LED replacements for florescent tubes

[jcthorne]

My shop has 17 twin tube 4 ft florescent fixtures. They have been up and working for a number of years. I think when I installed them I purchased boxes of the cheapest 32W T12 tubes Home Depot had at the time.

I have a few tubes nearing end of life and would much like more light in the shop. I know they likely have lost light output over thier life span and there are better 40W tubes available. They are also 14ft up in the air so not easy to work on for me. (I hate ladders) and have been avoiding the issue.

Anyway, I have been looking at the LED replacement tubes for the fixtures. I tried two of the 'plug n play' ballast compatible Phillips lamps that Home Depot sells in the one fixture I can access easily over my work bench and they flat did not work and took them back. Besides, according to the lumens spec on the box, they actually put out less light than new 40W tubes. (2000 vs 2350).

Looking on Amazon and google fu, it seems I can get higher output LED tubes that require removal of the ballast. OK, if I can get brighter lights and use half the electricity and NEVER need to replace them again in my lifetime I just might have to consider this.

Looked at lots of brands and models of tubes. None of the name brand units go beyond 18w each which is between the light output of 32 and 40w florescent tubes. Not going through this unless I can get more light. I can just keep replacing $3 tubes every 5 or 6 years.

I found a couple chinese brands that show 24 and 26w LED tubes with advertised 2600 to 3000 lumens output. I assume since my fixtures are open tube without a diffuser, I really need frosted tubes, not clear to avoid glare.

After lots of consternation I decided to order a box of 8 of these:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01CPE3T1K

Anyone else gone through this? Am I wasting my time? Should I just buy good quality name brand 40W florescent tubes and use them? If I am going to convert, I only want to take these fixtures down and rework them once. its a big job and I HATE LADDERS. Replacement fixtures with LED light source get expensive quick to get the number of lumens I already have in the shop. Many times the cost of replacing tubes in the fixtures I have.

 

[mv213]

I don’t know about these specifically. I have used the TOGGLED brand of LED conversion kits from Home Depot on about 10 fixtures. I didn’t take the fixtures down, it was easy to remove the ballasts and insert the new lamp holders while the fixtures were still up.

All the tubes worked (and still work) perfectly. They are now half the price they were when I bought the first couple a few years back. https://www.homedepot.com/p/TOGGLED...near-LED-Tube-Light-Bulb-E416-50310/300617201

 

[kbs2244]

I have yet to see a valid ROI argument for LEDs in a non 24 hour on per day install.

You should be able to get a good discount buying 3 dozen of the brightest
4 foot tubes you can find.

Hire a neighborhood kid to climb the ladder and replace them all at once.

If you were OK with 32W per tube the 40W will make you happy and you will save some money as well.

 

[jcthorne]

I have yet to see a valid ROI argument for LEDs in a non 24 hour on per day install.

You should be able to get a good discount buying 3 dozen of the brightest
4 foot tubes you can find.

Hire a neighborhood kid to climb the ladder and replace them all at once.

If you were OK with 32W per tube the 40W will make you happy and you will save some money as well.

I do not think there is an ROI for the power savings. I was mostly looking for more light in an easy and cost effective manner.

32W florescent tubes are 2000 lumens and $2.50 each
40W are about 2350 depending on brand and $5 each

24W LED tubes are 2600 lumens and $7.50 each.

I get 250 more lumens per tube and save 21 watts. Might break even on cost over time and have more light.

If there were a 30W or more LED tube with 3500 or so lumens available in the $10 or 12 range I would likely have gone for that but have not found anything. Not even at significantly higher price. Only if I want to buy fixtures for many hundreds of $$.

 

[Crazyjake8493]

Anyway, I have been looking at the LED replacement tubes for the fixtures. I tried two of the 'plug n play' ballast compatible Phillips lamps that Home Depot sells in the one fixture I can access easily over my work bench and they flat did not work and took them back.

Anyone else gone through this? Am I wasting my time? Should I just buy good quality name brand 40W florescent tubes and use them? If I am going to convert, I only want to take these fixtures down and rework them once. its a big job and I HATE LADDERS. Replacement fixtures with LED light source get expensive quick to get the number of lumens I already have in the shop. Many times the cost of replacing tubes in the fixtures I have.

