8' T5HO fixtures at HomeDepo - Anyone using them

Charles (in GA) · Sep 30, 2011

W-Cummins said:
Charles can you verify if the ballast in that fixture is the same as listed in the link above ie. a
Sylvania Quicktronic 49160

Thanks William....

Its a switchable ballast, with two power inputs and one neutral. One is the main hot, and the second hot can either be wire nutted to the first so that all four bulbs come on at once, or can be powered separately so you can just turn on two bulbs (one on each end of the fixture from looking at the wiring), or all four. Wire a whole shop with these and you can turn on the fixtures at half brilliance or full bright, with two switches and a extra run of wire.

Link you gave was an administrative link......... THIS ONE should work better.

Charles

W-Cummins · Oct 1, 2011

Thanks Charles, That's just the information/conformation I was looking for! At the price of the fixtures from HD I think I will get 3 of them and gut them for the ballasts and the bulb sockets. I need to make a 6' fixture for my fish tank and could use 8 bulbs in that. With the switching of the ballasts I could even simulate a sun rise/sun set. I also want to make a 4' 4 bulb fixture to replace the 2 500wt Halogen T3 Quartz fixtures on my bead blast cab. That fixture will have about the same Lumens as the 2 500 wt setup, and I think I would like it better, less heat and longer life, plus lower operating costs..

William...

buzz4041 · Oct 1, 2011

I did not see any body mention the buzzing sound that comes from the 8 foot fixture. Do these newer fixtures overcome that ? I quit using 8 footers years ago due to the noise.

DeuceDude · Oct 1, 2011

NO buzzing here !!!

Charles (in GA) · Oct 1, 2011

buzz4041 said:
I did not see any body mention the buzzing sound that comes from the 8 foot fixture. Do these newer fixtures overcome that ? I quit using 8 footers years ago due to the noise.

Nature of the beast. Magnetic ballast are going to cause buzzing in the light fixture, electronic ballast don't have any windings or anything else to cause 60 Hz magnetic resonance/vibration/buzzing. They are silent.

Charles

Charles (in GA) · Oct 5, 2011

Well, I didn't wait till winter to install the second light............. Bought a fixture and bulbs and replaced the one to the left in the pics above in post #39. They (both fixtures, all 8 bulbs) use 4.0 amps on 120v and this is the exact same draw as one of my 400 watt MH lamps I installed in '08 (has it really been THAT long?). They put out enough light that for all except detail work, I can have both workbench lights on and I can turn on just the middle row of MH lights in the shop and have enough light to work with. Someday, when I'm rich, I'll swap the MH lamps for 8 bulb T5HO fixtures with wide spread lighting and lots of uplight.

Anyhow, walking by the lights this evening, I wondered........... HOW HOT? so I grabbed a step stool and reached up and put my hand on one.........

I quickly felt like the village idiot as he picked up the horse shoe just out of the blacksmiths forge and flung it up in the air........ "horseshoe was hot wasn't it?" asked the blacksmith....... "no, it just don't take me long to look at a horse shoe" replied the village idiot.

Anyhow, It was about 60F in the shop this evening, cooled off quickly when the sun went down, as the shop was opened both ends and the ceiling fans running till way too late. I got out my multimeter with built in IR non-contact temp and held close to the bulb (it gets a 1" spot at 8") the meter read 157F. I used the Alumel/Chromel type K probe and plugged it in and it showed mid 30's temp so I have to assume it is off by 25-30 degrees. I clipped it to the bulb with a plastic alligator clip and after a few minutes it had settled at 127F, which if you correct for how low it was reading, is real close to the IR reading.

I think that any concern about these lamps getting below their optimum operating temperature in a cool, or even a cold shop, it "much ado about nothing" as Shakespeare would say.

Charles

litljay · Oct 6, 2011

Good to hear that you like them.

We recently installed 42 4-lamp 4 foot T5HO fixtures at work (Lithonia). Within a month, we were burning bulbs like crazy. Our source contacted their rep and come to find out they were all wired wrong from the factory :shocking:

.

