LED Garage Lights

[k0ua]

hoping someone will post links to good LED garage lighting. My issue with the LED's I have used is they cause too much havoc with my AM radio.

What brand do you have Dragon.?. I can't find much of anything coming out of my Cree's. Including the 530-1700 Khz. band. Now I am using an outdoor wire antenna that is a few feet running over the house, not an inside the radio "loopstick" antenna

 

[Ehanson]

I just thought of one downfall of LED's. I sometimes wonder how much heat we get from an incandescent bulb verses an LED.
What I think is in the home, during winter months we should run incandescent bulbs in lamps and lights, getting both heat and light from them. Then during summer we should run LED's. I don't think anyone will ever do this, but for sure we do not get any heat from LED's being used.

 

[4570Man]

I just thought of one downfall of LED's. I sometimes wonder how much heat we get from an incandescent bulb verses an LED. What I think is in the home, during winter months we should run incandescent bulbs in lamps and lights, getting both heat and light from them. Then during summer we should run LED's. I don't think anyone will ever do this, but for sure we do not get any heat from LED's being used.

That's not a downfall. Those old incandescent bulbs give off plenty of heat all the time including when you are paying to run the air conditioner. With the substantially more efficient LEDs you can use that energy you saved to run a heater. I'm guessing even an electric heater is more efficient than a light bulb for heating. I heat my house with wood and the shop with natural gas. Both are drastically cheaper heating options than a light bulb.

 

[rgr33]

After reading this thread, I went to Costco and bought 2 of the 4 ft. LED fixtures for my garage, which had 6 spotlights in it. Huge difference, much better visibility into the nooks and crannies where all the nuts and bolts and various shop chemicals are stored.
Definitely going to get some for the barn. I have 2 LED spots in the barn already, but they don't put out near the light that the tubes do.

 

[aczlan]

I have three 20 watt 6000k LED floods along the 40' wall of a 30x40 pole barn and they bring the whole place up to "usable" light levels (bright enough to see what you are doing and to read by if you wanted).
I am going to mount four 50 watt 6000k LED floods over the "work bay" and that should really light things up.

Aaron Z

 

[Sodo]

Wow - AM radio as a lighting consideration. To make good decisions in life ya gotta have good light AND keep up with the facts !

What that has stopped me in buying LED shop lights was:

1) I have too many new fluorescent light tubes that I bought on sale.
2) Will brightness be equivalent to the fluorescent lights I'm replacing?

The ones I bought are advertised as "1900 lumens, 4100k daylight color ". Anyway, two 1900 lumens (=3800 lumens) LEDs are brighter than two 4 ft fluorescent tubes.

 

[4570Man]

Wow - AM radio as a lighting consideration. To make good decisions in life ya gotta have good light AND keep up with the facts ! What that has stopped me in buying LED shop lights was: 1) I have too many new fluorescent light tubes that I bought on sale. 2) Will brightness be equivalent to the fluorescent lights I'm replacing? The ones I bought are advertised as "1900 lumens, 4100k daylight color ". Anyway, two 1900 lumens (=3800 lumens) LEDs are brighter than two 4 ft fluorescent tubes.

The LEDs will be way brighter then the fluorescents. I haven't replaced any fluorescent lights yet. I have upgraded almost the whole house to LEDs. The LEDs were way brighter then the 75 watt can lights they replaced. The LEDs are so bright I haven't put them in my bedroom because I don't want to be blinded by them.

 

[dragoneggs]

What brand do you have Dragon.?. I can't find much of anything coming out of my Cree's. Including the 530-1700 Khz. band. Now I am using an outdoor wire antenna that is a few feet running over the house, not an inside the radio "loopstick" antenna

They are not CREE and in fact were intended to light a saltwater reef aquarium. I had some a few extra 'demo units' that I imported to sell also to others. These things are super bright and in a special reflector, the LEDs are white and a few blue totaling 160W. They have a separate power supply and timer and a fan in the LED housing! Mounted one over a workbench but when on, really messes with the radio. I like to have the radio on in the background sometimes but that is a lost cause. I want to convert over my fluorescent tubes but wondering which are RF interference free.

 

[k0ua]

They are not CREE and in fact were intended to light a saltwater reef aquarium. I had some a few extra 'demo units' that I imported to sell also to others. These things are super bright and in a special reflector, the LEDs are white and a few blue totaling 160W. They have a separate power supply and timer and a fan in the LED housing! Mounted one over a workbench but when on, really messes with the radio. I like to have the radio on in the background sometimes but that is a lost cause. I want to convert over my fluorescent tubes but wondering which are RF interference free.

I suspect the power supply is the problem.. undoubtedly a "switcher".

Look for a rating on the power supply and replace it with a conventional transformer based linear supply with comparable ratings. and you problem would disappear.

 

[LD1]

That's not a downfall. Those old incandescent bulbs give off plenty of heat all the time including when you are paying to run the air conditioner. With the substantially more efficient LEDs you can use that energy you saved to run a heater. I'm guessing even an electric heater is more efficient than a light bulb for heating. I heat my house with wood and the shop with natural gas. Both are drastically cheaper heating options than a light bulb.

A incandescent bulb is going to be the same efficiency as any type of electric resistance heat. Weather that be portable fan-type heaters, oil filled, radiant type, baseboards, heat strips in the furnace, your oven, etc.

If you are using electric as heat in the winter, then there would technically be no cost savings in the winter to run LED's. But electric resistance is the most in-efficient electric heat. Heat/pumps and geothermal give 2.5-5 times more heat out per watt. And some heat with wood or propane or NG. Thats when led's are better