I don't know of any plug-n-play LED replacement tubes that will work with an old T12 magnetic ballast. If you had electronic ballasts, you should be able to use the LEDs listed as plug and play without issue.

I retrofitted all of my 4ft T12 garage fixtures with LED, ballast-bypass and single ended power. I had some bought some from EarthLED.com originally, but they seem to have been out of stock for a long time now. I bought more from Amazon that were Hyperikon brand, and I've been just as happy with them.

I would definitely go the route of bypassing the ballast and wiring directly to the tombstones. Since you have T12 fixtures, that's really the best fix, and it eliminates any failed ballasts in the future. I removed the ballasts but you could just as easily leave them in place, disconnect them, and wire the incoming power to the tombstones on one end, which should be non-shunted for the existing T12 bulbs.

You mentioned 14' ceilings and disliking ladders. I'd look into renting a small scissor lift for the day, preferably someone that will drop it off and pick it back up. 17 fixtures would easily be less than a day's work. If the scissor lift still makes you uneasy, hire someone else to do it.

I haven't had an issue with any of my LED replacements. Instant full brightness (even when it's below zero), and no flickering humming upon startup. The LEDs will definitely be brighter than fluorescents, but with your higher ceiling that may be desirable.

 

[jcthorne]

I don’t know about these specifically. I have used the TOGGLED brand of LED conversion kits from Home Depot on about 10 fixtures. I didn’t take the fixtures down, it was easy to remove the ballasts and insert the new lamp holders while the fixtures were still up.

All the tubes worked (and still work) perfectly. They are now half the price they were when I bought the first couple a few years back. https://www.homedepot.com/p/TOGGLED...near-LED-Tube-Light-Bulb-E416-50310/300617201

I looked at the TOGGLED ones HD stocks but they are no more light than the 32W tubes I have now. TOGGLED does make a 23W high output tube but the are $38 each and HD does not carry them.

 

[jubilee]

I replaced 4 4’ light fixtures (8 bulbs) with led about a year ago. Absolutely love them. Instant on and much brighter. I like the white light so these are 5000k & 24 watt. Had to remove ballast and wire one end of fixture. Did it on ladder, about 5 min. per fixture. Bought off EBay about $7+ per bulb to door. No way to compare lighting differences and cuts electrical useage by about 1/2. Win Win.
Also, two of these lights are over welding table. Seems some kind of static attraction from the fluorescent bulbs to smoke and grinding fines always kept old bulbs dirty. Not the case with led.

 

[575cat]

Ck out LEDMYplace I have 8 foot HO for 20+ years thought I would try these 8 foot led strips T8 60w 3 for 85.00 ? shipped comes with pig tail I hung the three up easy hookup I am impressed .

 

[jcthorne]

I don't know of any plug-n-play LED replacement tubes that will work with an old T12 magnetic ballast. If you had electronic ballasts, you should be able to use the LEDs listed as plug and play without issue.

I retrofitted all of my 4ft T12 garage fixtures with LED, ballast-bypass and single ended power. I had some bought some from EarthLED.com originally, but they seem to have been out of stock for a long time now. I bought more from Amazon that were Hyperikon brand, and I've been just as happy with them.

I would definitely go the route of bypassing the ballast and wiring directly to the tombstones. Since you have T12 fixtures, that's really the best fix, and it eliminates any failed ballasts in the future. I removed the ballasts but you could just as easily leave them in place, disconnect them, and wire the incoming power to the tombstones on one end, which should be non-shunted for the existing T12 bulbs.

You mentioned 14' ceilings and disliking ladders. I'd look into renting a small scissor lift for the day, preferably someone that will drop it off and pick it back up. 17 fixtures would easily be less than a day's work. If the scissor lift still makes you uneasy, hire someone else to do it.

I haven't had an issue with any of my LED replacements. Instant full brightness (even when it's below zero), and no flickering humming upon startup. The LEDs will definitely be brighter than fluorescents, but with your higher ceiling that may be desirable.

My ballasts are all electronic type, not magnetic. Have 3 different brands, 2 have GE ballasts in them, one a no name asian unit. The Plug n play Phillips tubes did not work in any of them. I plan to remove the ballasts and go the direct wire route. Since I have to rewire etc, I am not doing it overhead on hanging fixtures (they hang on chains, not solid mounted). I will take each fixture down, rework it and rehang it. If I am doing that, no reason to leave the ballast. I did not know if all the existing tombstones were shunted or not. Since there did not seem to be much if any difference in cost for single vs double ended power on the LED tubes, I went with double ended so no tombstone replacement is necessary regardless.

