$10 LED Shop Light

I went into a certain Big Box Club store and saw what seemed like the perfect idea. LED shop lights! What shop doesn't need more light, right? But upon closer inspection I saw that these $40 lights were little more than two plastic tubes with a single row of LED strip lights in each. I had done several projects with these types of lights and I knew how cheap they were and I thought, "Heck I could build 4 sets of lights for the price of these". So that is what I set out to do

In the end I have a light that is brighter, uses less energy, is in the color spectrum that works best for me and cost WAY less. OH, and I can smugly say "Oh that? Oh, I just whipped that up one morning" ;-)

Step 1: Gather Your Materials

Components:

• 1 Basic Two by Four. I found the cheapest thing that Big Orange had. They called it simply Whitewood. This is decent if not pretty wood that is used for "unseen" areas in construction.
• 1 Can of White Paint.
• 1 Roll of LED Strip Lights. I used indoor (non waterproof)
• 1 Power Adapter for the LED lights
• Some wire. I used Red and Black to follow traditional power color codes.

Hanging Hardware:

• 2 Eye screws. I used two inch because I already had some from a previous project.
• 1 Roll of paracord or other strong cord like material.
• 2 Ceiling Hooks.
• 2 Pulleys (You could probably get away with just using the hooks as the "pulley").
• 2 D Clips (Optional. I had some already so.... )
• 1 Double Ceiling Hook.

Tools:

• Circular Saw or Table Saw
• Wood Glue
• Glue Gun w/glue sticks
• Soldering Iron w/Flux Core Solder (fairly thin)
• Nail Gun w/Air Compressor (Optional)
• Clamps (Optional)
• Wire cutters or Scissors

Step 2: The PLAN

The basic premise of my shop light is this. Cut two 1/4" slices off of the 2x4. Then make two angled cuts along the remaining piece. Then attach those two thin cuts as "wings" to make the body of the light. Thus making it resemble traditional fluorescent two bulb shop lights!

1. Plug in your light strip first to make sure it all works. Ok, now take it apart and lets get to it.
2. Make two cuts of 1/4" off of the long edge of the 2x4
3. Make two diagonal cuts down either side of the 2x4. In my first version I tried it at 45 degrees but that seemed too steep to me. In this version I made the cuts at 30 degrees.
4. Put wood glue on the wings and adhere them to the main body. I used a nail gun to hold them in place. If you don't have one I suggest using clamps. Then cut or sand off any overhanging parts. Or don't! It's not like you will be able to see that part when it's all done.
5. Paint. I used a high gloss white for its reflective properties but its your light, choose the color that you feel fits the proper mood for your shop.
6. Peel and stick your LED light strips. Start on the outside edge on one side and then do the opposite side. This will allow you to easily space out the remaining two strips. Remember to cut ONLY on the marked cut lines.
7. Figure out how many pairs of wires you will need. Then cut and them to size and strip. NO NOT YOU, the wires! Then tin the wires and your contact points on the strips. (Tining means to heat them up and add a small amount of solder to them before you actually solder the two parts together)
8. Solder + to + and - to -. No wires or connections are used at the end of the strip.
9. Solder the leads to the power adapter and route them around the end of the body and to the top of the light.
10. Use hot glue to tack down the wires so they don't get in the way. Also hot glue is non conductive and I use it as an insulator to protect the solder points. Lastly also tack down the lights every six inches or so. The glue on the back of these strip lights can get weak over time.
11. Screw your eye screws into the top of the light about one inch from the end. Make sure not to go all the way through. You may need to pre drill these spots. Make sure not to hit your lights or wires.
12. Measure (guestimate) how much cord you will need and then cut to length. If you are fancy like me tie one end on each cord to a D clip or mini carabiner and then attach to the eye screws.
13. Guestimate (measure) how far apart the eye screws are and then mark out on the ceiling the spots where your two ceiling hooks need to go. Again it might help to pre drill these spots. Screw your hooks in finger tight.
14. Again, if you are going the "fancy" route, thread your cord through your pulleys first, before hanging them. Makes it way easier. [Pro Tip, after threading them through the pulleys I tied a medium sized nut to the end of each cord to keep them from accidentally getting pulled out of the pulley]
15. Hang each of your pulleys on the hooks.
16. Screw the Double Ceiling Hook to the wall. Yeah, I know, trust the bear, he knows his hooks.
17. Plug in your light strip to the power adapter and hoist your light to the height you want.
18. Tie off your cords to the double hook on the wall. I tied the end of my cords together so I could just loop them under the hooks.
19. Plug in your power adapter and bask in the unearthly glow!

Step 3: Assembly

Ok, we are going to assume that you were able to make the desired cuts and still have all your digits. Yes? No? Ok, Stubby, let's get back to it.

Here you can see that we are laying out the LED strips. Again, only cut on the lines that say "Cut" or have the little picture of scissors. I suggest laying out the two outside strips first as it makes it easier to space things out evenly.

Step 4: Wire It UP, Wire It UP, Wire It UP!

