Shop lights??

Re: Shop lights??

Joseph Mulherin

Yes, Tom, You can change out the t-8s and T12s to LEDS. I did so this way:

bought the roll of leds on Ebay(32ft);bought 2-8ft steel studs; glued 16 ft to one stud and wrapped with wrapping tape to make sure the tapes held tight without ungluing and falling down on floor.

Used 2x4 and run it thru the saw to make a groove the same as on the stud, drilled 1.4" hole in center of stud; slid three of the up on rafters and screwed studs in place. Used wire led wire to connect using wiring connectors i bought on Amazon. Lighting is VERY bright but can be dimmed using the control; can also change colors on lighting

Re: Shop lights??

Barry Irby

Look on YouTube.

I got completely confused, but it appears there are at least four or more ways to do this. There are LED's that you can just snap into existing fixtures if you have the correct ballasts (Electronic). there are others where you have to change out one of the Posts (tombstones). There are yet others where you remove the existing ballast and wire them more or less directly.

At some point I suffered from TMI and stopped looking. I was concerned with the lack of standardization, fearing that when I went to replace the bulbs they would no longer be available. OTOH, I may not live that long.

Then I started looking at CRI, Color Rendering Index. The closer to 100, the better. The bulbs with the highest numbers are more expensive. AND, cheaper bulbs may not last long and may fade away.

Having said all that, I think you can do exactly what you are considering. And using your existing fixtures as a "backbone".

I have a lifetime supply of T-8 bulbs I got for free. And as time goes by, I will watch the LED technology and see if it improves enough to make it worthwhile. I a Different room I put in four 4' LED fixtures form Costco and like them a lot. Easy peasy.

Re: Shop lights??

jcousins

i did research to figure out how to swap them out - but did not want another "project" - finally ordered led bulbs from costco and just put them in the xisting florescent fixtures - they all worked and pretty simple

jerry

Re: Shop lights??

Joseph Mulherin

addendum: installed two 8' studs to rafters and connected them together with the 4 wire LED wiring from Amazon and the wiring connectors I also bought from Amazon.

Re: Shop lights??

Barry Irby

I have a box of ten of the Instafit bulbs by Phillips, but they require electronic ballasts. Mine were old and decrepit and would not power them. Double check before you buy. And, I think the OP has 8' fixtures and the bulbs I have and the ones I saw at Costco were 4'.

Re: Shop lights??

Tom Norton

Barry, I to got TMI while looking at the options. I am just getting tired of the buzzing from old ballasts. And looking at some options.

I think a trip to the electrical supply house is in order!

Re: Shop lights??

Barry Irby

The electrical supply house was part of the TMI. There is one behind my office and I walked over to talk to them. They had a whole different option. Tubes of LEDs about the diameter of your little finger, with adhesive backing, and transformers and I don't know what all. You adhered all this stuff to you existing fixtures. It was so expensive it would have been cheaper to buy all new fixtures.

Re: Shop lights??

TM Stock

High CRI (90+) LED 45,000 hour T-8 double-ended replacements are available for about $10.50 per bulb (see Hyperikon on Amazon). Drop the fixture, clip the ballast wires and remove, and run wires (one from each end to direct-wire AC and jumpers from one tombstone to the adjacent tombstone wired to AC. Much easier to do than to say - most of the time is spent dropping the fixture and accessing the wiring.

The advantages of LED are 100% of the rated light directed at the work surface, about 30-40% reduction in power usage for same delivered lumens, instant-on - even at low temps, better CRI than what is likely installed (most of my Phillips Alta bulbs were about 82 CRI), and elimination of the electronic or magnetic ballasts. I consider the lack of an external reflector to be a plus in a woodshop, given the elimination of that cleaning task. Finally, LEDs are usually packaged in shatter-resistant plastic and are not vacuum filled, so the chance of shattering a fluorescent in the home shop or low overhead commercial shop is eliminated, along with the need for a shatter guard. getting whacked in the head by a falling 4 ft T-8 LED is akin to having your 5 year old nephew engage in a light saber duel (you will always be the bad guy - get used to it).

High-output fluorescents with high CRI will be as bright or brighter and equally accurate on color rendering for about the same cost as the LEDs, but will consume about 70% more power and have about 3/4 the lifespan. Both LED and fluorescent decay over time in terms of output, so expect service life to be a little less than the rated for either bulb.

We've been adding additional fixtures and wiring to replace pull-chain shop lights - nice to have all the lights come on with four switches (two circuits with two zones each). Two 15A circuits easily handle lighting for 1800 sf of shop and storage, as a two bulb T-8 LED fixture runs under 40 watts, so 16 fixtures (32 x 20w bulbs) is a light load on a dedicated lighting circuit.

Re: Shop lights??

Thomas Skaggs, Foothills of Mount Level

I was in your shoes last year. In my case I started thinking about the hassle of converting all my fluorescents to LED. I did some research and found out our local power company had an incentive program for converting lighting to more efficient lights. With all that in mind, I decided to swap out the fixtures entirely.

You might check with your local energy company to see if they have a similar program.

T.

LED's

Jim in Burlington Ont.

I just converted my shop over completely to LED, wow, what a change...you won't regret it, less power in my case with 6 bulb banks, 4 sets light up a 45 x 15 ft shop...

Take care, Jim