4’ LED’s in Canada

[PTFab]

Hi guys,

My options for bulbs in Canada seam to be a bit limiting unless I want to pay a lot of shipping and duty’s to get almost all of the options in the sticky..

Option 1
https://www.amazon.ca/gp/aw/d/B06WP...0k+frosted&dpPl=1&dpID=41Ie73Tb9iL&ref=plSrch

Option 2
https://www.amazon.ca/gp/aw/d/B00S5...0k+frosted&dpPl=1&dpID=51+WI+-WyKL&ref=plSrch

How do these options stack up? Looks like the cheaper ones have glass lenses. Any words of advise before I go ahead and buy?

 

[Doug Arthurs]

costco has some led's no retrofit required

 

[PTFab]

I live faily remote, no Costco near by.

 

[Doug Arthurs]

How about TSC. I put up some led 4 footers that TSC put on sale. I think I hung 5 or 6 units in my shop. They are plug in unit but I removed the plug and hard wired them. They are nice and bright but you have to replace the entire fixture.

 

[Platonic Solid]

Neither link provides info on beam spread angle. I'd lean towards the second link with aluminum extruded body and plastic frosted lens rather than the glass bulb. I suspect the glass bulb has wider beam spread which is usually unnecessary.

 

[GregL2015]

I got great lights from an Electrical supply company near me in Richmond Hill. I would suggest a search for an Electrical Supply shop near you. I put 9 4' up in my garage. I needed 9 because I only have an 8' ceiling so had to get lights that throw a lot of light sideways instead of down.

 

[Justind97]

Costco will deliver, usually for free.

I have both their bulb LEDs (2 pack for $20) and the 4' complete fixture ($50). The fixture is definitely the way to go. WAY more light.

If your ceilings are low and the bulbs are open and exposed, get the plastic ones.

Personally, of your two links, I would buy the cheaper one. You would have to have over $100 in cost savings over the lifetime of the bulbs for the more expensive one to make sense. I don't think that's going to happen...

 

[PTFab]

Neither link provides info on beam spread angle. I'd lean towards the second link with aluminum extruded body and plastic frosted lens rather than the glass bulb. I suspect the glass bulb has wider beam spread which is usually unnecessary.

140 degree 82 cri

https://www.hyperikon.com/led/garag...-light-tube-4ft-18w-dual-end-powered-frosted/

 

[GRB]

I spent a lot of time with my various businesses trying to optimize lighting and electrical use. I spent most of the last few decades paying more than $1000 per day to run lighting so it was a big priority.
In one building we had been using 5 offices for storage and converted them back to offices 2 years ago. Each office had 4 two bulb 4' T-12 fixtures with plastic covers.
Office 1. New Electronic T-12 ballasts and good bulbs.
Office 2. Converted to T-8 and the Sylvania 21681 that I run 996 24x7x365 in another business. We buy 1020 every 5 years for that business and replace them all, keeping the extra 24 for spares that we rarely need.
Office 3-5. Converted to LED conversions of every brand model that I could easily come up with. All direct wire, not the universal go through a ballast nonsene.
1 was fine but T-12 use more power and need bulbs replaced after 3 years 70 hour a week use to maintain light output. Very even light usable in the corners of the office. 70fc at the desk and 55fc in the corners.
2 was fantastic with 58 watts of power used for 5800 lumens for each fixture. 80fc at the desk and 68fc in the corners.
3-5 each have 20-25% outright failure after 2 years of 70 hour/week use. That is turned on once in the morning and off at night. 70fc at the desk but the corners are completely unacceptable. The LED are too directional so will match a T-12 directly under them but are basically poor depending on the use.
One office is being reconfigured for will call and will need more lighting or converted to T-8.

When you put an amp gauge on the feed and use a light meter for usability, the LED don't meet any of their claims. Basically a bunch a crappy companies that don't honor warranties and lie about every factor. I assume the commercial LED stuff does honestly represent their products but the price point makes the payback at 5 times the expected fixture life.
Most LED lighting is being judged for brightness by looking at the light in the store and determining how difficult it is to look at directly. That has nothing to do with how well they work.

I tried a few of the $20 Costco Feit LED shop lights for temp lighting in a few places. These would be great for on/off extra lighting over a workbench that is used in a home shop but after two years of 70 hour/week use in a business they are clearly half "done".

 

[PTFab]

Thank you for your input GRB,

I understand LED technology has room to grow, and it will with time. But for now even the middle of the road quality items are pretty decent. My workspaces are currently unheated and I have put up with my current t8’s simply not turning on and or warming up and flickering long enough. I don’t believe any manufactures claims with anything I buy, everything these days is disposable.

Oh any my neighbors remedy for his unheated shop with t8 lighting is to simply NEVER shut his lights off.. ALL WINTER. LOL

 

[GRB]

Well, you have me there with the cold temp starting. I thought that was mainly an issue with T-12 units with magnetic ballasts but what we call "cold" and what you call "cold" are very different.
The record cold here was 13*F set 105 years ago, which virtually destroyed the citrus industry here. We see below freezing 10-20 days a year but usually for a few hours in the early morning.