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Question re; shop lighting

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Desert Rat

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Hey guys- I'm having an existing 30x40 shop finished inside. It currently has old school 8' fluorescent tube fixtures in the 12' ceiling and they've got to come down for insulation and sheet rock.

I hadn't really considered that there might be other options, and was just planning to put the same fixtures back up, but the electrician is recommending something called "UFO Lights". I asked the google and discovered that they're basically old school round hanging shop lights, but they output 15,000 lumens of eyeball searing LED goodness each. The electrician is recommending 6 of them for that size shop and ceiling height. I can supply my own, and found them all over the internet at about $350 for 6.

Does anybody have these, and if so would you do it again? Any brands to recommend or stay away from?
 
Desert Rat said:
Hey guys- I'm having an existing 30x40 shop finished inside. It currently has old school 8' fluorescent tube fixtures in the 12' ceiling and they've got to come down for insulation and sheet rock.

I hadn't really considered that there might be other options, and was just planning to put the same fixtures back up, but the electrician is recommending something called "UFO Lights". I asked the google and discovered that they're basically old school round hanging shop lights, but they output 15,000 lumens of eyeball searing LED goodness each. The electrician is recommending 6 of them for that size shop and ceiling height. I can supply my own, and found them all over the internet at about $350 for 6.

Does anybody have these, and if so would you do it again? Any brands to recommend or stay away from?
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You will wish you had bought 12. Never too much light.
 
Desert Rat said:
Hey guys- I'm having an existing 30x40 shop finished inside. It currently has old school 8' fluorescent tube fixtures in the 12' ceiling and they've got to come down for insulation and sheet rock.

I hadn't really considered that there might be other options, and was just planning to put the same fixtures back up, but the electrician is recommending something called "UFO Lights". I asked the google and discovered that they're basically old school round hanging shop lights, but they output 15,000 lumens of eyeball searing LED goodness each. The electrician is recommending 6 of them for that size shop and ceiling height. I can supply my own, and found them all over the internet at about $350 for 6.

Does anybody have these, and if so would you do it again? Any brands to recommend or stay away from?
Click to expand...
Thats what I did in my hangar. They are technically called high bay lights. Lots of them on Amazon.
 
I don't have that type of LED but I do have a combination of 4' and 8'LED lights in my wide 3/4 T. I would definitely go with the LED's. Makes things much brighter and easier to work on stuff. Never too bright...unless it's in your eyes. :) I purchased a few 8 packs of 4' 6500K 2200 lumen each strip lights on Amazon for $80 ea pack to add to the existing 8' LEDs. Nice and bright in the hangar now. If not already done, paint the walls and ceiling white while you are at it, helps a lot to brighten things up.
 
Desert Rat said:
Hey guys- I'm having an existing 30x40 shop finished inside. It currently has old school 8' fluorescent tube fixtures in the 12' ceiling and they've got to come down for insulation and sheet rock.

I hadn't really considered that there might be other options, and was just planning to put the same fixtures back up, but the electrician is recommending something called "UFO Lights". I asked the google and discovered that they're basically old school round hanging shop lights, but they output 15,000 lumens of eyeball searing LED goodness each. The electrician is recommending 6 of them for that size shop and ceiling height. I can supply my own, and found them all over the internet at about $350 for 6.

Does anybody have these, and if so would you do it again? Any brands to recommend or stay away from?
Click to expand...
Used to have 8 foot fluorescent tubes. Good lighting, occasionally took a few minutes to come on in cold wx, sometimes a buzzing noise (not bad). Maybe replaced the tubes once? After 20+ years the ballasts started going bad so changed over to LED. Instant on, no noise, but seem to have a two year or so lifespan and are more expensive (but no glass to worry about). Basically a toss up. BTW, you can get LED tubes for the fixtures you have, just requires some minimal rewiring (that's what I did.)
 
