Improving garage lighting

[wahoowad]

Hey fellas,

My 24x24 garage has industrial 8' lights that I bought used 10 years ago. They have heavy old-school cold weather ballasts in them that are starting to fail and several have been buzzing loudly for years. I'm sick of the buzzing but can't find any suitable replacements, although I have only been shopping at my local Lowes.

Replacement ballasts costs as much as replacement units so I keep shopping for new lighting, yet online reviews for 8' replacement fixtures are horrible.

I actually like the design of my existing fixtures with the large reflectors, not so much for what they might do to enhance lighting but because they keep me from clumsily hitting light bulbs. And they are already installed, wired and have 8 good bulbs! That said, any recommendations? **** it up and buy new cold weather ballasts? Any you recommend? Replace the fixtures? Again, what would you recommend?

Here you can see I have 4 of the 8' fixtures, each with 2 bulbs. I am quite satisfied with the illumination although this pic makes it look dimmer than it actually is. The 2 4' lights over my bench are OK as is.

 

[cybrdyke]

You're in a tougher spot than most others because those are T12HO lamps. The retrofit to an energy efficient lamp for your fixture would be to use an F96T8HO and a new electronic ballast (like an Advance ICN2S86) to run them. You're gonna find that those lamps and especially that ballast are fairly pricey, and that newer fixtures might be less expensive. But the good news is that all of your wiring is there and it wouldn't be too tough to do.
Just an opinion, but your ceiling is quite low for the kind of lamps that you have. Those T12HO lamps get dimmer as they age, too. New lamps will likely brighten it up quite a bit.
Good luck.
CD

 

[pattenp]

I have the T12HO 8' lamp fixtures and replaced the magnetic ballast with electronic ballast. I got the ballast at Home Depot. No more buzzing.

http://www.homedepot.com/p/GE-120-t...-Lamp-T12-Fluorescent-Fixture-66813/202190063




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[kd3pc]

I'm with Patten on this one, keep your fixtures, replace the ballast. An electrical supply house should be able to give you several options on ballasts, if you don't like the HD one.

You WILL be very disappointed with the quality of the current fixtures, unless you spend $$$.

 

[wahoowad]

Patten,

Thanks! That ballast is a reasonably priced solution, although I note the specification has this
\

"For use with single F54T5/HO, F39T5/HO, F24T5/HO, FT50, 55 watt /2G11, FT36, 39 watt /2G11 lamp"​

My bulb package has F96T12 on it and that isn't listed. I don't know much about ballasts

 

[rabies]

recessed lighting into your ceiling? or too much work. prolly. nevermind

 

[dfiler2]

I have a question, why would you replace the ballast on a light that uses bulbs that are being banned, link here, and pay $37 when a new 8' T-8 fixture can be purchased(link here) for about the same price?

 

[wahoowad]

I have a question, why would you replace the ballast on a light that uses bulbs that are being banned, link here, and pay $37 when a new 8' T-8 fixture can be purchased(link here) for about the same price?

I didn't know T12's were phased out until I did some research based on the feedback here. Lowes had plenty of T12's in stock so I had no idea.

 

[dfiler2]

Right, I know you can still get bulbs and ballasts, however, it is my understanding that they are no longer being produced so once the pipeline is empty they will be hard to find. I have heard of some people replacing their T-12 ballasts with T-8 ballasts and it sounds like most of the time the end connector on the fixture will work with T-8. If I remember right someone had found a really good deal on T-8 ballasts on E-Bay.

 

[wahoowad]

Maybe that is the thing to do. They make 8' long T-8 bulbs, correct? So if I do this my cost is gonna be...???...cost for the T-8 ballasts and then 8 bulbs.

Are electronic ballasts all "HO/cold weather" rated or do I still have to ensure I get ballasts and bulbs rated for that? I don't need instant on and am Ok with a little flickering the first minute or so when it is really cold out.

 

[pattenp]

My understanding the T12HO cold temperature lamps are exempt. Unless something has changed.

http://www.gelighting.com/LightingW...lation/2009-department-of-energy-regulations/

 

[whitedogone]

Those are good hd fixtures. As others have said, get some cold weather t8 cold weather electronic ballasts. They come up cheap on ebay.

 

[cybrdyke]

Patten,

Thanks! That ballast is a reasonably priced solution, although I note the specification has this

"For use with single F54T5/HO, F39T5/HO, F24T5/HO, FT50, 55 watt /2G11, FT36, 39 watt /2G11 lamp"​

The specification section on that ballast is all wrong. That ballast is actually for 2 F96T12HO lamps, like the one that you pictured in your original post, so it is correct. FYI...The ballast number from the Advance brand is ICN2S110 .

My bulb package has F96T12 on it and that isn't listed. I don't know much about ballasts

Just to clarify, the picture of the bulb package that you have in your original post says HO on it. That makes your lamps F96T12HO. I only point this out because there is a similarly numbered F96T12 that is NOT an HO and it requires different a ballast. Dont confuse the two when you are asking about them.
Good luck
CD

 

[dfiler2]

Maybe that is the thing to do. They make 8' long T-8 bulbs, correct? So if I do this my cost is gonna be...???...cost for the T-8 ballasts and then 8 bulbs.

Are electronic ballasts all "HO/cold weather" rated or do I still have to ensure I get ballasts and bulbs rated for that? I don't need instant on and am Ok with a little flickering the first minute or so when it is really cold out.

My understanding is all Electronic Ballasts are cold weather. It looks like you can pick up ballasts on ebay for around $10 each. The bulbs are available at HD in a range of brightness and cost.

It looks like cold weather 8' T-12's are exempt from that new law.

 

[whitedogone]

They make 0 start,-20 start, and -22 start. I don't use the 0 rated ones. Also, order a few extra ballasts. Reguardless of price, none of the elec ballast have a long life from what I have seen.