LEDs baby, LEDs.
I’be been messing with the lighting in my garage for 15yrs. It started with a single incandescent bulb. Totally inadequate light. I wanted the garage to be have really strong lighting. Not only for wrenching, but also for the times that I was working on paint flaws on the E28’s perfect paint that, being black, showed the tiniest flaw.
Next I installed 6x big-ass Harbor Freight halogen bulbs. When they were working, they put out a lot of light. But the damned bulbs had to be replaced constantly. They also sucked a lot of current so I couldn’t use them and also weld. They also made the garage hot. Nice in the winter, not so good in Summer.
Next I went fluorescent. I installed 6x double tube 4’ long lights. The amount of light was ok, but only when they were all happy, which was not too often. They seemed to need to be screwed with a lot in order to turn on, their brightness seemed to deteriorate pretty quick with time, and they just didn’t seem to last very long. Also, they hated cold temps. During winter the fluorescent tubes sucked twice as much as in Summer.
I think I finally broke the code on this. I bought some LED tubes designed to replace fluorescent tubes. They are super bright, don’t care about temps, and should last longer than I do. I was concerned that this idea might not pan out, like so many others. The lights might be insufficiently bright or too directional. Oh no, they’re fabulous. They’re totally bright as heck. Once I get all the other light assemblies redone to take LED tubes, my garage is gonna finally be as bright as I’ve always wanted it.
You have to pull the fluorescent light assembly apart and remove the ballast. Then you just wire one side of the tube sockets hot and the other cold. If you can’t do it in 10min, put the beer down and use both hands. Turn it into a father-son wiring project…kid’s don’t “make stuff” enough these days.