Shop light selection?

[Ron Ward]

The old 4' flourescent light fixtures in my shop are dying left and right. It costs more to replace a ballast that it does to replace the whole damned fixture with another flourescent tube unit. It is my understanding that the standard flourescent tube lights are now a dinosaur and will soon be obsolete. I am not familiar with the new T8 tube lights and am wondering if any of you guys have had any experience with them. Can someone "enlighten" me on the subject?

Ron

[milner351]

The newer fixtures that are labelled for cold weather do in fact work better, as do the smaller diameter tubes.

None of this stuff is "cheap" anymore - but you're absolutely right - it doesn't make any sense to replace ballasts in shop lights.

You might consider 8 footers if you have the space - down side is the tubes are hard to transport, upside is fewer fixtures, fewer bulbs.

I've gotten a few different 4 footers that were on sale and home depot lowes etc in the last year - all had the smaller diameter tubes, some where white some were hammercoat silver - they all work about the same.

Here at work they've recently gone through and taken down all the old fixtures and replaced them with polished aluminum reflectors and single tubes where they used to have white fixtures with two tubes....

[Monk]

You shall be enlightened

[DanStokes]

I've had to replace a bunch of mine too so I'll be watching with eager anticipation to see what folks have to say. So far they're cheap enough that I'm just changing mine but it would be nice to find a long-term fix. I usually find the 4 footers at Lowes for $10 so currently not too pricey.

Dan

[Barry Donovan]

flourescent voodoo.

halfwave to an LED, the hocus pocus is done..like a pcb that was killing babies.

[Ron Ward]

flourescent voodoo.

halfwave to an LED, the hocus pocus is done..like a pcb that was killing babies.

Barry, I am not sure I understand this.... When was a printed circuit board responsible for killing babies and what does this have to do with lighting my shop?

[realsteelfreak]

When I was in sales a couple of years ago one of the items we focused on for big manufacturing plants was T5 lighting. Most plants use light fixtures with metal halide bulbs and some used fluorescent bulbs. I know your wanting these for a smaller garage , but if the budget would stand, I would go with 4' t5's . They will work with 110 or 277 volt if I remember right. One of the big features of these lights is quick restart and having stainless reflectors to help spread light. Most of the time you could have less fixtures for the same amount of space.
Here is a site with lights like we sold.
In large mfg. buildings , tax credits for upgrading and power savings these lights would pay for themselves in about 14 months. They save 80% over a metal halide bulb.

http://www.fullspectrumsolutions.com/t5_high_bay_111_prd1.htm

[silver_bullet]

back in the day, we all had t-12 fixtures around...they were efficient if used for over an hour and cold weather performance was not the best. I just changed all of my ballasts and bulbs in the last few months after finding that the cheaper fixtures aren't the greatest. they no longer manufacture the t-12s so i switched to the t-8 shatter resistant bulbs and have definitely enjoyed the instant start technology and improved cold weather performance. the easiest way to explain t-12 size is 12/16ths of an inch dia. while the t-8s are 8/16ths of an inch.
if your fixtures are the older heavy duty ones, change the ballasts and keep the better fixtures...a little more money initially, but you will be happier in the end as i was...the replacement fixtures from the big box store were definitely cheap.. they only lasted a short time before the ballasts died... these might help offset the cost as the contractor 10 pack brings the price down:http://www.homedepot.com/Lighting-Fa...&storeId=10051

[rightpedal]

Try large electrical supply houses. If you find the right counter guy "hey what's the best price you can do for me" will give you a 50/50 of getting the price dropped. I know for a fact that Rexel will beat Home Depo all day long in 4bulb t8's. One more tid bit the counter guys eyes glaze over and you become "that guy" the second a price comparison is made with the depo.

Steve

[173rdherd]

I would go with t-8 as availability and cost come together best and you get reasonable cold weather operation with great lighting. Check your color range and lumens ratings when buying lamps you can also get retro fit kits or retro fit you old fixtures yourself. Also, you get better lighting with 2 lamp fixtures spaced properly than you do with 3-4 lamp fixtures for lower operational costs.

[Beagle]

he is talking about electronic ballasts in that video - does that mean it's dimmable too? I'm about ready to light up my garage like the sun but I don't need it that way every time I go in there. A dimmer would be cool.

[milner351]

I think the garage journal site has a thread or two on this - of course some of those dudes have a limitless budget and are far more into the "look" of a garage than how it functions - but there is some good info there.

I'm going to repaint and re-light the new shop before I start moving in - so I'm watching and learning here...

[DanStokes]

I think I'll start replacing my Lowe's cheepies as they fail with the newer stuff. I have a counter guy that treats me right at the local electrical supply house so I'll get them there - good tip, Steve.

So John - does this mean that you got the new place? Cool deal! Last I knew you were working on it.

Dan

[milner351]

Dan - do you have Grainger or Graybar electric down there? Both of those places are local here and have an amazing selection - and counter guys that know what they are doing - somethings are more expensive - others are similar or cheaper than the box stores.

The new place is supposed to close the end of this month - we're down to blood and urine samples with the mortgage company - Good Golly things aint what they used to be - the red tape for mortgages now is amazing.

[DanStokes]

Do you need me to send you some urine samples? Mine are clean but my blood samples vary in sugar content. (Gosh, just like I was helping Lance!)

Good thought on Grainger. I'm still on their rolls as a buyer for EPA, which lets me buy there as long as I pay the sales tax. I buy something about once a year or so.

Dan