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retro t12 8 foot led lamps opinions

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justtools

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Hi I have a bunch of t12 8 foot 110 watt HO lamp fixtures in a workshop. My issue is the bulbs and ballasts are becoming harder to come by. I am in need of a ballast for 1 of the fixtures. I was checking online and they make replacement led lamps that bypass the ballast. These are on amazon.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00SUMEGSC/?tag=atomicindus08-20

Anyone have any luck with these, They seem to have good ratings. Or does someone have a different brand they recommend? Thanks Dave
 
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cybrdyke

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Those lamps and ballasts shouldn't be hard to find. The older magnetic ballasts have been replaced by electronic versions and are still common. Search for ICN2S110 as a part number. Around here, all the electrical supply houses carry them.
If you do want to change to the lamps you listed, you'll lose a bunch of light. Your existing lamps deliver about 6000 lumens each. The LED tubes only deliver about 4400. You'll need the sockets that are provided because your existing ones wont fit the new tubes. Check to see that the new sockets will fit into the spaces that your older sockets were removed from.
Good luck
CD
 
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J

justtools

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Thanks for the reply. I was wondering about the light difference. I have replaced 2 ballasts with the new electronic versions and I seem to get less than a year out of them. The magnetic ballasts lasted over 10 years. There is some magnetic ballasts on ebay for 50 bucks. Maybe I should keep these going as long as I can.
 
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bob15

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Have you thought about dropping the T-12 altogether, remove/scrap the ballast and install direct wire T-8 LED's? You can get a kit on e-bay to replace and add tombstones to make them 4 foot lights and then buy 4' LED bulbs. I did it to 12 T-12 96" HO lights. No more hum and brighter light (my LED's are 5000k).....plus cheaper to run.

I bought this brand bulbs (they do sell an 8 foot LED, but i preferred converting over to 4 footers, more bulb choices): https://hyperikon.com/product-category/led-tubes/
 
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Gear Box

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The 5000k hyperikon are super bright here they are under the 4 post,they also do not hum.
They need a support to prevent sagging which is included from them. They do have a delay on start up 1/2 second or so. The tombstones worked in some of my older fixtures just fine. I am happy with them.
 

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J

JunkBonds

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bob15 said:
Have you thought about dropping the T-12 altogether, remove/scrap the ballast and install direct wire T-8 LED's? You can get a kit on e-bay to replace and add tombstones to make them 4 foot lights and then buy 4' LED bulbs. I did it to 12 T-12 96" HO lights. No more hum and brighter light (my LED's are 5000k).....plus cheaper to run.

I bought this brand bulbs (they do sell an 8 foot LED, but i preferred converting over to 4 footers, more bulb choices): https://hyperikon.com/product-category/led-tubes/
Click to expand...

That is what his link says he is interested in.

Me too. My 15 year old T12's have always hummed and it bugs me.
 
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American Locomotive

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As mentioned you'd have to gut the ballasts and replace the tombstones in the fixtures. That's a lot of work for what will be a net loss in light.

An easy and quick upgrade would be to swap your ballasts out in favor of T8 HO ballasts and bulbs. An 8' T8 HO bulb should be a direct drop in with just a ballast change. You'll have about the same amount of light output, with much higher light quality. You'll also be saving about 30 watts per bulb.
 
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NWOhioChevyGuy

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I just installed a set of these (however 4 footers) in a fixture that I needed to replace a ballast on. Wow they are bright.

Will have to keep an eye out for old lamps to convert over, seams like a good deal if they hold up.
 
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bob15

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American Locomotive said:
As mentioned you'd have to gut the ballasts and replace the tombstones in the fixtures. That's a lot of work for what will be a net loss in light.

An easy and quick upgrade would be to swap your ballasts out in favor of T8 HO ballasts and bulbs. An 8' T8 HO bulb should be a direct drop in with just a ballast change. You'll have about the same amount of light output, with much higher light quality. You'll also be saving about 30 watts per bulb.
Click to expand...

You can leave the ballasts in place and just snip the wires. I took the ballasts out to get the copper windings out.

It cost ten bucks per 8' light for the tombstones and the metal brackets. Why screw around with T-8's and more ballasts that can still fail?

How will the T-8's save you 30 watts over the leds? What wattage are the T-8's?
 
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cybrdyke

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bob15 said:
How will the T-8's save you 30 watts over the leds? What wattage are the T-8's?
Click to expand...

