fluorescent tube to LED?

[Steve in VA]

Would anyone who has made this swap care to comment on them? I ran into a buddy who is making the swap in his shop and seems big on them. While I like LED, there appears to be a condition for use only in rapid start units so I'm curious after any other factors. Overcome the cold weather issues? Comparable or better illumination?
Thanks in advance.

 

[JGayman]

There are a lot of discussions about this on various forums. Plug and play can be hit and miss depending on the particular fixture. Best results are achieved by removing the existing ballast and wiring the tombstone connectors directly. Advantages are instant-on in cold weather, brighter light and reduced energy consumption.

 

[flembo]

I have done several of mine so far and find it very easy, as jgayman said just remove the ballast and run the 110v to one end, simple, the light is much brighter and comes on instantly, just note on the led tube it say's what end is the power end. I plan to change all mine over eventually I have 8 more to do.

 

[hd6gtom]

We did as jgayman said. Put up almost 100 new bulbs at work in the old shop. Boss put up a new shop and they were wired up in it. They give off plenty of light. Will be doing my own shop next summer.

 

[Gary from Muleshoe]

If you are doing it to save electricity definitely bypass existing ballast. The hospital I used to work at did that conversion last year and they it knocked $2,000.00 off their electric bill the first month. The electrician I use now says they are the best thing ever. I have started converting the building I manage now over slowly. Brighter lighting and don't have to change bulbs like I did with cfls.

 

[Steve A W]

Where do you get the conversions and what kind
of money are we talking about?

 

[gears]

So you guys are saying that the new fixtures I bought (4 foot T8 fast start) don't need the ballast hooked up to run the 4foot glass Led bulbs I bought? Wish the electrical supply house that sold me the gear told me that!

 

[3000OH]

+1 on this answer. You have to shop carefully. There are some replacement led tubes that are designed to need a ballast, some that you pull ballasts, some that get power at one end, some at both ends, some that are for un-modded rapid-starts. If you're a big operation or are insurance-conscious, realize that bypassing/pulling ballasts to re-lamp will null thd UL rating on the fixture. You could be SOL if a fire is traced to a modded fixture or if someone gets hurt (shocked/knocked off a ladder) by one.

 

[Gary from Muleshoe]

Most all electrical supply places have them.

 

[Geo-TH,In]

I'm sold on LEDS. never go back to fluorescent. Only buy the brightest LED's. I used 5K. Not sure but I heard there are 6k.

 

[JGayman]

> I'm sold on LEDS. never go back to fluorescent. Only buy the brightest LED's. I used 5K. Not sure but I heard there are 6k.

As I'm sure you know, 5K or 6K is the color temperature in Kelvin, not the brightness. LEDs with a temperature of 5K is seen as pure white. 6K is white with a slightly blue tint. 5K is probably the best color temperature for shop lights as it closely simulates daylight.

 

[Bob]

I can see no reason to buy anything other than the LED's that DO NOT require the old ballast to remain in place. Florescent ballasts basically make high voltage AC, LED's require LOW VOLTAGE DC, which the replacement lamps make "on-board" from the AC supplied to them.

So, with ballasts left in place you are "converting" the power TWICE.

I've bought a few of the "throw away the ballasts" LED's at Lowes ($9.98), and some for less on fleabay, all with great success/no issues.

 

[Gambles]

I actually work in a business that does business and residential wiring, including installing light fixtures. We work on both new and remodel jobs.
Less than 3 years ago, I would have recommended T5 fluorescent lighting on a new install. In my opinion, T5 fixtures are on the way out and LED is the only way to go. I also feel that LED retrofits are band-aids and are not the most energy efficient.
If it was me (and granted, it is not), I'd just spend a little extra money and go with new LED fixtures. I guess only you know what your situation is.
I do know that I will be putting new lighting in my 40' X 50' shed this year and it will not include fluorescent fixtures of any kind.

 

[4520BW]

I bought a couple of 4' 4500 lumes shop lights at rural king for under $30 each and put them in the barn where the rabbits and goats stay so I could feed without A flashlight when it gets dark so early now and never had any problem with them even when it was 15 in the barn on night. My dad liked them so he had me take down his T8 fixtures over his work bench and install the LED lights.

 

[Geo-TH,In]

Yes K is degrees Kelvin and 0C is 273K, 0K is absolute ZERO, can't get any colder.

All anyone needs to know is anything less than 5k is yellow and not worth having.

Menards sells a 4k led in fixture and it doesn't appear to be as bright, I wouldn't buy it.

I've never seen 6k so I can't say.
geo

 

[johnlobb]

I guess all I know is I have 2 4' shop lights over my work bench, probably 15 years old, fluorescent. I bought 2 4' LED tubes from Costco and installed them in 1 of the shop lights. The LEDs seemed twice as bright to me as the fluorescents right next to them. And in the cold weather the LEDs came on instantly.

 

[rustyfarmall]

I have removed and junked most of my 4' hanging shop lights. Replaced each of them with 2 incandescant fixtures. Eventually will replace the incandescants with LEDs.

I like the LEDs, but I've had a few that failed within just a few days after installation. That experience has left me just a little gun shy of LEDs.

 

[JGayman]

> I like the LEDs, but I've had a few that failed within just a few days after installation. That experience has left me just a little gun shy of LEDs.

Very good point. While I have had good luck so far with LEDs I think folks put too much emphasis on the life of the device. Sure, a LED emitter can potentially last for 50,000 hours but more often than not it is the supporting internal power supply components that fail. There's no question that the el-cheapo no name bulbs are also using cheap internal components.

I am a fan of LEDs for the pure white light, instant on and low power consumption but I think the jury is still out on the long life aspect. I'll check back in 20 years and report if my $19 Costco shop lights are still working.

 

[Jack345]

I like LED's but have noted more radio noise on the AM band in my shop.

 

[gears]

Who listens to AM anymore?! My wife complains when I fire up my vfd to run the mill in the garage, can't listen to the local Catholic radio programs.

My next question was going to be if anyone noticed a reduction in radio interference as compared to the leds with or without ballasts.

 

[Bob]

Even without the unneeded ballasts replacement LED's can made radio "noise" as they have little "switching powersupplies" built into each bulb or lamp.

 

[MI-Bill]

Agree with Gambles and 30000H on replacing the whole fixture rather than upgrading old fixtures. I have been replacing my fluorescents with 4'LEDs from Costco. I am leery of some of the bargain basement price items I see in other places. The difference in my shop is night and day. Regardless of the cost ? The LEDs are worth it. I guess I am a senior citizen and seem to need more light to read and see detail. I was constantly using a flashlight in the shop to do all kinds of simple repairs. The flashlight is no longer getting much use, so maybe I will save enough on batteries to cover, or well mitigate the cost a little.

 

[farmallsandcoops]

I had 3-8 ft cold start fluorescents down the middle of my shop and 4 footers in side areas. I replaced the three 8 footers with six 4 footers from Costco, mounted at angles where the wall and ceiling meet. No shadows in shop. One reason was to get tractor in, couldnt have the ones down the middle as they were not flush and Costco had a sale. Ended up with 9-10 of them. Bought a total of 22 more for friends after they saw mine. Haven't tried the replacement ones as they were more expensive than the fixtures with lights already.

 

[2510Paul]

Here is a video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0UBJSqW5L4

Paul