stick with T12HO? or go T8?

[GophersGarage]

so In my shop I had 4" T8 lights (12 of them). but not very bright so over time in the 2 years I changed to 8ft T12HO.

now I noticed after 1.5 years the ballast are slowly failing. so wondering if I should stick with t12 or nows the time to slowly change to t8.
the t12 are $79 Cnd each vs the T8 are around $49

 

[Dick in Wisconsin]

Is it time to go with LEDs?

 

[braidmeister]

LED or T5.

Compare the lumen per dollar ratio. If you go T8 or T5 get the 5000K 'sunshine' bulbs. Makes a big difference.

 

[Boilerhouse]

You went from T8 to T 12 and now considering going back to T8's? T12's are old technology. The light output of T8's with electronic ballast generally fades at 30,000 hours. Light output of T12's with magnetic ballast fade around 10,000 hours. When comparing lighting output, T8's are more efficient, I believe they use about 1/2 the energy of a T12. LED's use about 1/2 the energy of a T8. There are LED bulbs which can directly replace T8 bulbs without any need to disconnect the ballast.

 

[GophersGarage]

I went 4 foot t8's to 8 foot t12.

I didnt know much from lighting just what store helper told me.

so now moving forward like to continue with something 8foot to spread out lights but need to decide whats best. LEDis great but I never seen 8foot at lowes etc

 

[Norcal]

T12 HO's are great in cold areas but are a dated light source, if they are on for long periods of time it will pay to consider LED's, I have some T12 HO fixtures in my shop & back room, if they are left on because forgot to turn them off it will cost $$ in a hurry, retrofitted a couple of them to F96T8/HO & I like them but my material cost is $7.00 a fixture, (ballast +2-lamps) which is pretty hard to replicate at that price & is still a old technology light source compared to LED.

 

[DieselNut88]

T5 or LED. Much improvement over T12. In the U.S T12's are being phased out and are getting harder to find. LED's are such great quality now there is no reason not to switch to them other than maybe cost.

 

[GophersGarage]

thanks for helping me guys I really want to do this right. because I am tired of spending over and over again.

when you guys say to LED are we talking about keeping my current t12 housing and removing the ballast and adding some sort of adapters to the ends and fitting led tubes?

when I did a random search i noticed something like this. which would be very handy I don't have to remove all my current housings etc

 

[bigcow94]

thanks for helping me guys I really want to do this right. because I am tired of spending over and over again.

when you guys say to LED are we talking about keeping my current t12 housing and removing the ballast and adding some sort of adapters to the ends and fitting led tubes?

when I did a random search i noticed something like this. which would be very handy I don't have to remove all my current housings etc

You can convert almost any fixture to led. Simply remove the ballast completely, wire one side of your fixture to hot and the other side to neutral. A few years ago we had trouble finding 8' led bulbs. Manufacturers have really come a long ways in a short time. We're getting our bulbs from a local supplier for roughly 18-20 dollars a bulb for 4' ones

he who laughs last, thinks slowest

 

[GophersGarage]

I just checked a you tube vid on it very easy. I will go LED big questions is finding the parts. home depo? lowes?

 

[bigredmf]

Ebay!


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[American Locomotive]

For what it's worth, 8 foot T8HO bulbs will drop right into your fixtures with just a ballast change.

 

[quititman]

T12 HO's are great in cold areas but are a dated light source, if they are on for long periods of time it will pay to consider LED's, I have some T12 HO fixtures in my shop & back room, if they are left on because forgot to turn them off it will cost $$ in a hurry, retrofitted a couple of them to F96T8/HO & I like them but my material cost is $7.00 a fixture, (ballast +2-lamps) which is pretty hard to replicate at that price & is still a old technology light source compared to LED.

Hey Norcal, Where do you get 2-8' lamps and a ballast for $7.00? Do you have to change the sockets?
Thanks

 

[ForceFed70]

Definitely ditch the T12's.

T5's are great, but I find that the cost vs T8 isn't worth the small improvement in efficiency.

LEDs are another option, make sure you buy decent fixtures tho and be prepared to pay for them.

 

[jkeyser14]

You went from T8 to T 12 and now considering going back to T8's? T12's are old technology. The light output of T8's with electronic ballast generally fades at 30,000 hours. Light output of T12's with magnetic ballast fade around 10,000 hours. When comparing lighting output, T8's are more efficient, I believe they use about 1/2 the energy of a T12. LED's use about 1/2 the energy of a T8. There are LED bulbs which can directly replace T8 bulbs without any need to disconnect the ballast.

