Should I buy the Home Depot/Lithonia 8' T8 strip lights?

[acillatem]

I've gone through 2 pairs of 8' T12 strip lights that have done nothing but eat bulbs in less than 6 months, and finally I went to my local Wholesale Electrical supply house and got a little education on magnetic ballasts vs. electronic, and cheap vs. good ballasts, etc., and long story short is I'm switching to a pair of 8' T8 strip lights. The wholesale place said if I wanted to save a few bucks, I could replace the magnetic ballasts in these 2 lights with electronic ballasts for about $30.00 each, and keep buying the 8' T12 bulbs, or get new strip lights with the 4 T8 lights for $55.00. The guy said the T12 bulbs are slowly being phased out.

Anyway, Home Depot has the Lithonia 8" strip lights with the 4 T8 lights for $39.95, and I noticed they have Accupro ballasts. I don't know if those are good or bad. The guy at the wholesale house said his are Cooper lights, and was pretty sure they have GE ballasts, or "Triad" I think he said, which is still GE, If I'm remembering correctly. His are $15.00 more per light fixture than the Lithonia at Home Depot, and normally I wouldn't question something like this, but money is tight, with this economy, so would I be just fine with the Home Depot/Lithonia fixtures, or should I bite the bullet and get the ones from the wholesale house?

All this started with cheaper fixtures with magnetic ballasts, so my gut feeling is just to spend the extra money, tight economy or not........it's only $30.00 for 2 lights, but what do you folks think? I learned a lot more about flourescent strip lights yesterday than I ever thought even existed, so now I'm intrigued and want to make the right decision.Any feedback greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

 

[Gary S]

Just try to find out what works for you. There is so much BS around when it comes to florescent lighting that we don't know what to believe. I put cheap T8 4' tubes with electronic ballasts in my garage from Menards. They work down to 0 degrees F, and they really work well. You can spend a lot more money than I spent, and if that works for you, then go for it.
I see endless discussion here about lights, and much of it is useless. A lot of people really need to "get a life", so they can move on and get some work done.
If you have lots of money to spend, go for the most expensive lights you can find and make sure they have a money back warranty so you can get them replaced if they don't meet your expectations. If you aren't flush with cash, try one or two lower priced lights. If they work, get more. If not, buy something else to try.
Remember that what works for someone else probably won't be right for you.

 

[acillatem]

Thanks.....I appreciate the reply. It's so much a question of what will work, it's more a matter of the quality of the ballasts in the Lithonia lights as opposed to the ones at my electrical supply house. There is a reason they are $15 less at Home Depot, and I'd like to know if it's Home Depot's buying power, or the quailty of the ballast. Sheet metal is sheet metal, so that part doesn't matter.

 

[Here2Learn]

Since the guy at the electrical supply educated you so well, how about rewarding him with your business? You can get a better product at the same time.

 

[acillatem]

Well, that's what I was thinking also,and I know it's the right thing to do, just that I'm trying to save anywhere I can these days, and If I'm comparing apples to apples, or even relatively close, $30 is $30. Under normal circumstances, like when my work wasn't slow as hell(i'm a contractor), I would have just walked out with them, but right now savings is important as well, but not if the Lithonia lights are fairly equal. Still haven't seen anyone agree or disagree with the guy at the supply house.

 

[bucs012]

I was in the same boat as you, except I was wanting 4', 4 bulb, t8 lights and wanted 17 of them. I talked to 2 Local guys and they have to order them and they wanted over $110 to $130 each! Could not really answer my question as to WHY they are better except that they are made of heavier metal..........No big PLUS for me at all. They hang from my garage ceiling. Lighter seems better No difference on warranty either AND they had to order them and it would take 2-3 weeks because it's not a NORMAL request. Most peolple want 3 bulb lights? That's what he told me.............Most are for commercial use and are HIGH BAY lights. I only have a 9 foot ceiling..............

