How to Install a LED Strip Light. Garage Lighting Upgrade

Welcome back to another episode of Tognacci Woodworks with me, Tim Tognacci. This video will be a bit different than the others since there is no “woodworks” in this one. Instead, I’ll be showing you how to replace a light bulb with an LED strip light, but I have a feeling that you already knew that.

Anyways, first things we’re going to need is an LED strip light. Either make on appear out of thin air or head to the store because this is imperative to the project. Carefully examine the box… yep, that’s the right one. Once you’ve confirmed with yourself that you did indeed make the right purchase, go ahead and open up that box and take out all of the components. Which is most lightly the light and a set of instructions.

And speaking of instructions, that does seem like the next logical step in our process so let’s take a look and see what we’ve got here… okay… looks standard. Here are all the pieces, make sure you turn off the circuit breaker, don’t electrocute yourself, okay, I think I got it. Go ahead and crinkle up those instructions, find the nearest trash bin, and shoot. Ugh! Darnit! Ahh, there we go! After you realize that you are not in fact an electrician or a professional basketball player, go ahead and head to the trash bin and remove the instructions and uncrinkle that ball of paper because reading this is actually important if you want to install these the right way.

Before we get started, let’s grab the necessary tools to complete this project and that includes a hammer, a screwdriver, and some pliers. I’m not sure which kind so I grabbed two. Oh! And I’m not sure why, but some eye protection as well.

Now it’s time to pick up the LED Strip Light and remove the wireway cover. To do this, lift upward on the exposed edges of the part, starting in the middle and working you way outward. Once this has been removed, go ahead and remove the parts pack and place in a convenient location during installation. Looks like I might have missed the shot where I show you the parts pack and myself placing them in a convenient location, but I’m sure you can figure this part out without seeing it. The parts pack contains some tiny screws, which I didn’t end up using, and a few wire connectors.

Next, let’s head over to the light bulb that we’ll be replacing and take it out of the socket. You’ll want to shut off the light and let it cool before, woah! Unless they are already LED light bulbs which means that won’t be hot to the touch. Let’s go ahead and remove that light bulb socket with a screw driver. There should be only two screws and woah, that’s a terrible camera angle. Let’s change that. Hmm, not really any better Tim, artistic though, but let’s try again. Therreee we go. And since we have not shut off the circtuit breaker yet, let’s be careful when pulling this out from the ceiling as to not shock ourselves with any exposed wires. Ugh, that’s disgusting.

Speaking of circuit breakers, now’s a good time to head on over to that and shut off the power to these lights so we can move on to the next step, which will be disconnecting the wires from the socket itself so we can make room for our new and improved LED Power Strip. I lied, the next step is to give you dog some attention if they are hanging out by your workshop watching you work in your shop. If your dog is like mine, he loves playing fetch with the frisbee, but refuses to drop the frisbee for you to throw it. Instead, he runs away with it and expects you to fetch him.

As you make your way back into the shop, grab the power strip and head to that giant hole in the ceiling. If this was anywhere else in my house, I would probably take the time to patch this up, but honestly, it didn’t bug me much and the only one seeing the exposed hole on the sides of the power strip will be me. Oh, and maybe all of you as well.

Anyways, grab a pencil, and line this baby up on your ceiling so you can mark off the placement for the screw holes while trying to maneuver from one side to the other without moving the light strip too much, so the holes line up. After you have those marked out, grab your drill and give it the ole pre-drill on the smaller side of the marking. This is where the screw will ultimately sit after you slide that puppy up on your ceiling. And this is the exact time where I realized why the instructions called for safety glasses. Unless you hit a stud when drilling, you’ll probably need some sort of toggle bolt or suitable fastener for the screws. I’m going with these self drilling drywall anchors.

One thing to note, make sure to use a screw with a wide enough head so it doesn’t slip through the keyhole on the light strip. The recipe calls for a #10 wood screw. To install the drywall anchor, put the tip in the hole you just drilled and slowly start screwing it in. And while you’re at it, get your mind out of the gutter. Tim… the camera angle, how many times do I …. Thank you. Anyways, take your time with this because these things are finicky and can easily break apart in the ceiling, which is no bueno. Screw the anchor in until it’s resting on the surface of the ceiling. Now, insert the screws into the drywall anchors.

If you want to follow my same process, start with a screwdriver, then realize it’s taking way too long, get impatient, and switch over to your drill. Don’t screw these in all the way, you’ll need to leave some room for the light.. Kinda like this… And I realized I forgot to cover this earlier, so I’ll bring it up now. In order to make room for the wires to feed into the strip, you’ll need to remove the knockouts. To do this, place a standard screwdriver on the edge of the circle, opposite from the side with the retaining tabs, and gently strike with a hammer until you can grab it with some pliers to which you’ll need to flex back and forth until it is removed. Good job!

Back to the installation, grab the light and head on up to the ceiling. First, feed the wires through that piece you knocked out, great job by the way, and shimmy the fixture onto those screws that we put in a few seconds ago. Don’t be afraid to let the light dangle for a little bit, just make sure lay it to rest gently. Grab that trusty screwdriver of yours and tighten up those screws so the light doesn’t move around anymore.

And we’re on the last and final step here, which includes stripping the black and white wire leads with wire strippers or whatever you have that can strip wires to expose roughly 3/8s to 7/16s of bare metal. Wow, that specific. Once you’ve done that, connect the house wires to the fixture wires, black to black, white to white, green to green or bare copper ground wire. Put on the wire nut and twist until the two wires get to know each other, comment below if you got the reference to that phrase or how I’ve been styling my entire video. Once that’s all set, put the casing back on, head to the breaker and turn the power back, flip the switch and watch the light turn on from three different angles.