Do you keep spare 4 ft. T8 LED lamps?

[terrier]

I have a 24x48 foot shop with 9 foot ceilings. I have ordered 24 new Maxlite 2 tube direct wired fixtures that I will be installing. I am getting ready to order 18W LED tubes that I will use in these fixtures.

If I buy the tubes in case quantity (30 lamps) the cost is reduced. If I order 2 cases then I will have 12 tubes that will be "spares". The tubes are rated for 50,000 hour life. I don't really expect to get that much life out of the tubes but at the amount that I will use the lights, that means they theoretically may last as long as 15 years.

So the question is should I order the full 2 cases and have the spares sitting around that I have to store, etc? Or should I just order the number that I need? What kind of failure rates are folks that are using T8 direct wired LED tubes actually experiencing?

 

[nadogail]

With the predicted service life of LED lamps, and their ever decreasing costs, IMHO your capital would be better invested in something else.

 

[38 Dodge Coupe]

Being a person who believes in having spares on hand, I would normally agree that you should order extra. However I agree with nadogail in this case. I changed out the lighting in my garage to t-8 lamps over four years ago and they are still going strong. So the spares are stored in the attic.

 

[mike93lx]

I would not keep spares. If one or two fail prematurely it isn't like you won't have any lighting..
Buy what you need or convince a buddy to buy in at the same time

 

[driftpin]

In two small garages, I have 8 of the FEIT 4 ft 'two-bulb' LED fixtures. I bought one extra as a spare, should one give problems. None yet.

 

[terrier]

Thanks for the feedback.

I ended up just ordering what I need for the installation.

 

[theoldwizard1]

Fistures built with LED "tubes" are not tubes at all ! A strip of LEDs is fastened to a piece of stiff plastic. It is then inserted into a frosted plastic tube. Cap are glued on the ends after wires snake their way out. No "pins" on the end. The wires go straight to the power supply (NOT a ballast).

The LED tubes meant to go into old fashion fluorescent lights are different.

 

[mike93lx]

Fistures built with LED "tubes" are not tubes at all ! A strip of LEDs is fastened to a piece of stiff plastic. It is then inserted into a frosted plastic tube. Cap are glued on the ends after wires snake their way out. No "pins" on the end. The wires go straight to the power supply (NOT a ballast).

The LED tubes meant to go into old fashion fluorescent lights are different.

In what way is this helpful? It seems pretty obvious he is buying fixtures that use tubes and skip the ballast (direct wire)

 

[The Cobbler]

So many people have this vision of LED lasting their lifetime... NOT going to happen.
Seen several failed after just a few years . spares are good to have IMHO

 

[Jking24]

i bought essentially enough to last me a life time the Quant break was worth it and I'm a stickler for things matching so a fixture with a slightly different temperature would erk me more than the cost of the bulbs lol

 

[yatg]

So the question is should I order the full 2 cases and have the spares sitting around that I have to store, etc? Or should I just order the number that I need? What kind of failure rates are folks that are using T8 direct wired LED tubes actually experiencing?

I would have bought the two cases.
Its nice to have matching spares, but by the time you need them the original tubes may have dimmed so they won't exactly match. Easily remedied by doing some tube swapping. The spares could also be used up by adding extra task lighting over benches, tools, etc. Tubes in their original box are easy to store in the rafters/attic/etc.

 

[sparky 1971]

Fistures built with LED "tubes" are not tubes at all ! A strip of LEDs is fastened to a piece of stiff plastic. It is then inserted into a frosted plastic tube. Cap are glued on the ends after wires snake their way out. No "pins" on the end. The wires go straight to the power supply (NOT a ballast).

The LED tubes meant to go into old fashion fluorescent lights are different.

That doesn't have much to do with this thread since the fixtures in question use tubes.

I don't trust anything, so I would have a couple extra tubes. If you do have a tube fail after the warranty is up, the cost of shipping for a replacement tube will probably cost about as much as just buying one now.

I always leave a couple extra after I do an install. I figure it's a lot better than having to go back if a tube were to quit. I don't know of any that have failed, I have installed well over 1000. But...nothing lasts forever.

 

[dave*99]

Fistures built with LED "tubes" are not tubes at all ! A strip of LEDs is fastened to a piece of stiff plastic. It is then inserted into a frosted plastic tube. Cap are glued on the ends after wires snake their way out. No "pins" on the end. The wires go straight to the power supply (NOT a ballast).

The LED tubes meant to go into old fashion fluorescent lights are different.

Didn’t read the original post?

 

[tonyciambrone]

I have a few hundred direct wire T8 LED's in service. Put in about two years ago, no failures as of yet.

So as long as you buy decent tubes I say there is no reason to get extras.

 

[PassnThru]

I did a mass replace of 40 tubes for LEDs (ballast bypass) and ended up with the exact number I needed due to two broken tubes.
I intend to pick up a four pack or so of the same bulbs so that if I do have a failure then I have the exact replacement. It's about the K rating. Since I have mostly 4 bulb fixtures with a few two bulb fixtures I don't want the visible difference that can occur between two different vendors '5K' bulbs.
Problem is, I can't catch them on Amazon when they aren't sold out. I'll put them on my wish list and not order them immediately and then when I make another order they are out.
I'm not waiting the next time.

 

[rburke65]

Yes, I have a box Of T8s that I bought when an auto parts store closed. Brand new in the box...24 I think....$10

 

[DHCrocks]

a couple of spares is good to have on hand so you know the bulbs will match in color/CRI, but not a bunch of them. But I have made this mistake in the past. When I put up my 9-T8 fixtures 15 years ago, I bought an extra box of T-8 bulbs. Over that time I have replaced only 4 or so bulbs. I just recently did the conversion to LED so that box of extras is just waste. At the rate that lighting is improving by the time your bulbs need replacing it will be far surpassed by the newest and greatest lighting and you will want to upgrade anyways. Besides, LEDs are getting cheaper every year so why invest your todays dollar in something that may or may not be even needed.

 

[PhantomEB]

I was just at my buddies new garage for the first time. He was talking LED fixtures for the garage to get more light out of the 4 little bulbs he’s running now. Then his wife showed me the kitchen reno they doing now, I told him take those fluorescent lights from the kitchen and upgrade them to LED all the while using the kitchen lights in the garage until they burn out. No need to have more than 1-2 bulbs kicking around when Home Depot is 15 min away!

 

[theoldwizard1]

It seems pretty obvious ...

Nothing is ever "obvious" !

 

[reader2580]

I have had four Cree LED 60W regular light bulbs bought in 2014 fail so far. Cree has replaced them all with no receipt or hassle. I have moved bulbs around to have matching ones in same fixture.

None of my ballast bypass tubes have failed yet, but they are under two years old.

 

[Crazyjake8493]

The only reason I have a few spares is because I ordered a large case and had more bulbs than fixtures. Mine are type-B ballast bypass bulbs, so if I ever come across an old T12 fixture for free I might just stick them in that to use them up.

 

[jkeyser14]

Yes, I keep spares of everything.