I went with these Lithonia lights at Home Depot and every one of them fired up. No radio interference to date either. Oh, the cost? $65 each minus 5% for the bulk buy. $61.75 each.
Almost half of the cost......

http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc...splay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053

 

[mhm993]

Find my thread on "what's a day without a t8 thread" about those lithonia fixtures. They're acceptable, considering they're dirt cheap, imho.

 

[acillatem]

Find my thread on "what's a day without a t8 thread" about those lithonia fixtures. They're acceptable, considering they're dirt cheap, imho.

Thanks! Wonder how long those accupro ballasts are good for.

 

[NRChopshop]

Stick to electronic ballasts. When we service a sign, 99% of the time if the ballast is bad magnetic, we replace it with an electronic. The ONLY reason we ever swap in a new magnetic is if the sign is **** or a complete waste of time/hassle to rewire it.

They last longer, are more tolerable to climate change, and self regulate much better. The lamp life is longer and more consistant. Any issues with overheating and having tar melt out of them greatly decreases also. Ever open a light box to find tar everywhere?

 

[matt60j]

Im running the same fixtures. 4 rows of 4 end to end. Price was right! -MATT

 

[timberseal]

just installed 5 8' T12's with electron ballast from menards this week and they a bright! The box was stamped commercial grade and they were $55 each. 110 watts

 

[Costner]

Why would anyone buy T12s at this point? Isn't that sort of like buying a new HD-DVD player or a VCR?

 

[tcianci]

Why would anyone buy T12s at this point? Isn't that sort of like buying a new HD-DVD player or a VCR?

T-12 lighting is going to be a round for a while yet. If you get a good deal on them why not use them? I'm guessing there are folks here that will ditch all their T-8's when the T-5 bulbs become more popular. It's all about how much you spend to light the area.

As far as the quality of the Lithonia lights from HD vs the electrical supply house... if its cheaper there's got to be a reason. Here are a few:

You may not be getting the same break at the supply house that a regular electrician gets.

The supply house carries a higher quality product than HD

HD uses huge buying power to negotiate the deals they cut (but often have a product made to their own specifications to cut prices)

The list can go on but you get the idea...there are lots of reasons for the difference in prices. One thing that HD does do is give a pretty good description of the ballast in their lights so you have the ability to "buy up" if you want to. What you will find is that HD probably has a fixture that is acceptable for your application at your pricepoint. This could be totally different for the next guy. Some folks need to be stroked and comforted by the fact that they bought the "best" product available. Others can look at the facts and make a decision on their own as to what works for them. Although I dumped my cheapo "Lights of America" T-12 bulb-eaters for the Lithonia units from HD, I really don't care if they start down to 0 degrees...I certainly don't! They do mess up the radio though but all my garage tunes come in via the computer so it wasn't an issue for me.

 

[acillatem]

Thanks for all the replies folks! I went with the ones from my electrical supply house. I'm sure the Home Depot/ Lithonia light strips would have been fine, but I guess I have a bad taste in my mouth, because I've gone through 2 pairs of bulb eating T12 fixtures over the last 10 years or so, and wanted to do something different this time. Of course, those were magnetic ballast(magnetek) T12 fixtures, and the new ones hold 4 T8 bulbs,and of course have electronic ballasts.

Plus, like has been said, I feel confident I probably got a better ballast than the ones in the Lithonia fixtures, and like I said, the guy gave me a good education on how theses work, and the difference in bulbs, etc.......none of which I knew.

I went with the Sylvania F032/741/ECO. They're o.k. At 4100k, I don't think they are "white" enough for my taste. With my old T12 fixtures, I was using these Philips 75w Alto DX series, and they were really white, to the point of being blueish, but I like that, and maybe I'm just used to that. I might try the 5000k or even 6500k at some point. The guy said the 6500k will make things start ti look really blue, so maybe I won't go that far. It's light in my garage, but I'm partial to lights being "bright".