LED light retrofit

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Working on changing some incandescents out of the garage. I bought some cheap 4' LED lights from Home Depot as I liked them in the basement. The ceiling of the garage is sheet rocked over, and uses several round electrical boxes for the lights--but not necessarily where I want them. I can get into the attic. Does it make sense to just yank the boxes, patch the holes over, and then redo everything? Seems a bit overkill, but most of the boxes are recessed a bit into the sheetrock, so a cover would sit on sheetrock and have a, well, hack look anyhow.

While I can find round metal box covers I can't find similar in plastic, leading me to think that's a dead end--the idea of reusing the existing boxes and just dropping wire through them into the light fixtures. Putting in an outlet into each box is also out, as from what I'm reading, I need a GFCI outlet and it has to be readily accessible, not sure I feel like bothering with installing an outlet on the wall for this purpose.

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You could just use a GFCI breaker. Or leave old fixtures in place and run wire from there to new location.
 
I guess the fixtures you bought don't have the wires that you can use to daisy chain the other fixtures together.

I would just some armored cable between the fixtures.
 
I had the same issue. I put in new retrofit boxes where I wanted the lights in my garage.


I left my old sockets in place and put in some of these LED screw in fixtures. https://www.amazon.com/Garage-Light...9Y2xpY2tSZWRpcmVjdCZkb05vdExvZ0NsaWNrPXRydWU=

As you get older you can never have too much light in garage.....LOL
 
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Go over to garagejournal.com, they have a whole lighting design section.

One idea is to leave your existing bulbs in place as your "dim" lighting, for when you just want to run out there to grab something. Install the LEDs in parallel with their own switch for "work" lighting when you need to see detail.

I'd read your town's guidance as to what year version of the NEC they follow. Usually it's a couple versions obsolete. IANAE but GFIs for ceiling lights seem overkill. That being said you can install a GFI anywhere upstream of the first receptacle or even at the breaker panel, so long as you put the little stickers on the affected outlets saying they're protected.

I have seen round blanks, I think they're plastic. One was in a condo where the (optional) ceiling fan would have gone. Perhaps check a real electrical supply store, not a big box one. Electrical supplies seem pretty picked over due to co**d. Just try finding a 29 cent blue Carlon box for example.

Are your LEDs plug-in or hard-wired?

You can get extension boxes if you like, that will drop your bulb fixture two inches and give you the opportunity to knock out some side holes for that armored cable JC1 mentions.

Be sure when you install your LED tubes they're not over the car roofs. Otherwise you'll get shadows down where you walk. An "E" shape works well in a two car garage.
 
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I converted the bulb cover to a receptacle cover and plugged the lights in. Or I'd do what wrenchturner posted. I'm not going to go crazy on garage lighting.
 
Similar to the armored cable recomendations above, would Legrand Wiremold surface wiring system work for you.

A V5733 box cover with either V5731 or V5736 blank cover, then their rectangular 500/700 raceway to your hard wired LED's?


Same could be done with conduit for less $$. It IS just a garage. Google "surface mount wiring".
 
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Are your LEDs plug-in or hard-wired?
Either. They came with a cord & plug for going direct into an outlet, they have plugs on the side for daisy chaining. Or you can open up the light and they have the cheap push-on Wago's for direct wiring to 14g.
 
I had the same issue. I put in new retrofit boxes where I wanted the lights in my garage.


I left my old sockets in place and put in some of these LED screw in fixtures. https://www.amazon.com/Garage-Lights-Ceiling-Adjustable-Lighting/dp/B085TPL4LJ/ref=sr_1_3_sspa?crid=QS4H7Y18HNEL&dchild=1&keywords=led+screw+in+garage+lights+ceiling&qid=1629040050&sprefix=LED+screw,aps,798&sr=8-3-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUEyODJCQlQ3UVNVSjJZJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwODIxNTI0MVZEV0dOSzNPT0lQNCZlbmNyeXB0ZWRBZElkPUEwNzYzMDgwMzVBR1ZUVzhROU1MNSZ3aWRnZXROYW1lPXNwX2F0ZiZhY3Rpb249Y2xpY2tSZWRpcmVjdCZkb05vdExvZ0NsaWNrPXRydWU=

As you get older you can never have too much light in garage.....LOL
I don't care much for old work boxes, I pushed one through a wall and learned my lesson. I found these and use them when I need to.

I do like that light idea though, maybe that'd be less work. I agree on can't have enough light, I've been using a headlamp in the garage but I only have to smack it into the car a couple of times to make me wonder about it--for some reason I can never remember that my head is now 2 inches taller.
 
I had the same issue. I put in new retrofit boxes where I wanted the lights in my garage.


I left my old sockets in place and put in some of these LED screw in fixtures. https://www.amazon.com/Garage-Lights-Ceiling-Adjustable-Lighting/dp/B085TPL4LJ/ref=sr_1_3_sspa?crid=QS4H7Y18HNEL&dchild=1&keywords=led+screw+in+garage+lights+ceiling&qid=1629040050&sprefix=LED+screw,aps,798&sr=8-3-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUEyODJCQlQ3UVNVSjJZJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwODIxNTI0MVZEV0dOSzNPT0lQNCZlbmNyeXB0ZWRBZElkPUEwNzYzMDgwMzVBR1ZUVzhROU1MNSZ3aWRnZXROYW1lPXNwX2F0ZiZhY3Rpb249Y2xpY2tSZWRpcmVjdCZkb05vdExvZ0NsaWNrPXRydWU=

As you get older you can never have too much light in garage.....LOL
How do like the screw in LEDs?
 
I love the screw in LEDs. I would recommend though that you stay away from the very low end brands. The ones I got are price in mid-range I would say. The great thing that I like about them is that the paddles of each LED segment are somewhat aim-able. You can direct the light where you want it within reason.
 
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