New garage shop construction - light gangs or outlet gangs for lighting?

[Herzog]

I'm finishing an existing dried in shop on my new property and I'm to the point where I'm ready to run electrical. The plan is 9 over head lights so I was going to just run 9 light boxes over head, but looking at the LED lighting out there it seems that everything just plugs in now. So, is it better to just run outlet boxes up there? Curious what others have done!

Either that, or are there better options than the standard tube lighting now days that would retain the normal light gang boxes?

 

[Hickey]

I'm finishing an existing dried in shop on my new property and I'm to the point where I'm ready to run electrical. The plan is 9 over head lights so I was going to just run 9 light boxes over head, but looking at the LED lighting out there it seems that everything just plugs in now. So, is it better to just run outlet boxes up there? Curious what others have done!

Either that, or are there better options than the standard tube lighting now days that would retain the normal light gang boxes?

I'm far from am electrician, but I converted all three of my light gangs to regular outlet gangs for exactly this reason. I've been VERY happy with my 4' LED's I bought from Sam's Club several years ago.

 

[Pike2350]

I bought 4' LED shop lights from Amazon for my garage. They wire in like standard lights. I see outlets as the most common way to plug in lights, but I didn't want that.

These are the ones I bought

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07C7HYVR1/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[Gravy]

I wired plugs.
The LEDs I got let me gang 3 together in a row.
I like light so I think I have 7 in a 2 car 23'x22'
2 more in my auxiliary and 2 more in my cellar.

 

[N-Smooth]

I’m ghetto so I just got the bulb adapters with 2 plugs on the side. I added (6) 4’ LED lights to my garage this way.

 

[Hickey]

I’m ghetto

For real. 😂

 

[N-Smooth]

For real. 😂

#XJguy

 

[Pile of parts]

I think I used these. Hard wired but I had to be a little creative mounting them. I ended up drilling a couple of holes through the housing and screwing to the trusses. A little expensive but it's like daytime in there any time I want. My trusses are scissor trusses so it ranges from probably 14' -- 19' high.

C-Lite Square LED Canopy Light | C-CP-C-SQ Series | 4900 Lumens | 4000K or 5000K | White or Dark Bronze

Replaces 100W PSMH4900 Lumens

www.e-conolight.com

Look through the website. They have a lot of options.

 

[frieed]

I'm guessing 3 rows of 3 lights.
Many of the shop lights available now can be chained together so you'd need only one outlet for each run of 3.

Mounting them to the ceiling is a real pain in the a$$. Even more so if the ceiling is high (mine is about 11').
If I were to do mine again I'd mount a screw eye in the wall at each end of the run, string a heavy wire with turnbuckle to tension it, and hang the lights from the wire.

 

[Herzog]

I think I used these. Hard wired but I had to be a little creative mounting them. I ended up drilling a couple of holes through the housing and screwing to the trusses. A little expensive but it's like daytime in there any time I want. My trusses are scissor trusses so it ranges from probably 14' -- 19' high.

C-Lite Square LED Canopy Light | C-CP-C-SQ Series | 4900 Lumens | 4000K or 5000K | White or Dark Bronze

Replaces 100W PSMH4900 Lumens

www.e-conolight.com

Look through the website. They have a lot of options.

View attachment 150791

I like how clean that lighting looks.

 

[Herzog]

I'm guessing 3 rows of 3 lights.
Many of the shop lights available now can be chained together so you'd need only one outlet for each run of 3.

Mounting them to the ceiling is a real pain in the a$$. Even more so if the ceiling is high (mine is about 11').
If I were to do mine again I'd mount a screw eye in the wall at each end of the run, string a heavy wire with turnbuckle to tension it, and hang the lights from the wire.

You guessed it! I like the idea of chaining them too, especially if I'm going to run a switch for each row, just one outlet per switch... hmm.

 

[frieed]

You guessed it! I like the idea of chaining them too, especially if I'm going to run a switch for each row, just one outlet per switch... hmm.

I have 2 rows of 3 in a two car bay and they really light it up. I just wish I had a drum door that wouldn't block the light when the door is raised.

 

[bryson]

I have 6 (2x3) 200w UFO style lights in my 40x56x16. Hung from an eye bolt in the ceiling and just plugged into an outlet at each position. All run on a single switch. Simple, cheap, and no complaints.

 

[Herzog]

I have 6 (2x3) 200w UFO style lights in my 40x56x16. Hung from an eye bolt in the ceiling and just plugged into an outlet at each position. All run on a single switch. Simple, cheap, and no complaints.

Kinda like this?

I dig those. You only have 6 in that large of a shop and you're happy with the lighting? I might go that route.

 

[bryson]

Kinda like this?
View attachment 150806
I dig those. You only have 6 in that large of a shop and you're happy with the lighting? I might go that route.

Yep, just like that. I do have other lights under the mezzanine, and another over a dedicated workbench, but overall they provide great light. Awesome bang for the buck IMO.

 

[Bob B]

I did like Bryson but added more lights to make sure there werent any shadows and give me a little more light. I put 12x Hyperlite UFO 5000k lights in a 40x50x14 shop. 4 rows of 3, run to 2 switches giving me 2 zones, each with a dimmer. 1 zone over the fab area and the other some for the rest of the shop. That way if I know I am going to be in the fab area I can leave the other zone off and the dimmers allow me to fine tune my lighting needs. All lights are run to outlets and just plugged in.

 

[Shawn]

Maybe it’s just me and my old age, but in my 30x30 shop I installed 12, 4 bulb, 4’ long LED lights. Was great for about a year, now it seams the lights are dimmer, or I have just gotten too use to them

 

[mbryson]

Maybe it’s just me and my old age, but in my 30x30 shop I installed 12, 4 bulb, 4’ long LED lights. Was great for about a year, now it seams the lights are dimmer, or I have just gotten too use to them

You have old age?

 

[Herzog]

Thanks for the suggestion in the ufo style lights. Two of the six showed up today and I couldn’t wait to try them out. Plenty of light. My ceiling is 12’ so I went with 150W.

 

[Hickey]

Thanks for the suggestion in the ufo style lights. Two of the six showed up today and I couldn’t wait to try them out. Plenty of light. My ceiling is 12’ so I went with 150W.

View attachment 152549

You have a tire machine? Jerk. 🥸