When I got my hangar there were two weak fluorescent lights in it, so I wired up four LED highbay lights and they are a great improvement. I used extension cords and a wireless remote since it is a leased county hangar and I didn't want to make any permanent changes. The lights I used are 150W lights, but looking now they are available in even higher wattage. These are the lights I used: https://a.co/d/05PywBBI

Here is a before and after photo

20221217_181822.jpg
 
I've always hated darkly lit hangars so for my new 60 x 60 x 25' high hangar part of my barndominium I tested 150w, 200w, and 300w UFO LED lights. In the end I went way overboard and installed TWELVE 300w LED UFO lights. I got them cheap on Amazon and it was definitely an overkill. I mean this place looks like a freakin hospital operating room if I turn them all on, so I ended up rewiring with 6 on one switch and 6 on another switch.

After a year I realized even 6 were too much so I rewired 6 of them again and now my hangar has this :

Switch 1 6 lights
Switch 2 3 lights
Switch 3 1 light in the middle and 2 other lights (one in each corner) that I can turn on individually with a remote control.

These lights are all 25' high, so if your hangar is lower you'll need even less lights.

SUMMARY : Yes, the more lights the better when you really want to have light, but make sure you wire them to where you aren't turning on a baseball field when all you want is to go grab something for a few minutes because they're blinding and you're just throwing away money in electricity, but when you're working on your plane, turn them all on so you can find that 3/8" washer that just fell on the floor.

Why is this in the TEMPORARY forum? I'm sure this info would help others who search for lighting.
 
Pilot135pd said:
Why is this in the TEMPORARY forum? I'm sure this info would help others who search for lighting.
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I just put it in temporary because I didn't know if this topic had already been beat to death and I was the only one who wasn't clued in :). Mod's feel free to move it somewhere permanent if you think it will be helpful in the future.

Thanks for the replies everybody. You've sold me. I shall report back with the results.
 
Pilot135pd said:
I've always hated darkly lit hangars so for my new 60 x 60 x 25' high hangar part of my barndominium I tested 150w, 200w, and 300w UFO LED lights. In the end I went way overboard and installed TWELVE 300w LED UFO lights. I got them cheap on Amazon and it was definitely an overkill. I mean this place looks like a freakin hospital operating room if I turn them all on, so I ended up rewiring with 6 on one switch and 6 on another switch.
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In California it would cost you $14 per 8 hour day to run that much light!!
 
I had 8 foot two-tube fluorescent fixtures that had been installed when the house was built in 1982. I progressively replaced the bulbs as they burned out. Then when 3 fixtures failed in close succession, I decided modern technology was the fix. Ordered these: https://greenlightdepot.com/product...r-ufo-series-ul-dlc5-1?variant=39427616866347 from Green Light Depot with free shipping. 5-year guarantee. Huge change over the old fixtures. 6 replaced the old fixtures and, with a 20 foot ceiling, provide more than enough light. Currently on sale for $42.83
 
RV7 To Go said:
I don't have that type of LED but I do have a combination of 4' and 8'LED lights in my wide 3/4 T. I would definitely go with the LED's. Makes things much brighter and easier to work on stuff. Never too bright...unless it's in your eyes. :) I purchased a few 8 packs of 4' 6500K 2200 lumen each strip lights on Amazon for $80 ea pack to add to the existing 8' LEDs. Nice and bright in the hangar now. If not already done, paint the walls and ceiling white while you are at it, helps a lot to brighten things up.
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The color of the floor is a big factor too. A lighter color reflects more light. I have worked on big boy jets in dungeons that had terrible lighting, mostly because the floor was so dark.
 
Also, look at color temp of the lights before you buy. I've reached a point in my life that anything with a temp under 5000K is too yellow for me. 6000K or 6500K lights are considered daylight, while 4000K and under are cool white or warm white. 5000K and above are biased with more blue in them, and that bothers some people, so look at the various temps. Most big box home improvement stores have active displays with the various temps you can look at.
 
cvairwerks said:
Also, look at color temp of the lights before you buy. I've reached a point in my life that anything with a temp under 5000K is too yellow for me. 6000K or 6500K lights are considered daylight, while 4000K and under are cool white or warm white. 5000K and above are biased with more blue in them, and that bothers some people, so look at the various temps. Most big box home improvement stores have active displays with the various temps you can look at.
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I was beat to my comment. There are at least two of use that want the same color temp lights.
 
