LED lighting question - both for the Garage and the Guzzi

[PJPR01]

Has anyone here used LED lighting strips (adhesive sticky back) in their garage?  I'm working on adding some more lights to my garage to aid in working at night, or playing table tennis when the motorcycle isn't in there...and I thought perhaps running several strips of LED lights on the ceiling in a square pattern over the space where I don't have light today might be a low profile way of illuminating the space.

Would it be too bright...I suppose I could get the ones that change color - would be like a 70's Disco at night too!! 

I know it's crazy, and I wouldn't normally think about doing it, but there was a guy with an FJR at the Guzzi National Rally who had a small number of dim purple LED's on his bike...looked pretty cool coming into camp...anyone install lights on their bikes?

[Wayne Orwig]

I have LED lights on all of my bikes. To light up the night, not for decoration. The latest I added is a red led strip running about 6 watts. About the same amount of light as adding another 1157 brake light. When I press the brake pedal at night, everything behind me is red.

We had a batch of LED lights at work that we had just tested and were being trashed. A few flood lights and a few spot lights. 120 volt. I put a few of the floods in a fixture and put those in the garage. I was thinking that I could eliminate some of the fluorescent fixtures in my garage. It didn't work out since the LED light were 3500 color temp. That looks like incandescent, but is very inefficient. So not much light from those.

[ITSec]

I haven't put LEDs in the garage, since I have a high-efficiency fluorescent setup in there - I do have some LEDs wall mounted over my toolbox/workspace to brighten up that area, but I used a power-bar/light combo I picked up on sale at Costco.

One the Norge, I have a few LEDs.

On the Stelvio handguards I added:



On the back of the pannier cases (with a Molex quick disconnect, of course) are three 12" strips (same type as that shown above) - Red, Amber, Red - tied into running, turn, and brake. I had to split the circuit for the brake signal using a resistor and a relay. The strips run vertically along the line of the main black molding where it raises to meet the lid.

And for a bit brighter forward:

[pehayes]

I have a bunch of standard, cheap 4' fuorescent shop lamp fixtures.  I recently purchased LED tubes to replace the fluorescents.  The LED's are now available which don't require any wiring change or ballast manipulation.  Fit right in.  Brilliant light.  Instant on.  No temperature variation.  Got mine at Costco but you can get via Internet.

http://www.feit.com/led-lamps/LED_Linear_Tubes

Not cheap, but should last well beyond my lifetime and use much a lot less electricity.

Patrick Hayes
Fremont CA

[swooshdave]

Costco has LED shop lights.

[Idontwantapickle]

Costco has LED shop lights.

Bought mine for the garage there. They are so much better than the fluorescent, especially in the cold weather.
Hunter

[redrider90]

Bought mine for the garage there. They are so much better than the fluorescent, especially in the cold weather.
Hunter

I use fluorescent that is 98% full spectrum in my shop. I couldn't believe what I was missing the moment I put them in. Other than cost savings in electricity how much better can an LED perform over a 98% full spectrum florescent? The strain on my eyes went to zero. In the spring I'll leave the shop door open and it is filled with bugs during the day because they are attracted to the light. I shut the lights off and the bugs fly to the windows. Kind tells me how they are fooling even the bugs But really what is the difference in full spectrum florescent vs LED?

[PJPR01]

Thanks for the info guys...

IT...was cool to see your setup at John Day...very elegant solutions all the way around...nicely done!

Ok...so I've got 2 double fluorescent lights already installed in the garage, I'll switch those over to LED's and see what difference it makes.

Still interested in the sticky/LED strips to see what those might be like...not sure if they'll give off enough light or just be uncomfortable to have illuminate the other part of the garage...

Now I'm thinking I may have some under cabinet LED sticky lights as well for evening lighting, sort of black light flashback to the 60's!