Fluorescent lights (T8) burned out??

[chazzz]

I have a pair of fluorescent shop lights (T8) in my garage. I replaced the tubes (Philip ALTO light bulb tubes) about two years ago. Now they're burned out??

I think it has something to do with extreme heat, approximately 100-120 degrees in summer (and approximately 40 degrees in the winter time).

Is that normal for these fluorescent light tubes go bad after approximately 2 years?

I am thinking about replacing shop lights to LED, so I won't have to deal with fluorescent lights anymore. Will LED light withstand in extreme heat & cold temperatures?

Your suggestions & advice would be great... thanks

 

[Phantomd]

2 years is short. I just did a huge 400+ bulb LED retrofit at work. CRI is kinda low at 81 or so but I don't expect to touch the fixtures for another 5 years. The power company paid us $4 a bulb to install too. (commercial rebate)
Not sure how they would hold up in temps that high. It's always hotter at the ceiling too.

 

[gungatim]

I used these expensive LED's in my shop. they cost me like $26 ea x8, and they only last around 8 months before they start strobing and eventually die. I took a few apart and the circuit board is burned where the transformer mounts...after replacing them all twice over the past year or two, I gave up and went to the 4' tube style like in my woodshop from HF(which have been going for 4 years now with none dying).

I don't know if it's heat or just bad components but I do not recommend them at all...they are super bright though, just don't last.

 

[NUTTSGT]

Chazzz,

I've moved this to the Lighting&Electrical Section to get better answers.

When I had T12s I was going through at a fairly fast rate, faster than what i thought I should. I started writing an install date with a Sharpie to keep track. I got a few months out of some. I attributed it to the old fixtures themselves.

When I started my garage refurb, out came those and I switched to new T8 fixtures. They were strip lights and I added a 3/4" plywood block between the fixture and ceiling. This allows any heat to dissipate generated by the ballast/bulbs. I learned my lesson from a co-worker that installed the T12 HO 8' fixtures in the station bay. He didn't use the included stand-offs. The fixtures would get hot, shut off and come back on when they cooled down.

I have since switched to LEDs replacements in the T8 fixtures. A couple of bulbs have died and I replaced 1 ballast in the 10+ years old fixtures.

The cold doesn't affect my LEDs and hottest if gets is in the mid eighties.

I would switch to LEDs. Make sure you get the color of your choice and keep them all the same.