A long time ago, I built a pretty slick NHRA Stock Eliminator car in an unfinished 1,000 square foot garage—the car actually went on to win some major events, but that’s another story. Today, I’m here to talk about the shop.
It was cold, miserable, and incredibly dark.
How dark? Now…don’t laugh…the shop’s lighting consisted of a couple of old drop lights hanging from the rafters, complete with 60 watt incandescent bulbs. I was much younger and likely a bit more tenacious (ok, more like pig-headed) than I am today but it was still a royal pain. Unlike my example, you don’t have to be kept in the dark though, because there are all sorts of great shop lights available nowadays for the home and professional mechanic.
Some of the lights available are corded. Some are even available with cord reels. Others are rechargeable. Some are free standing. Others are equipped with traditional hooks. Others incorporate magnets. Some have fixed lights and others have lights that you can tilt and rotate. Sizes and shapes are considerable. Many of these have severe duty impact ratings.
Plenty of these lights are now LED too—and that’s a blessing. You no longer have to get roasted by a searing hot 60 watt bulb. Or dodge flying glass if you drop the light while in an awkward position.
Understanding Light Output & Lumens
You’ll find most lamps today are rated in lumens. We have all more or less been trained to think in watts. But there is a difference.
Lumens equal brightness. Watts do not.
Watts measures energy use, not light bulb output. The official definition of lumen goes something like this: “a unit of luminous flux in the International System of Units, that is equal to the amount of light given out through a solid angle by a source of one candela intensity radiating equally in all directions.”
Bottom line here is lumens equals brightness. Watts do not.
To provide a very rough comparison: A 60 watt incandescent bulb has about the same brightness as an 800 Lumen LED lamp. A 100 watt incandescent bulb has about the same brightness as an 1100 lumen fixture. And a 40 watt incandescent bulb has about the same brightness as a 450 lumen fixture.
Benefits of Upgrading to LED Garage Lights
A big bonus with LED shop lighting is the lifespan. Some LEDs can live for 25,000 or more hours (of course, depending upon the conditions). They’re also more efficient—approximately 75% more efficient than standard incandescent lights.
Then there’s that little thing called heat.
Accidently lay an incandescent drop light next to bare skin and you’ll immediately know what we’re talking about—old timers like me probably have their fair share of damaged skin and scar tissue as proof!
Incandescent bulbs create light by heating a filament inside the bulb. That filament becomes white hot and produces light. The by-product of course, is heat, and sometimes, lots of it. The experts claim that roughly 90% of the energy input is turned into heat. Most old “trouble” or “drop” lights were equipped with steel housings and metal shields. This only amplified the heat. And as most know, halogen lamps are right up there when it comes to heat.
On the flipside, fluorescent bulbs use an entirely different method to create light. Both compact fluorescent light bulbs and fluorescent tubes only waste approximately 30% of their energy producing heat. That makes fluorescents far cooler and more energy efficient than regular bulbs.
But here, LEDs are king. Sure, they generate some heat, but not much. They don’t have filaments that burn out. Instead, they’re illuminated solely by the movement of electrons in a semiconductor material, and they typically last just as long as a standard transistor.
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So then, what are your options when it comes to LED shop lighting? Honestly, you’ve got plenty.
In the following photos and captions, we’ll look at a few of the dozens of shop lights available at SummitRacing.com. Check them out—and stop working in the dark!
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