Not true. T8 bulbs and LEDs both sit around 100 lumens per watt.

 

[American Locomotive]

However, unless you have high performance mirrored fixtures, you lose a significant amount of your light with flourescent.

 

[mobilus]

Hey Norcal, Where do you get 2-8' lamps and a ballast for $7.00? Do you have to change the sockets?
Thanks

I bought mine at Amazon (Prime) for 89.50/ten. Easy change.

Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk

 

[mobilus]

I bought mine at Amazon (Prime) for 89.50/ten. Easy change.

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Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk

 

[braidmeister]

I had 8' T12s in the shop...Those got yanked and replaced with T8 5000K bulbs. You can pretty much do surgery in there now.

I run T5s in the basement because they fit tighter to the ceiling & the light is also very good. Again 5000K bulbs...because nobody likes 'office' light.

 

[Norcal]

Hey Norcal, Where do you get 2-8' lamps and a ballast for $7.00? Do you have to change the sockets?
Thanks

Habitat for Humanity ReStore, someone donated NIB fixtures at the local one, the lamps were $1.00 ea in Sacramento, they use the same recessed double contact tombstone lamp holders but elected to keep the new lampholders.

I bought mine at Amazon (Prime) for 89.50/ten. Easy change.

Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk

Not even close to the same lamps/ ballasts as T8HO.

 

[mikhett]

I ran 12 4 foot LEDS in my 32X32 shop.VERY BRIGHT! Im happy.Got them at HD paid 40.00a piece.There called "Commercial electric" brand.

 

[vision8]

Buying electrical lamps in the US versus Canada is like comparing apples to oranges !
Cdn $ at 0.75 of a US Buck !
I bought my T8's at TSC on a Midnight Madness Sale for $ 14.00 Cdn and the bulbs twin pack for $ 4.99 .
Best price for LED four foot fixtures , last I saw were in the $ 56.00 range plus bulbs .
Fourteen lights spread out two to each 30 x 12 bay ; Four lights plus Six lights in the Hoist Bay on two circuits ; for a 16 foot ceiling with a white insulation as the reflection surface .
All used as required in each bay .
These were a purchase two years ago but still will take a long time to justify the LED $$$$$.

 

[cybrdyke]

Not true. T8 bulbs and LEDs both sit around 100 lumens per watt.

Well, that's not really accurate...
The standard 2 lamp T8 system consumes 85 lumens per watt.

A typical ballast bypass LED lamp is 2000 lumens, 18 watts, so...111 LPW.
(of course in LED-land, there are thousands of variations on this).

If you dig deeper, you'll find that the typical fluorescent fixture is only about 75% efficient, meaning that 25% of the lumens never make it out. Now we're down to 64 lumens per watt.

The LED's deliver nearly all of their lumens to the target area due to their directionality. Of course, this can vary alot as well.

There's no doubt that LED is more efficient, by far.
CD

 

[Boilerhouse]

You went from T8 to T 12 and now considering going back to T8's? T12's are old technology. The light output of T8's with electronic ballast generally fades at 30,000 hours. Light output of T12's with magnetic ballast fade around 10,000 hours. When comparing lighting output, T8's are more efficient, I believe they use about 1/2 the energy of a T12. LED's use about 1/2 the energy of a T8. There are LED bulbs which can directly replace T8 bulbs without any need to disconnect the ballast.

Not true. T8 bulbs and LEDs both sit around 100 lumens per watt.

Perhaps I should have re-worded this based on personal experience. In an office, I removed 4 x 4 ft x 32w T8 florescent bulbs and replaced them with 4 x 4 ft x 18w T8 LED bulbs. The office "brightness" was about the same and the energy consumption was roughly cut in half.

 

[cybrdyke]

Perhaps I should have re-worded this based on personal experience. In an office, I removed 4 x 4 ft x 32w T8 florescent bulbs and replaced them with 4 x 4 ft x 18w T8 LED bulbs. The office "brightness" was about the same and the energy consumption was roughly cut in half.

Nice. That's pretty typical, whether bypassing the ballast or keeping them in the system.
In retrofits, the goal is to provide the correct amount of light while reducing the energy costs. There's a couple of ways to define "correct amount". It could mean "keep the same amount we have now", or it could mean "change it to the amount (+/-) that we want", or it could mean "use guidelines provided by the IES". Most folks just want to keep what they have and use less energy.
Good job!
CD