Going to try this box of 8 24W tubes and see how they work. Reviews were good. Would rather have purchased locally even if a bit higher price but nothing brighter than the 32w tubes I have was available so went amazon. Just thought it odd that all of the name brand units available at the big box stores were cost engineered to be as cheap as possible so had less light output than the florescent tube they were replacing. Only online were the higher output tubes available for a few dollars more a tube. Did not want a reduction in light for some mystical cost savings in power.

Thanks for the input. Will report back.

 

[d.mcfarland]

We have started replacing some at work with the led conversions and I'm not a fan. It's like an operating room now. The color is awful because it's not a warm enough glow.

Just a heads up.

 

[jcthorne]

We have started replacing some at work with the led conversions and I'm not a fan. It's like an operating room now. The color is awful because it's not a warm enough glow.

Just a heads up.

Thanks.

 

[redmondjp]

OK guys, before you get too carried away on this, go to your local Home Depot and buy yourself a Lithonia 3' 3000 lumen LED fixture for just under $15. It is the best lumen output for your dollar that you will find, and it's a name brand with higher QC than some other brands. Try one out and you'll be going back to the store for more.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Lithoni...-Shop-Light-SHLP-36IN-40K-80CRI-DNA/301158095

SKU 1002310056

I just installed nine of these in my friend's 2-bay shop, replacing existing 4-foot 2-tube fluorescent fixtures with one each of these lights, and he can't believe the difference. Plus, they come on at full brightness even at low ambient temperatures (rated down to 0 deg. F).

And they make great automotive worklights too - just hook the ends up to your hood while you are working underhood.

 

[jcthorne]

OK guys, before you get too carried away on this, go to your local Home Depot and buy yourself a Lithonia 3' 3000 lumen LED fixture for just under $15. It is the best lumen output for your dollar that you will find, and it's a name brand with higher QC than some other brands. Try one out and you'll be going back to the store for more.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Lithoni...-Shop-Light-SHLP-36IN-40K-80CRI-DNA/301158095

SKU 1002310056

I just installed nine of these in my friend's 2-bay shop, replacing existing 4-foot 2-tube fluorescent fixtures with one each of these lights, and he can't believe the difference.

And they make great automotive worklights too - just hook the ends up to your hood while you are working underhood.

Its a nice enough fixture but why would I take down all the fixtures I have and replace with 34 of these? Not to mention hooking them all up would require electrical work. That would be a lot of work. Think I will stick with standard length tubes that are also replaceable when they burn out without replacement of the entire fixture.

 

[kwschumm]

I replaced 8 T8 fluorescent tubes that were burning out with eight T8 Philips InstantFit LED tubes. They all worked flawlessly. Not sure if they make T12 replacements though.

 

[jcthorne]

I replaced 8 T8 fluorescent tubes that were burning out with eight T8 Philips InstantFit LED tubes. They all worked flawlessly. Not sure if they make T12 replacements though.

That may be why they did not work in my fixtures. They were labeled to work in T8 and T12 fixtures but they did not. All of my fixtures are twin tube T12.

 

[redmondjp]

Its a nice enough fixture but why would I take down all the fixtures I have and replace with 34 of these? Not to mention hooking them all up would require electrical work. That would be a lot of work. Think I will stick with standard length tubes that are also replaceable when they burn out without replacement of the entire fixture.

You failed to read what I wrote.

This LED light puts out as much light as your twin-tube fixture does.

You only need to install 17 of these. And you won't ever have to mess with your existing ballasts (which will eventually fail) or flaky tube sockets ever again. These have a four-foot cord, so if your existing lights are cord-connected, these are plug & play.

Buy one and try it out, just to prove it to yourself.

 

[jcthorne]

You failed to read what I wrote.

This LED light puts out as much light as your twin-tube fixture does.

You only need to install 17 of these. And you won't ever have to mess with your existing ballasts (which will eventually fail) or flaky tube sockets ever again. These have a four-foot cord, so if your existing lights are cord-connected, these are plug & play.

Buy one and try it out, just to prove it to yourself.