2 lamps F96T12HO with old magnetic ballast= 245 watts
2 lamps F96T8HO with new electronic ballast= 185 watts.
Comparing an older T12HO system to a new T8HO system saves 60 watts per 2 lamp fixture with comparable output. However, T8HO is a really uncommon system that never really caught onto the mainstream.
CD
 
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isb cornbinder

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I just finished doing a 28 light LED conversion in my shop. I bought my LED lights on Amazon and the brand is HYPERIKON. I am more than 100% pleased with the product. I bought 20 extra "tombstones" but every LED tube came with a "tombstone"
The shop is as bright as a sunny day. I did re-install the original light diffusers with the LED lighting. The shadowing is all but non-existent, now.
 
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67gto

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Connecticut
OK, You guys are confusing me with light output numbers, & ballast power consumption. I went to lowes & Home Depot tonight and was looking at bulbs & ballasts. Now the 8' LED bulbs I was looking at on ebay are 48 watts & put out 6,600 lumens, several different manufacturers, brands, etc. , they all advertise 48 watts/ 6,600 lumens. The standard single ****** F96T12 75 watt bulbs at Lowes & Home Depot all say 4,400 lumens on the boxes, Cool white, daylight, whatever. they are all 4,400 lumens. So by switching to the LED's I will have a brighter bulb with less power consumption. When I was there I also looked at standard electronic Ballasts. the power consumption of the ballast is 1.13 amps X 120 volts = 135.6 watts for 2 F96T12 Bulbs. If I wanted to use HO bulbs I would have to swap out all of the tombstones & buy HO ballasts. When I was there I also saw 4' LED retrofit bulbs. All of the 4' bulbs they had were 1.200 Lumens. So If I were to reconfigure the 8' fixtures for 4' LED Bulbs, I would only have 1,200 Lumens. SO when you calculate lumen output do you add all the lumens together and that gives you the total output, or the quantity of buls does not matter. Two 8' LED's at 6,600 lumens each = 13,200 lumens, or it doesnt matter how many bulbs you have, you will still have a maximum lumen output of 6,600 ???. That's why the 4 footers dont seem like an option at only 1,200 lumens.
 
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C

cybrdyke

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GTO- Yeah, it can get confusing. I'll try to help....
67gto said:
OK, You guys are confusing me with light output numbers, & ballast power consumption. I went to lowes & Home Depot tonight and was looking at bulbs & ballasts. Now the 8' LED bulbs I was looking at on ebay are 48 watts & put out 6,600 lumens, several different manufacturers, brands, etc. , they all advertise 48 watts/ 6,600 lumens.
I did a quick search on HD, Lowes and ebay and couldn't find any examples of this. Most of the 8' LED lamps I found were around 4400 lumens, which is about what they should be. Maybe you could link me to an example? The standard single ****** F96T12 75 watt bulbs at Lowes & Home Depot all say 4,400 lumens on the boxes, Cool white, daylight, whatever. they are all 4,400 lumens. So by switching to the LED's I will have a brighter bulb with less power consumption. When I was there I also looked at standard electronic Ballasts. the power consumption of the ballast is 1.13 amps X 120 volts = 135.6 watts for 2 F96T12 Bulbs. If I wanted to use HO bulbs I would have to swap out all of the tombstones & buy HO ballasts. When I was there I also saw 4' LED retrofit bulbs. All of the 4' bulbs they had were 1.200 Lumens.I did a quick search for these as well and all I found were between 1700 and 2000 lumens. 1200 lumens is way too low for a 4' tube So If I were to reconfigure the 8' fixtures for 4' LED Bulbs, I would only have 1,200 Lumens.x 4. Using standard 2000 lumen bulbs, you'd have 8000 lumens per 8ft, 4 lamp strip SO when you calculate lumen output do you add all the lumens togetheryes and that gives you the total output. Two 8' LED's at 6,600 lumens each = 13,200 lumens,yes
Click to expand...

Still, I didn't find any 6600 lumen lamps when I looked, but I only did a quick search.(and I wouldn't use them anyway, because they'd be too bright) Standard LED replacements should be around 35 watts and around 4400 lumens. That makes a 2 lamp fixture equal 70 watts and 8800 lumens.
To change to 4x4ft LED lamps, you would use about 60 watts to get around 8000 lumens. That's pretty much a wash.

Hope that helps a little.
CD
 
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