Shop Lights

[BigblueC]

The time has come where my 8ft, 2 bulb T12 lights are crapping out on me, only 3 of the 7 work reliably. To fix the existing fixtures would cost ~$65 per fixture; replace with new 8ft T12 fixtures ~$75 each (and the T12 bulb is suppose to be getting phased out) - so those options are out.

This leaves options: A) 4ft LED; a little more expensive than T8s, or B) 4ft T8 fixtures. I'm leaning toward the LED option. I have looked at the utilitech brand at Lowe's. My questions for the board are who has swapped from a T12 to a newer light, what brand, and where is the best place to buy?

 

[Big_John]

You can change the ballast in those fixtures pretty easily. I've had to do that in mine last year.$20-$25 usually.

I also bought a 4' LED for the front of my shop that I really like. I just saw them yesterday in Costco for $25. I'm going to buy a couple more one for some other areas.

 

[67Monaco]

Get the 4ft LED shop lights from Costco when they go on sale. They're under $50 during the sales and push out way more light than the fluorescents I had. That my plan for the new garage as funds permit after we're moved in. I'm planning for 6 or 7 fixtures for the garage.

BUT it appears costco no longer has them. However they are carried by amazon;

Amazon product ASIN B00LFAY5SM

 

[polara71]

I have 4 ft T5s in my garage. Not bad, the quick start and are bright. Last week I ran a few more circuits and added more outlets for lighting. I bought those 4 ft Utilitec LEDs and they are nice. A bit brighter than the 5s and are on in an instant. I plan on purchasing a few more. 39 dollars at my Lowes and the Sams Club has a similar light for 40

 

[67Monaco]

Thanks I didn't know lowes had em that cheap.

 

[BigblueC]

Thanks guys. The Lowe's here has 4ft dual strip LED for 44.95 each, which is what I was looking at. I just don't know the quality of utilitech though. I'll look into the Costco/Amazon lights.

Anybody got a calculation on how many fixtures are needed? It's a 32'x32' with 7 of the T12 fixtures that light the place up nicely when they all work. I'm thinking 6 of the dual strip LED (3,600 lumens) girded evenly in the middle and 4 single strip LED (1,800 lumens) along the perimeter (one per corner) will light the same or better.

 

[67Monaco]

Me personally, I like the look of LED lighting better than the old tubes. Having said that, don't expect much in the way of feeling sturdy or anything like that with the LED fixtures. There's nothing to them. The lights are super light and there's no transformers so having all the extra metal for support isn't needed. I thought they felt flimsy when I got them home but I realized once I got them hung, how often am I really going to mess with them? So why do they need to be built like a tank....

Be sides the fact you can run 5 or six to equal the same load as a standard fixture, means you can light that garage like you need it to be lit.

 

[Yatzee]

The time has come where my 8ft, 2 bulb T12 lights are crapping out on me, only 3 of the 7 work reliably. To fix the existing fixtures would cost ~$65 per fixture; replace with new 8ft T12 fixtures ~$75 each (and the T12 bulb is suppose to be getting phased out) - so those options are out.

This leaves options: A) 4ft LED; a little more expensive than T8s, or B) 4ft T8 fixtures. I'm leaning toward the LED option. I have looked at the utilitech brand at Lowe's. My questions for the board are who has swapped from a T12 to a newer light, what brand, and where is the best place to buy?

 

[Yatzee]

My friend across the street bought the LED lights and said quite frankly they were crap. He said they were bright but not good lighting to work under because of their brightness and unnatural hue. I went over to have a boo and I think the issue is that the light is more concentrated unlike tube lights. The bright ares are brighter but the shadows are also darker because the contrast so much with the light areas. Unlike fluorescent lighting, there is not a great amount of reflection off surrounding areas - it's more down-shot.The hue of the lighting is absolutely obscene and somewhat unnatural to the eye. I had an LED trouble light one time that cost me a fortune but trashed it because the illumination was hard on the eyes due to the xtreme brightness. Use whatever pleases you but I know from experience that all factories that have people working eight hours a day under overhead lighting still use fluorescent or sodium bulbs illuminating work areas. I wonder why.

 

[Big_John]

I was in Costco just yesterday. The LED 4' lights were $29 with an instant rebate that brought them down to $25.

I know I paid around $40 for on the last time.

 

[patrick66]

I bought T12 bulbs last week at Lowe's without any problems. $9.49/pair. I had two bulbs that went tits-up, but I knew the ballast was good. The other six I have, have been up for 13 years with no issues. I bought four additional bulbs for spares.

I do have a 24" LED unit above my toolbox, and it really surprised me how nice it lights up the work area! I plan on installing three more of these around the immediate work area and as supplemental lighting for my parts storage racks.

 

[440_Magnum]

The time has come where my 8ft, 2 bulb T12 lights are crapping out on me, only 3 of the 7 work reliably. To fix the existing fixtures would cost ~$65 per fixture; replace with new 8ft T12 fixtures ~$75 each (and the T12 bulb is suppose to be getting phased out) - so those options are out.