No, it does not. It puts out 3000 lumens. That is more than one tube but less than 2. Far less than full 40watt tubes which are 2350 each. They may APPEAR brighter because they have a higher lumen density but the specs show they actually put out less light into the work area.

Not installing 17 new fixtures to have less light than I have now.

I appreciate the suggestion, its just not a good fit for my application. I would be better off keeping what I have.

 

[cybrdyke]

jcthorne- I can appreciate where you're stuck. Let's square up a few things...
First, the Philips tubes you tried wont work on the ballasts that you have. Take them back.
There's lots of good news to follow....
If you have T12 lamps, you aren't gonna have to do any socket work other than bypassing the ballast. You should just be able to cut the two wires feeding one socket and the other socket is already jumpered over. Simple pimple.
Regarding lumens...you kinda got this wrong. You dont need as many lumens from the LED tube as you think. Your T12's only delivers about 70% of the lumens out of the fixture. Plus, as they get old, they fade quickly. So, if they're a few years old, they're only 70% as bright as new. That's 70% times 70% or 49% of the lumens that they are rated for are actually hitting the target. Your new LED's will be 100% of the claimed lumens getting out the fixture and so they'll be much brighter than your old lamps, even though the claimed lumens are less. You'll be surprised how bright they are. For comparison sake, we calculate T8 delivered lamp lumens at 1800 (not the 2850 they are supposed to deliver). You'll be very happy with LED tubes in the 2000 lumen range.
If you need any help of have any questions, just PM me...or post a reply here.
Good luck,
CD

 

[cybrdyke]

I have yet to see a valid ROI argument for LEDs in a non 24 hour on per day install.

How 'bout less than 12 hours per day?.....

Four F32T8's consume a total of 112 watts. 112 watts, over the course of 4000 hours per year (the common office setting annual usage) at .10c per KwHr rate will cost you $44.80 per year to operate. That's just ONE four-lamp recessed fixture.

Change those to LED tubes that consume 15 watts each, totaling 60 watts. (You're gonna get more light with these by the way).
60 watts over the course of 4000 hours at .10c per KwHr will cost you $24.00 per year to operate, saving you $20.80 in energy costs per year.

Lets say you paid $10 each for those new LED tubes. That's $40 per fixture. It would take 2 years of saving $20.80 to pay off those new tubes. And you'd still have 3 years of warranty on them, and 42,000 hours of life left in them (10.5 years). Any bean-counter in the world will take that deal.

CD

 

[Bert_]

32W florescent tubes are 2000 lumens and $2.50 each
40W are about 2350 depending on brand and $5 each

24W LED tubes are 2600 lumens and $7.50 each.

I'm not sure where some of this info is coming from?

32W (F32T8) and 40W (F40T12) lamps are not interchangeable. You need to match the lamp with the ballast in your fixtures.

As far as lumens go...

Most F32T8's will be between 2500-2800 lumens assuming a standard ballast with .88 BF

F40T12's have an even wider range the cheap tubes are as low as 2200 lumens as you have found, better tubes will be 2600-3000 lumens and I'm not sure if you can still get them but ultralumes are around 3400 lumens

Led tubes with lower output can get the same light level in a room, but that strongly depends on how efficient (or inefficient) your current fixtures are.

I have not been all that happy with led tubes in "strip" type fixtures. They get a lot of light to the floor but they do not shine to the side very much and it makes the room look darker. They do seem to work very well in recessed "troffer" fixtures.

 

[redmondjp]

No, it does not. It puts out 3000 lumens. That is more than one tube but less than 2. Far less than full 40watt tubes which are 2350 each. They may APPEAR brighter because they have a higher lumen density but the specs show they actually put out less light into the work area.

Not installing 17 new fixtures to have less light than I have now.

I appreciate the suggestion, its just not a good fit for my application. I would be better off keeping what I have.

You still are not getting the picture. You said in your first post that you are using 32W tubes. If you have been using those for a number of years (their light output degrades over time), I can assure you that one 3000 lumen LED fixture is going to put out MORE light than what you have right now.

Prove it to yourself by getting one of the LED fixtures and trying it out. If you don't like it, you have a nice automotive worklight.

 

[jcthorne]

I'm not sure where some of this info is coming from?

32W (F32T8) and 40W (F40T12) lamps are not interchangeable. You need to match the lamp with the ballast in your fixtures.

