Menards Metalux 4' T5HO, worth $88 each?

[Paperman]

https://www.menards.com/main/lighti...t5-high-bay-light-w-bulbs/p-1444427445305.htm

Seems to be a pretty decent light for $88. I need to buy a pile of light for the new building and these caught my eye. Can anyone poke holes in why they are not a deal? Need to light a 80X120x16 to working level in 1/2 and storage level in the other.

 

[cybrdyke]

Can anyone poke holes in why they are not a deal?

Efficiency. That fixture will deliver about 18,000-ish lumens using 220-ish watts or just under 90 LPW. A typical LED fixture with similar light output will only use around 160w, approximately 25-30% more efficient. If you intend to burn the lights alot, then this will return your investment quickly.

Maintenance. You have a ballast and 4 lamps in that fixture that will need to be replaced at some point. An LED fixture will last much longer.

Temperature. T5HO is fickle in cold environments. LED isn't. T5HO lamps get hot, which adds to the temperature of the space. LED can get hot, too, but usually wont contribute as much to the space.

Durability. This might not pertain to your situation, but that particular fixture is of the "open construction" type, meaning that there is no real fixture body. They are very flimsy and light. That means nothing if they are never going to come in contact with anything. But if there's a chance that can get hit by anything, then a more robust fixture would be better.

Good luck,
CD

 

[soob]

I really like that style fixture from Metalux, and just bought a bunch of them (the T8 version). I am going to put LEDs in them; already put up four and like them a lot. Since the LEDs don't need reflectors I removed them. Should help with air circulation around the heat sinks on the back.

Even though they're "high bay" fixtures, without the reflectors they work well on low ceilings. The bulbs are spread out so the light gets spread out, and when flush mounted they sit very close to the ceiling which is good for obvious reasons if you have a lower ceiling.

 

[American Locomotive]

You may want to consider LED. An equivalent quality LED fixture from the same manufacturer is going to run you roughly 3x the price of those fixtures. However, If you run the lights 7 days week/12 hours per day, the payoff would be just 3 years - which is pretty good. 5 days week/8 hours a day pushes this off to about 5 years, which still isn't bad. But if you're only in there for a few hours a day, a few days a week, the pay off is going to be 10+ years and may not be worth it.

As far as heating of the area: T5HO lamps run "hot" because there's a lot of power being concentrated over a small tube area. Good LED lights typically use a large heatsink, spreading the heat out more. However, the physical temperature doesn't really mean anything at all. What matters is the power consumed by the fixture.

All of the power consumed by a fixture will be emitted within the room. Some will be captured directly as heat, the remaining will be indirectly captured as a result of the materials in the room absorbing the light and turning it into heat energy. LED fixtures may save you ~60 watts per fixture worth of heat. So even if you use 30 of those fluorescent fixtures over LED ones, that's only an extra 1800 watts of heat. That's only 6,000 BTU/hr. You're not going to notice 6,000 BTU in a 9600 sq.ft building.

 

[Platonic Solid]

Unable to decifer Metalux part number using Metalux spec sheet (linked).
HBL454T5HORT1-LP41.
Where they have an "H" is where you specify beam width:
N=Narrow Beam (Standard)
M=Medium Beam
W=Wide Beam

"ORT" = ?
I'll assume the rest:
1 = 1 Ballast
LP41 = 4100K Lamps

Unknown lamps, so going by Metalux Narrow distribution IES file (since they say narrow beam is "standard") = FOUR 54 WATT T5HO - 4400 LUMENS EA: 17,600 lm lamp output

A quick layout - 70 fixtures (10 x 7) = 97fc @ 30"
Total Load = 15,470 Watts
Lumens/$ = 184
Total Fixture Cost = $6168

Here's a comparable LED fixture: (which I just realized I responded to you in another thread with)
James High Bay, 2 Foot, 110 Watt, 16,400lm, $112

Layout = 70 fixtures (10 x 7) = 95fc @ 30"
Total Load = 7,644 Watts
Lumens/$ = 146
Total Fixture Cost = $7840

Alt LED option:
James High Bay, 2 Foot, 165 Watt, 24,563 lm, $150

Layout = 56 fixtures (8 x 7) = 101fc @ 30"
Total Load = 9,262 Watts
Lumens/$ = 164
Total Fixture Cost = $8389

 

[Paperman]

Thank you all, I'm still weighing the cost Vs. the payback for a hobbyist building. I work full time as a maintenance supervisor in a paper mill powerhouse. That means this will be a part time, night/weekend, venue. I bought this building for the warehouse space with the bonus of having 4 retail rental spaces on the highway frontage. Those spaces are rented and are paying for the building, taxs and insurance. In 15 yrs they should provide a nice income.

Ill do some more reading and try to find the answer but how is it you can cover more floor space with less lumen with the LED? 56-16.5k Lm Leds and it takes 70-17.6K Lm T5? Couple that with a better FC on the ground. Must be the reflector/focus that makes the difference.

 

[Platonic Solid]

...how is it you can cover more floor space with less lumen with the LED? 56-16.5k Lm Leds and it takes 70-17.6K Lm T5? Couple that with a better FC on the ground. Must be the reflector/focus that makes the difference.

Because LED lumens are better than Fluorescent lumens (j/k)

More like I should have said 17,600 lm lamp output not fixture output. Per the spec sheet, the fixture efficiency is 97%, thus actual fixture output = 17,072 lm. initial. 5% reduction after 8000 hrs = 16,218.

Note: spec sheet doesn't agree with their IES file which shows 94% efficiency for narrow distribution fixture.

That puts the Metalux Lumens/$ @ 184 lm

The Metalux fixture also has up-light holes in the reflector. This is not a bad thing as it reduces the dark ceiling cave effect which makes the space feel bigger.

Dang! I just noticed another error in my previous post. I used the 165W James LED (link) for that layout not the 110 Watt. I'll fix that post.

 

[American Locomotive]

The luminaire optical efficiency is 93-97% depending on reflector, not 71%

 

[Paperman]

The luminaire optical efficiency is 93-97% depending on reflector, not 71%

I assume that is an answer to my question not a correction?

So my take from that is the LED being a directional source gives all of its output in the correct orientation, while a t5 has to reflect a good portion of its energy.

So in the end the luminary cost are similar with LED being about 20% more, install is about the same with the nod to LED as the wire size may be able to be reduced due to its lower demand, the LED also gets a big plus for maintenance cost as the T5 will need to be relamped at some point. The ballast failure in the T5 I will call a wash with the LED as they do have power supplies that can fail as well. Now I'm down to cost of actual use. Looks pretty substantial over the long haul.

 

[Platonic Solid]

The luminaire optical efficiency is 93-97% depending on reflector, not 71%

You are correct (apparently I'm on a roll), I was looking at the published Luminaire Efficacy Rating (LER).

 

[barnjunkie]

I have 12 of those in my 40x60 and they are great fixtures. They put out a lot of light . My barn has 14 Ft ceilings. I think I paid about the same for mine about three years ago.
Reflectors are exposed and really fragile. A couple of mine were Bent when I got them.
In cold temps (below 20)they take a few minutes to warm up, but they have always cane on.