Hanging lights from ceiling - Joists don't line up...

[Unthinkable]

You are hanging TV's from toggles in the ceiling?

People fail to understand that 50lbs hanging off a wall vs a ceiling are 2 completely different things.

It's not really a difference, if anything an object hanging from a wall adds additional force when you consider leverage added because force is pulling both down and away from the wall. He said his equipment weighs 30 lbs, even if it's double that, 2 toggles distributing 60 lbs is no issue. If you are super worried about it, there is no doubt a brace is much stronger. If you don't want the bulk/added cost to making more bracing, Toggles are more than sufficient.

https://www.todayshomeowner.com/testing-wall-anchors-and-picture-hangers/
an article showing actual failure rates. This doesn't show failure rates with weight over time, but a single toggle will hold 2-3x more weight per toggle than the estimated weight of his lighting. And the test was with the cheap butterfly toggles which aren't nearly as robust as togglers.

 

[Jeff_H]

I still have this project ahead of me, but I’m considering using 2x remodel ceiling fan mounts, with a clean looking cover plate. Something like this... https://www.homedepot.com/p/15-5-cu-in-Retrofit-Ceiling-Fan-Saf-T-Brace-0110000/204845572

 

[jd371]

I had the same conundrum when I was going to hang my lights. I built a floating canopy for the fixture to sit in and was going to use toggle bolts to hang one side of it because the ceiling joists didn't line up on that side. Ditched the toggle bolt idea when I realized the weight might be an issue and didn't want to chance the fixture falling on that side. Although the ceiling joist didn't line up it wasn't that far off so I decided to hang it anyway and the fixture hung level. Depending on how far off it is you can still hang the fixture if the mounting spots on the light fixture are not fixed. My back up plan if it was too far off was to use a 1 x 3 screwed to the ceiling and mount the fixture to that like was mentioned in an earlier post.

The mounts on the right side didn't line up with the joists overhead
so I moved them over a bit towards the center.

 

[JPergamo]

I'm an electrician so I just used a piece of kindorf when I had a full canopy hanging that I built for MH and T5s. Had a cool "industrial" look if you like the metal instead of wood