'm glad they are LED's for sure.

OTOH.... (grow house wise) Georgia might be one of the next "medical" states. Hmmmm......

 

[FUNX650]

"Let there be light"!

Nice job Tony. :dblthumb2:


Bob

 

[cardaddy]

"Let there be light"!

Nice job Tony. :dblthumb2:


Bob

Thanks Bob!

I know I'm glad I don't have to climb that darned ladder anymore!!!!!

Oh... forgot about the bulbs over on the other side of the Caddy.
Those are 5000°K CFL floods, only $7.98 for those puppies.
I still have a couple extra of those LED's that I could put over there, as well as 2 more flood heads should I decide to throw light all the way across.

I know I went over in the other side (3rd car side) of the garage last night and even with a 4 bulb fixture and 2 bulbs in the garage opener it seemed like walking into a CAVE.

 

[SameGuy]

Great idea!

Yeah, when I went to the closest Lowes in October they had one single Utilitech bulb left, on clearance at $28. They now only stock the Sylvania 5000K PAR38 bulbs.

 

[Tato]

The neighbors are going to think you are setting up a Grow House

"Let there be light"!

Nice job Tony. :dblthumb2:


Bob

Great job, agreed with second comment / laughed with first, but both relates my thoughts here.

Would you mind taking a look at my 'lighting indecision' thread and give me a 0.02$?
http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum...e-deciding-led-lighting-schemes-included.html

Thank you so very much in advance.

Kind Regards.

 

[rms64]

:righton::awman:

You know what they say, if you can't see it from space it's not worth doing.

:laughing::laughing:

I will be using that one in the future.

Nice job on the new lighting!

 

[Klasse Act]

Looks great in there, have you been contacted about a GA detail day, LOLrops:

 

[dad07]

Looking good Tony!:dblthumb2:

 

[runrun411]

Tony, sweet upgrade. Once again you're a bad influence (or a good one if you let my wife tell it). Looking at your pictures I've just now decided to add lights in my garage. My garage needs sheet rock overhead and lots of finishing work. I'll take pics. soon to show you. My wife has wanted me to do this for some years now and just because I want lights to detail i'm gonna have it done. I should be so lucky that the whole project would cost me 500 bucks. This may very expensive. I have those halogen lights made by Husky and they are 5000 watts. When I think of my electric bill I wince and don't really use them. I think the LED light is the way to go.

 

[sayroger]

Thats a great idea i have bee n trying to find lighting for my garage for a long time. I have 2 leds on a stand but i need a lot more that what i have know. I will be looking in to this soon. Lowes has the leds on clearance now time to go pick some up. Thanks

 

[sweatthedetails]

Me want. Nice job.

 

[cardaddy]

Great idea!

Yeah, when I went to the closest Lowes in October they had one single Utilitech bulb left, on clearance at $28. They now only stock the Sylvania 5000K PAR38 bulbs.

Yep, I noticed the Sylvania bulbs on the site, but even finding them at my Lowes (in 5000°K) is hit or miss. :dunno:

Great job, agreed with second comment / laughed with first, but both relates my thoughts here.

Would you mind taking a look at my 'lighting indecision' thread and give me a 0.02$?
http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum...e-deciding-led-lighting-schemes-included.html

Thank you so very much in advance.

Kind Regards.

Thanks for the comments. Yep, Grow House.... that's us.

I commented just now in your thread btw. :xyxthumbs:

:laughing::laughing:

I will be using that one in the future.

Nice job on the new lighting!

Maybe we could call it StarBrite StarLight Grow House. Might ring up the Space Station and have them give a look see on their next pass. :laughing:

 

[cardaddy]

Looks great in there, have you been contacted about a GA detail day, LOLrops:

Come to think of it.... I HAVE NOT!
Sounds like a good idea though, maybe when it warms up a bit. :dblthumb2:
Don't see me ever adding AC to the garage, or heat for that matter. But what I *do* get to do is open the door from the kitchen and pump heat/AC from the house with several floor fans to keep it moving around. (Well that and I do have enough portable heaters to keep it warm enough for coatings in the winter.)

Looking good Tony!:dblthumb2:

Thanks brother.

And to think, you got the prelude shots to these.

I'm just glad I know basic electricity. Hiring an electrician would have run a FORTUNE!
Especially when it came to the 'knockout' on the end of the ceiling fixtures. The size predicated using electrical conduit, threaded, nut on the back. But the outdoor boxes I modified (by drilling a hole in the side) to fit ¾" Sch 40 PVC. The hole in the fixture was WAAAAAAY too small. Took quite a bit of Dremel work, (and 4 different grinding & sanding bits) to get them all the right size. Heck.... I spent $20 just on those darned things! :laughing:

Tony, sweet upgrade. Once again you're a bad influence (or a good one if you let my wife tell it). Looking at your pictures I've just now decided to add lights in my garage. My garage needs sheet rock overhead and lots of finishing work. I'll take pics. soon to show you. My wife has wanted me to do this for some years now and just because I want lights to detail i'm gonna have it done. I should be so lucky that the whole project would cost me 500 bucks. This may very expensive. I have those halogen lights made by Husky and they are 5000 watts. When I think of my electric bill I wince and don't really use them. I think the LED light is the way to go.

I like that, "if you let my wife tell it". :laughing:

One fixture I don't have yet, but I'll probably get, is a 4' LED fixture. It's a ceiling fixture, runs about $65. I'll hang it on the side of my detailing cart (or one of them) and move it around the vehicle. I've used a regular twin-bulb fluorescent before but it's stupid bulky, and not the right color temp. The little one I saw at Lowes is compact, curved on the face, very thin at the edges, and not but about 8" wide overall.

I have a twin head 1000W halogen, a single head, and the LED work light in one of the first photos. Don't see me not using the halogen EVER again, but it'll be much easier now.

