LED Strip lights

[union]

In a bit of reorganization to my better use of the limited room I have I moved one of my work areas from my garage to my basement. In that move I lost nice bright overhead lighting. I lack the lighting I would like have for that area where it is now. Moving back into the garage is my last option for a few reasons. To add light I think my best option is led strip lights. I don't know a lot about them but from what I've seen prices and reviews are all over the place and don't really seem to correlate with each other. I don't want to spend a ton of money but I will pay for quality.

Does anyone have experience with what I should get or stay away from? It isn't a large area to be lit up but I would like to be able to add strips in the future if needed. Would also like it to be plug-in instead of battery.

I should have been a bit more clear after I started looking again. I'm looking for a tape light style. Something like what came with my safe.

[golden chicken]

I'm very happy with the 4' LED hanging lights you can find at Wal-Mart Ocean State or Harbor Freight.

https://www.harborfreight.com/4-Ft-L...ght-64410.html

Have a normal plug end and can be daisy chained together. $20 with coupon.

[csmutty]

I have them underneath my cabinets and counters in my kitchen. Am very happy with them. I got the non-waterproof ones and for my application regret it, as some of the lights have stopped working under the counter where they have been exposed to water.

[nhbubba]

We are talking shop lighting?

I'm in the process of slowly building out a wood-working/cabinetry workshop in my basement. Best deal I can find is something like this. Reviews are pretty good. Some example/demos on yootoobe. On the order of $7-8/ea. My beef is I like the look of double lights better than singles. Singles look really cheap to me. But most are saying the LEDs are so bright that the dual lamp fixtures are pointless, better to spread out the single lamp fixtures instead.

Layout is a whole thing. I haven't figured that out yet.

There is some vendor I've seen advertised on the 'tube that offers a service where you send them your work layout and they recommend lighting and layout for that space. The crusty curmudgeon in me says that sounds expensive.

[nhbubba]

If you're talking strip LEDs that come on a spool, like this. I put some of this in my race trailer when I built it out. Double sided taped the strip to the inside of the aluminum crown-mold on the inside of the trailer. I insulated and built out my roof with 3/4" furring strips. The spacing the strips provided let enough of the strip lighting into the trailer to light the trailer enough for track-side camping.

I wouldn't want to use that for a work-space. Use the work-shop lights instead.

[Falko]

I'm going to let my light geek shine through (dad pun intended).

In a workshop you want around 70-85 foot candles of light, everyone is different. Measure the size of your area in sqft, multiply that by somewhere between 70 and 85 depending on what you think you want for light and that will give you the lumen output from the lighting fixture that you want to install. Find a fixture(s) with the correct lumen output and that will give you plenty of light. As others have said, get the actual LED fixtures. Check HD and Lowes. The power companies do an "upstream" lighting program and they heavily discount certain fixtures time to time. I bought some nice 4' fixtures for $12 at HD about a year ago and installed two in my basement and four in my garage. The LED 4' fixture I bought totally smokes the old T-8 32W twin lamp fixture that it replaced. Not to mention instant light in the cold garage. While the strip lights are snazzy, they typically do not produce the light you want unless you install many feet of strip. And then they never stay up in place, you typically need a power converter, yada yada. The four I installed in the garage daisy chained and each had a pull cord as well. I can shut off what I don't want which is nice.

[union]

This is the area. It's not large. I have an overhead light a couple of feet behind me but when I'm there ill cast too much of a shadow.

[golden chicken]

an LED desk lamp wouldn't cut it?

[audiojeff]

There are clearance deals on these types of small task and under cabinet lights all of the time. Lowes has one right now, 85% off if you can find them in stock ($10).

https://www.lowes.com/pd/GE-Enbright...Bar/1000318659

[ilikenapalm]

I'm just here to echo Golden Chicken and Falko.

At 40, you probably only need 50-60 foot candles, but for future proofing sake, might as well go overkill and pump it up to 80-100. 100 is the recommendation for fine detail work.

The strip lights Ocean State sells are just fine. I recently hung two of them in my workout space and it brightens it up significantly. FWIW, I work with commercial LED lighting frequently, and I preferred hanging the "shitty" 4 footers over similar offerings from Cree. The convenience of the cord and plug is nice.