Forgot to add, that if you are going to be painting much, or need to match colors, then the higher the CRI you can get, the better, no matter what color temp lights you have.
 
As a lighting professional, I’ll just add:

Color rendering index is way more important than color temperature. I recommend 3500-4000k with a 90plus CRI.
Having too much light at low angles introduces glare and vision fatigue. 15k lumens at 12’ is way too bright.
Lower intensity fixtures spaced more closely provides less shadowing. I recommend a 3:1 uniformity ration.
These are just a few things.
Lighting is a science. There are professionals that will do free layouts for you. Contact your local electrical wholesalers or manufacturers representative. They will be happy to help.
Or,,,, just buy a bunch on amazon and throw them in. Wire more lights, don’t worry about your vision long terms, and pay more in energy bills. Most folks love what they accidently installed because they compare it to what they used to have.
 
RV6_flyer said:
I was beat to my comment. There are at least two of use that want the same color temp lights.
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+1. Three. I prefer the whiter color temp too.

By the way. I can't speak to the lights everyone suggests, but I have seen one of those spider looking LEDs radiate tons of RF. Enough to trigger a radio squelch. Be aware of the possibility when testing your radio. If you hear a ton of white noise, flip off the switch before you spend money.
 
More is better, and too much is almost enough.

I just built a 40x60 shop and hung a dozen of the round UFO's spread evenly over the shop, with two more specifically over my primary workbench.
 
gasman said:
In California it would cost you $14 per 8 hour day to run that much light!!
Click to expand...
A little bit of hyperbole here. If true, you'd need a 30 amp/120 v circuit.
But LED's are spec'd at "equivalent light power", e.g., the same light in this case as a 300 W incandescent bulb. But LEDs are much more efficient.
 
Desert Rat said:
Hey guys- I'm having an existing 30x40 shop finished inside. It currently has old school 8' fluorescent tube fixtures in the 12' ceiling and they've got to come down for insulation and sheet rock.

I hadn't really considered that there might be other options, and was just planning to put the same fixtures back up, but the electrician is recommending something called "UFO Lights". I asked the google and discovered that they're basically old school round hanging shop lights, but they output 15,000 lumens of eyeball searing LED goodness each. The electrician is recommending 6 of them for that size shop and ceiling height. I can supply my own, and found them all over the internet at about $350 for 6.

Does anybody have these, and if so would you do it again? Any brands to recommend or stay away from?
Click to expand...
These are GREAT; I have 4 in a T-hangar and they really do the job nicely. This is what I used: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0761L281Z?ref_=ppx_hzsearch_conn_dt_b_fed_asin_title_2&th=1
 
BobTurner said:
A little bit of hyperbole here. If true, you'd need a 30 amp/120 v circuit.
But LED's are spec'd at "equivalent light power", e.g., the same light in this case as a 300 W incandescent bulb. But LEDs are much more efficient.
Click to expand...
Not in the case of these lights..... they actually draw the watts that they state...
Screenshot 2026-05-11 212834.jpg
 
There’s more bad advice in these posts than good. Suffice it to say, forums aren’t necessarily the best resource for “everything”.
Again, lighting is a science….. there are free resources out there that will guide you.
My 60’ x 60’ uses (9) 14k Low Bays ( the term high bay is miss used), 4000k, 90 CRI, 15’ Mounting height, 18’ peak, 3:1 uniformity.
No glare, no eye strain, beautiful color rendering, energy efficient, minimal wiring and install.

 
JonJay said:
There’s more bad advice in these posts than good. Suffice it to say, forums aren’t necessarily the best resource for “everything”.
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I get what you're saying, but in this case, you kinda proved the opposite :) While there were a ton of "more light is better and even more is better-er" comments, a couple of you guys brought up counterpoints that made me ask around more and think it through. If it hadn't been for this thread, when the electrician said I should get 6 of these at 15,000-20,000 lumens each, I would have just said "sure, whatever." because I have only fuzziest notion of what a lumen is. Thanks for your input.

