T12 to T8HO Conversion

[yoshirocks702]

Hello everyone, I thought I'd share my recent project. Last year I got two 8ft T12 fixtures from a friend, putting them up was a bit of a pain because I needed along A frame ladder to reach the rafters which were about 15 feet to bolt the chains to hang the fixtures, but it got done.

As I have found out these fixtures **** in the cold, during winter they would never fully warm up, and were dim and flickering. I have toyed with the idea of upgrading them as I would have better control as to what parts I put in it (like when I built my desktop computer) versus getting some HD lights that come with w/e they package it with. Then another friend of mine got me some much newer 4ft tandem t8 fixtures. I tried these out and they work well in the cold, but I still wanted to go with my original idea of upgrading the T12 fixtures. I decided to go with T8HO, and the hardest part of this upgrade was finding all the parts. I ended up getting:

1) Two Philips ICN-2S86 programmed start ballasts
2) four Philips 8ft T8HO 3500K 85 CRI bulbs
3) four Leviton 13556 lampholders and four 13557 lampholders

While I had the fixtures opened up, I thought it would also be a good idea to install some pull switches so I can shut one light off if needed or w/e plus home depot had the pull switches for about $3 a pop so I figured it was a good upgrade. Luckily the fixture had the knock outs for the pull switches so it was extremely easy to install.

I also cleaned up the hack wiring that was done earlier, using BX its a lot nicer and safer. Here some pics:

old ballast


new ballast


old lampholders and new lamp holders



overall


installed with hack wiring


final result with cleaned up wires


At the end of the day I am extremely happy with the end result, and I find the 3500K temp much more pleasing and inviting than the 4100k before, plus its plenty bright!

 

[jefferyb_2]

What was the price difference between buying all the parts vs buying 2 new t8 lights? Sometimes it doesn't pay to refurb an old light.

 

[yoshirocks702]

What was the price difference between buying all the parts vs buying 2 new t8 lights? Sometimes it doesn't pay to refurb an old light.

It was worth it in this case:

New fixture: $149 ea x 2= $300
Parts: $172 for two fixtures.

 

[Bib Overalls]

You could have put up two new fixtures with two sets of 4' T8 tubes each for about $100.

 

[pattenp]

yoshi, as long as you're happy that's all that matters. I hope your happiness continues after having to store and handle those 8' T8 lamps.

 

[ADSR]

Well done! Very cool.

 

[yoshirocks702]

Thanks for the comments! Yes you can buy a tandem 4ft T8 fixture at the big box stores for about $60 ea + bulbs but from what i've read they are sketchy quality plus they are not high output. 4ft T8HO fixtures i found were $117 ea and you'll need 4 of them so they are even more expensive than the 8ft.

Handling 8 ft T8's isn't hard they are quite light and if you are careful you'll be good, most cars with a pass through will fit them (sadly my crappy cavalier doesn't have folding seats, so I took my dad's Fit lol), plus once they are up you shouldn't need to handle them again for a while I hope.