Bonus points if you get the Avian film reference ;-)
Anyway, always remember, measure twice, cut once. Then say "Awwww #$@&" and toss it then try again. A wire cutter/stipper makes this job much easier but simple scissors could be used. Also a few pieces of shrink tube will make it last longer and give it that professional look that says "I have a heat gun and I'm not afraid to burn myself with it."

Step 5: Things Are Looking UP.

I'm a dad and bad puns are like the breath of life for dads.

Attach your bolts. Again, predrill if you think your wood will split. Trust me, it probably will. Attach your clips, hook up the pulleys and hoist away.

I bet right about now you are thinking "OH, that's what he's doing with the double ceiling hook". See! Red>Average Bear.

And the best thing about this project. Is that once it's done, installed and turned on.... You can't see any of the screw ups you made while building it. All you can see are those brilliant LED lights. And then spots, lots and lots of spots.

Cheers!

Red

Step 6: ALEXA, Shop Lights On!

Time for the icing on the cake. I ended up routing the power adapter for this over to the same plug in the ceiling that my garage door opener uses. But now how to turn it off and on? Easy, I just added a $15 WiFi smart plug that is compatible with my Amazon Echo (Don't tell me that you don't have an Echo in your shop? Barbarian!)

Now I just say "Alexa, Shop Lights ON!" as I walk into my kingdom, um, garage. As to the Echo in my shop? You need to consider adding one to yours. And here is why...

• Alexa, set timer for 20 minutes (Paint/Glue drying time)
• Alexa, how many mm in 27 inches?
• Alexa, read my audio book
• Alexa, play music
• Alexa, set alarm for 8:30pm (Time to quit and put the cubs to bed)
• Alexa, turn off shop lights
• Alexa, what is Pi?

Comments

[RobT85]

Here it is for $6.99.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01FFZWWNC/ref=asc_df_B01FFZWWNC5318770/?tag=hyprod-20&creative=395033&creativeASIN=B01FFZWWNC&linkCode=df0&hvadid=198081434346&hvpos=1o3&hvnetw=g&hvrand=12443365822096973790&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9013420&hvtargid=pla-350429126625

[zikzak1]

Two 16.4' strips of 5630 LEDs (600 LEDs total) will give about the same brightness as two shop lights in lumens. I have bought many strips and have done a lot of testing along these lines. To keep the brightness up better, drop slightly below 12VDC on the power supply and do not get the waterproof ones as the resin they use tends to yellow a lot within one year. A lot of the double sided tape that is used on these strips is mediocre at best. Placing the strips on the metal reflector of a shop light would be a much better idea than trying to use foam to help transfer the heat generated by the LEDs. One thing about these strips, if there is a failure, it can start a fire and LEDs DO generate heat. Mount on metal strips only if you can. (Heat also slowly kills them if you cant control it decent.) A great power source is old computer power supplies. The 12v section is usually adjustable as well as even cheap ones can deliver a good amount of current.

[RedDaBEAR]

1. A typical 4 foot fluorescent puts out about 2850 lumens when new. Thus your standard double bulb shop light would still be 1,178 lumens less than this build.
2. Um... yes, I did mentioned the lack of adhesive integrity.

3. Foam what foam?
4. FIRE? That sort of statement is FUD and unappreciated. I'm trying very hard to abide by the "be nice" policy here but you just told people who read these comments that the led could get so hot as to cause a fire and that is simply not true. I have some of these running in the house. They have been on for the last two days straight and my 10 year old can put his hand on them and not even be uncomfortable.

[ac-dc]

No. This uses 600, 4 lumens each LEDs as a 24W strip but you're running it at half power (12V x 1A PSU = 12W) so instead of 2400lm it's only producing 1200lm, except they're poorly heatsunk so even less than that.

What you've made is only 1/5th as bright as a standard 4', twin tube fluorescent fixture. To suggest the fluorescents are lower lumens is completely absurd.

[hallcp]

I really like this idea, but I wonder if it isn't overkill. You need a white background for a fluorescent tube because 50% of the light is sent up not down. With LED's, all the light goes down already. So maybe you could do this with a bit less carpentry. But LEDs sure look like the way to go. The ready-made LED fixtures are very pricey as you said and I can't find the other commenter's $6 ready-made bulbs at Home Depot, but then I need F40 bulbs, not T8's. There was another instructable where someone stuck the LEDs right on the undersides of his rafters. Very neat! But my ceiling is too cluttered for that. :-(

[DavidT577]

3.142, or was it Apple. Ho Rhubarb

Well done and a good show Regards David

[RedDaBEAR]

I have links to the parts in my video on youtube.

[appsman]

Your price comparison is a bit dusty. You can now get LED 4 ft replacement bulbs made by Philips for less than $6 each (in 10 packs) at Home Depot. I've replaced all the bulbs in my garage and shop. The LED bulbs are definitely brighter than the old bulbs. They are rated 2100 Lumens each which may not *officially* be quite as bright as a 4 ft fluorescent bulb, but still seem brighter to me. Also, these bulbs seem to be higher rated than the crappy brands while also being much cheaper.

I point this out because I was about to do a DIY LED conversion hack like this until I saw the Philips bulbs.

[MadBadB]

its awesome RedB2 is my dad! it is awesome in our gargae