I am in the process of building a new house and am trying to finalize lighting for my garage which also acts as a wood shop. I had intended on using 8' T5 fluorescent fixtures but have been looking into LED options as well.

I am looking for any advice or experiences anyone has with LED strip type fixtures for a garage/shop application. I am concerned with lumen output and color temperature of the light. Right now I am trying to rough in the electrical to ensure I have power in the right locations for the correct quantity of fixtures. Garage is approximately 835 square feet.

I just re-did the lighting in my detached garage in connection with replacing all of the old sagging joists. Originally, the only light in the garage were the bulbs in the door opener and one screw socket bulb. I looked at a lot of options and eventually settled on the Feit Electric 4ft LED strip lights from Costco. They run about $30/unit and plug directly into outlets I ran in the joists that are controlled by a motion-activated switch. I absolutely love them. I hung a total of 6, but probably could have gotten by with 4 if my walls were painted white as opposed to being the natural wood brown color of the sheathing on the outside of my garage. My neighbor calls my garage the spaceship because it is so bright at night. Check out some YouTube videos if you want to get an idea.

I can second the 4' LED fixtures from Costco. Best price I've found anywhere, great output, and you can daisy chain them together if needed.

We went with regular old fluorescent. Bulbs are on their last leg, so they are getting upgraded soon. Hard to see in my phone pic, but the fixture has the same diamond plating as the cabinets. Note my sexy tub of wires I need to separate, categorize and put away.

hodgesco said:

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I just re-did the lighting in my detached garage in connection with replacing all of the old sagging joists. Originally, the only light in the garage were the bulbs in the door opener and one screw socket bulb. I looked at a lot of options and eventually settled on the Feit Electric 4ft LED strip lights from Costco. They run about $30/unit and plug directly into outlets I ran in the joists that are controlled by a motion-activated switch. I absolutely love them. I hung a total of 6, but probably could have gotten by with 4 if my walls were painted white as opposed to being the natural wood brown color of the sheathing on the outside of my garage. My neighbor calls my garage the spaceship because it is so bright at night. Check out some YouTube videos if you want to get an idea.

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What motion activate switch do you have? I recently installed 6 of the Costco Feit's as well (huge improvement!)

Don't know the model but I'm almost positive it's a Leviton switch I picked up at the ACE hardware with a $10 off coupon. I have it set to go off after 15 minutes of inactivity. Seems to work perfectly fine.

Just picked up two of the strips from Costco yesterday and they have the motion and timer built in.

I think Costco is carrying two versions of LED shop lights these days. Yours has a plastic cover over the bulb housing right?

Yes it is enclosed Winplus is the brand. 3800 Lm 4K light with adjustable brightness and motion detection