[TheLastDeadMouse]

No pictures of the install yet, but I just installed some LED strip lights from this company based on this thread. My shop is quite a bit bigger than the OP, so I ordered one string (164 ft or 50m) of the 5050 lights which put out about 2.5 times as much light as the 3528 lights he used. My shop is just north of 800 sq ft, and I'd say at that size one string its not quite enough to get the light I'd like, but close. Certainly workable, but for detailed work you'd want a bit more.

This is the routing I used to install my lights. A zig zagging pattern down every other or every third rafter would probably have been better, but my 8ft fluorescent fixtures are set up in a shape that would have made this very difficult. In the next couple months I'm planning to remove the fluorescents, reroute these lights and install a second string which should be more than enough light.

 

[TheLastDeadMouse]

The 5050 strip I used is 720 lumens per meter, (720*50/812) which gives me about 45 lumens per square foot. Its enough light for non-detail work. I'll probably use just the LED for things like cleaning and organizing, glue ups, milling, and rough sanding. I'll still use the fluorescents any time I'm cutting or fine sanding. Once I get a second string of LEDs up (90 lumens per sqft) I'd feel comfortable working without the fluorescents. I'm used to less light though, so for how many lumens per sqft are really needed is a your mileage may vary thing.

 

[TheLastDeadMouse]

I guess. It s just that lights are cheap and fluorescents work really well. I just don t see the need for LED strip lights like this.

Also, I would look into the deficiencies of small LED lights at color rendering. A modern t5 or t8 fluorescent usually has an 85-90+ CRI, but LED strip lights often don t publish it because it s very low (60-70%).

- soob

There's a couple reasons working together for me. I have 8' T12 lights currently, and they've been very problematic. They worked fine when I bought the place two years ago, but after a couple months they started going dark. New bulbs, worked fine for a couple months and then started to go again. One went out entirely, replaced it, immediately the rest went almost completely dark. I'm at the point where I just wanted to replace everything and start from scratch, and the LED strip lights let me do that without doing any wiring. Also, my shop is mostly unheated (shares a wall with heated rooms) except for a small kerosene space heater on the coldest winter days, and up here that means -20s outside and 30's in. LEDs are a lot more reliable for those conditions.