This leaves options: A) 4ft LED; a little more expensive than T8s, or B) 4ft T8 fixtures. I'm leaning toward the LED option. I have looked at the utilitech brand at Lowe's. My questions for the board are who has swapped from a T12 to a newer light, what brand, and where is the best place to buy?

I built my current garage 16 years ago with T8 fixtures, and while I've been perfectly happy I have to say that as of now when they need replacing I'm going with LED retrofit tubes. So far, I really like them. They have a type that will work with existing T8 ballasts, OR allows you to just re-wire the 110 direct to one end of the fluourescent tube lampholders and ditch the ballast. Cost is about $11/tube, and light output is a bit higher than T8. Since you're going from T12, its to your benefit to just re-use your fixtures and re-wire the lamps for the retrofit tubes (no ballast) if the fixtures are in good shape. You can do it for about $22 per 2-tube light fixture. My preferred tube of the 2 brands I've tried is Euri, available here:
Euri ET8 LED Fluorescent Replacement Tube - 4 Foot - 20 Watt - Hybrid T8 Electronic Ballast Compatible or Ballast Bypass - DLC Qualified

These are the same 4000k (natural white, NOT "bluish" at all) as my T8 tubes.

FWIW I also have an older workshop building at my farm property that is full of failing T12 fixtures, and this is the route I'm going to take when I upgrade it for the tenant.

 

[440_Magnum]

My friend across the street bought the LED lights and said quite frankly they were crap. He said they were bright but not good lighting to work under because of their brightness and unnatural hue. I went over to have a boo and I think the issue is that the light is more concentrated unlike tube lights. The bright ares are brighter but the shadows are also darker because the contrast so much with the light areas. Unlike fluorescent lighting, there is not a great amount of reflection off surrounding areas - it's more down-shot.The hue of the lighting is absolutely obscene and somewhat unnatural to the eye.

Sounds like your friend got suckered into buying the super-daylight 5000k or 6000k color temp bulbs that the cheap-o companies are dumping on the market. The good ones are either 3500 or 4000k color temp, and are the same as (or even "warmer") than fluourescents.

Here's a photo of the Euri tubes I mentioned in a previous post compared to T8s in my own garage. The LED Euri tubes are on the left of the pic, the T8s are on the right. The Euri tubes have a 240-degree light distribution, so they don't light up the ceiling quite as much, but when viewed from the side they're about the same as T8s.

 

[Big_John]

I built my current garage 16 years ago with T8 fixtures, and while I've been perfectly happy I have to say that as of now when they need replacing I'm going with LED retrofit tubes. So far, I really like them. They have a type that will work with existing T8 ballasts, OR allows you to just re-wire the 110 direct to one end of the fluourescent tube lampholders and ditch the ballast. Cost is about $11/tube, and light output is a bit higher than T8. Since you're going from T12, its to your benefit to just re-use your fixtures and re-wire the lamps for the retrofit tubes (no ballast) if the fixtures are in good shape. You can do it for about $22 per 2-tube light fixture. My preferred tube of the 2 brands I've tried is Euri, available here:
Euri ET8 LED Fluorescent Replacement Tube - 4 Foot - 20 Watt - Hybrid T8 Electronic Ballast Compatible or Ballast Bypass - DLC Qualified

These are the same 4000k (natural white, NOT "bluish" at all) as my T8 tubes.

FWIW I also have an older workshop building at my farm property that is full of failing T12 fixtures, and this is the route I'm going to take when I upgrade it for the tenant.

This looks like the way to go. I think I'm going to do this instead of new bulbs.

 

[440_Magnum]

FYI, here's a diagram of how you re-wire to bypass the ballasts. Make sure the two pins of your lampholder aren't shunted together before you do this:

http://www.clsaled.com.au/assets/u_file/images/13_09_19/ccf9bd3704.jpg

 

[polara71]

The two you see on the left are the LEDs. , the opener light is there also then everything on the right is the T5 lights. five two tube, four foot shop lights. I was surprised at the brightness of the LEDs . I also was concerned about the shade of light they were going to throw, which as you can see does not have that ridiculous bright light blue look

 

[300rag]

The two you see on the left are the LEDs. , the opener light is there also then everything on the right is the T5 lights. five two tube, four foot shop lights. I was surprised at the brightness of the LEDs . I also was concerned about the shade of light they were going to throw, which as you can see does not have that ridiculous bright light blue lookView attachment 70721

Something we haven't said here in a while....YOU SUCK!!

 

[1978 NYB]

Yep....LED's are the way to go.

Our shops are getting LED's....government electricians will take 5 years (or more) to convert all the lights at ATC. The energy savings are huge. We also have huge generator tests that run 24x7 that are hooked up to the grid so we are self-powered and saving taxpayer dollars. One of the few things we do that is truly costs saving.

 

[65sporty]

I will take some pic's of the lights in our rebuilt shop, they are led and with the white steel ceiling and walls they are super bright.

 

[300rag]

I won't retrofit LEDs until I can get 35K colour. I still find 4000 a little too harsh.