flourescent light question

[milner351]

You just can't have too much light in a shop! Sounds like these will make a great addition to your workspace - major win.

I have put in a few more four footer typical 2 bulb dealio's in the last year or so and it's amazing what a difference it makes.

I have a couple fixtures that must be loosing ballasts or starters - sometimes you have to pull the chain several times to get them to "light off" probably best to just replace the old girls with newer ones.

Has anyone "proved out" the newer 4ft bulbs that are supposed to be good down to lower ambient temps?

[ford141]

I put 8' lights in my dad's garage that were supposed to start fast even at low temperatures, and so far they work as advertised. I've walked out in the dead of winter when it is around 20F in the garage (attached to the house so it never gets much lower than that) and they still turn on just like a standard bulb. No flickering or slow lighting. They are a little dimmer until the garage is warmer, but it is hardly noticeable when you have 4 8' lights in a 20x24 garage.

My shop is 40x48 with a 14' ceiling, so I need a lot of light to fill it up. I HATE working in dimly lit shops.

[TC]

Thanks TC, that's kinda what I was thinking too, just wanted some input before I tried hooking them up. I found a few CFL dimmer switches cheaper than the first one, but they seem to be low current switches (5amps), which I'm not sure will be enough to power these lights. Still trying to figure out how much current all of these will draw, and whether or not I have to split them into 2 circuits. I have 8 sets to install, each set is 12ft long with 3 sections of twin 4ft T8 bulbs (6 bulbs in each 12ft set).

Derrr... I figured it out. I need 12.8 amps to run all of the light sets. 32w bulbs/120v * 48 bulbs total. I can run them all from one 15a circuit.

If your running a new circuit you could always run 12 gauge wire and a 20 amp breaker, it's the same thing they do in houses for the bathrooms and kitchens.......it would give you room for expansion in the future or to run an outlet or two.......

[TC]

I put 8' lights in my dad's garage that were supposed to start fast even at low temperatures, and so far they work as advertised. I've walked out in the dead of winter when it is around 20F in the garage (attached to the house so it never gets much lower than that) and they still turn on just like a standard bulb. No flickering or slow lighting. They are a little dimmer until the garage is warmer, but it is hardly noticeable when you have 4 8' lights in a 20x24 garage.

My shop is 40x48 with a 14' ceiling, so I need a lot of light to fill it up. I HATE working in dimly lit shops.

When we gutted one of our rental properties that used to be an auto shop(first one I worked at) I took 4 8' T8 shop lights out of it and put them in my garage......It's really nice to have lights from wall to wall!!!!

[pdub]

The off-site training building where I work was built in 1953. A lot of the rooms are dark now because they had 12-foot flourescent fixtures in there. Well, just thinking and thumb-measuring it from here at home, they had to be at least ten. And skinny. I'd guess one inch in diameter as opposed to the 1 3/4 we see these days.

They were one-bulb fixtures. Everywhere you'd expect to see a bulb connected to another, there are only physical supports for the mile-long tube. I studied and studied those fixtures (all the bulbs are now out of them) and couldn't believe what I thought I was seeing, but one day I was pillaging around in a dark remote room with a flashlight. If you throw anything down at work in Eastern Tennessee, it never moves. EVER.

So there was a pile of ten or fifteen 10 or 12-foot long way-skinny flourescent tubes, all black on the ends. There they are, like, "We'll pile these here for now." 30 years ago.

And dimmable? Probably more damnedable since you sure can't get any of those now. At least I'll bet you cant. But I sure don't know.

We had good success hanging fixtures in a small shed from decoratiove chains in SC when we lived there. But I never hard-wired them. I just ran heavy extension cords all through the rafters. Such is my knowledge and ability on handy things.

[ford141]

If your running a new circuit you could always run 12 gauge wire and a 20 amp breaker, it's the same thing they do in houses for the bathrooms and kitchens.......it would give you room for expansion in the future or to run an outlet or two.......

That's what I was planning to do, all of my wiring is 12 gauge and I have a bunch of 20amp breakers. The light switch that I have right now is a 15a single pole, and I wasn't sure if it would be big enough, but I think it will be fine. I was considering splitting the light circuit in half and running one switch for each half of the shop, but with one open 40x48 space it probably doesn't make much sense to split into 2 circuits. I'd most likely just turn both switches on anytime I'm in there anyway.

[Beagle]

how many total bulbs? My math just turned to crap. Is it two per section?

I'd also get an extension cord and try black / black, white / white, ground it, and plug a row in. If it works, you can put it on a .97 leviton switch. Donuts to dollars, it'll work fine. What's the number on the ballasts? I really wanna know if that orange is for 277 now. :O

If it fails horribly, I'll check and see if I still have some ballasts in the garage for ya. : |

[ford141]

Beags, there are 48 bulbs total, 2 per section, 3 sections per set, 8 sets total.

Ok, so I figured out the wiring for these lights last night. I first tried them black/black, white/white, ground/ground, and left the orange wire unused. The lights came on, but just barely. They were basically fully dimmed. I then tried them with the orange wire connected to hot i.e. black, and SUCCESS! The lights came on full bright. I turned them off and on multiple times and they light instantly with no flickering or weirdness.

My conclusion is that the dimming switch simply varies the voltage to the orange wire from 0-120V, and the ballasts respond by varying the light output based on the orange wire voltage. It is also good to know that the dimming function seems to work good, so I could always go back and add a dimming switch to the orange wire and have the ability to dim the lights.

[Beagle]

Cool! I'd never thought to try to dim a Flourescent, but I never have enough light the older I get. 48 might help. I tried in my youth, when I knew everything, before getting old and realizing I don't know sh*t, to dim a blower motor for a squirrel cage with a small light dimmer. Smelly things when you let the smoke out of them. My dad laughed at me and called me a dumbass.

That is pretty close to the hairy edge for a 15a breaker? If you put it on two switches where they don't all try to fire up at exactly the same time it might help. My old breakers that have tripped before won't hold what they are rated at it any more it seems. Still just thinking out loud. lol.

[ford141]

Beag, I'm using a 20a breaker/12gauge wire. The only thing that will be 15a rated in the circuit is the light switch, because I already have it. Maybe I should bump up to a 20a switch?

Just a note, never try to dim a standard flourescent ballast. You will burn it up. That's why they make these expensive dimming ballasts.

[Beagle]

lol. I don't dim lights any more. I yell at my kid like my dad did me "You're standing in my light boy!" The only thing getting dimmer is me.

That was one thing I picked up from Dad after the blower incident. He told me not to try that with the lights. I was actually listening at the time. Seemed like a good time to be listening. I hate being called dumbass twice for the same thing.