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LED Florescent Bulbs
- Thread starter IssuedSig
- Start date
skeletonizer
Well-known member
Never heard of or seen such a thing. I too am interested.
Was the light of decent quality or was it the harsh blue white?
Was the light of decent quality or was it the harsh blue white?
bigbluthng
Member
- Joined
- Jul 19, 2011
- Messages
- 15
i saw these lights outside a 7-11 store and looked into them. you bypass the ballast and wire to the tombstones. at $40 for a single 4 footer i decided to pass
elguappo
Well-known member
$40 seems a bargain compared to others I have seen.
Gary S
Well-known member
$40 seems a bargain compared to others I have seen.
$40 doesn't seem like a bargain to me when a T8 tube sells for $1, and the power efficiency of the LED is about equal to florescent.
Gooch
Well-known member
$40 doesn't seem like a bargain to me when a T8 tube sells for $1, and the power efficiency of the LED is about equal to florescent.
LED offers better cold start/operation, and longer life. sure not a problem if you have a heated garage with 8 ft ceilings, but if you've got 16-20' ceilings and not heated, LED's are pretty nice to have.
Not to mention LED's are much more dimmer friendly.
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skeletonizer
Well-known member
Was the light of decent quality or was it the harsh blue white?
Bump.
Be warned, your electrical authority may not accept these replacments even if they are UL listed. Trust me, I just installed a **** load of them and now I have to modify the installation so you can't install florescents in modified fixtures.
Gary S
Well-known member
LED offers better cold start/operation, and longer life. sure not a problem if you have a heated garage with 8 ft ceilings, but if you've got 16-20' ceilings and not heated, LED's are pretty nice to have.
Not to mention LED's are much more dimmer friendly.
Let's see, longer life. Typical LED have 50% more life than typical florescent. Yet, price is 4000% higher..................um.........NO.
My garage isn't heated. I live where it drops to -45 in winter. My garage is insulated, so even without heat, it stays at +10 to +20 in worst conditions, and my florescents work just fine at those temperatures...................so.............. better cold start is worth zero here.
Why would I want a dimmer? I designed my lighting to be right, and if I want to work in the dark, why dim? Turning the lights off is cheaper.
6768rogues
Banned
Costly and many are not UL listed.
The quality of the lights was pretty decent. It wasn't the typical cold LED blue it was slightly warmer. Again, these were in a non temp controlled parking garage and were tied into motion sensors. They lit up to full brightness right away.
Gooch
Well-known member
Let's see, longer life. Typical LED have 50% more life than typical florescent. Yet, price is 4000% higher..................um.........NO.
My garage isn't heated. I live where it drops to -45 in winter. My garage is insulated, so even without heat, it stays at +10 to +20 in worst conditions, and my florescents work just fine at those temperatures...................so.............. better cold start is worth zero here.
Why would I want a dimmer? I designed my lighting to be right, and if I want to work in the dark, why dim? Turning the lights off is cheaper.
I'm not saying they are a good fit for you, just showing that they have their advantages.
Delta74
Well-known member
quick check online found lots os places selling, even different Lumen output, for 2,3,4,and 8 foot replacements. cost is rather high thou, here is a 2200 Lumen model.
http://www.heroledstore.com/4-foot-...uorescent-t8-tube-2200-lumen-22w65w-p-63.html
or
http://lightingcomponents.us/Philip...-22W_and_840_and_G13-Specifier-LED-Lamps.aspx
rather costly I think, but then again so were T-5's give it a few years and it may be cost effective, but for now, I think T-8's and T-5's will remain the light source we use.
anyway enjoy the links
http://www.heroledstore.com/4-foot-...uorescent-t8-tube-2200-lumen-22w65w-p-63.html
or
http://lightingcomponents.us/Philip...-22W_and_840_and_G13-Specifier-LED-Lamps.aspx
rather costly I think, but then again so were T-5's give it a few years and it may be cost effective, but for now, I think T-8's and T-5's will remain the light source we use.
anyway enjoy the links
Highbeam
Well-known member
They were likely paid for by some sort of government grant or subsidy. 7-11 is not dumb, they know how to do a cost analysis.
malibu101
Well-known member
They were likely paid for by some sort of government grant or subsidy. 7-11 is not dumb, they know how to do a cost analysis.
I fully agree that a large company looks at ROI (return on investment) when doing something like this.
However, in this day and age it's not all about ROI.
The LED has a longer rated lifespan than flourescent.
Some corporate lawyers could have had input too. Like it's ROI might not really be there but it's cheaper than the lawsuits that could arise from someone falling or being mugged and suing the store if one of their lights was burned out.
That's my theory.
Or they could be playing the "green" card. I've seen more than once where the cost of a "green" device exceeds the cost of just using an energy hungry device since the "green" device does not last long enough for the ROI to be there.
BUT, it looks good that the company is earth-freindly.
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pauls340
Well-known member
I'm in the LED Retrofit lighting business. The bright lights in the parking garage could be the new T5 or T8 replacement bulbs for the old fashion florescent. I think the savings is about 40% but you're still dealing with cold starts, mercury and UV rays. We have LED retrofit kits for highbay and parking lot lights. We replace the low efficient 1000w metal halide with 176w LED, a 88w for the 400w...~85% savings per month on your lighting bill. Instant on cold starts, no UV, no humming, no more fishflys. You replace the magnetic ballast with a driver. They are expensive because you might never have to replace again. 50,000 to 100,000 hour life span. In most areas there is an energy incentive to get rid of you MH or HID lamps. In Michigan you get a $55 incentive for every 400w lamp you replace. It helps offset the high cost. At one time we had LED tube replacement 2' long for $75 each. The costs on LED are starting to come down because the stores are sitting on inventory due to the high cost. Remember, it's a white light compared to the current yellow.
trainer
Well-known member
I installed a bunch a year ago in some refrigerated food cases. cost was ~$69 per bulb CSA approved and approval was verified by the electrical inspector.
They are bright white colour, to get a warm white hue , they came with a pinkish plastic tube to cover them. Mine are 120-277v units, I removed the ballasts and ran 120 directly to the ends, no drivers needed. IIRC they were 18 watts for a 4' t-8 sized unit.
Nobody has ever noticed that they are LED's unless i point it out to them
They are bright white colour, to get a warm white hue , they came with a pinkish plastic tube to cover them. Mine are 120-277v units, I removed the ballasts and ran 120 directly to the ends, no drivers needed. IIRC they were 18 watts for a 4' t-8 sized unit.
Nobody has ever noticed that they are LED's unless i point it out to them