Honestly, thats why VAF is my go to for random questions like this. We all talk about airplanes, but the variety of day jobs that people have lends itself well to getting professional opinions on stuff across the board.
 
Desert Rat said:
I get what you're saying, but in this case, you kinda proved the opposite :) While there were a ton of "more light is better and even more is better-er" comments, a couple of you guys brought up counterpoints that made me ask around more and think it through. If it hadn't been for this thread, when the electrician said I should get 6 of these at 15,000-20,000 lumens each, I would have just said "sure, whatever." because I have only fuzziest notion of what a lumen is. Thanks for your input.

Honestly, thats why VAF is my go to for random questions like this. We all talk about airplanes, but the variety of day jobs that people have lends itself well to getting professional opinions on stuff across the board.
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It never ceases to amaze me too! vAF has a deep pool for sure.
Just keep in mind what I did may not work for others. There are a lot of factors, like surface reflectances, that go into the calculations, and variables in fixtures,
like shielding from direct view of the LED, These may or may not affect the outcome.
I used to do layouts for VAF’ers but since I retired I don’t have ready access to the resources except for my own stuff. (Stepson is still in the business.)
Still happy to help, especially with product review. The numbers may look good on paper but the fixture may just be a glare bomb, as an example.
 
Late to the party, and definitely not a lighting professional, and I don't have a hangar yet, but when I had my service upgraded at the home a few years ago I also told the electrician I wanted much better lighting in my 24x24 garage. I had 2 florescent 4x4 fixtures high above two 7ft long work benches in the rear, and nothing else covering the rest of the garage space. My only instruction to him was that I wanted to be able to make it look like sunlight in there, and I wanted to have relatively equal lighting throughout the entire garage. As others have mentioned, I had him rewire both 4x4 fixtures for LED tubes, and then he added two more LED fixtures of a smaller position-adjustable type in the middle, and one more 8 ft+ long LED strip light above the the garage door at the front, so that when I needed to close the door I could still have adequate lighting there as well. The garage is unfinished except for one wall that is painted white. I had him put separate switches on all 3 sections so I could control where I wanted/needed the light. I also prefer the Blue and white light spectrums over the yellow.

All I can say is that it was one of the best decisions I ever made. Now I can more easily see where I have missed spots when priming parts, and I can find those pesky dropped rivets on the concrete floor a bit easier as well. If I am burning my eyeballs out as a result of this then at least I will go out with the smile on my face. I do totally appreciate the potential physical impact information from jonjay, but so far I do not have any fatigue or other symptoms from too much light that I am aware of. Now, if I do decide to finish the garage one day, I may have to re-evaluate and change the lighting with your input taken into account. I will definitely carry this wisdom into the hangar once I get there. Great thread.
 
I installed some cheap LED (?) strip lighting in my hangar awhile back. They provide good lighting but when illuminated they interfere with my portable VHF radio reception (an old, no longer supported STS hand-held unit). This might be an issue for you or it might not.
 
I rebuilt my garage two years ago with the intention to use it as a workshop, so the lightning had to be usable. I do have LED Panels that turn this place into day with virtually no shadowing. During normal operation, I use them at 25% brightness. They are all supplied by a Meanwhell dimmable Power Supply.


IMG_8144.jpeg
 
Eye fatigue isn’t caused by too much light, it’s caused by glare. Low angles of light, poor rendering, and other factors.
You can’t really identify or quantify it casually. Fatigue manifests itself in lower productivity, more mistakes, etc….. something studies show but will probably go unnoticed by the individual.
 
tsaG said:
I rebuilt my garage two years ago with the intention to use it as a workshop, so the lightning had to be usable. I do have LED Panels that turn this place into day with virtually no shadowing. During normal operation, I use them at 25% brightness. They are all supplied by a Meanwhell dimmable Power Supply.


View attachment 117609
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Without cranking the numbers, this appears to be an appropriately lit space. Fixtures are lensed, important for low ceilings, and well spaced providing good uniformity to reduce shadowing.
If the color rendering specs are 90+, and FC levels between 50-100, I would say this lighting job is well done.
 
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