We will be receiving replacements shortly. They also don't want the old one's back :thumbup:

So, our electrician is going to grab 4 and re-wire them for me. My garage will be lit nicely for free.

billyjk7 · Oct 10, 2011

dave67fd said:
First off, how many fixtures are you looking to purchase? how big is your shop?

Ok if your only needing a couple of these T5 fixtures OR if cost is of no concern.

Costs are average of the HD item in question compared to my cost for the units i purchased.

Of course we can see the T5's are fairly brighter than the T8's and you could in essence use 6 T5 fixtures at a cost of $588 compared to 10 T8 fixtures at a cost of $530. BUT you only get 16 watts more for $58. Of course if you factor in the cost of bulb replacement in the next 15-20yrs the T5's clearly loose. I have 10 of the T8's in a ~1000sq/ft area at 10' and trust me it's nearly blinding.

T5's
WATTAGE= 216 WATTS (4@54W)
T5 4 BULB FIXTURE= ~$70
T5 BULB, EACH= ~$7
TOTAL= $98

T8's
WATTAGE=128 WATTS (4@32W)
T8 4 BULB FIXTURE= ~$45
T8 BULB EACH= ~$2
TOTAL= $53

PRICE DIFFERENCE- $45 (EACH FIXTURE WITH BULBS)

Now purchase 10 of the T5's thats $980
and $530 for the T8's

T5 x 10 total wattage is 2160 watts.
T8 x 10 total wattage is 1280 watts

T5 x 6 fixtures= $588=1296 watts
T8 x 10 fixtures= $530=1280 watts

do you have the 4 footers or the 8 footers? any pictures? My garage is about 400 sq ft larger and am needing to get my lights soon. Thanks in advance for the info!

Charles (in GA) · Jan 3, 2012

Was measuring temps of my waste oil furnace flue pipe today, and thought I'd measure the temp of the T5HO fixtures also, as I was standing on the workbench right next to the light.

Measured the top side of the fixture, holding the IR "gun" close as it has a 8 to 1 ratio (measures a 1" circle at 8" distance). The light had been on for several hours and the ambient temp in the shop was 60'ish (heater was holding the temp at no more than 64F and no less than 59F as it cycled.

Measured about 105°F on the housing, just heat from the bulbs coming thru the metal, and moved down about 18" or so to the ballast and measured 155°F on the top where the ballast is secured inside.

Charles

RonRock · Jan 4, 2012

dave67fd said:
Scrap all that **** and go with these.

http://www.contractorlighting.com/8ft-lamp-watt-fluorescent-double-channel-strip-120277-p-176.html

Any input on these? They are 4 lamp 8 foot T-8, 32 watt. Price seems hard to beat. I'm lighting my pole barn that takes a while to warm up in the Iowa winter. From what I have read the T-8's are better in cold conditions than T-5's. My biggest concern with the fixtures linked is the wattage, seems on the low side, therefore not as much light output. Is this correct?

Any better suggestions?

PsRumors · Jan 4, 2012

I think the T8 fixtures at Home Depot are $39.

Highbeam · Jan 12, 2012

Yes, 40$ same at Lowes for 8' t8 fixtures.

rburke65 · Jan 27, 2012

Yes, less expense at HD or Lowes.

Charles (in GA) · Jan 27, 2012

RonRock said:
Any input on these? They are 4 lamp 8 foot T-8, 32 watt. Price seems hard to beat. I'm lighting my pole barn that takes a while to warm up in the Iowa winter. From what I have read the T-8's are better in cold conditions than T-5's. My biggest concern with the fixtures linked is the wattage, seems on the low side, therefore not as much light output. Is this correct?

Any better suggestions?

It isn't just wattage, its Lumens of light output, Thats the deciding factor. Indeed the standard T8 will not put out as much as a HO T5 will. For comparison a standard T5 (not HO) is a 28 watt bulb.

