Free T50 Fixtures or LED @ $125/ea?

[FFaust]

Am building an attached garage and was planning on approx 18, 4' LED fixtures @ approx $125 each. Electrical contractor said he could get me free, 1 year old T50 fixtures that are being removed from a large commercial facility for LED upgrade.

Garage is 1750 ft. square, 12' high at the edges and 15' at center (cathedral). It will be used as a workshop/race car build.

Should I go for 'free' or spend the $2,000 for LED's?

Budget is long blown, so why stop now, lol.

 

[FFaust]

As a ref.

 

[jives]

So, save $2250 and still get relatively modern lighting in fluorescent T5 HO fixtures? That is the question? Free is better.

When LEDs become cheaper you can replace them then.

 

[Todd.Brock]

I couldn't find anything on T-50's other than on a Michigan medical marijuana site! If you mean high bay T-5 or T5HO, then I say go for it. Even though the T50 or T5 are free, say they are only going to put in 6 fixtures. What if 5 years down the road, one or all craps out and you end up changing your lighting plan. Then you may need to redo your ceiling, adding wire, boxes, etc. Just something to consider if saving 2k will just cost you time and aggravation 2 years down the road. Also- check to see the ceiling is high enough , assuming the t50 is a high bay fixture. Your ceiling are pretty tall, but just something to check so you don't regret it once drywall goes up.

 

[cybrdyke]

FFaust-
Please verify what kind of fixtures the free ones are. There is no T50.
Then we can help.
CD

 

[FFaust]

Oops sorry, yeah, T5.

Yeah, free is pretty hard to beat, so just wondering if I am missing something and if the benefit of going LED might be worth paying-up, up front.

Regarding wiring and number of boxes, I would put in enough boxes for the 4' fixtures despite the T5 being 8 footers.

 

[Av8r_Sed]

In my area there's no free way to recycle florescent tubes and it's illegal to put them in the trash. Add to that the florescents don't seem to last as long as I think they should. It makes the LED option look better if you want to avoid the disposal hassle.

 

[ard]

As a ref.

Just a thought- consider a double stud wall or other sound-control barrier on that shared wall with the home.... looks nice and tall, like the footing/piers too.

Agree- take the free, upgrade later

 

[American Locomotive]

I mean, it's not like current LED technology is leaps and bounds better than T5.

Open High-bay T5 fixtures can be around 90% efficient, and good T5-HO bulbs are around 90-100 lumens/watt. The lower power HE T5 bulbs are often over 100 lumens/watt.

Replacement T5 HO bulbs also run about $2.50 bulb and have a life span of anywhere from 20,000-40,000 hours (I've seen some T8 bulbs that claim 80,000!). All T5 bulbs have a CRI of about 85, which is better than most "garage" LED lights I've seen, which usually just have a straight 80 CRI.

Let's assume you put 1KW worth of T5 lights in your garage. $2000 will buy you 16,700 hours worth of electricity for those lights. So if you had the lights on for 20 hours/week and the equivalent LED fixtures used half the electricity (which is being very, very generous), it would take over 32 years for the LEDs to pay for themselves. And let's be honest, with the current "race to the bottom" for LED lights, they probably won't make it to even half that (granted the T5 ballasts might not either).

Even if the LEDs used no electricity at all, it would still take 16 years for them to be worth it.

 

[FFaust]

Just a thought- consider a double stud wall or other sound-control barrier on that shared wall with the home.... looks nice and tall, like the footing/piers too.

Agree- take the free, upgrade later

Thanks, lot$ of concrete with full 7' deep 10" foundation sitting on 24" footing; contractor friend wanted to make sure that the walls fell on the foundation all the way around so recommended I go with the wider foundation.

Good point about the sound control. Wall is 2" x 6" and insulated as an exterior wall, so hopefully 5.5" of Roxul is enough.

 

[cybrdyke]

Oops sorry, yeah, T5.

OK, so there's T5 and then there's T5HO (high output). Since these are 8', they're most likely T5HO. The lamp is 54 watts each, so each fixture will consume around 240 watts.
Figuring that you'll have the lights on for 3000 hours per year, and pay 10 cents for power, each one will cost you $72 per year to operate.
An LED fixture of comparable light output will burn somewhere around 70 watts (+/-). Using the same hours and rate, it will cost you around $21 to operate.
That should give you some idea of the difference.
If you think that you'll have the lights on more than 3000 hours, the difference gets even bigger.
Good luck,
CD

 

[American Locomotive]

A 70 Watt LED light will not put out the equivalent light to 240 watts of T5 HO. Even absolute best case 120 lumens/watt with 0 fixture losses, that's only 8,400 lumens.

240 Watts of T5-HO will be about 22,000 lumens, and polished reflector high-bay T5 fixtures are not less than 38% efficient.

 

[FFaust]

Thanks guys. Not sure that I understand all the numbers, but it sounds as though there is not much down side, if any, to installing the T5 fixtures provided they are good quality.

The lights will not be on for 3000 hours/year (I do have a day job), so the added cost to operate fluorescent v. led is not my main concern. Rather, I am/was wondering about brightness, quality of lighting, or any other aspect or issue. My local Home Depot does not stock the tubes, but I imagine that a more commercial-oriented shop would.

 

[cybrdyke]

Thanks guys. Not sure that I understand all the numbers, but it sounds as though there is not much down side, if any, to installing the T5 fixtures provided they are good quality.

The lights will not be on for 3000 hours/year (I do have a day job), so the added cost to operate fluorescent v. led is not my main concern. Rather, I am/was wondering about brightness, quality of lighting, or any other aspect or issue. My local Home Depot does not stock the tubes, but I imagine that a more commercial-oriented shop would.

That's the right call, IMO. Every local electrical supply house will have those bulbs. Ask for F54T5HO. You'll need to choose a color, as well. Most popular are 4100k or 5000k, with 5000k being a little blue-er. If the budget allows, either now or in the future, there are LED lamps that you can put directly into those sockets. They'll cost you about $15 each, though. They run @ 25 watts, so they'll save you a little over 50% energy.
Good luck,
Post up the pics when you're done. It looks like a nice place.
CD

 

[tfi racing]

I guess it depends how "free" the 120V ballasts you will need are going to be from your buddy,your "free" fixtures are most likely 347V...