As far as lumens go...

Most F32T8's will be between 2500-2800 lumens assuming a standard ballast with .88 BF

F40T12's have an even wider range the cheap tubes are as low as 2200 lumens as you have found, better tubes will be 2600-3000 lumens and I'm not sure if you can still get them but ultralumes are around 3400 lumens

Led tubes with lower output can get the same light level in a room, but that strongly depends on how efficient (or inefficient) your current fixtures are.

I have not been all that happy with led tubes in "strip" type fixtures. They get a lot of light to the floor but they do not shine to the side very much and it makes the room look darker. They do seem to work very well in recessed "troffer" fixtures.

Thanks for the help. I did indeed take the Phillips plug n play LED tubes back. That was about a year ago and ready to try something again.

All of my fixtures are T12, not T8. But there are 32 and 40 watt T12 lamps sold. The cheap shop light tubes I bought were only 32 watt and labeled as 2000 lumen. They are Sylvania but a box of 10 was only $21. They are now about 5 yrs old. I know they are part of my problem. I put new 40w Phillips tubes in my one fixture over my bench that is easy to reach and its noticeably brighter but the tubes are labeled as 2350 lumens. I have never seen T12 tubes that were 3000 but they must be some industrial version not available at big box stores. The fixtures are generic shop light white hanging fixtures but I did step up one notch to the electronic ballast that starts at low temp since the shop is not heated. They have done fine down to 12degF.

I look forward to trying the 8 24W 2650 lumen frosted LED tubes I purchased from Amazon. If they are indeed brighter and put more light where I need it, will replace all of the tubes. If not they will go back and I will buy boxes of the higer end 40W Phillips tubes.

 

[isb cornbinder]

I bought HYPERICON replacements on AMAZON. Not all of the Amazon prices are a good deal. Shop around.
The HYPERICON were easy to install and work perfectly. Hypericon is Made in USA.

 

[Bert_]

Thanks for the help. I did indeed take the Phillips plug n play LED tubes back. That was about a year ago and ready to try something again.

All of my fixtures are T12, not T8. But there are 32 and 40 watt T12 lamps sold. The cheap shop light tubes I bought were only 32 watt and labeled as 2000 lumen. They are Sylvania but a box of 10 was only $21. They are now about 5 yrs old. I know they are part of my problem. I put new 40w Phillips tubes in my one fixture over my bench that is easy to reach and its noticeably brighter but the tubes are labeled as 2350 lumens. I have never seen T12 tubes that were 3000 but they must be some industrial version not available at big box stores. The fixtures are generic shop light white hanging fixtures but I did step up one notch to the electronic ballast that starts at low temp since the shop is not heated. They have done fine down to 12degF.

I look forward to trying the 8 24W 2650 lumen frosted LED tubes I purchased from Amazon. If they are indeed brighter and put more light where I need it, will replace all of the tubes. If not they will go back and I will buy boxes of the higer end 40W Phillips tubes.

Ahh, You must be talking about the 34w energy saving T12's, there are no 32w T12's.
Sylvania F40T12/941 is a 3000 lumen tube with 90 CRI, they are a great tube, sometimes labeled as "premium cool white". They are available at several "box stores" around me, not sure in your area. It seems the philips ultralume or advantage lamps are not longer produced, which is a shame since they where 3200-3600 lumens lamps depending on the color temp.

Are these cheap hanging shop lights that come with a short cord and are generally made of very thin sheet metal and lots of plastic on the newer ones? Good quality lights with reflectors are a possibility also, they generally do not come with a cord but one may have been added. They are usually 12"+ wide with reflectors vs the much narrower cheapo lights.

I wouldn't recommend putting a single cent into the cheap shop lights.

 

[jcthorne]

Ahh, You must be talking about the 34w energy saving T12's, there are no 32w T12's.
Sylvania F40T12/941 is a 3000 lumen tube with 90 CRI, they are a great tube, sometimes labeled as "premium cool white". They are available at several "box stores" around me, not sure in your area. It seems the philips ultralume or advantage lamps are not longer produced, which is a shame since they where 3200-3600 lumens lamps depending on the color temp.

Are these cheap hanging shop lights that come with a short cord and are generally made of very thin sheet metal and lots of plastic on the newer ones? Good quality lights with reflectors are a possibility also, they generally do not come with a cord but one may have been added. They are usually 12"+ wide with reflectors vs the much narrower cheapo lights.