These are all "4 ft" bulbs (except the T8HO see below) (T5's are made shorter so they cannot be installed in T8/T12 fixtures.)

T5 (NOT HO) 28W 4100K 2900 Lumens.... 103.5 lumens per watt
T8 (NOT HO) 32W 4100K 2800 Lumens.... 87.5 lumens per watt

T5HO 54W 4100K 4750 Lumens.... 87.9 lumens per watt
T8HO The only true T8HO are single 8 ft bulbs at 96w and 8200 Lumen so if we split this in half for comparisons sake, we get..................

48w and 4100 lumen..... 85.4 lumen per watt

So technically, a standard T5 is your best bang for the watt......... EXCEPT..... look at the total number of fixtures you would have to install to get the desired lumens, and the total number of bulbs needed, and the price of the total installation (wiring, boxes, etc) and its not as near a good deal as your HO fixtures.

Charles

jdaallen · Jan 27, 2012

I went with T5 and love them. Used direct/indirect fixtures which uses the ceiling to reflect light evenly. Also allowed doors to raise above lights so no shadows when doors are up.

GR14 · Jan 30, 2012

When I search for bulbs for these fixtures, I find 54wT5 bulbs in 45.2", 46", and 48". Am I correct in thinking that I need the 46" bulbs?

Charles (in GA) · Jan 30, 2012

I think they are all describing the same thing. T5's are shorter than T12/T8 to (I think) make the bulb impossible to install in an older fixture. Problem is, everyone knows them as "4 foot" when they are not actually 4 ft long.

A 54w T5 only comes in one length. Phillips in this leaflet on the 6500K T5HO lists the length as 1149 mm face to face, not counting the pin length. That translates to 45.2 inches. If you measure the overall length Phillips says it is 1163.3 mm which is 45.8 inches, which most people would round to 46 inches. Generically, this is a "4 foot" or "48 inch" bulb, even though it isn't that long.

Charles

58impala · Mar 4, 2012

I'm currently building a 30'x30' 2 car garage/woodshop, with 10' ceilings. I was in Home Depot yesterday and saw the TZR254T5HO. I like the smaller profile of this light and am thinking about using it in my shop. I have been using a online tool to help me determine my lighting layout. Here's the link to the tool:

http://www.visual-3d.com/tools/interior/default.aspx?id=26786

I have not been able to find this particular light in the Lithonia catalog when using the tool. The ones I have found are 4' x 2 bulbs rather than the 8' x 4 bulbs. Has anyone found this light when using the tool? I'm thinking I will need 6 of these 8'x4 bulb strip lights for my shop but would like to confirm.

Thanks all for your help.

Mike

Charles (in GA) · Mar 4, 2012

Just use the 4 ft 2 bulb version in the software and if it says use 12, then use 6 of the 4 bulb version. It won't be perfect, but it will be close.

I suspect 6 ea of the 4 bulb strips will work OK in a 30x30 area.

Charles

58impala · Mar 5, 2012

Thanks Charles.

I used the "Z 2 54T5HO" industrial strip light in the tool for my calculations. The tool calculates a total of 12 (6 - 8' strips) of the 2 lamp x 4' lights for an illuminance of 100. I'm now thinking this might be too bright. I might need to post a warning sunglasses required before entering my shop.

Are these lights too hot to surface mount with a j-box?

Thanks

Mike

Charles (in GA) · Mar 5, 2012

58impala said:
Thanks Charles.

I used the "Z 2 54T5HO" industrial strip light in the tool for my calculations. The tool calculates a total of 12 (6 - 8' strips) of the 2 lamp x 4' lights for an illuminance of 100. I'm now thinking this might be too bright. I might need to post a warning sunglasses required before entering my shop.

Are these lights too hot to surface mount with a j-box?

