Drop Ceiling Lights

[JamieK]

Flourescent lights for drop ceilings occasionally pop up on CL, at pretty decent prices. Most have been removed from offices and stores. Can they be used or installed with a finished ceiling? Would they attach directly to the ceiling or need to hang down. Or are they just not worth it unless I install a drop ceiling?

 

[Charles (in GA)]

Don't waste your money. Most are older T12 lamp units with magnetic ballast (think 'humming" all the time) and are not great sources of light, usually designed to break up and disturb the light so as to be more pleasant at the cost of losing some light output. Other issue is that many are designed to be open on the top surface for cooling and cannot have insulation on top or be mounted directly to a surface.

Charles

 

[offroadsteve]

I'd agree with Charles, not worth the money, even if you have a drop ceiling. There are folks that have used them successfully however... so to each his own.

If you do decide to go that route, make sure the ballasts have a 120V input. Most of those commercial units are deisgned for 277V (phase to ground voltage of a 480V system), so you'd be out of luck installing those in a residental garage.