I wouldn't recommend putting a single cent into the cheap shop lights.

You may be right, they might have been 34 not 32. Yes cheap white metal shop light fixtures although they do not plug in, they are hard wired and no plastic other than the tombstones. About 10 inches wide white reflectors. I know I could spend a fortune on lighting the shop with all new high bay fixtures but its not in the budget. 34 LED tubes is going to be a few at a time upgrade over a period of months. Perhaps I should just look for a box of those high quality tubes rather than the LED? Did you see the LED tubes I decided to try? 24W Barrina, 6500K frosted tube.

 

[bob15]

I bought HYPERICON replacements on AMAZON. Not all of the Amazon prices are a good deal. Shop around.
The HYPERICON were easy to install and work perfectly. Hypericon is Made in USA.

I think they are assembled in the US.

That being said, I installed about 50 of their tubes and had one fail (all the Hyperikons came via Amazon). I emailed Hyperikon and had a replacement tube in less than a week. I went with the dual end power, 5000K, clear and some frosted. Have zero complaints and would do it again in a heartbeat. A ton of light, even when it is 5° inside the building.

They replaced 96" T12HO lights.

 

[Bert_]

You may be right, they might have been 34 not 32. Yes cheap white metal shop light fixtures although they do not plug in, they are hard wired and no plastic other than the tombstones. About 10 inches wide white reflectors. I know I could spend a fortune on lighting the shop with all new high bay fixtures but its not in the budget. 34 LED tubes is going to be a few at a time upgrade over a period of months. Perhaps I should just look for a box of those high quality tubes rather than the LED? Did you see the LED tubes I decided to try? 24W Barrina, 6500K frosted tube.

If they are hardwired then they are probably decent fixtures.

I did look at those tubes, I hope you have good luck with them. To me they look like off brand lamps straight off the boat from china. I couldn't find any spec sheets or info other than what was on the amazon page so that's not a good sign in my opinion. But who knows they might work OK for the price you paid.

 

[GarageSpider]

Thanks.

We have started replacing some at work with the led conversions and I'm not a fan. It's like an operating room now. The color is awful because it's not a warm enough glow.

Just a heads up.

Could be a cold color temp (5-6000K?). I prefer 4000K.

And not all LEDs are the same. If you care about color rendition, pay attention to the CRI. Cheap fluorescents used to have a green spike on the color spectrum. LEDs less than 80 CRI don't look very good.

And CRI is a somewhat flawed test, but it's sometimes all you have to go by.

Buy USA made, pay a bit extra, but get better quality.

 

[Jeff May]

I installed 80 new 24w 6000lms frosted LEDs recently in my shop.
I got them from Amazon. So far they are working perfectly
No flickering and no ballast noise on cold days.
They were very easy to unstall...
The LEDs I bought even came with new tombstones.
I'm pretty sure the LED tubes averaged around $7 each.
Best move I've made in updating my shop....

 

[cory58]

Just to clear up misinformation in this thread: HYPERIKON PRODUCTS ARE NOT MADE IN THE USA. Yes, I am yelling because their marketing and web site are misleading. They have a nice little USA shield on their spec sheets, but if you zoom in you can see that it actually just says they are "based in the USA."

I have no opinion on the quality of their products, and probably would have used their 4' led tubes in my garage lighting, if I would have never found GJ and taken the time to read a bunch of threads with info from knowledgeable posters like cyberdyke and Platonic Solid.

OP - it will be simple to convert your fixtures to use ballast-bypass led tubes. Much easier than installing all new fixtures. I am very happy with the James frosted tubes recommended in the Best Light Fixture sticky. They are made in China, just like the Hyperikons and every other reasonable priced led bulb. I wish I could justify the extra cost to use made in the USA, but I can't.