Thanks

Mike

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?p=1990831#post1990831

Above link is the post where I measured the temps of the ones I have. They do get hot, but I think are approved for surface mount. Personally, I'd use spacer blocks to get ½ to 1" off the surface to allow for a little cooling.

You could wire a pull chain switch on all or some of them to cut off half the bulbs, as the wiring diagram on the ballast shows how to do this.

S1 would be your wall switch. S2 would be the pull chain switch, just drill a hole in the end or side of the fixture in a place where you have room for the switch inside and wire it in as shown.

Charles

terryman · Apr 13, 2012

Husband had worked for decades in body shops with lousy lighting, then he saw these bright fluorescents. He is now retired, eyesight needs lots of light, and had to have these for his home garage shop. Ten-foot ceilings, installed against ceiling, throws great light. Units are two 4’ sections, assembled to make 8’ fixture, use 4 HIGH OUTPUT bulbs (54W F54T5/841/HO - extra bright) per unit. Note that yesterday (4/2012 – 50 degree temp.) one of the 4’ sections shut down on its own, came back on, then shut down again. He rotated bulbs to see if it made a difference being mixed; but it did not. Suspect ballast going bad; taking back to Home Depot store for replacement, not quite 90 days. Installed 2/2012 in very cold Michigan weather, worked well in cold. Hope these ballasts are not a problem in future. Thanks for the info here, hard copy to “garage file.”

powerhound · Apr 24, 2012

I used this calculator and put in my specs of 40 x 40 with 12' height.
http://www.visual-3d.com/tools/interior/default.aspx?id=26786

It auto populated the 2.5' workplane and I figured 4' might be better, but I left it anyhow. The only value that I don't understand is the
illuminance 30 fc
How many lumens is that? I'm shooting for bright working area in my shop and trying to figure out how many 8' long 2 bulb T5 HO's I'll need.

BJ42LX · Aug 5, 2012

Any updates on the T5 fixtures after winter season of use?

How is the cold-weather performance?

I'm interested in the T5 fixtures myself after being unimpressed (and a little confused) by the T8 offerings at Home Depot. The T5 are so much brighter on display in the store. But I agree that's a controlled environment where my garage goes 0-100F in the course of a year.

On a side note, next time you're looking at the fixtures in Home Depot, look away from the display for a moment and look up at the ceiling. The lights HD use in-store are much brighter than anything on display, except possibly the T5 HO. My local supermarket uses T5 HO - there again in a temp controlled environment.

fordguy_78 · Aug 5, 2012

The lights Home depot use are going to be usually 4 to 6 lamp T-5ho high bays with a reflector, there about twice the price of t-5ho there selling.

Charles (in GA) · Aug 5, 2012

fordguy_78 said:
The lights Home depot use are going to be usually 4 to 6 lamp T-5ho high bays with a reflector, there about twice the price of t-5ho there selling.

My local HD and Lowes both have 6 lamp T8's. If they had T5HO's the output per bulb is the same as that on display. Most likely a 4000K lamp, that seems to be the most popular (easiest one to find in the stores).

Charles

Rob_b · Aug 5, 2012

I used to be in the sign business and used MANY T12DHO in all weather conditions (-30C to +35C) and these lamps always work, regardless of temps. I have 2-48" lamps in my garage that is unheated and these things fire up every time. I have had them in there for nearly 20yrs and have yet to replace a ballast...lamps yes, but that's normal. Go ahead and source the T5HO for the high price they want or get something that is plentiful and cheap. Its just my opinion

bglad · Aug 25, 2013

Just finished reading this thread and now I'm more confused then ever. Still not sure which to go with, T5 or T8, considering that I'm in a cold climate. My garage will probalbly not see more than 50 to 55 degrees and most of the time not be heated at all.

bglad · Aug 25, 2013

Charles, just reading your thread. How did the T5's perform in the cold?

Charles (in GA) · Aug 25, 2013

In near freezing temps they start right up, but tend to flicker or vary in brilliance somewhat for a short period and then stabilize. Nothing wild, just enough to notice. They heat up and perform normally and put out as much light as ever. However, I haven't tried them in temps much below freezing and will probably not get the chance, now that the shop is heated.