I can't IMAGINE a 5000 watt MONSTER! That's peel skin from 6' away!!!! Holy CRAP!

Thats a great idea i have bee n trying to find lighting for my garage for a long time. I have 2 leds on a stand but i need a lot more that what i have know. I will be looking in to this soon. Lowes has the leds on clearance now time to go pick some up. Thanks

Just pull up all your local Lowes on the site and you can find which ones have some left. I've found it depends on the real estate prices in the area as to whether or not there are any left, (at least that's the way it looks around my area). Ours only had 4, and 3 to the town just to the north of us. There is a place to the west that was out. The one to the NE was the closest place to have any, think it was 9 (I got 7). Then there was one in Atlanta, not a place that I would be after dark AT ALL, (and I carry TWO side arms) that had 23!!!!!!

Me want. Nice job.

Thanks dude!

Me can fix for ya.

 

[g35_coupe]

Nice upgrade!

 

[MarkD51]

Seen a boatload (about a doz) of these today at my Lowes, same brand, type, $25 a pop.

Still not a cheap bulb, but wouldn't mind grabbing at least two of these, and maybe make a homemade setup like you have, versus the Halogens I have, which I need Coppertone SPF40 on when I use them.

The heat from them in this weather would probably be welcoming in this cooler weather, but of course who's correcting paint when it's in the 40's outside? Not I anyway.

Being an old Midwesterner, I've learned the hard way to do basically all services on my vehicles in and out, oil changes, etc etc "before" the cold really hits.

I then like only doing the occasional wash jobs, vacuuming, check air in tires, and pump gas when it gets colder.

I like the little Plastic Junction Box with Power Switch. Such would be simple to rig on my existing Halogen Light Stand. Lots of interesting little electrical goodies these places have!

 

[cardaddy]

Nice upgrade!

Thank you sir.
Never can have too nice a place to keep my lil' Red G35 nice and spiffy.

Seen a boatload (about a doz) of these today at my Lowes, same brand, type, $25 a pop.

Still not a cheap bulb, but wouldn't mind grabbing at least two of these, and maybe make a homemade setup like you have, versus the Halogens I have, which I need Coppertone SPF40 on when I use them.

The heat from them in this weather would probably be welcoming in this cooler weather, but of course who's correcting paint when it's in the 40's outside? Not I anyway.

Being an old Midwesterner, I've learned the hard way to do basically all services on my vehicles in and out, oil changes, etc etc "before" the cold really hits.

I then like only doing the occasional wash jobs, vacuuming, check air in tires, and pump gas when it gets colder.

I like the little Plastic Junction Box with Power Switch. Such would be simple to rig on my existing Halogen Light Stand. Lots of interesting little electrical goodies these places have!

Tell ya' what Mark.... if you saw a "boatload" then I got a shipload. :laughing: Wow, at $25 though that's even better. Would have saved me almost another $50.00!

It's amazing what conditions that some will work in. I know I've been hauling and moving lights around more than I want. There's a high priced guy local guy that I've worked with that was doing all his.... in his in-laws garage for years with NO LIGHTS! Just one of those old fashion 8" square carport light fixtures with a couple of 60 watt bulbs in it, (and it wasn't even turned on). He had one rickety twin-head halogen (still does from some of his show-n-shines) that the top bolt was stripped and would fall off if you bumped it. That's all the light he had, period! Between having to put that thing right up against your back, and him not having a floor fan.... I know all about needing SPF40 to keep your skin from falling off. :laughing:

I actually don't mind correcting paint when it's cooler, enjoy it actually. I really don't like sweating... that's why I have so many floor fans.rops: Which is also how I heat and cool the garage. :laughing: The biggest problem is getting some products to 'cure', especially coatings.

What I'd like to have is more lighting on the walls, well make that ANY lighting on the walls. I'm not running wires down the walls though to make that happen. That's where my twin & single halogens as well as that $100 LED work light will still get used.:xyxthumbs:

Funny thing about those plastic work boxes. They come with 3 threaded holes, one on each end, one on the back. They are ¾" threads with adaptors for ½", as well as 2 plugs. What they DON'T have is an opening on the side. Which is EXACTLY where I needed it to be! Drilled that one out then took a Dremel to make it fit tight with ¾" PVC tubing. The first one I got a bit too large and the PVC cement wouldn't work. Ended up using silicone caulk on that one, and couldn't even touch it till the next day. I DIDN'T MAKE THAT MISTAKE again. You can actually put a faceplate on them that'd mount 3 flood heads, which I thought about. But that'd meant buying yet another box for the switch and mounting 2 end-to-end. Too much trouble. (But nowhere near as much trouble as all the Dremel work to get the holes just right on the ends of the overhead fixtures in that darned metal.)

Then again, that'd meant I could have put up TWENTY FOUR floods! Me thinks CarMomma would have put her foot down over that one. :laughing:

You mention doing a rig with just 2 and a switch. That's what got me to thinking about doing this actually. There was a thread a long time ago where a guy did one on a photography lighting tripod and mounted his that way. You could do 2 switches in that same box, run a light out each end, power in the back. It'd be pretty easy. Those tripods are everywhere under $20 too. :dblthumb2:

 

[Woob]

Very cool stuff! These lights are awesome, although I find they are more spot prone.

 

[cardaddy]

Very cool stuff! These lights are awesome, although I find they are more spot prone.

Thanks Brandon.

Yep, they are not as wide as say the big square $99 single LED work lights (have some), but they are a great addition to them as well as my regular halogens. :xyxthumbs: My son even gave me another single head floor sitting halogen for Christmas.

For now I only have 12 fired up in the garage, but do have 14 heads (the other two are CFL's for now, been experimenting with a different color temp) and will end up with 16 total heads up.