As others have recommended, convert one fixture and see how you like it.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[RayBob58]

This looks like a good place to ask an opinion. I'm considering buying these http://low.es/1DtfZIA and converting them for LED bypass bulbs. I know I could get a little cheaper fixture, I've read the "Best Fixture" thread, but these are available locally. I don't like the idea of trashing the ballasts, but it looks like a no-brainer to me. Any opinions?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk

 

[cybrdyke]

The ballasts in those wouldn't work with LED tubes anyway. Bypass them and enjoy your new lights.
Good luck,
CD

 

[metlmunchr]

After lots of consternation I decided to order a box of 8 of these:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01CPE3T1K

Anyone else gone through this? Am I wasting my time? Should I just buy good quality name brand 40W florescent tubes and use them? If I am going to convert, I only want to take these fixtures down and rework them once. its a big job and I HATE LADDERS. Replacement fixtures with LED light source get expensive quick to get the number of lumens I already have in the shop. Many times the cost of replacing tubes in the fixtures I have.

I think you'll be real well satisfied with the light output from these tubes. I've got a mix of single tube and 2 tube T12 strips in my home shop. All of them had Phillips F40T12 CW tubes rated at 2400 lumens. Tubes were a few years old.

I bought 2000 lumen 5000K bypass frosted LED tubes from Amazon. Sunco brand. The difference is hard to believe. Cyberdyke's statement that a fluorescent tube with some age on it delivers about half its stated lumens seems to be right on the money, as I've found a single LED tube is giving about the same light as a pair of the fluorescents.

The 2500 lumen tubes you bought should give you tons of additional light as compared to the old fluorescents.

Personally, I don't understand the logic behind some of the comments here about not using "cheap shop lights". Once converted to bypass LED tubes, the fixture becomes nothing more than a wireway and a mounting device for the tombstones, so what it may have been in a previous life is largely immaterial. The beam angle is determined by the tube, so the width of a reflector, or total absence of same, makes no difference as far as I can tell.

 

[jcthorne]

Follow up. I tried the Barrina frosted 24W LED tubes in one fixture and was amazed. Ordered 5 cases of them and went to work. Takes a while to change out 40 tubes and do the bypass and rewire on all the fixtures 14 ft up but got er done.

I am amazed at the operating room level of light in my shop. Truly daylight bright. This is exactly what I was looking for.

One follow on note, in 5 cases of lamps, I had one defect that would not light up. All of the lamps that did light up now have about 20 hrs run time on them and still work. Amazon shipped me a whole case to exchange one lamp but did so willingly. At $7.50 a tube these are great lights.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01CPE3T1K

 

[cory58]

Personally, I don't understand the logic behind some of the comments here about not using "cheap shop lights". Once converted to bypass LED tubes, the fixture becomes nothing more than a wireway and a mounting device for the tombstones, so what it may have been in a previous life is largely immaterial. The beam angle is determined by the tube, so the width of a reflector, or total absence of same, makes no difference as far as I can tell.

I think you may be misunderstanding the anti-cheap shop lights posts. I am one of the people making those comments. The cheap shop lights we warn against are the self-contained LED units that are not serviceable. There are many threads about finding those lights at Costco/Sam's/Menards/etc. for super low prices. The point I make is that when the cheap Chinese junk starts to fail, I would much rather replace just tubes instead of entire fixtures, which is why I chose the fixture/tube combo in the Best Light Fixture thread. Others more knowledgeable than me advised against those self-contained shop lights because they use the absolute cheapest Chinese junk components and you get what you pay for.

If you have existing T8/T12 fixtures, retrofitting them with direct wire tubes is by far the most economical way to upgrade to LED.

Cory




Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Platonic Solid]

See lamps on post #1 of The Best Light Fixture Ever sticky.
All confirmed UL Listed and the 3 in stock are over 2500lm 120° beam spread.

At 14' you really need much higher output fixtures if you're doing mechanical work.
Since you didn't post garage size, here's a couple examples:

24x36x14 would take Qty.24 2-lamp 5100lm (2550lm per bulb) LED strip lights to hit 80fc @ 30" workplane.
Reduce fixtures to Qty.16 = 54fc @ workplane.

93fc @ workplane recommended for automotive mechanical work.
If you're 50+ years old I'd reconsider your possition on spending more for new LED fixtures.

 

[SIX225]

Bought a whole bunch of 4ft direct wire LEDs at Habitat. Make sure your tombstones are in good shape. When you rewire them, you have 120V potential on only one tombstone, not across two of them like when the ballast is in place. A couple of my tubes were temperamental when it was cold and I had sparks flying (not good when its near your gas can) when i went to make sure they were making good contact. Although I got them for a buck a piece, the main reason for upgrading them was that they don't have to warm up in a cold garage during the winter.