Charles

soapii · Aug 25, 2013

Charles (in GA) said:
My local HD and Lowes both have 6 lamp T8's.

I have those fixtures in my attached and detached garage, I love them.

I use 6500K bulbs and it's like an operating room. Zero noise from the ballasts and they fire right up in the winter.

Fixture.......
http://www.homedepot.com/p/t/202193...d=10053&N=5yc1vZbvnq&R=202193185#.UhqYHD_hcy0

Bulbs......
http://www.homedepot.com/p/t/100476...053&N=5yc1vZbm3zZ15b&R=100476644#.UhqYKD_hcy0

--Joe

Nestor · Aug 25, 2013

bglad said:
Just finished reading this thread and now I'm more confused then ever. Still not sure which to go with, T5 or T8, considering that I'm in a cold climate. My garage will probalbly not see more than 50 to 55 degrees and most of the time not be heated at all.

It's all about the ballast.

bglad · Aug 26, 2013

Looks like I'm going with the T5's. Not quite sure about the bulbs though, the daylight ones seem like those bright white headlights on cars. What is below that but not as low as cool white?

Charles (in GA) · Aug 26, 2013

bglad said:
Looks like I'm going with the T5's. Not quite sure about the bulbs though, the daylight ones seem like those bright white headlights on cars. What is below that but not as low as cool white?

The most commonly found T5HO 54watt bulb I have found is the 4100K bulb. That is cool white. It is about as low as you can go in the Kelvin range and not have a soft white.

From Home Depot web site: Philips 54-Watt 46 in. T5 HO High Output Cool White (4100K) Linear Fluorescent Light Bulb (15-Pack)
Model # 414193 Internet # 203315033

They also sell the bulbs individually and the Phillips bulbs will be marked F54T5/841 HO. The 41 in the number is the 4100K. If the bulbs are the bright bluish white, they will have a 65 in that space, meaning 6500K. The Daylight bulb is 5000K and should not have the bluish cast to it. I have had good luck with the 4100K

Charles

bglad · Aug 28, 2013

Thanks Charles. Looks like I'm going to go with the T5's. I read in another thread a ways back where someone used 500w CFL's with reflectors. It was more cost efficient but just too many shadows. The daylight bulbs were a bit to intense so I guess the cool whites are what I'm looking for. Now to shop around for the best price and I know the bulbs are rather expensive.

wark67 · Aug 28, 2013

I too bought 14 T5 HO fixtures from HD, and will be installing them in my 26x48 garage with 12' walls. I bought the lamps from 1000 Bulbs on the internet. The lamps were quite a bit cheaper there, than from any box store.

5mall5nail5 · Aug 28, 2013

Hey guys - these sound great for my garage. I want to pick them up. Do they come in a ~4' long package or a ~8' long package?

MDJames · Aug 28, 2013

5mall5nail5 said:
Hey guys - these sound great for my garage. I want to pick them up. Do they come in a ~4' long package or a ~8' long package?

I just installed this as well. The package is 8 feet in length.

5mall5nail5 · Aug 28, 2013

MDJames said:
I just installed this as well. The package is 8 feet in length.

Ouch. Thats quite long lol. Can they be separated as 2 4' fixtures or are they fixed 8' in length?

Charles (in GA) · Aug 28, 2013

Its a single fixture. You can buy, but I don't think HD carries, all varieties of T5HO fixtures, including 4 ft 2 bulb/4 bulb/6 bulb/8 bulb, plain ones, fancy ones, explosion proof, all kinds. You will have to go an electrical supply house to find most varieties. HD does carry some 4 ft T5 but not the HO variety. HO is 54 watts per bulb, while plain T5 is 28 watts per fixture. You don't get near the light from the non-HO variety.

Charles

8' T5HO fixtures at HomeDepo - Anyone using them

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