Light fixture advice please

[BOSS351C]

Ok, I commited a horrible sin, but I knew it at the time. I purchased the flourescent light fixtures for my shop at Menards. Worse than that, I bought the ones that are only like $7 each. But I figured, "hey, at least they will work for now and I'll replace with better ones as they go bad." Well, all but one were working ok until last night. We were trying to paint the walls when all 8 of lights started to flash on and off over and over and over. Keep in mind that these have only been in operation for about 1 week of very little use.

Anyway, I'm looking for suggestions for replacements. These are the two 4ft bulb (40watt) fixtures that hang on short chains and have a 4ft power cord on them. I need 10 fixtures. I'm looking for something I can get locally at the Lowe's or Home Depot and in the $15-$20 each range. Would go as hight as $30 each if I have to. I also would like ones with the "Cold Start" ability as I don't always feel like heating up the whole shop to do a quick project. I have one in the attached garage that came from Walmart, but they seem to only have one or two at a time in stock.


Thanks Everyone

 

[kartracer55]

Sounds like the lights might be fine. Are you running ac? is your neighboorhood running ac? Those lights need full power to start up and run, they dont dim when the power is low, they just flicker on and off. Try again now, as it might have something to do with the power usage in your power grid... i run into similar problems with my fixtures on those 95+ degree days when our air is running full tilt.

Jim

 

[SteveL]

You may want to consider going with the T8 type fixtures if you change them out. I have a number of them from Home Depot and they work very well. Fixtures are around $32 ea. and the bulbs are in the $3 a piece range. Much brigher and better quality of light and best of all, instant on! Bulbs seem to last longer too!

I have 12 four footers in a 22' x 38' garage and love the amount of light they give off. The neighbors think I have a nuclear power plant going on inside at night!

 

[astroracer]

I have to agree with Steve on this. A couple of larger, High Output lights would be much more efficient also. I have (2) 8' 220V cold starts running end to end down the middle of my 8' x 24' machine shop and they put out plenty of light. I also have one over my fabrication bench and three of them equally spaced on the "working" side of my shop. Lots of light and it's not very often I have to use a drop light to see.

 

[BOSS351C]

Thanks for the replies. I ran into Lowes on my lunch and found some cold start fixtures (T12) that match the one I have in the attached garage. Supposed to work down to -20*F (which we reached here last winter and the light always came on). Lights of America brand, model 8055 SS (stainless steel). They mount the same as the Menards POS's I have, so the swap will be quick and easy.

Yes the lights worked better this morning, but there are still several that randomly seem to get stuck flickering on and off (have since I put them up). I just can't tolerate that. I thought about the line voltage issue last night and checked an outlet in the house, only 100volts. we are only a 1/2 mile from a substation but are the 5th to last house on the line.

My shop has a white 10ft ceiling and semi-gloss white walls. I only have 8 of the planned 10 fixtures up so far and the walls are still mostly just primed. Tons of light already. With the extra 2 fixtures and painted walls, light should not be an issue.

 

[DynoDave]

My inexpensive lights flicker when the voltage is low. For those recommending a more powerful light...do they work better under low voltage situations like that? I have this problem in my current garage, and if I can avoid it in the new one, that would be great.

 

[BOSS351C]

I noticed while installing the new fixtures that they are T8's although I have T12's in them (they list both). These fixtures are lightyears ahead of the Menards junk.

 

[BetterDays]

I have the cheap ones in my garage. Have not had any issues since they have their own breaker.

If you are running them plus everything else on one breaker, watch out. you will end up tripping the breaker (which is why my lights are on a separate breaker now)

 

[BOSS351C]

Nope, lights are all on their own breaker.

Here is a pic of them all up. BTW, even though these are called "stainless steel" on the packaging, that is just a color reference, not what the fixtures are actually made of. Didn't want anyone to get misled.

 

[ultgar]

My inexpensive lights flicker when the voltage is low. For those recommending a more powerful light...do they work better under low voltage situations like that? I have this problem in my current garage, and if I can avoid it in the new one, that would be great.

Light flicker can be very annoying and is most likely a power issue as Dave indicated.....especially when voltages occasionally dropping below 110v during peak A/C months. Good quality fixtures will handle fluctuations better and produce less hum...try to go with T8 and T5 units with electronic ballasts (10% THD or lower is best if you have any sensitive electronics). Lighting should be on dedicated circuits....15amp is usually adequate.

I've tried to put in some equipment to provide good clean (in some cases reguated) power to the lighting and equipment (most is still not yet installed) in my garage....see below.

The other rack (see picture below) is still waiting on some additional bits to supply music and video. The 2 power conditioners provide 90amps total reserve power for the 1700w in amplifiers that are going in this garage.

SD

 

[Runner94]

Your statement brings back memories of the same type of problem I had quite a few years ago. Although I didn't have an issue with lighting I did have a problem with my appliances and electronics. When the voltage goes low like that (100 VAC) your asking for your appliances in your house to burn out. I would stop worrying about the shop lights and worry that you'll not have to replace the other stuff.

CALL YOUR UTILITY COMPANY AND COMPLAIN. Yes, ACs around the area bring the voltage down but they should make an effort to compensate for that drop. That close to a substation should help but it seems it isn't.

I live in a community that has it's own electric generating company and for a city of about 60,000 people, major retail, and 2 industrial parks, we don't have brown outs or any major outages. I complained about low voltage once and they set up a monitor to check how low and when it went low. Since then I have never had a problem. Maybe a simple threat of appliance replacement for the neighborhood might wake them up.

Greg

 

[BOSS351C]

My Dad went through that with the power company about 10 years ago. His TV's would burn out about every 6 months. Once he learned that low voltage could cause it he started to record daily the voltage coming in. It still took 2 months for them to fix the problem (was an equipment issue just up the line 1/2 mile).

My voltage has been fine since this occured, and the temps are starting to drop. I'm happy I switched the fixtures as I really didn't care for all the noise of the old ones.